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Websites, Hacking and Online Security

You would think a magazine named Vanity Fair might be all about fashion and culture  and rich people – which it is, but it’s also one of the best resources I have for in-depth articles about Internet Security, or the lack thereof.

A few months ago, they had an article on Stuxnet, a hacking type program (trojan horse) that some government allegedly created to interfere with another country’s nuclear weapons program.  Fascinating.  And terrifying.

The most recent issue had another article about hacking and how all the major companies and government agencies and Google, etc. have all been hacked, with the implication that the culprit is the Chinese government and that cyber warfare has been with us for some time, but no one wants to admit it because shareholders might get upset.   Please – let us get upset.  We couldn’t get much more upset than we already are. 

Even scarier!

What I’ve taken away from all my reading is that:

  1. If someone wants to hack your website, they will
  2. The fact that they can is not a reason to make it easy for them.

I seriously doubt I or my clients need to worry about a government hacking our websites, but there is more than adequate evidence to support our worrying about everyday crooks hacking our website, bank/credit card accounts or home computers.  

So, make sure your passwords are difficult.  “Difficult” means that until you have typed a password 30 or 40 times, there’s no way in the world you could ever memorize it.  

Your name with the last character capitalized and then 3 digits from your zip code is not “difficult”.   

jdfFf21$1dj!!VCV    —Now that’s difficult.  (It’s also not my password for anything)

It’s your life.  And it’s your bank account.  And it’s your website.   You might not be able to make it hack-proof, but you can darn well make it really difficult for a hacker to get in. 

It’s just like protecting your home.  You can leave the front door open.  You can leave the front door closed but unlocked.  You can leave the front door closed and locked.  Or, you can lock the front door and have a deadbolt and a yappy dog and a motion detector security light and an alarm system.   Which one do you think the burglar is going to like?

Be safe.

September 3rd, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Security | Leave a comment

Norton Safe Web Submission

I use Norton Internet Security and when I do a search, it will show the results with a little green circle with “OK” in it, meaning that Norton has visited that page and it’s not a threat.  If they haven’t visited it, you can get them to and, thus, show the green “ok” symbol by claiming the site.

http://safeweb.norton.com/help/site_owners

If I’m looking for something, I pay attention to that little green circle, and I’m sure other people do, too, especially if they’re planning to shop.  

If I manage your site, all you need to do is setup an account with Norton (link above) and then give me your login info and I’ll take it from there. 

Any way we can add even just a bit more credibility to an ecommerce site is good.

Addendum – the same applies to McAfee. http://www.siteadvisor.com

August 16th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Ecommerce | Leave a comment

Just a quick note to say that I completely understand a client’s frustration when I tell them that their website needs to be redone because the design is not conducive to getting ranked well.

Often, the client has spent thousands of dollars for their website, and they don’t want to hear that it isn’t good enough and they need to spend thousands more.

However, things change in the world of the web. How sites are designed has changed drastically from when I built my first site in 1997.  How search engines “read” sites has also changed.  And both of those things will continue changing.

It doesn’t mean the previous design was bad when it was done (although it may have been).

Just as you would maintain and update a physical business or home, you need to do the same with a website. We don’t walk out to wells to pump water to bring to the house. We’ve progressed. And if you’re old enough to read this, then you’re no doubt old enough to remember when there wasn’t an Internet as we know it today.  Times change; technology changes; websites must change.

So, the best advice I can give is to plan for these changes.  Plan now for that next overhaul.

Depending on your site, it might cost $800 or it might cost $5000 (or more). Find a web designer/developer with good references and trust them to do a good job for you and tell you when changes need to be made. And set aside an amount every year so that when the time comes, you’ll be prepared.

July 21st, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Website Basics | Leave a comment

Google Shopping Submission Changing

If you submit your products to Google Shopping, be aware that you will probably need to redo your feed/spreadsheet to comply with the new requirements posted here.

The deadline for compliance is August 31, so if you have a lot of products, better get cracking!

July 12th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Ecommerce | Leave a comment

Google’s Plus and +1

If you’ve noticed the “+1″ by sites in search results or on ads and wondered what it was, it’s Google’s way of letting you recommend websites or companies. Kind of cool, assuming some black hats out there don’t figure out a way to spam it and give a website unwarranted pluses.

Along the same lines, I heard a piece on the radio recently about Google’s new Plus program which is only being tested right now. It’s similar to Facebook, but they’ve designed it to be much easier to use, especially with regard to having a single identity but having “circles” of different groups, like family, colleagues, customers, etc. And, for me, the biggest deal is that they’re promising that if you want to delete your account, it gets deleted entirely from their server. That’s the exact opposite of Facebook, which I’ve grown to hate for its intrusiveness and how difficult they make it to protect one’s privacy. I think it’s fine for businesses, but it’s way too Big Brother for my personal life.

June 30th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: Interesting | Leave a comment
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