The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and things are getting worse.
It’s safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 160,000+ WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: 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 leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
Every blog with a vulnerability presents an opportunity to hackers. An unsecured web site provides hackers with a resource for denial of service attacks, spreading malware and engaging in information theft.
If hackers can hack into and gain control of your website or blog, your website or blog can then be employed to attack more valuable web sites.
The harsh reality is that software-driven bots are searching for weaknesses and trying to hack into your blog while you are reading this article right now. Whether they will break into your site depends on how challenging you have made things for them to continue persisting until they work out how to get access, or decide to look for an easier target.
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How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WordPress Security Check Screenshot: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check will yield various results and information about your website setup …
(website security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you are able to see all of this information, so can hackers.
(Screenshot: Blog Defender)
Being able 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 on your server can all be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Solution
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This blog was devoid of content and so had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and observing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred within the server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and steal financial information.
(Image source: Blog Defender)
This example provides the valuable lesson that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for potential security vulnerabilities …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
Pro Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
The “Automated Backups” plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), perform complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your site with security …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
This plugin provides a range of essential site and file protection functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans WordPress sites to detect if anything unusual has been changed, and fix any problems found …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been inserted into your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your hard work without reciprocating the favor).
Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender product suite also includes training videos plus printable documentation that teach you exactly what to do to protect your website from malicious users …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
More info:
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the 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 Very Little Time
The plugins are very easy to install. Simply upload them to your Plugins folder via your WordPress administrator login and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step training product that will take you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get things done without paying additional or unnecessary expenses.
Additional benefits of using this plugin include the following:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products From Being Stolen – If you sell info products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, web presence could be suspended by your webhost, or even deindexed 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 more.
Features
Blog Defender provides a number of great features to WordPress users.
Blog Defender provides fixes for all of the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WordPress Plugin Security Audits
- 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
- Monitor Files
- Link Monitoring
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps for securing your your WordPress installation, addressing hosting security, using tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and WP plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
User Feedback
Here are a couple of the testimonials that plugin users have provided for Blog Defender:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.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
Plugin Tips
According to the product’s site, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no websites using Blog Defender have been hacked.
The product developer 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.”
Cybersecurity is an ever-escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools developers presently can access. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than many web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Product 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, 30 day, full refund guarantee.
Plugin 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: Pricing details of Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin retails for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin seller when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information here:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use This Product
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 ignore the importance of web security.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress software, WP plugins and themes are kept updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security policy like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without investing in expensive solutions.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender WordPress Security Product Suite
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