All Interactive Blogs Need These 4 Security Features

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As a blogger, security is a big deal. Hopefully, you’ve purchased hosting through a reputable provider that keeps their servers safe and their data centers physically secure. If you aren’t sure, it’s not too late to research the features offered by hosting providers and move to a new host if needed.

If you’re like most bloggers, regardless of your content, you’re using a popular CMS for your blog like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. These CMS installations require attention to detail where security is concerned. WordPress security is more vulnerable in the cPanel environment where 1-click installations are created, but there are ways to lock it down. [Read more…]

The Story Of Aaron Swartz And How His Death Could Change Computer Crime Laws

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In today’s digital world, the programmers are among those who are reaping the benefits of internet technology. They are among the techies who enjoy high salaries and who get to create innovations that the present generation now make full use of. They are the founders of startups and the brains behind various new technologies.

Aaron Swartz was one programmer who carved a niche in the internet industry but who, unfortunately, ended his life too soon. His life story has been told via the movie “The Internet’s Own Boy” produced by Storyville which provided many insights into his mission, the world wide web and how the government views the internet. [Read more…]

How to Assure Your Customers That It’s Safe to Shop With You

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Shopping online can be a nerve-wracking experience these days. Even when you shop with major retailers, the little voice in your head asks whether it’s safe to give out your credit card number. Between hackers stealing passwords and other data breaches, hackers breaking into routers to spy on Wi-Fi networks, and the threat of ransomware, sometimes it just seems safer to forgo the convenience of online shopping and use cash at a brick-and-mortar store.

As an online small-business owner, then, it’s especially important for you to establish trust with your customers and assure them that it is safe to share their personal and payment information with you. As consumers become more savvy about cybersecurity, they will be looking for telltale signs that your business takes security seriously, and if they don’t find them, will most likely take their business elsewhere. Take the time to review your site for these important security reassurances, and make changes where necessary. [Read more…]

Bring Your Multi-Site Development Work To The Next Level With A Reseller Plan

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For growing design firms, marketing agencies, and companies who manage the websites or do the IT support for several clients, liaising with multiple website hosts, not to mention making alterations for clients when each is using a different platform can feel overwhelming. Over time it can also become impractical, as it can get disorganized and cost your clients more of your time as you switch over from one server to the next. Finally, managing multiple servers requires expertise using a variety of platforms and optimizing for them. If there is the option, why not streamline your business and transfer new and existing clients onto a single, unified WHM control panel. [Read more…]

SQL Injection – The Old Trick that Keeps on Giving

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If you’ve never heard of an SQL injection, don’t worry; it’s a term that only really entered the public consciousness in the last few years. Describing a way for hackers and other criminals to steal data, an SQL injection basically makes let’s malicious people inject bad code into a website’s database and then they can tamper with the website, such as by sending customer details to somebody outside a company. [Read more…]

4 Major Website Disasters In The 90’s

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It’s almost expected at this point for the web  to work flawlessly. And it’s easy to see why: Titans like AOL and Microsoft are just expected to run their websites and services as they’re supposed to be run. As a result, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that these services are subject to flaws and failures too.  [Read more…]

Your Privacy or Your Safety: Is it Really a Zero Sum Game?

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If there is one thing that Americans can agree on, regardless of age, race, political affiliation or their views on whether or not meat really is, in fact, murder, it’s this: privacy is important and we do not want the government snooping through our business or our social media feeds….at least, not until someone drops the word “terrorism” into the conversation. Then suddenly a massive number of analysts immediately change their position to “well yeah, we need to know what those people are doing, for the safety of our kids!” [Read more…]

Five Ways You Can Prevent Your Website From Getting Defaced

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Editor’s note: This post was written by Rachel Gillevet, the technical writer for WiredTree, a leader in fully managed dedicated and vps hosting. Follow Rachel and WiredTree on Twitter, @wiredtree, Like them on Facebook and check out more of their articles on their web hosting blog, http://www.wiredtree.com/blog.

 

It’s the Internet version of petty vandalism – a hacker cracks into your site and wreaks havoc, defacing it beyond recognition. How can you protect yourself?

It’s the online equivalent of throwing a brick through a window or covering a wall with crude graffiti. Out of either boredom, malice, or spite, a hacker cracks into a website, at which point they go absolutely wild. They delete pages, replace images and copy, and generally just destroy every last shred of the original site.

In a world where their website is usually the first impression a brand makes on the end user, this can be almost catastrophic, resulting in a ton of lost revenue.

Thankfully, it’s fairly simple to prevent all but the most expert of attacks, provided you know what you’re doing. Truth be told, it’s all a matter of due diligence. So long as you take the necessary steps to protect your website, you should be fine. [Read more…]

The Most Destructive Viruses of All Time

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Computer viruses have existed for as long as we can remember. Well, almost.

The first computer virus (externally released) is thought to be ‘Elk Cloner’. It is attributed to Rich Skrenta. It infected Apple DOS 3.3 computers and was spread via floppy disc – in those early days, the floppy disc was the main method of spreading viruses. That was back in 1982.

Funnily enough, Skrenta created the Elk Cloner as a simple prank when he was 15 years old. Elk Cloner embedded itself in a computer’s memory when an infected disc was used. It then spread to other discs that were used later on. [Read more…]