It's a Bloggable Life

Google search results hijacked by javascript

2008-04-02T13:01:00.005-04:00

USA Today has reported that 7 out of every 10 google search results could potentially be vulnerable to a javascript hack that silently installs a host of malware onto the computers of unsuspecting users. The exploit works by targeting websites with insecure javascript that can be manipulated in search engine results. For example:

Hackers target specific url's on a major website (i.e. a link to a news story, blog, etc)
You perform a search on google, and you happen to find and click on an exploited link.
To you, the user, nothing out of the ordinary happens. The link opens the page you are looking for, but in the background an invisible redirected connection is opened up and begins transmitting keyloggers, malware, spyware, and who knows what else to your computer.

So what can you do about this?

The standard 'anti-virus' disclaimer fits here: keep your anti-virus software up to date, make sure you have all the latest security patches from microsoft, and never accept unsolicited downloads. Unfortunately, if you opt for just
As bloggers and webmasters we also have the added responsibility of making sure the content we put on our sites is secure. It is very easy to plop some javascript into a blog or on a website, so it is good practice to know what you are distributing to your visitors.

Free traffic for your blog

2008-03-29T21:44:00.003-04:00

I was browsing through Blogcatalog tonight and found a great concept for a blog - Part Time Blogger - the journey to becoming a problogger. I can't believe I didn't think of this idea! I think a lot of us are in the same situation: full time job during the day, and part time blogger at night (or less frequent for some of us). His blog is relatively new, but I can imagine that it will be picking up in traffic in the future.

Right now there is a great opportunity to add yourself to his 'part timer' community. Read this post and request your blog to be added to the list. His blog header has a button titled "random part time blogger" that links to a random blog on his list. There is also a list here that provides links to all the 'part timers'...you can't beat free traffic!

While you are there, be sure to check out his categories list. There is a lot of great information.

Are you spamming yourself with junkmail?

2008-03-25T21:10:00.006-04:00

A friend of mine over at Knowledge from the Noodle recently found a mysterious email in his inbox...a spam email apparently from himself! Does he have a virus? a botnet infection? a stolen password? a split personality??

Fortunately, the answer to all the above is most likely no. This is an example of an email exploit known as spoofing. From wikipedia:

E-mail spoofing is a term used to describe fraudulent email activity in which the sender address and other parts of the email header are altered to appear as though the email originated from a different source. E-mail spoofing is a technique commonly used for spam e-mail and phishing to hide the origin of an e-mail message. By changing certain properties of the e-mail, such as the From, Return-Path and Reply-To fields (which can be found in the message header), ill-intentioned users can make the e-mail appear to be from someone other than the actual sender.

When you get one of these, just treat it as you would a regular spam email. As always, though, it is good practice to do the following...even when you don't get spam from yourself.

Avoid publishing your full email address on public forums, websites, or anywhere else where it can be harvested for spam lists.
Change your passwords on a regular basis.
Keep your anti-virus definition files up to date.

How to add a third column to a blogger template

2008-03-18T20:35:00.002-04:00

Do you want to add a third column to your blogger template? How about switching the position of the sidebar? If you are willing to get your hands dirty with a little HTML, keep reading.

I found an excellent "do it yourself" guide on modifying the standard templates on a blog called Tips for New Bloggers. A high level understanding of HTML definitely helps, but is not necessary. You are guided to the appropriate spots to cut and paste, so it is pretty painless.

As I worked through the guide, I discovered a few tips that helped the process along.

Save one copy of the template to your computer before you make any changes. This will be your "just in case" copy.
Save another copy of the template to your computer to work with.
Open the working copy with wordpad for easy editing. You can quickly find the sections you need by using the search feature. The blogger HTML editor does not have this, so you have to manually scan the code for the correct sections. Not to mention if you click outside the scroll box it takes you to the top of the window again...which gets annoying really quick.
Upload the template with changes to blogger. You will be prompted with an error message if you made any mistakes. If you have errors, you can either try to fix your mistake or start over with a fresh copy.

If you have any questions about the process, feel free to comment and I'll try to help.

How to add a privacy notice to your blogger blog

2008-03-16T18:45:00.005-04:00

For those of you who participate in the Google Adsense program, there has been a significant change to the terms of service you should be aware of. From the program participation section... "You must have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website. Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management."

