The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and the situation is getting worse.
You can safely assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
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)
According to 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 website with a vulnerability offers some value to hackers. No website is immune from being targeted. Large, medium and small web sites, personal blogs, government sites … even websites owned by online security experts can and have been targeted.
If a malicious user can exploit a security vulnerability in your system that lets them gain complete control of your website or blog, that web site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target more valuable websites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are most likely looking for weaknesses and trying to break into your site right now. Whether they will hack in successfully or not, depends on how difficult you have made it for hackers to keep persisting until they find how to break in, or decide to look for a less secure 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 website through their WordPress security scan …
(WP Security Check Screenshot source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test will display various results and details about your site …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, then so can hackers.
(Image source: BlogDefender site)
Being able to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed on your site, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories can all be useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their files.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Suite
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This site was quite new and so had literally nothing of value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of the event after being contacted by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack financial details.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Matt’s experience shows that that all websites are valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities …
And let’s you quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and leading cloud-based backup solutions using a number of backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Product image source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 “WP Security” performs a range of site protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” scans your content and files to see whether anything unusual in your files or source code has been tampered with, and fix any problems detected …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without providing anything in return).
Video Training
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven video training modules and printable guides that teach you exactly how to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
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 website:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins are very easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins to install to get the job done without paying for additional expenses.
Additional benefits of the plugin include the following:
- Protect your WordPress site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you’re a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Search Engines – When a site is hacked, expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. As a result, your, account could be suspended by your host, or even deindexed by search engines. Additionally, your contacts can be 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 was designed to keep your sites and your business safe and secure 24/7.
The product addresses the following security areas:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitoring Files
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky WordPress themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender security products:
”Great way to secure your blog!” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”In the past month alone, I’ve had 3 niche blogs hacked, costing me hundreds of dollars in lost sales – all of which could have been avoided if I followed the steps in this training. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than spending months building up a blog, adding posts every few days, and then finding it all gone in an instant. The great thing about these ‘over the shoulder’ videos is that you get to see exactly how to do everything, so it doesn’t matter if you’re technically challenged. Just copy what you see on the screen, and then relax knowing your blogs are safe. (Just one of the tips in the first video alone could probably have prevented my blogs getting hacked) I even noticed one or two tips in there that help with SEO too … so following these videos could even bring your blogs more traffic!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, since Blog Defender’s first release, no websites or blogs protected by the product have been hacked.
Matt Garrett 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 is a perpetual game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than many premium 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 no-risk, thirty day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
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: Price details for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin retails for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web sites is something you simply cannot ignore.
WordPress is a secure web platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress installation, plugins and WP themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Blog Defender helps you learn what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your site is attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without costly solutions.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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