Tag Archives: web

Security – Keeping it Off the Web (Page 1 of 2)

The topic of website security is seldom brought up among non-programmers and those who may not be technically inclined, yet if you operate a website, it is an issue of substantial concern to you.

Addressed in this article is a nearly universal problem, it affects almost every single PHP or CGI script I’ve ever seen. We won’t delve into the technical issues too far, this is intended for the web site owner, someone who might install the occasional PHP file or CGI script. I will assume you are not a software developer.

A general rule I like to follow when installing php scripts or web applications is this: If it doesn’t need to be on the web, it shouldn’t be there. This is obvious, but it has implications that are not always clear.

What we are mainly referring to is configuration and to a lesser extent, program libraries and source code. It may also apply to files and other resources that are controlled through a script interface. An example of this would be scripts that charge money for downloading files or set up newsletters. Lets start with an example, we’ll call it program.php. In our example, program.php is a database application using mysql to store information.

For our script to do it’s job, it will need access to your mysql password and user-name. It may also need access to many other program files and so-forth.

During installation, a control panel probably asked for your mysql credentials, it may even have asked you to change the file permissions on a configuration file of some sort. You’ve probably been through this type of install process at one time or another.

What it will do next, is write your database password and other private information to a configuration file. This usually happens without your knowledge, it is also where our problems begin.

Most people don’t catch this right away, if the configuration file is in the same directory (or sub-directory) it is web accessible. Quite often it is a php file, usually with write permissions turned on.

The extension .php does afford some degree of protection, under normal circumstances these files aren’t sent to a visitors browser but it is still unsafe.

If someone makes a slight mistake in the configuration or .htaccess file, it will dump the actual contents of “conf.php” to the users web browser, complete with your database password and other private information.

As anyone who has been around web servers very long can tell you, this is a common occurrence. I’ve personally seen it happen on several occasions.

Furthermore, many other web editing tools need to create backup files, resulting in something like config.php.BAK or perhaps config.php.tmp.

We now have a file ripe for hackers and other would-be intruders to gain access to your mysql database passwords as well as any other private information kept there.

What is most alarming is that almost every single off the shelf web based program exhibits this very problem in some form or another.

It Is Very Important That You Understand What RSS Is

RSS or Really Simple Syndication has proved to be a difficult subject for many users of the World Wide Web, as survey after survey has clearly shown. To many RSS is far from being simple.

Yet it is one subject that no person with any sort of web presence can dare afford to ignore at this moment. There is no doubt that RSS feeds are rapidly growing in significance online and a failure to understand them greatly hinders any online marketer from reaping the fruits and results that are possible with a full arsenal of online marketing tools and weapons.

It is much simpler to understand RSS when you first seek to understand what the term syndicating an article means. Most newspaper readers will be familiar with national syndicated columnists. These are popular writers whose columns appear in many different newspapers across the country. Indeed syndication services have for many years been responsible for selling content to many different non-competing publications across the world. Probably one of the most well known content syndication services is the Kings Features Syndicate which distributes many popular Sunday newspaper cartoons all over the world.

Really Simple Syndication is exactly the same concept only that instead of newspapers, the content is distributed directly to web sites and blogs. It can also be distributed directly to a computer desktop. It is made even simpler by the fact that computer technology allows for the easy automation of this task. All one needs to do is to paste some html code on their site or blog and the content will be constantly streaming through their site.

In offline syndication, newspapers chose which particular column covering what particular subject they wanted to publish in their newspapers. Online syndication is even more powerful because you can choose to receive all content that is based on a very specific subject or topic. If you are serious about Website Promotion, RSS is the obvious step for any companies online growth. I suggest email advertising to promote your RSS Feed and to help you increase your membership base.

Meaning that you will never miss out on any new information on a particular area of specialization or pet topic you have chosen to stay informed about. This also results in you saving a lot of time because instead of regularly going to a search engine to look for information, with the right RSS feeds, all the information you require comes to you.

Link Building Service successfully builds up your business

Link building explained in simple term means spreading word about your business on the web. On the web, the more you are visible the more popular your business will be. To become popular on the World Wide Web, you will have to make use of different strategies. The number of links that you create through link building on the web will enable search engines to give your site higher rankings. Link building service is one of the components of search engine optimization service that one can use for popularizing their business on the web.

Link building is one aspect of search engine optimization that can turn out to be the crucial factor for either the success or the failure of a search engine optimization campaign. Not everyone would be interested in doing link building manually as this is a time consuming and tiring job. But this is an important aspect of search engine optimization and needs to be done at every cost. What you can do is get an outsider company also called a third party to do the link building work for you.

There are several companies and firms that provide link building services to clients based on their requirements. Getting link building services from outside will be a great boon for your business. You may not be aware of this, but doing link building dedicatedly can work wonders to your online business. To get hold of good companies that provide link building service is not a difficult task at all, if you know how to go about it.

Word of the mouth is as good as recommending something to another person. So talk around and find out if any one you know whether it is family, friends or neighbors. If they have used link building services earlier, they will surely guide you in getting the work done in the best possible manner. You can approach the company which has done the work for them and find out if they will be able to do the work for you or not.

Remember every business is different and thus promotion means are also different. So do not think that just because a particular link building strategy has worked for your friend does not mean that this will work for you as well. Talk with the professionals who will provide link building service to you and find out which strategy will best suit your business.

Hiring link building services from a third party will benefit your business in many ways. First, you will get professional services for your business. All link building service providing companies give customized services to clients. So you can have a talk with the professionals and tell them exactly what type of link building services you require for your business.

Link building services has been preferred by several companies because this is one method in online marketing that can be done without investing a huge sum. Link building does not need one to be technically very highly qualified. An individual with basic computer knowledge can do the work for you and this is the reason why link building service offered by companies will not cost you a fortune.