The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are only going to get worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 160,000+ WordPress web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Image: 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)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website is of no interest to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If someone can discover a security weakness that allows them to gain control of your site, your website or blog can then be used to attack more valuable websites.
The reality is that hackers are probably trying to break into your web site while you are reading this article. Whether they can break into your site successfully will depend on how difficult or easy you can make things for them to continue persisting until they find how to get access, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …
(Hackertarget – Website Security Check Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test returns various results and information about your website setup …
(Hackertarget – website security check results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this scanning tool that if you are able to access all of this information about your WordPress site, 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 on your site, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories in your site can be valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and help to protect it against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
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 BlogDefender developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This particular blog had practically nothing of value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of this after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack their financial information.
(Product image: BlogDefender.com)
This example should be enough to illustrate the fact that every website has value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you WordPress installation for security holes …
And let’s you fix these quickly and easily …
Plugins
Blog Defender includes 3 plugins for WordPress:
The first plugin in the product suite helps you schedule automated backups …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender website)
This plugin lets you do automated site and file backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud backup solutions using a number of backup methods, automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), do bulk text string replacements in databases, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
The second plugin provides your site with security …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” performs a range of vital site security functions (see “Blog Defender Features” section below).
The third plugin allows you to scan your plugins, themes, WordPress core files and content to see if any of your files have been changed, and repair any problems found …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts 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 reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Step-By-Step Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender security product suite also includes seven step-by-step training modules (video) plus written guides that will teach you exactly how to protect your website from hackers …
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Implement
The plugins install just like any other plugin. Simply upload them to your Plugin folder via your administrator area and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself 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 use for free to get the job done.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you sell information products (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video tutorials, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on free downloading sites.
- Avoid Getting Blocked By Your Web Host And Banned By Search Engines – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, sites can be suspended by your webhost, or even blocked in search engines. And if that is not enough to have to deal with, your contacts can be spammed, your customer list and financial details could be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Plugin Features
Blog Defender provides a number of features to WP users.
Blog Defender covers the following issues:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitoring Files
- Monitor Links
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical sequence of steps to help secure your web site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Source: Blog Defender)
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have written about Blog Defender:
”Great way to secure your blog!” 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’s site, since Blog Defender’s first release in 2012, no Blog Defender-secured sites have been hacked.
Matt Garrett, the product developer 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 an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
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 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.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: Pricing details of this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the plugin retails for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the product site and there may be 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, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Use These Plugins
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 securing your websites.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like making sure that your WordPress software, plugins and WP themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what your responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your websites are hacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major WordPress security holes without paying for costly solutions.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender
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