Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is increasing on a daily basis, and it’s only going to get worse. You can safely 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 began reporting that 160,000 legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked. Thousands of websites and blogs are hacked every year! Could yours be next? (Image 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.” As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyber-attack (DDoS) towards another popular website. Every website or blog with a vulnerability offers some value to hackers. If you think that the information in your website offers little to no value to hackers, think again. Large, medium and small business sites, personal blogs, government websites…even websites owned by online security experts can and have been targeted. If hackers can discover a web security flaw that allows them to take over and control your website or blog, your website can then be employed as a “bot” to attack other valuable websites. The harsh reality is that malicious bots are looking for weaknesses and trying to hack into your website while you are reading this page at this very moment. Whether they can get into your site successfully will depend on how hard or easy you have made things for hackers to continue trying until they either find a way to break in, or give up and decide to look for a more vulnerable target. How Much Information About Your WordPress 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… (WP Security Scan Product image: Hackertarget.com) You will see that the scan returns a number of results and details about your website … (WordPress security check results. Screenshot image: Hackertarget.com) It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information about your blog, so can hackers. (Product image: BlogDefender.com) The ability 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 are all valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about potential security vulnerabilities, especially in older versions. Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop broadcasting all of this information about your website and help to protect it against other malicious threats. Blog Defender WordPress Security Suite Product Description The product is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, plugins, and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file. Matt Garrett, the developer of the BlogDefender security suit developed BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended. This particular blog was not being used and so had practically no value to offer, yet it was still targeted by hackers. Matt only became aware of what had happened after being informed by his host and seeing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place inside his server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files by whoever had broken into his site. (Image source: Blog Defender) This example should be enough to convince you that every website has some value to hackers. Blog Defender shows you where the security weaknesses in your website are… And lets you fix these quickly… Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins The product suite includes 3 plugins: Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups… (Screenshot image: BlogDefender site) This plugin lets you do secure site and file backups to your server, external servers and leading cloud-based storage solutions using a number of backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), do bulk text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform malware scans and blacklist checks automatically, and more. The second plugin provides your site with security… (Product image source: BlogDefender website) This plugin provides a range of essential site and file security functions (see “Product Features” section below). Plugin #3 lets you scan your content and files to detect if your source code has been modified, and fix any problems detected… (Screenshot: Blog Defender) Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious URLs 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 – Videos In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 video training modules plus downloadable documentation that show you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from hackers and bots … (Source: BlogDefender site) Learn more here: Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress. Benefits Of Using Blog Defender Below 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 site: Ready To Use In Minutes The plugins included in the Blog Defender product are quite easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugins to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate. Really Simple And Easy To Follow Training Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself training product that walks you through the website security process and shows you exactly what to do, including how to set things up, and even which plugins you can use for free to get the job done without paying additional or unnecessary expenses. Additional benefits of using the plugin include: Protect Your Website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain. Protects Intellectual Property From Being Stolen – If your site sells an info product (e.g. downloadable e-books, video tutorials, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up becoming freeware on free downloading sites. Avoid Getting Blocked By Search Engines – When a site gets hacked, expect to go through a serious amount of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. As a result, your, account could get closed by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. In addition, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business and financial information, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more. Blog Defender Features Blog Defender provides a number of great features to WP users. Blog Defender helps you fix the following security areas: Hosting Security Advisory WP Plugin Security Audits WP Theme Security Audits Anti Brute Force Security Anti Cross-Site Scripting WordPress Database Security Nefarious Traffic Blocking Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs Anti-Comment Spam Blocking Monitor Files Link Tracking Block Known Offenders Automating WordPress Updates WordPress Security Audit Tightening Server Security Kick Out Policy Online Reputation Checking And More… Blog Defender follows a logical sequence of steps for securing your site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky WP themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided. (Blog Defender security process. Screenshot image: BlogDefender website) User Testimonials Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that plugin users have submitted for Blog Defender: “You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com “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’s first release, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs were hacked. Matt 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 an escalating arms race and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can get their hands on. The latest release of Blog Defender provides users with an easier security solution that doesn’t require constant attention, doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price. 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, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee. Software Pricing 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. Please Note: The cost to purchase Blog Defender depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin is selling for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing. Additional Plugin Info For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website. I Recommend No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your website or blog is something you cannot afford to ignore. WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WP software, plugins and WordPress themes 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 understand what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your website is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and how to avoid major security risks without paying a lot of money. For more information, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on Redhead Business Group and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Connor Brooke Connor is a Scottish financial expert, specialising in wealth management and equity investing. Based in Glasgow, Connor writes full-time for a wide selection of financial websites, whilst also providing startup consulting to small businesses. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master’s degree in Investment Fund Management, Connor has … View full profile ›More by this author:ACH Crypto Price Prediction 2022 – Is it a Buy?Lucky Block Partners with Dillian Whyte ahead of Heavyweight Showdown with Tyson FuryNFT Pixel Art – The Best NFT Collections for 2022