What could be more devastating to a Blogger than to wake up one morning and find out that his/her Blog has been hacked. Recently, there have been recorded incidents of Blogger accounts being hacked. Most of these Blogger accounts either disappeared or cannot be accessed due to erroneous password or user name combination. How could have these incidents happened? Was it because of Blogger’s loose security or bloggers’ carelessness?
It turned out that most Blogger blogs that have been hacked were due to the bloggers’ carelessness. In today’s post, I’ve listed some tips that can help Blogger users reduce the risk of their blogs being hacked. Most of these tips are common sense but it would still be worth reading.
Keep Your Personal Information Private
Making your private information accessible by the public makes your blog at a high risk of being hacked. Information you share on your accounts on social networking sites such as Friendster, Myspace, Facebook etc. could be used to hack your blogs. These private information include but not limited to birthday, full name, address and telephone number. I advice you to use an Alias instead and refrain from divulging your personal data. I’m sure MySpace wouldn’t mind if you try to make your age younger.
Avoid Using One Password For All Accounts You Create
I’ve made this mistake before of using one password for all accounts that I create. This is because I thought it would be easier to remember as I’m only using one password for all my accounts (Friendster, MySpace, BlogCatalog, BlogsRecord etc.) but it’s actually another way of heightening the risk of getting my blog or all my accounts for this matter, to be hacked. To minimize the chances of getting your blog hacked, use different passwords for your different accounts. Make sure to write down your user names and passwords on a piece of paper and keep it on a safe place. It may sound rude but sharing your user names and or passwords to your family or spouse may increase the risk of getting your accounts hacked.
Use ‘Alpha-Numeric’ Passwords
When you create a password for your blog or email, use a combination of number and alphabet. This will dramatically lessen your account’s chances of getting hacked (e.g. 3p2jerusalem). The use of lower or upper case for case sensitive accounts may further tighten your security (e.g. RoCkY450).
Don’t Use a Password That Can be Found on Your Blog
Using a password for your blog that can be found/seen on your blog’s header or post is a very stupid thing to do. Do not in any under circumstances do this as it will only put your blog at a high risk of being hacked.
Avoid Using Public Computers
There have been series of incidents reported of Blogger blogs that have been hacked after the blogger used a public computer. This is because some bloggers may have not logged out completely from their blogger account or gmail account. If this happens, anyone who follows after you in using the public computer can easily access your email and blog. Here’s a video that demonstrate how hacking could happen on public computers.
Set Your Browser According to Your Preferred Security Level
Almost all internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox etc.) allow you to set security according to how you desire it to be. I hope you’ve done this already. I also encourage you to use the latest version of whatever internet browser you are using. Most of the updates done are security related which means using the latest version will also improve your security while browsing the net. Don’t worry as most browsers and updates to it are free of charge.
Use Anti-Virus Softwares on Your Computer
Anti-Virus and Firewall are essential softwares that you should install on your computer to heighten your security. Viruses, spywares, trojans, malwares etc. are programs created by hackers to make it possible for them to access your account, password, user name etc. Once your computer gets infected by these programs you are at a high risk of getting hacked. You will be able to protect yourself from these programs through the use of Anti-Virus softwares. There are plenty of softwares available on the market but I’d recommend you to use the more established brands (e.g. Norton, McAfee). Always remember to keep updating your virus definitions as well as operating system for any available patches. You should also regularly scan your computer for viruses. You can check this link or this link for more information on protecting your computer from viruses.
Register and Use Your Own Domain Name
This may not be a ‘Hack Prevention Related Tip’ but having your own domain name and use it on your blog may lessen the damage that might be caused by hackers. Assuming that your blog has been hacked and the hacker decided to deleted it, all you need to do is create a new blog and redirect your domain name to it. Although your domain name getting hacked is another story.
Always Back-up All Your Post / Content
Again, this may not be a ‘Hack Prevention Related Tip’ but I believe it’s very useful to back up your all your posts / contents. Most Blogger blogs that disappear, along with it are the contents. After working everyday to create valuable posts for your readers, you’ve suddenly lost all of it in one day. In my case, I’ve created a folder on my laptop where I save all the contents I’ve created for Blogging Mix. In case Blogging Mix gets hacked and was deleted, I can always open another blog and redirect my domain name to my new blog. Furthermore, I don’t have to worry about creating content.
