The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and this is 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 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Will yours be one of them?
(Source: Blog Defender)
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 WordPress sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your website has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that every website is valuable to a malicious user.
If someone can exploit a way to gain remote control of your site, the blog can then be employed as part of a larger network of “bots” to target larger and more highly-valued sites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are most likely searching for security weaknesses and trying to hack into your website or blog at this very moment. Whether they will do this successfully or not, will depend on how hard you have made things for hackers to keep trying until they either work out a way to get in, or are forced to give up and decide to look for an easier target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit Hackertarget.com and run your website through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Check Product image source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and details about your website setup …
(WordPress security check results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to freely access all of this information about your WordPress website, then so can hackers.
(Image source: 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 be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about potentially exploitable holes or weaknesses, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and protect against malicious attacks.
Blog Defender
Product Description
The product is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress blog he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by its webhost. This blog was new and so had practically nothing to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being contacted by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within the site, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into the site.
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
Matt’s experience is evidence that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress installation are …
And then shows you how to fix these quickly and easily …
Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite of products includes three plugins for WordPress:
Plugin #1 “Automated Backups” in the Blog Defender suite provides automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
The plugin lets you do automated site, file and data backups to your server, external servers and cloud-based storage solutions using different backup methods (e.g. FTP), perform full or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to new domains or server locations), search and replace text strings in your database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” performs a range of file and site protection functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 scans WordPress sites to detect whether code in your files has been found, and fix problems …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin #3 “WP 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 people benefit from your work without providing any reciprocal benefit in return).
Videos
In addition to the plugins, Blog Defender also includes a number of step-by-step videos plus training guides that will show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers and bots …
(Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Below are just some 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 Start Using In Minutes
The Blog Defender plugins install just like every plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugins to your Plugins folder via your admin account and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow Training
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow step-by-step training product that will walk you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which free plugins to install to get things done inexpensively.
Additional plugin benefits include:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to exploit your site for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you are an information product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid A Tragic Situation – When a site is hacked, you can expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover the problem and sort through any issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, websites can get closed by your host, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, your contacts can be spammed, your subscriber list and financial details could be stolen, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender hide your website or blog from hackers and malicious bots.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Hosting Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WP 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
- File Monitoring
- Link Tracking
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automate WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighter Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Online Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender follows a logical process to help protect your website, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and WP plugins, and then implementing site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot source: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments users have provided for the Blog Defender plugin:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.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 the plugin developer, Matt Garrett, no sites secured by the solution were hacked since Blog Defender was first released back in 2012.
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.”
Cybersecurity is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can access. 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 premium 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 for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product sells for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the plugin website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Our Recommendation
No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your site.
WordPress is a secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress core files, WordPress 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 security procedures such as the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what your security responsibilities as a website owner are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if your sites are attacked, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without paying for costly solutions.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress
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