The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and this is only going to get 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-powered sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot: 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)
According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website or blog has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that every website is valuable to a malicious user.
If hackers can access and gain access and control of your website or blog, your website can then be employed to target more highly-valued sites.
The truth is that malicious bots are probably trying to break into your website or blog as you are reading this article. Whether they will get into your site successfully or not, depends on how difficult or easy you will make it for them to continue trying until they can discover how to break in, or give up and go look for a less protected target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – WP Security Scan Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns various results and information about your website setup …
(website security check results. Image source: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can freely access all of this information, so can hackers.
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Being able to see what 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 useful information to hackers, as these can inform them about any potential vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This particular blog was not being used and so had practically no value to offer, yet it still was 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 site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to lure unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack their Paypal account details.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This simple example provides the valuable lesson that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security holes …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products includes three WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender website)
This plugin lets you do secure backups to your server, external servers and well-known cloud-based backup 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), search and replace text strings in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides your WordPress website with security …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #2 performs a range of site security functions (see “Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 lets you scan your files and content to detect whether any of your files have been tampered with, and repair the problem …
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your work without offering any benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 videos plus PDF/DOC documentation that will show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Image source: 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 web site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Implement
The Blog Defender plugins are very easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugins to your Plugin folder via your admin user login and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is a DIY step-by-step training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can install for free to get the job done without paying additional costs.
Some additional benefits of this plugin include:
- Protect your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to exploit your site for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If your site sells an information product (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a site has been 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. During this time, your, web presence can get closed by your webhost, or even deindexed in search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your personal details and financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides a number of great features to website owners.
The product helps you fix the following security areas:
- Host 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
- File Monitoring
- Track Links
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening 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 tools to identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Product image source: BlogDefender site)
Feedback From Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about 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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”Since working with blogs, I… like many others, have been concerned about how to handle the constant threat of blog attacks. After having a look at Blog Defender you can’t help but become most aware of the vulnerable areas all bloggers need to protect. Blog Defender is viable WordPress blog security prevention system that offers video instruction along with 3 software plugins that are free to download. The instruction shows the optimum settings on how to use the free plugins that will allow you top level force against blog hacker attacks.” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Useful Tips
According to the plugin developer, no sites protected by the solution have been hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
Matt also 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 never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers presently can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost 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 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, thirty day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
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.
Note: Pricing details of this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the software is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
What We Recommend
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, web security is something you cannot afford to ignore.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting simple maintenance tasks like keeping your WP installation, WP plugins and themes updated to their latest versions, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security policies such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what your responsibilities are as the site owner, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid all the major security risks without paying a lot of money.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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