The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is massive, and the situation is only going to get worse.
It’s safe to 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 reported that over 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If someone can break in and gain access and control of your site, the website or blog can then be used to attack more valued websites.
The harsh reality is that malicious bots are probably looking for exploits and trying to hack into your web site while you are reading this page. Whether they will get in or not, depends on how difficult or easy you have made it for them to continue persisting until they either discover a way to get access, or are forced to give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Check Product image: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your website …
(Hackertarget – WP security scan results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you can access all of this information about your WordPress website, hackers can too.
(Source: BlogDefender site)
The ability to see what 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 be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any security weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their sites.
Fortunately, there is a solution that will stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious users and botnets.
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. This particular site was almost brand new and so had literally nothing to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being suspended by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within his server, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal their financial details.
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
This simple example should be enough to convince you that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your WordPress installation are …
And let’s you quickly fix these …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with three plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do automated backups to your server, external servers and popular cloud-based solutions using a number of backup methods, automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides your site with security …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 performs a range of file and site protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
The third plugin lets you scan your WordPress plugins, WordPress themes and core files to see whether code in your files has been altered, and fix problems …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious URLs have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your content without offering you any reciprocal value in return).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender WP security suite also includes step-by-step videos plus written guides that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Learn more here:
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement
The plugins included with Blog Defender install just like any plugin. Just upload them to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a DIY step-by-step training product that guides you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins you should use to get things done without paying for extra expenses.
Some additional benefits include:
- Secure 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.
- Helps Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Closed By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a website has been hacked, you should expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, web presence can be closed by your webhost, or even blacklisted in search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Features
Blog Defender provides many features to WP users.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Link Monitoring
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps for securing your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
Feedback From Customers
Here are just a few of the testimonials that customers have provided for Blog Defender:
”Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re too small or not important enough to be hacked! I’ve found out that I’ve had bots in the backend of my sites, making alterations and changing things around, so there’s no telling what damage they’ve caused. I’ve had my main blog for over 3 years now, and the thought of losing all the hard work I’ve put into it is just devastating, not to mention costly! I have a shared hosting plan, so of course once they can get into one site, they can also access the others. Luckily, I now have the procedures detailed within Blog Defender in place so that I can prevent the majority of this ever happening again. Once you’ve secured one site it gets a lot quicker to secure all subsequent sites. With Blog Defender, you get easy-to-follow videos, along with a detailed checklist that you can downloadf. You are literally walked through the process of securing your blog against hackers, which has given me real peace of mind. This is a growing issue that all website owners are facing; so it isn’t going to go away. Prevention is better than cure, particularly as some of the nastier hacks around can literally ruin your business. So do yourself a favour – get your sites protected now, before it’s too late.” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
***
“Sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently!” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Plugin Tips
According to the plugin developer, since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012, no Blog Defender-secured websites or blogs were hacked.
Matt states on his site, however …
“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 escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers currently have access to. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender 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 refund guarantee.
Product Licensing Cost
Blog Defender is normally available with a personal license only for use on unlimited sites. When we last checked, however, it was also being sold with Developer rights, allowing users to secure client sites as well.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: Pricing details of this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price when this content was written. This may not be the actual price set by the software author when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot ignore the importance of securing your web sites.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, WordPress plugins and WP themes, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security procedure like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities are as the website owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
***
***