Within the last week, I received a notification from Google that visitors had reported one of my sites, www.email.tellmeaboutthat.com, was a phishing site. Google contacted me because I have Google ads on all 94 of my sites. That same day, I received a notification from my hosting provider, Host Gator, that they had detected malicious script in that same site. Host Gator’s security team took care of it for me and I went in and cleaned up the mess that the hacker had left behind.
Host Gator recommended that I change my cPanel and FTP passwords to prevent further attacks. Here’s the thing, I used a password generator that helps you create passwords that are difficult to break the code on. I say difficult because, obviously, someone was able to get in and mess with my site script. The password that I used had nothing to do with anything in my personal life. It was not made up of names of people in my life, their birth dates, anniversaries, pets names, my favorite car or anything like that. In fact it was an arbitrary set of words, numbers and symbols that I made up, in anger, after the last time I got hacked. The password generator gave me a “very strong” rating, the highest rating you can get on that particular software.
Why am I telling you this? Because I love you guys and want you to know that no matter how strong or impossible to break you think your last name and birth year password is, someone can figure it out. I learned that the bad guys use encryption software that can scan your ID’s and passwords and figure them out. This applies to your online banking, social sites such as Twitter and Face book, email access and work computers. So if you use the same password for everything, or you use passwords based on people, dates and events in your life, then change them.
This isn’t just about hackers changing web pages and causing havoc for site owners such as myself, but everything you do on line. Here are some tips from Host Gator for setting passwords:
A strong password is a password that meets the following guidelines:
- Be seven or fourteen characters long, due to the way in which encryption works. For obvious reasons, fourteen characters are preferable.
- Contain both uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Contain numbers.
- Contain symbols, such as ` ! ” ? $ ? % ^ & * ( ) _ – + = { [ } ] : ; @ ‘ ~ # | \ < , > . ? /
- Contain a symbol in the second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth position (due to the way in which encryption works).
- Not resemble any of your previous passwords.
- Not be your name, your friend’s or family member’s name, or your login.
- Not be a dictionary word or common name
Even if you do all of the above, a determined hacker can still get in, but if you occasionally change the password you’ll make it more difficult. Identity theft is at an all time high, so protect what is yours.
By the way, I do not allow any type of phishing from my sites nor do my sites collect cookies. I’m not interested in collecting your personal information. I only want to entertain and enlighten you.
Don’t forget to go to the links on the right and finish you Christmas shopping.
I’ve decided to try and bring you some good news today. So let’s see what the front page says.
The health insurance industry came out and said that the health care reform bill would increase premiums an average of $1,700 per family by 2013. Well that’s not good! The White House accused them of being self-serving. Hmmm!
A 6 year old, excited about becoming a cub scout, brought his camping utensils to school. He was suspended and sent to a 45 day reform school for bringing a weapon to school. What? That’s not good, in fact that’s stupid.
North Korea test fired five more missiles. Darn, the sanctions didn’t work again, just like the last 50 times. Are we really surprised by this?
OK! So it’s the same stuff over and over. I guess there is no good news. It just seems that the same old bad news drags on and on. So let’s talk about car sound systems.
Today you can get a sound system in your vehicle that goes way beyond just the sound. With 12 speakers, AM/FM, CD changers that hold 12 disc’s, satellite radio and rear seat DVD players, why do you need to ever leave your car? Well it’s not so exciting for the driver, but the passengers are having a ball.
When I purchased my first car, a ’62 Chevy Impala, it came with an AM radio. I purchased an 8 track player and received an FM converter for my birthday. I was the coolest guy in the neighborhood. Later AM/FM radio’s were standard and after that AM/FM/Cassettes. Now there is almost no limit to what you can get to be cool. Bluetooth systems allow us to receive and make calls without holding the phone. Even the navigation systems can be voice activated. There are built in systems for getting help when something is wrong with you or the vehicle or if you just get lost, guys. I’m just upset because I’m always the driver when we go out and I’ve never had the opportunity to watch a movie in my own truck.
There are so many advances in automobile entertainment and information systems (it just doesn’t seem right to call them sound systems), that I can’t possibly cover it all here. So go visit my site www.Auto-Sound.TellMeAboutThat.com and see how much you can spend with the $1,700 you’ll save when the health care reform bill doesn’t go through.
Leave me a comment and let me know what you would like to hear about. The comment area can be reached by clicking on that little piece of paper to the right of the title of this posting.
I think I need help. I’m having trouble keeping up with technology. Let’s narrow that down a little, I don’t think I understand where television is or where it’s going.
I was watching TV ( what did you think I was going to say) when they mentioned not only HDTV but something called SDTV and some terms I never heard of before. I mean how am I expected to have the latest stuff when they keep changing the standard.
It’s been hard for me and nobody seems to care. Years ago my wife started collecting “Disney Classics”. That’s OK, I like Disney, but just when she had just about everything they made on VHS, along came DVD. So, did she just pick up where she left off. NO!! Now we had to start over and get everything in DVD format. Not only that but I had to have a VCR/DVD player hooked to every television in the house. Now we are moving to Blu-Ray. Here we go again. It’s not just the cost involved, but I’m running out of space.
Same thing with television. Color, digital, HDTV and SDTV, flat panel, plasma, where does it end. Can we just take a break in innovation for about three years while I catch up? Please?
Let’s go back to a simpler time when my Great Uncle John bought his first TV. It was a black and white by Magnavox. He was the first of his family and friends to have one and he suddenly became very popular. OH!! I forgot to mention that it was advertised as a “Giant Screen”. Yep, the screen was a full nine inches. AH!! The good old days.
Anyway, if you’d like to know more about the available TV technology, go to www.tv.TellMeAboutThat.com.
