Google Slapped Me Happy
Everybody dreads the feared Google Slap, but sometimes it can be a real benefit. This is the story of how my blog got infiltrated by some hacker who set up a traffic drain on it, and how thanks to Google, its now over and my blog is clean as a whistle. Thank you Google!
You know, we like adding things to our blogs from outside sources. We might link to ad widgets, feeds, Twitters, and all sorts of things that have to set up, slowing down the load time. Most of the time its not really noticeable. Some times it is, like when Digg is extremely busy and the Digg buttons take a while to load.
So I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the site’s load time because I figured it was one of those things. But I was wrong!
Suddenly Google labeled me as an evil blogger harboring badware and all sorts of nasty things. You can imagine my shock and dismay when, in doing a search for my name, I saw “This site may harm your computer” under my blog title.
I guess in a way its my own fault for not staying up to date with upgrades to Wordpress and not being as vigilant as I should be to the upkeep of the blog. Let it be a lesson to you.
Anyway, I discovered (once alerted by Google and having undertaken a thorough search in the Wordpress forum) some extra files added to my server. These files were very similar to the standard Wordpress files with a prefix added like “fixed-” and “na-”. And they were everywhere!
I also found a sub-folder in the contents folder simply named “1.” In it was an entire list of product links. It was though this hacker was using my blog as a storefront for his garbage.
So I deleted everything that wasn’t supposed to be there, completely reinstalled Wordpress 2.6, updated the database, and . . .
The hack was still active on the blog.
Back to the Wordpress forum I went, and found out how this infiltration works.
Apparently the hacker got into my admin panel and added some bits of code to just a couple of my posts. It doesn’t show up unless you edit the post and click on the HTML tab to see that version of what you wrote. Once the code is in a post, it triggers a mutation of Wordpress (the added files) and filters traffic to the hacker’s site. The hacker’s site is something that looks like a Wordpress file with “wp-stats” as part of the url. It shows up in your browser bar as its transferring data.
A few edits later, and the attack was over. My blog is now clean and free of any outside influences thanks to my Google Slap!
What to do to avoid this happening to you
Here are some things I learned that will help you keep hackers and other nasties out of your blogs . . .
1. Always keep your blog script up to date.
The new Wordpress versions are very simple to upgrade. You just have to delete all the files and folders, upload the new version’s files and folders, go to your site’s wp-admin url and add “upgrade.php” to it in a browser window. It automatically updates all your files and your database. Takes about 10 minutes from start to finish depending on how fast you can delete and upload files and folders.
Updated versions of Wordpress often have a lot of new security features, so don’t think its just cosmetic updates they give you. If you visit your blog’s dashboard and it shows a new version, get it immediately and upgrade.
You’ll also want to update any plugins you use. Many an update has more security features to keep you protected and improve the quality of your blog.
2. Change your admin login
By default, Wordpress assumes you want to be called “admin.” You don’t!
Most hackers know the default is admin, so they just have to figure out your password and they’re in. Definitely change your login to something else only you would know and remember. You can adjust how the blog will refer to you when posting by going into to Users and setting things in there.
3. Do an edit on your posts now and then
Do a little snooping on your own posts. Click the Manage button and look over your posts in HTML format. If anything seems out of the ordinary, cut it out. You know what you put in there, so it shouldn’t be too hard to detect if someone else has been visiting. Look for strange hyperlinks and codes with an ! in them.
None of these will show up when viewing your posts on the blog, or when editing in text format. You have to look at your post in HTML to see them.
4. Watch your browser bar
You can see what loads up when your blog is opening by looking in the bottom left frame of your browser window. Pay close attention when it says “transferring data from . . .”. If you see and IP address (a series of numbers), or you see an outside url with “wp-stats-” you need to do some house cleaning.
5. Love Google
Regardless of what you might have heard, Google looks out for the best interest of their users. Google slaps occur when something on a site conflicts with those interests whether it be providing good content for searches, or protecting people from mean and nasty malware.
If you get slapped, learn from it because it could save your business and determine whether or not you’ll make money or if people will view you as an expert or a dope.
Utilize Google’s Webmaster Tools. They’ll give you a really good analysis of your site including how Google views your sites and where your external links are coming from.
Verify your urls with Google and make sure you add your sitemap.xml. Allowing Google to monitor you pages will not only get you higher listings in searches, but it’ll also keep you abreast of how your site appears to the outside world. If you use iGoogle, its definitely worth adding the Webmaster tools to it. It just takes a few clicks and your site stats and other relevant information will be set in a tab for you.
You know, I’ve never been afraid of the Google Slap. I try to add good and relevant content, I never spin articles or use other people’s work on any of my sites. Even now, when Google let me have one, I feel like the marine in some movie I saw who, after being beaten by his sergeant, said “thank you sir, can I have another?”
Yes the recent Google Slap for my blog gave me more work than I had time for. But it was well worth it!
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