Archive for the ‘Staying safe on the internet’ Category

There's almost nothing worse than your website getting hacked, and possibly having to endure days of problems while the host retrieves your files and/or gets you to repair the site.  It's important to have some basic knowledge about what happens, as you may be able to save yourself some pain, or minimize it if something does happen to your website! Read the rest of this entry »

Ever experienced losing a password? And having to waste time getting a reset code or link emailed to you? Or having to register yet again? We have .. many times!! Until we found a wonderful little tool recently.

I was quite amazed to discover a wonderful little tool called LastPass about 6 months ago and I’ve been delighted with how useful this gadget has been, and how well implemented it is. LastPass encrypts and saves your passwords safely in a database and will allow you to share them across computers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ever heard of a Firesheep? Firesheep is a Firefox (web browser) plugin that allows a bad guy to hijack an open session and pretend they are you.  This means that, for instance, if you are logged into Facebook, said bad guy can take over your session with only a few clicks. Read the rest of this entry »

A client of ours asked us to make a few changes to her website which we of course, obliged. Whist updating her site, I came across a random link that wasn’t part of the normal menu structure which once clicked, takes you to a hidden page of a random, bullet-pointed list of keywords that had no relevance to her site (arts and crafts): Read the rest of this entry »

Below is an example of a new phishing scam intended to steal your email login. It is a scam. Delete the email straight away!   We can't emphasize the importance of extreme caution when faced with requests for your password – a reputable support organization already knows your password, or doesn't need it to do their job!  The nasty trick is, these messages are getting cleverer and cleverer and it's becoming very easy to get sucked in.  By the way – one clear and very common giveaway that they're not legitimate?  Spelling and grammar errors!!  Beware though – the latest scams often get their spelling correct!

Text of the latest spoof follows: Read the rest of this entry »

…Unless you take security seriously. Full stop. Often times, it’s not a matter of “if”, but rather “when”. We are doing all that we can to ensure the server remains secure, but we need you to do your part as well.

Here are 5 basic steps to prevent your site from being hacked: Read the rest of this entry »

How to tell the difference between Good, Bad, and downright Dangerous.

We sometimes have clients contacting us in desperation when it comes to SEO – either because they have no idea who to trust, or worse, because they’ve been ripped off by what’s know as ‘black hat’ SEO fly-by-nighters. Black hat means they are the ‘dodgy brothers’ of the SEO game and best avoided.

But how do you know who’s honest Joe? And who’s going not only rip you off, but may also get your site black banned on Google, or worse, destroy your good name and leave your online reputation in tatters? Read the rest of this entry »

A client of ours recently employed the services of an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) company. They sent her a "report" of the work that they had done to date which she sent to us and, as a result, prompted us to do a bit of digging, as the info in the report just wasn't quite right… Read the rest of this entry »

There’s been a lot written in the media over recent months on Senator Conroy’s idea of filtering the internet, so I thought I’d write an article to explain some of the issues and to talk about what you can do to protect your family right now.

Firstly, does the proposed internet filter protect our children? In short – no, in fact, and perhaps surprisingly, it makes it much harder to do so! Let’s talk about why that’s so in more detail – because in a lot of ways that runs counter to what you’d think. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever tried to start your car with your house keys? How about using your office key to unlock the front door of Westpac afterhours? You’d never think of it right… or would you?   [Don't answer that!] … Read the rest of this entry »