It seems that the issue with the brute force attacks on so many blogs over the last few months has subsided. Hopefully bloggers have administered stronger security for their blogs.
I wanted to write a follow up to my post about protecting your mom business and blog by telling you about a great plugin my friend Sheri from Love My Long Legs told me about. It’s called Wordfence.
Why Wordfence to Protect My Blog?
After the incident I had when Google banned one of my URL’s and called it potentially malicious because of this attack I immediately started to research what plugin can help me to not experience this again.
I found a plugin that fit what I needed and I did all the checks I usually do before I install any plugin. (You can see how I check a plugin here.) The install went perfect and the plugin started scanning my site.
But there were issues. It seemed the plugin was not working. When this happens I wonder if there is a compatibility problem with the theme or WordPress version yet this did not seem the case. I checked for updates, there were none. But for about 2 weeks no scans had been done. (Why I waited 2 weeks to verify if this plugin was working escapes me. I should have been checking every day.)
I was frustrated.
Luckily I have friends in great places all over the Internet and Sheri directed me to Wordfence.
Even though I received a recommendation, I still ran the plugin through my checklist and it cleared.
1. I received a recommendation from someone I trust.
2. I check reviews and all information at their WordPress.org plugin site. This includes how often it has been downloaded, when it was last updated and ratings.
3. I check out their site to see how well it presents itself with information, FAQs, a forum, and contact availability.
I liked what I saw and I have been running free Wordfence on my blog for well over a month now. Everyday it scans my site and then notifies me via email if there are any issues. It is so awesome!
Wordfence Features (All for free)
Wordfence scans your blog every 24 hours. What does it scan for?
- Theme and plugin updates
- Malware files
- Files that may be infected or vulnerable
- Posts and comments URLs against Google’s Safe Browsing List
- Weak user passwords
- DNS unauthorized changes
- Log in security options
And more.
You can also block IPs from visiting your site. I like to block repeated spammers.
After a scan Wordfence gives you a summary, details of that scan and a list of any issues it found. If there are issues and you do not know how to solve them, you can visit their site which is full of documentations on many subjects, a FAQ area and a forum for more support.
Also, you can be alerted of critical issues and warnings via email.
What to do next?
Check out Wordfence, if you like what you see, grab the plugin. It’s free and there is a premium version that is super cheap also.
