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Windows Secrets Newsletter website hacked

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Windows Secrets Newsletter website hacked

Windows Secrets is known by many for its newsletter that gets sound out regularly to free and paid subscribers of the site. At its core, it is a news site that is publishing its stories on its website and the newsletter, with some articles released exclusively to paid subscribers of the service. Articles are written by professionals and experts making this one of the few newsletters around the web that is worth subscribing to.

It recently became known that the Windows Secrets Newsletter website got hacked. The attacker managed to brute force an administrator account to gain access to the site. Using the account, the hacker planted malicious code on the site to get access to the site’s database and information. When subscribers and editors started to receive spam that appeared to come from Windows Secrets, site administrators began an investigation to find out what was going on.

They discovered the hacked administrator account and malicious code on the website, and removed all traces of the code and attack from the site. A full audit of the website, servers and sites on the same network is still undergoing.

Windows Secret users need to know what has been compromised. According to site operators, the following information could have been exposed:

subscriber name, e-mail address, reader number, ZIP code (if applicable), geographic region, and hashed password — all the entries on your profile page.

It seems fairly certain that email addresses have been exposed, considering that users have received spam in the last days.  Payment information are not kept on site, and credit card processing is handled by a third party service exclusively. There is no indication at the time of writing that financial information were compromised in the attack.

It is recommended to change the account password at the earliest convenience on this page to protect the account from third party access. Subscribers who have used the same password on other sites should change it on those sites as well as it is likely that the attacker will try to use the email and password combination to log in on popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Google (provided that the brute-forcing of hashed passwords is successful of course). (thanks Ilev)

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday September 20, 2012 -
Tags:Hacking, newsletter
Categories: Security

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Zulu URL Risk Analyzer, Website Safety Check

If you have never visited a website before, you do not really know what’s in store for you. The only information you have at this point are the web address, the anchor tag and the source of the link. Especially the source can provide you with insight about the link. If you trust the source, you may also trust the destination for instance.

Some users install add-ons and extensions that aid and protect them on the Internet. Add-ons like Web of Trust or URL X-Ray for the Firefox web browser.

Zulu URL Risk Analyzer offers another possibility. The online scanner runs various security related checks on the selected website to report an overall score in the end.

The service runs the following checks:

Content Checks: Phishing Heuristics, Zscaler Content Check, Zscaler Obfuscated JavaScript CheckURL Checks: Suspicious Domain Name, Zscaler URL Check, Top-Level Domain Risk, SURBL BlockHost Checks: Autonomous System Risk, Geo-location Risk, Netblock Risk, Park/Disabled Domain

Some tests like the phishing heuristics check are easily understandable, while others, like the SURBL Block checks may not. You can hover over any check performed to display a short description of it in an overlay. SURBL Block for instance checks the url against blacklists to see if it has been used for malicious activities.

Each positive check adds to the overall score of the address, that’s different from most rating systems that award higher scores for better results, and lower for weaker.

The url risk analyzer can be a useful tool for webmasters who want to check their own domains, business who plan to buy a website, and system administrators as part of their regular security check.

It is not practicable to use it to check all web addresses that you plan to visit though, as it would slow down your browsing a lot.

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Check if a website is revealing email addresses About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Friday March 2, 2012 -
Tags:online service, website security

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Scroogle Founder Pulls The Plug, Closes Website

Scroogle was one of the sites that came up occasionally here on Ghacks as an alternative to Google Search. It basically provided access to Google Search results through a proxy to protect the privacy of its users. In this regard, it was more of a Google proxy than a search engine. Daniel Brandt, the creator of Scroogle, established the service in April 2003, and it has ever since been available online. Things turned for the worse in recent years when Google started to block – and unblock – the search engine from accessing its servers.

Many users suspected foul play here, while Google denied the allegations and stated that automated spam protection scripts were responsible for the blocking. That was unfortunate but a situation that most Scroogle users were willing to live with.

In February 2012, things started to heat up once again when Google started to block the service’s access to their servers more regularly. That hurt the service considerably and made it less usable than before.

Scroogle servers on top of that were harassed by DDoS (denial of service) attacks that started back in December. Daniel Brandt decided to pull the plug on Scroogle, and all other domain names he owned, as of yesterday. Domains were not only taken offline content wise, but also in the domain name system (DNS) to protect the server providers from further DDoS attacks on their infrastructure.

Users who try to access the Scroogle website now will receive a site not found error. The other domain names that were taken down are: namebase.org, google-watch.org, cia-on-campus.org, and book-grab.com.

Brandt told BetaBeat that he would have had to close down Scroogle even without the DDoS attacks due to Google’s traffic throttling.

With Scroogle being taken off the grid, where should privacy valuing users go to for their searches now? The two search engines that come to mind are DuckDuckGo or Startpage.com

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Tags:google search

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Google Cache Browser Lets You Browse A Website In Google’s Cache

When you search Google you always have the option to open a linked website directly, or to open a cached page of the selected page instead. Opening the cached version may help you if the website that you want to open is not available temporarily or permanently.

