The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and this is only going to get worse.
It’s safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s inevitable that at some point in time someone will attempt to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
According to the Cnet report,
“With some old-fashioned trickery, hackers were able to get more than 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered Web sites to mount a distributed-denial-of-service attack against another Web site.”
(Source: cnet.com/news/ddos-attack-is-launched-from-162000-wordpress-sites)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every blog with a security vulnerability can be seen as an opportunity to hackers. All websites are valuable to hackers. Large, medium and small web sites, personal blogs, government websites … even websites owned by online security experts can and have been targeted.
If someone can exploit a security vulnerability in your system that lets them gain remote access and control of your web site, your web site can then be employed to target larger and more highly-valued websites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are very likely scouring for exploits and trying to break into your website right now. Whether they will be successful will depend on how challenging you will make things for them to continue persisting until they either work out how to get access, or decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Check Source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your site setup …
(WP security scan results. Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you can see all of this information about your WordPress website, then hackers can too.
(Product image source: BlogDefender site)
The ability to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and protect against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by the hosting company. This particular site had practically no value to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being informed by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within the site, as well as the addition of several phishing files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that all websites have some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security holes in your website are …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
Plugins
The product suite includes 3 WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods (e.g. Email), schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides your website or blog with security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
This plugin provides a range of vital site security functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 lets you scan your WP plugins, themes, WordPress core files and content to see if anything in your files has been tampered with, and fix the problem …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes video training guides plus PDF/DOC guides that teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious attacks …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender site)
More info:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Set Up
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product are very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a practical and useful training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can install for free to get the job done without paying for unnecessary costs.
Some additional benefits of using this plugin include:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Secure Your Info Products – If you are an information product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Banned By Search Engines – When a website gets hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, web presence could be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. And if this is not enough to have to deal with, your personal contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender hide your website or blog from hackers and malicious botnets.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Tracking Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help protect your web site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials that users have submitted for Blog Defender:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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“Sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently!” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, since Blog Defender’s first release, no sites using Blog Defender were hacked.
Matt states on his site …
“With the volume of attacks nowadays … we probably won’t hold forever, so we’ve been busy creating even tougher WordPress security.”
The war on hackers is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers currently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Plugin Support
The product is well-supported, can be used by both Mac and PC users, is compatible with the latest WordPress release and is backed by a risk-free, 30 day, full refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
Blog Defender is normally available for personal use only on unlimited sites. When we last checked, however, it was also being sold with Developer rights, allowing users to secure client sites as well.. Price = $47.00.
Please Note: Pricing details of Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the software is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without paying for costly solutions.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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