Getting hacked is one of the worst things that can happen to your website. Not only is it difficult to clean up after the mess, but sometimes it’s also nerve-wracking to shore up your website’s defenses. After all, you don’t want the hacking to happen again. Now, in dealing with this, prevention is always better than cure; that starts with finding out why your WordPress blog is getting hacked.
Blogger Tricks Google Into Thinking He Is ‘Sexiest Man In Britain’
One British blogger is enjoying the spotlight after a clever Google hack made him one of the sexiest men in Britain. Tom Church is blogger and suit maker, but if you google ‘sexiest man in Britain,’ you’ll get a picture of him posing on a boat. So, how did this normal guy get to become this search result?
Russian Hacker Sold Millions Of Passwords For Less Than A $1, Should You Care?
Millions were put at risk when a Russian hacker leaked a huge database of login credential for Google Yahoo and Microsoft accounts. While it is definitely time to change your passwords anyways, is it really possible that you will be affected?
According to security research firm, Hold Security, a database containing information for more than 272 million victims was handed over to them. These passwords came from a variety of email providers, from Google to Russia’s most popular email service, Mail.ru. Hacks like this might happen quite often, but it was how Hold Security acquired the information that has the web buzzing. [Read more…]
WordPress Theme Seller, Templatic, Warns Users Of Hacking
A popular WordPress theme company is warning customers after several of their files and databases were compromised by a recent hacking. Templatic wrote to customers yesterday that their website was the target of a hacking attack. It appears that whoever is responsible for the hacking is now demanding a ransom from the company’s owner.
Security and Hacking: Protect Thyself and Thy WordPress Blog
The front page of CERT/CC, the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute and cyber security experts, looks back at 2008 as the 20th anniversary of the Morris worm, sometimes called the “Great Worm,” which crippled the Internet in 1988. Created by Robert Morris, now an associate professor at MIT, it was one of the first computer worms to infect the brand new Internet, exploiting known vulnerabilities and causing millions in damages. It also was the first conviction in the United States as part of the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Years ago, a friend of mine worked for Boeing IT and taught many company workshops and training programs that began with an amusing lecture on “Safe Computer Sex.” She taught fellow employees to take care when flipping floppies to avoid transferring computer program infections across the network. How far we have come from those days.
As our dependence upon the web increased with email communication, spammers, hackers and attackers spread evil through your email inbox. Now, they are attacking our websites, social media tools, and web browsers.
Microsoft announced recently security issues with the Internet Explorer web browser and the dangers of visiting websites that could exploit that security vulnerability. Many warned to not use Internet Explorer until it was patched and updated.
Google created the Browser Security Handbook to help people and developers understand the security issues facing web browsers and the steps to take to protect individuals and web applications.
As mentioned in the last article in this series on web and blog security and hacking, Security and Hacking: The State of WordPress Blogs, WordPress, Movable Type, and other popular web services are not immune from security hacks or vulnerabilities. [Read more…]
Hack Your Brain for a Better Life, and More Productive Blogging
I saw a link to 15 Ways to Hack Your Brain For A Better Life, and since I’m a productivity maniac I gobbled down the article. It is basically some advice on how to get happier, smarter, and more balanced thanks to things you do to keep a balanced and fresh mind.
The advice is sound, and it also applies to bloggers, especially us full-time ones. Our profession is a mental one rather than physical, which means that the only part of our bodies that get exercised, and again, are our fingers tapping away at the keyboard. Sure, one might say that we’re using our brains all day long as well, but personally I think that is a load of crap, and the fact that we’re staring at monitors for prolonged periods of time probably hurts us more than we’re gaining by wrapping our minds around this and that. [Read more…]
