23-02-2013, 11:36 AM
10 Tips to Prevent Hackers
Tips to Prevent.doc (Size: 400.5 KB / Downloads: 20)
INTRODUCTION
Hackers have been around for too long, usually associated with dark themes and “the evil side” they represent the minority of IT Gurus that just have too much time on their hands, and a touch of evilness.
Usually represented with a skull or “horrifically” they are iconic in a never ending battle against internet crime.
Your hosting provider should have set up your server with a certain amount of security built-in. However, there’s much you can do yourself to ensure your site stays unmolested.
Hackers play an “unwanted” yet a significant role on the net, it creates thousands if not millions of jobs, in the IT field but they are a menace to webmasters, such as you and me alike.
Not to worry, because the following list of “Ten Tips” aims to tell you a little about the way malicious hackers work, and some ways of protecting your site-and inevitably preserving the privacy of your visitors.
Ten Tips to Prevent Hackers
Comment Attacks
Comments are one of most prized features for blogs, and helps create a great relationship between the author and the reader, and also between readers in the wider community. It would also be easy for someone to insert HTML code that causes trouble.
You need to “validate” the form input before it’s accepted, to strip out all but the most basic HTML tags, for example and also if you’re using WordPress – you can utilize the “Keyword Filter” to block out any harsh words that might raise an issue or two.
Unsolicited Installation of Scripts
It can be dangerous to install third-party scripts and programs on your website unless you understand what they are actually doing. Even if you don’t fully understand the programming, you can read through the code and look for tell-tale signs such as references to third-party URLS.
You can also visit community forums such as SitePoint and DigitalPoint to ask around for better advice.
Avoid Scam/Spammy Websites
In a desperate attempt to get visitors you might consider try extensive viral marketing and other means of gaining the attention, this may cause a few people in the wrong community to raise a few eyebrows.
The last thing you need as a settled web-master is to cause a stir amongst the wrong people. Stay away from websites and especially forums that offer “information” or “get traffic quick” that uses illegal spam lists and such.
Clear the Cookies!
Personally, I use a lot of public computers to blog and do other online activities, maybe because it’s convenient or my unreliable ISP crashed on my once more. Inevitable there’s many, many webmasters like me that use public services for either a quick access or regular work.
Just don’t forget to clear out the cookies and cache before you leave! Even if the service provider claims “no tracking of privacy” or anything along those lines, a quick clean before you leave wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Prevent illegal farmers’ from “harvesting” your lists
Hacking techniques are used to “harvest” email addresses, which are then used by spammers and other hackers for malicious activities. If you are storing email data on your website, for what-ever required reason, make sure it’s stored in a secure format, such as a MySQL Database.
Most top-CMS such as WordPress and Joomla make this compulsory but there’s many self written CMS’s too. If your script simply writes data to a text called “emails.txt” it won’t be long before someone sniffs it out.