More security help for WordPress

Via Blogging Pro comes 10 Steps To Protect The Admin Area In WordPress | Developer’s Toolbox. These apply more to those who are running WordPress through their own domain than those who are hosting on WordPress.com, if I have that right.

The administration area of a Web application is a favorite target of hackers and thus particularly well protected. The same goes for WordPress: when creating a blog, the system creates an administrative user with a perfectly secure password and blocks public access to the settings area with a log-in page. This is the cornerstone of its protection. Let’s dig deeper!

This article focuses on defending the administration area of WordPress, meaning all those pages in the wp-admin folder (or http://www.yourblog.com/wp-admin/) that are displayed after a user a verified. We highlighted the phrase “after a user is verified” deliberately: it should be explicitly understood that only a simple query stands in the way of an evil hacker and the powerful admin area of your whole blog. The latter is only as strong as the passwords that are generated.

Filed under: Technology , internet security, Technology, WordPress

More Google troubles?

UPDATE: Here are some tips to backup the various data on Google.

Mark Gousch shares a short essay at Weblog Tools Collection about his experience with Orkut, a social media-like app from Google.

I trust Google. I use GMail as my primary email address and store stuff in my mailbox that is of crucial importance to my existence as a citizen of this modern world. Over the past couple of months, Google’s Orkut has dealt a deadly blow to that trust that is making me rethink my allegiance towards anything Google.

It womewhat mirrored my experience with Google support. The comments are worth reading.

Filed under: Google, Technology , Google, technical support

Hackers ahead!

Hackers Crack Into Texas Road Sign, Warn of Zombies Ahead

Transportation officials in Texas are scrambling to prevent hackers from changing messages on digital road signs after one sign in Austin was altered to read, “Zombies Ahead.”

Hackers Get Details of 4.5 Million Monster.com Members

The personal details of millions of job seekers have been stolen in the largest data theft in Britain, The Times has learned.

Hackers gained access to confidential details provided by 4.5 million people to Monster.co.uk, the online recruitment site.

What the Web knows about you

She had me at hello … or just about. Our conversation had barely started when privacy activist Betty Ostergren interrupted me to say that she had found my full name, address, Social Security number and a digital image of my signature on the Web.

From a magazine I receive (Don’t ask me why I get it, I just do), 10 Security Predictions For 2009. Number two states the bad economy will cause an increase in security crimes and number three names social networks as a prime target.

Filed under: Technology , computers, hackers, hacking, personal security, social networks

In-car computing

They don’t want us using cell phones while driving, but they’re going to give us this?

In March, Ford will release a fully functional, dashboard computer — complete with keyboard — geared to contractors and other business folks who want to access the Web, review documents and log inventory while on the go. In the spring, AT&T will launch an in-car entertainment service with 22 satellite TV channels.

Soon we won’t need houses.

Filed under: Technology , automobiles, cell phones, Technology

Digital transition – one more thing

Your wireless mics frequency may need to change,

This was something that I wasn’t aware of until this week. If anyone uses wireless mics for your group or church, you may need to adjust your frequencies after the DTV transition is complete. I’ll be honest and say that I know very little about sound equipment, so maybe some of you tech-heads can clue me in with further details about how the new DTV channels will affect wireless signals.

More at the link, including a statement from Shure.

Filed under: Technology, Television , television digital conversion, wireless microphones

‘The Mother of all Demos,’ 40 years later

From the TechRepublic Photo Gallery

comes a slide show of a presentation by Douglas Engelbart forty years ago that would change computing forever.

It’s possible, some have said, that there never had been, nor never would be, another presentation that unveiled as many new paradigm-shifting technologies. They included the world’s first publicly seen mouse, as well as the introduction of hyperlinks and navigable windows. The presentation, which is visible in its entirety, drew a standing ovation.

Here’s a picture of the mouse:

More at the link.

Filed under: Technology , computer, Douglas Engelbart, mouse

A Day in the Life of a Web 2.0 Hacker

Here’s an article in PC Magazine that deserves wide reading. For example,

10 a.m. It’s time to unleash my new Facebook app, a cute game about putting kittens in the microwave that’s really designed to harvest your personal information. By running my app you agree to share your entire profile with me, and if you’ve posted anything even remotely useful to me (like a credit card number), then I figure you deserve to have me steal it. Here’s an similar bit of trickery I wish I’d thought of: In March 2008, the Aurigma ActiveX image uploader was used to cause buffer overflow attacks that planted malware on users’ PCs.

Read the rest of the day. Then protect yourself.

My computer savvy friends no doubt already know all this stuff. I know I’ve become very leary of Facebook aps.

Filed under: Privacy issues, Technology , computer security, Facebook, Google Docs, hacking, MySpace, Web 2.0

McCain texting his VP choice

I couldn’t resist.

Especially after seeing this on techPresident.

I tried to sign back in, but, of course, I’ve forgotten my password (none of the ones I thought I had used worked). So I clicked to have it sent to me and lo and behold, they have no record of my e-mail address!

Evidently signing up for the previous McCainSpace had no effect on the latest one. I signed up for one with no problem.

But McCain seems to be light years behind Obama in this area.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, Political cartoons, Technology, presidential , Barack Obama, John McCain, Political cartoons, social networking

The election and the web

An e-mail from techPresident informs me that the last post on John McCain’s blog was Mar. 4 and before that was Feb. 25. What’s up with that?

On a related note, I signed up for a “MyMcCainSpace” a while back and I can’t logon. All I get is this error page.

Maybe he’s conceding the internet to Obama and MoveOn.org who have some ambitious plans, it seems.

Some other news on the technology front, courtesy of techPresident.

YouTube is expanding its popular YouChoose platform to Senators, Congressman, and state candidates.

There was also a link to a site called TubeMogul which had an analysis of the correlation between online video views and donations to presidential candidates. Fascinating.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, Technology, presidential , 2008 presidential election, John McCain, Moveon.org, Technology, YouTube

Thanks, Congress.

Because they just needed to “do something,” they extended Daylight Savings Time by four weeks this year, creating headaches for everyone with technological devices.

Three clocks that set their times via radio and WWVB in Colorado, had to be set to Eastern Time last week and back to Central Time this week to give the right time.

I have a DVD/VCR player that gets its time automatically, too. It went back one hour last week and another hour Sunday! I’m gonna have to find the book now to see what I can do, besides set it manually.

Filed under: Technology , daylight savings time, year 2007 problem