Google recently made changes to the location of the cached links on the search results pages. One of the issues that you may have is that you can only open the Google search results link in the cache. All other links on the site do not link to the cached version. That’s a problem if the entire site is down and you need to open multiple pages on it to retrieve the information you are looking for.

This leaves you with two options. You can copy the original link, paste it into Google Search and open the cached page this way, or modify the webcache url manually. Both options are not really that comfortable, especially if you need to open several pages and not only one.

The free userscript Google Cache Browser automates the process by converting all links on a cached page automatically. This happens behind the scenes and should not have a visual impact on the page rendering time or performance.

When you hover your mouse over a link on a Google cached page, you will notice that it too links to Google Cache and not the original website it was posted on.

The userscript modifies both internal and external links so that they are pointing to their Google Cache location instead.

The userscript can be useful in a number of ways. It first and foremost provides better and direct access to all cached pages of a website. It can also be helpful if you are experiencing connection issues or slow loading pages on a particular website. Connecting to the cached page instead may speed up access significantly.

Google Cache Browser is available on the userscripts website. It has been tested in Firefox with the Scriptish add-on installed. It is likely also compatible with Greasemonkey and Google Chrome, and maybe other browsers like Opera as well.

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Google Chrome Cache Viewer About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Sunday February 5, 2012 -
Tags:google cache, userscript

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Popular Bittorrent Website BTJunkie Closes Its Doors

Users of the popular Bittorrent indexing website BTJunkie who try to access the site’s content in a web browser are not seeing the usual site layout, but a goodbye message instead. The message states that the site operators have decided to close down the service voluntarily after more than seven years of operation.

No reason other than that is provided, but it is likely that the decision is linked to recent events, in particular the Pirate Bay case in Sweden where founders of the site recently lost the final appeal and are looking at prison time, and the Megaupload takedown and the fallout that followed.

The announcement on the BTJunkie website reads:

This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!

BTJunkie, according to Alexa web statistics, was one of the top 400 Internet websites that was visited by millions of visitors per month. Much of the appeal of the site came from the fact that all of the site’s contents were publicly accessible.

It is likely that users, after a moment of grieving, will move on to other popular Bttorrent sites like The Pirate Bay and Kat.ph, or private Bittorrent sites that require an invitation to get access to the site’s contents. The very same sites have also benefited recently from the closure of Megaupload and other file hosting websites.

BTJunkie users who feel lost right now should check out the threads over at Reddit and Torrentfreak for a list of alternative sites.

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Tags:bittorrent

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Using Proper Search Engine Optimisation Services Will Get Your Website Where it has to be

Web design is a crucial element in any website. It is exactly what keeps viewers around. However, in addition to website design, search engine optimisation services play a much more essential role in producing web traffic. This article is a guide to what you should know about SEO and just how it increases the prosperity of your web venture.

What is SEO and why is it important?

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. Services of this nature are important given that the golden rule on the internet is this: people need to be able to find you. Utilizing the right SEO strategies may help your website rank on the engines, and in turn, generate higher site traffic.

It is crucial for your web site to rank on Google, Yahoo!, or Bing on account of a number of reasons. First, it's the least expensive form of web promotion there is - matter of fact, it is free. Second, many people use these to go to any web site. Due to the great number of sites on the internet, no one has the capacity to remember each one. To get to an internet site that they need, users will undoubtedly use various search engines. In most cases, users will limit themselves just to the first 2 or 3 pages of results. With the help of SEO consulting in UK, you'll be able to bring your site where it needs to be in order to make maximum profitability.

Why hire a firm focusing on SEO consulting in UK?

Employing a firm to execute search engine optimisation services is just one of your options. You can try to get it done all by yourself. It's wise to note, however, that SEO is a trial and error process. If you aren't acquainted with the different strategies, you'll end up wasting your resources. Search engines update their sets of rules often. Managing your small business and keeping up with the changes may well prove to be too strenuous. Hiring a company that specialises in these functions is going to be beneficial in numerous ways.

Bear in mind that the agency is in business for one reason. They have the knowledge to bring your web site to another level and get it where it has to be.

What exactly are a number of the more common SEO tools?

For some time, optimisers took advantage of black hat techniques. This meant employing sketchy technical tricks to cheat Google and yahoo in addition to engines. Sadly for the black hat optimisers, the roll-out of innovative tools and major updates almost put them out of business. Currently, there are two methods for optimising a webpage: on page and off page optimisation.

SEO relies heavily on key phrases and on-page optimisation refers to making a certain web site more open to crawlers using these. This often involves the adjusting of the title tag, Meta description, and body text. Additionally, Google analytics is a tool that a lot of optimisers have taken a liking to. It's one of the most reliable tools in measuring the detailed statistics of website visitors.

Off-page optimisation, alternatively, makes up a lot of the optimising tools today. This consists of strategies like link building, social media optimisation, and blog or forum posting. Firms specialising in SEO consulting in UK would tell you that these are among the most effective tools in getting your website to rank.

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An Update On The Website I Bought Last Year

In Why Website Investments Are Better Than Stock Market Investments I mentioned that I bought several websites last year as an investment. When it comes to buying websites, there are always two options: First you can continue running and improving the site to earn monthly revenue from it. That’s great unless it requires to much of your precious time. Passive sites, that is sites that require little to no attention at all are best for this as you can spend your precious time elsewhere without jeopardizing the monthly revenue.