The entire policy does not have to be posted on your main blog page. All you need is an easily accessible link to the policy somewhere on your blog. Here's how to do this:

Find (or write) a privacy policy that is in compliance with the terms of service. JenSense has graciously provided a very "copy and paste-able" policy you can use.
Enter and publish your privacy policy as a you would a standard blog post.
Click on the post's title to go to the exact address of the post. Copy the html address.
Add a "text" page element to the area you want to post your link (i.e. sidebar or footer).
Type in some text to represent your link, such as 'Privacy Policy'. Highlight the text, click the link button, and paste in the address from step 3.
Save the page element.

To see an example, my privacy policy link is to the right below the subscribe button.

Privacy Policy

2008-03-12T21:58:00.003-04:00

The privacy of our visitors to It's a Bloggable Life is important to us.

At It's a Bloggable Life, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you visit It's a Bloggable Life, and how we safeguard your information. We never sell your personal information to third parties.

As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL or Shaw Cable), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.

We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as forums.

We also use third party advertisements on It's a Bloggable Life to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).

You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

Scammers targeting bloggers

2008-03-07T19:34:00.004-05:00

I've talked about ridiculous scams people fall for such as advance fee fraud and construction paper money, but today I read about a scam on Problogger that is not only a lot more plausible but also hits closer to home.

This latest scam targets bloggers. Here's a post from Tony Hung's blog with all the details, but to summarize it goes like this:

Scammer sends a request to a blogger to buy advertisement space on the blog, and it is usually a generous offer. (This could possibly be your first red flag).
The excited blogger loves the idea and agrees. The scammer sends a check in the mail.
Blogger gets the check, but the scammer accidentally sent too much money! (Another flag).
Scammer asks for the "extra" to be returned ASAP for some urgent reason.
Blogger sends the "extra" back.
Bank notifies blogger the original check has bounced.

The important lessons here are a) Be overly cautious with any offer that seems excessive based on your blog statistics, and b) Wait for the check to clear!

A suitcase of nigerian money for you

2008-02-12T21:14:00.005-05:00

In my last post I talked about nigerian 419 scams and how incredibly gullible some people can be. Despite things like bad grammar, incorrect facts, poor spelling, and unbelievable high dollar amounts in an email that identifies you only as sir/madam...I guess that is somewhat plausible, right?

Now, picture this scenario: a man from a foreign country brings you a suitcase of what appears to be black construction paper. He tells you that it is money he had to smuggle out of the country, but only by covering it with a "blackening chemical agent" to make the money appear to just be black paper..how clever! Of course, the downside is he can't use any of it in its current form. Here's the deal...you give him a few thousand dollars so he can buy the "clean the blackening chemical off agent", and he will share the money with you. As a sign of good faith, he will even leave the suitcase with all the money in it with you.

Honestly, who's going to fall for that scam??

Meet Dr. Sloan, a heart surgeon who forked out $340,000 !

Emails from Nigeria

2008-02-01T02:36:00.004-05:00

It appears I have a lot of wealthy friends in Nigeria that desperately want to give me their money. I don' t know what I did to get so popular, but I get a least one of these emails every day now. If you haven't been fortunate enough to get one of these yet, it's called a Nigeria 419 Scam. The premise of the email is:

A government official/prince/bank official/political prisoner/dying heir has a huge chunk of cash they need to get out of the country quickly.
All you, the ususpecting victim, have to do is agree to accept a full transfer of the money into your bank account until the sender can collect it from you at a later date. That is, minus the 20 - 60% you get to keep for being such a nice person!
No strings attached...well, that is until some unforseen obstacle comes up and the sender needs some money from you to pay for an expense needed to "facilitate the transfer". What's a couple thousand when you are getting millions, right?
You western union the money to the sender, then all you get is the burning sensation of humiliation when he disappears.

Who would actually fall for something like this? Apparently a LOT of people, this scam pulls in anywhere from 300 to 500 million per year!

As I was searching for more information on 419 scams, I learned about the art of scambaiting. I certainly don't advise trying this yourself, these ARE criminals we are talking about here, but a great site to read some of the hilarious cases of scammers getting scammed can be found at 419eater.com.

The moral of the story is friends don't let friends wire money to Nigeria. Send this to your friends and family that may be inclined to cooperate in a get rich quick scheme with someone in a foreign country.