Observing the points listed above will certainly protect your blog and your other accounts from being hacked. Always remember that prevention is better than cure. If I were you, I’ll take all precautionary measure to prevent hacking from ever happening.
From bloggingmix.com
It turned out that most Blogger blogs that have been hacked were due to the bloggers’ carelessness. In today’s post, I’ve listed some tips that can help Blogger users reduce the risk of their blogs being hacked. Most of these tips are common sense but it would still be worth reading.
Keep Your Personal Information Private
Making your private information accessible by the public makes your blog at a high risk of being hacked. Information you share on your accounts on social networking sites such as Friendster, Myspace, Facebook etc. could be used to hack your blogs. These private information include but not limited to birthday, full name, address and telephone number. I advice you to use an Alias instead and refrain from divulging your personal data. I’m sure MySpace wouldn’t mind if you try to make your age younger.
Avoid Using One Password For All Accounts You Create
I’ve made this mistake before of using one password for all accounts that I create. This is because I thought it would be easier to remember as I’m only using one password for all my accounts (Friendster, MySpace, BlogCatalog, BlogsRecord etc.) but it’s actually another way of heightening the risk of getting my blog or all my accounts for this matter, to be hacked. To minimize the chances of getting your blog hacked, use different passwords for your different accounts. Make sure to write down your user names and passwords on a piece of paper and keep it on a safe place. It may sound rude but sharing your user names and or passwords to your family or spouse may increase the risk of getting your accounts hacked.
Use ‘Alpha-Numeric’ Passwords
When you create a password for your blog or email, use a combination of number and alphabet. This will dramatically lessen your account’s chances of getting hacked (e.g. 3p2jerusalem). The use of lower or upper case for case sensitive accounts may further tighten your security (e.g. RoCkY450).
Don’t Use a Password That Can be Found on Your Blog
Using a password for your blog that can be found/seen on your blog’s header or post is a very stupid thing to do. Do not in any under circumstances do this as it will only put your blog at a high risk of being hacked.
Avoid Using Public Computers
There have been series of incidents reported of Blogger blogs that have been hacked after the blogger used a public computer. This is because some bloggers may have not logged out completely from their blogger account or gmail account. If this happens, anyone who follows after you in using the public computer can easily access your email and blog. Here’s a video that demonstrate how hacking could happen on public computers.
Set Your Browser According to Your Preferred Security Level
Almost all internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox etc.) allow you to set security according to how you desire it to be. I hope you’ve done this already. I also encourage you to use the latest version of whatever internet browser you are using. Most of the updates done are security related which means using the latest version will also improve your security while browsing the net. Don’t worry as most browsers and updates to it are free of charge.
Use Anti-Virus Softwares on Your Computer
Anti-Virus and Firewall are essential softwares that you should install on your computer to heighten your security. Viruses, spywares, trojans, malwares etc. are programs created by hackers to make it possible for them to access your account, password, user name etc. Once your computer gets infected by these programs you are at a high risk of getting hacked. You will be able to protect yourself from these programs through the use of Anti-Virus softwares. There are plenty of softwares available on the market but I’d recommend you to use the more established brands (e.g. Norton, McAfee). Always remember to keep updating your virus definitions as well as operating system for any available patches. You should also regularly scan your computer for viruses. You can check this link or this link for more information on protecting your computer from viruses.
Register and Use Your Own Domain Name
This may not be a ‘Hack Prevention Related Tip’ but having your own domain name and use it on your blog may lessen the damage that might be caused by hackers. Assuming that your blog has been hacked and the hacker decided to deleted it, all you need to do is create a new blog and redirect your domain name to it. Although your domain name getting hacked is another story.
Always Back-up All Your Post / Content
Again, this may not be a ‘Hack Prevention Related Tip’ but I believe it’s very useful to back up your all your posts / contents. Most Blogger blogs that disappear, along with it are the contents. After working everyday to create valuable posts for your readers, you’ve suddenly lost all of it in one day. In my case, I’ve created a folder on my laptop where I save all the contents I’ve created for Blogging Mix. In case Blogging Mix gets hacked and was deleted, I can always open another blog and redirect my domain name to my new blog. Furthermore, I don’t have to worry about creating content.
Observing the points listed above will certainly protect your blog and your other accounts from being hacked. Always remember that prevention is better than cure. If I were you, I’ll take all precautionary measure to prevent hacking from ever happening.
From bloggingmix.com
