WordPress popularity continues to increase by leaps and bounds, and as a result, security issues have never been so important. As a beginner or even as an average user it can be tough to stay on top of it all. Would you even know that your blog was hacked? Well now you don’t have to. A new service called WebsiteDefender solves the problem.

If you are wondering if it’s worth the time and effort to install and setup WebsiteDefender because the risk to you is small, here’s a warning: Just recently, timthumb.php a thumbnail utility used with many of the WordPress plugins and older themes had a vulnerability recently exposed. Translated it means the risk to your blog being hacked would be high. Now that’s just one reason why you should install the plugin WebsiteDefender.

WebsiteDefender is a free plugin that scans your site. It is available only to bloggers on WordPress who run self-hosted installs. If you are hosting your blog on WordPress.com you can uses this plugin. You also can’t use WebsiteDefender on free hosting plans.

Start by registering WebsiteDefender. You will have to verify your email address, and then you will be sent to a page to download the verification file. You will have to upload this to your site’s root. Once installed you’ll begin to receive warnings which will be rated from low to critical. Each issue is linked to a detailed explanation, along with a set of instructions to solve the issue.

With WordPress, you can use the WP-Security Scan plugin, which will perform basic security audits on things like database prefix, directory permissions, default usernames, htaccess permissions, etc.

Secure WordPress

Secure WordPress locks down and performs several security measures designed to protect your blog on WordPress. It removes all reference to the version of WordPress you are using simply by removing a few lines from your header and preventing the listing of your theme(s) and/or plugin directory.

Both of these WordPress tools have a signup form for the Website Defender’s online service, which allows you to link to any existing account. However, there is a quota of one free website.

It can all be a bit confusing considering there are two WordPress plugins and then there is the scan that can be run without the plugin. While each is a unique plugin, it’s confusing why they didn’t just combine the two into one. Now all that said, don’t let this confusion scare you off because the WP Security Scan is definitely an asset!