The second option is to buy sites to flip them later which is called site flipping. You buy low, can optionally improve the site to increase its traffic or revenue, to sell it for a profit later on.

My intention with the site that I bought for $23,000 last year was to stabilize its earnings, reap in the rewards for a year to sell it for a profit after 12 months. I’d like to post an update on what happened to that site and where it stands now.

Here is the revenue that the site generated in the last months:

July: $3471.80August: $3384.60September: $1957.62October: $1774.65November: $1804.44December: $2209.74

The total is $14602.87 for the last six months of operation. Not all of it is profit though, more about that later. You may have noticed that the revenue dropped considerable in September, this can be attributed to the fact that it is a seasonal product that is more popular in spring and early summer.

You need to subtract your expenses from the revenue. With site hosting and the domain name at about $10 per month, and a monthly SEO campaign for $399, total expenses came down to $2454 in that time. The net revenue therefor was $12148.87 in the last six months.

Since I have paid $23,000 for the site, I made more than half of my investment back at the six month mark. If thinks pick up in the coming months, I may make all the money back in the next five months. Everything is profit afterwards.

The site earns 10% from those sales.

My main intention then is to sell the website again for a higher price than I paid. Why a higher price? Because revenue history pays an important role. Buyers pay more for sites with a larger revenue history. If a site’s earnings have been steady for a year, it is more worth than a site who earned money for just one month. It is a risk factor that needs to be part of any calculation.

My intention is to sell the site for 24 times its monthly profit which would be around $50,000 which would all be profit. I may have to use a website broker for that who usually charge you between 10% and 15% for their service. This leaves me with $42,5000 to $45,000 in profit which is not bad for a year and an initial investment of $23,000.

Risks

Investments always come with certain risks, a stock may tank, a bank may file for bankruptcy, a house may be destroyed by an act of god. You face two core risks when it comes to web investments.

1. The seller may have not revealed all the information to you. Let me give you a basic example. A seller not mentioning that part of the site’s traffic was paid for, which for obvious reasons should have been included in the site’s evaluation. You may be able to settle this with the seller directly, but more often than not in court.2. Acts of god, or more precisely Google or other traffic sources the site depends on. Algorithm changes, blackhat attacks against the web property or issues with a script the site depends on can turn revenue from normal levels to zero. While you could try to get those issues resolves, it would mean that you had to spend additional money to do so (Unless you are a do-it-yourself webmaster. Even then you’d have to spend your time fixing the site instead of using it for other projects of yours).

Check out 8 Essential Tips For Web Investors for additional tips and information.

Closing Words

Site flipping can be highly profitable, only comparable in revenue to high risk stock market investments. Most of the risks can be mitigated on the other hand with a careful evaluation.

I plan to re-invest the money into one or two web properties after the purchase.

You may also be wondering why I do not keep the site instead and let it earn the $2000 for me every month. The reason is simple: It would have to earn that amount of money for two years to even the sales price. In those two years, I could try and quadruple the money with two new investment cycles instead, provided I find the right web properties to invest in. Instead of having one site earn $2000, I’d end up with sites earning $8000 per month. after two years.

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Why Website Investments Are Better Than Stock Market Investments About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Monday January 9, 2012 -
Tags:buy websites, invest, sell websites

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Display Direct Website Links in Google Search

Sometimes I’m searching on Google to copy the search results link into another application. This is an extremely frustrating experience as links are manipulated by Google. When you copy a link in Google’s search results you’ll notice that the link target are displayed correctly when you hover the mouse cursor over the link, but when you copy the link to the clipboard, you will notice that Google has in fact changed that link. This leaves the option to open the site first to copy it from the browser’s address bar, or to use a tool or extension that removes the data that Google adds to links in the search results.

The link to Ghacks in Google Search for instance should be http://www.ghacks.net/ and not http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=ghacks&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ghacks.net%2F&ei=MooNT_vzE5GnsgaegJXbBA&usg=AFQjCNEbVP7B0UnFl1Q9J0q_Vbl9uYoYOw which it is when you copy the link to the clipboard.

Here are two options to display direct website links in Google Search:

Google Search link fix

The Firefox add-on modifies all link targets in the Google search results and all other Google properties where this behavior can be observed, so that they point to the direct web address.

Just install the extension in the Firefox web browser, a restart is not required. If you are on Google Search currently you need to reload the page or run a new search before the extension starts replacing the links.

Firefox users can download the extension from Mozilla’s official Add-ons repository for the browser.

Don’t track me Google

This is a userscript that does the exact same thing the Firefox extension does. It is compatible with Firefox and Google Chrome, and maybe other web browsers as well. The userscript in addition hides the referral link so that sites you visit do not know where you came from.

Chrome users can install the userscript right away, while Firefox users need to install the Greasemonkey or Scriptish add-on first before they can do the same thing.

The userscript can be downloaded and installed over at the official Userscripts website.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday January 11, 2012 -
Tags:google search, google tips

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