The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, 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 over 160,000+ WordPress websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Screenshot 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 well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site has no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites are an opportunity to benefit at your expense.
If a malicious user can exploit a way to take over your blog, the site can then be used as a “bot” in a planned cyberattack against larger and more highly-valued web sites.
The reality is that hackers are most likely searching for exploits and trying to hack into your website as you are reading this article. Whether they will be successful or not, will depend on how difficult or easy you have made things for them to continue persisting until they can discover how to get in, or are forced to give up and go look for an easier target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
If you visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security scan …
(WordPress Security Check Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the check returns a number of results and information about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – 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 site, then so can hackers.
(Product image source: BlogDefender.com)
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 can all be potentially valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any potential security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven blog he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This blog had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and seeing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred inside the site, as well as the addition of several malicious files designed to drive unsuspecting visitors to the site and hijack financial information.
(Source: Blog Defender)
Matt’s experience illustrates the fact that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your WordPress site are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite includes three plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Product image: Blog Defender)
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud solutions using a number of backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do mass text replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides WordPress security …
(Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Plugin #2 performs a range of site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” lets you scan your files and content to see whether your source code has been changed, and repair the problem …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been inserted into your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without providing you anything of value in return).
Blog Defender – Video Tutorials
In addition to the plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes seven step-by-step training modules (video) plus printable documentation that will show you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from malicious attacks …
(Image source: Blog Defender)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your web site:
Ready To Use In Very Little Time
The Blog Defender plugins are really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is a practical training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which plugins you can install for free to get things done without paying for unnecessary costs.
Some additional benefits include:
- Secure your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Protect Your Info Products – If you’re a digital product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Blacklisted By Search Engines – When a website gets hacked, you can expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, website could get suspended by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. In addition, your contacts could end up being spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender offers many great features to WP users.
Blog Defender helps you fix the following areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WP 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
- Monitor Files
- Monitor Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process for securing your web site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to quickly identify risky themes and WP plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender WordPress security process. Product image: BlogDefender.com)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have provided 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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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, since Blog Defender was released back in 2012, no Blog Defender-secured websites or blogs were hacked.
Matt also 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 is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and tools that developers presently have access to. 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 most 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.
Plugin Price
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.. Price = $47.00.
Note: The price of Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the plugin is selling for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
In Conclusion
No matter what 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 securing your website.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress software, plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting security procedures like the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if 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 complete details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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