Letting this system run for a while, we implemented a graphing feature to track member reputation. Here’s a graph of the top users in the last week:

• 8GB Apple iPod touch
• $100 gift certificate at Amazon.com
• $75 gift certificate at Amazon.com
• $50 gift certificate at Amazon.com
• $25 gift certifcate at Amazon.com

Get started on making some quality posts now for your chance to win!

Hackers are almost always your stereo typical computer tough guy.  Unless you can rationalize vandalism then you aren’t going to be able to rationalize their behavior, so don’t bother.  Anyone who has been a victim of any type of crime knows the frustration and anger that accompanies it.  In the real world your first reaction is to inform the police, but this is the Internet.  So what do you do?

Prevent

1. Have Your Server on Guard – Make sure your hosting provider has some type of firewall software running.  If you are very large you may even want load balancers and other hardware to handle DOS attacks.
2. Know How to Code – Make sure your programmers are preventing against SQL injection, the most common type of attack.  Any time external data is used in a query it needs to be cleaned up and special characters removed.
3. Stay Up To Date – If your site is powered by a piece of software it needs to be upgraded as new releases are published.  Once a flaw is found it becomes publicly known.  You want to ensure you stay on top of all security fixes.

Plan

1. Backups – Ensure both your site and database are backed up on your server and remotely.  You need to be equipped to grab those backups and have them restored quickly.  Note: Most hosting providers do not automatically provide a backup service, this is something you should look into.  If you are unable to restore the site yourself you should ensure you have access to a support team to handle the task 24/7.
2. Passwords – Make sure the password you use is different everywhere.  This is very important so don’t get lazy here.  You will want your db, server and user accounts to have different passwords.  The first thing a hacker will do once they find one password is test whether it works everywhere (including your personal email).
3. Encryption – Ensure your user’s passwords or any highly sensitive information be encrypted in the database.  This way, even if your database is exposed the hackers cannot exploit your users.

React

1. Reach out to the Hackers – Hackers take pride in their work, keep that in mind while you deal with them.  Don’t try and fight with them, its a losing battle  If you try and cooperate they may tell you how your site was exposed.
2. Restore – Obviously the first thing you want to do is kick off a site restoration procedure.  Even if only your database seemed to be exposed you may want to restore an old code base to ensure nothing was secretly modified.
3. Fix the Problem – You need to find the security hole and plug it.  Count on the hackers installing back door access to your site.  Find that and remove it as well.
4. Change Your Passwords – This one should be obvious but you want to change all passwords to your site, as well as potentially your personal email and other accounts if they were the same.
5. Assure Your Members – Be honest about the attack.  If private data was exposed the important thing to do would be to inform your members so they can protect themselves.  If there is nothing to be concerned about, let them know that.  They will be wondering what happened and whether the site can still be trusted.

Report

1. Report to the FBI – Here is a link to the Internet Crime Complaint Center: http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
2. Email their hosting provider - Try running a report on http://network-tools.com/ for the domain where the attack came from.  Often you will see an email address from their hosting provider where malicious behaviour can be reported (ie: abuse@hostingprovider.com).  With some luck these guys will shut the site down at least temporarily.

If you have any other tips please share!

This graph should be a real eye opener:
Working at home is a viable option, and for most they are running a zero-employee business (what some might call a side or part time project).

When people ask me if they should quit their full time jobs to pursue an online business dream I usually say no. Why? In most cases it’s not totally necessary. Working full time, and starting your project on the side can let you test the waters, figure out how viable your business is, and give you a steady stream of income from your full time job while you test the waters of working on your dream.

If you do a search for data entry jobs on WhyDoWork.com, you’ll find hundreds of legit positions. Many of our listings are powered by the popular freelance site oDesk.com. If you’ve never seen oDesk Trends (my favorite tool on their site) you can easily figure out what skills are in demand, what jobs are on the rise, and where you might fit in.

Check out their volume of data entry postings coming into last month:

Data entry work is out there gang, you just need to know the tools available!

Google Maps Street View has launched for a few major Canadian cities today, and one of our clever readers sent me some interesting co-ordinates in Toronto:

Sometimes I am astounded at how far the Internet has come in a such a short time. Back when I was growing up in the old days of the late 80s, we had a bound publication called an “atlas” that gave a high level details of the earth as a whole.
Credit to Lando Tanaki for finding and submitting the image above

On that line of thought, maybe the paid review industry has come and gone? The more I browsed the site more funky links and out of date information I found. Paid links are a tremendous problem for search engines. Paid reviews, (which often include paid links) are an even bigger problem. I know Google et al. have been doing their best to try and squash these kinds of networks, maybe it’s finally working?

I put together a collection on the site today of the add-ons I recommend, and the add-ons I personally use and install on all the computers I own. From monitoring competitors traffic, to improving the search experience, to diagnosing slow page load times, it’s all here in one easy to grab package. This collection absolutely improves my effectiveness online and makes my days more productive.

If you’d like to get it (all free), you can download it here:
Entrepreneurs Toolbox

1. They have a posting on a freelance site saying they are from WhyDoWork and they are looking for data entry help.
2. Excited to get a job, people reply.
3. They are told that they are hired, but to start work they need the appropriate software.
4. They deal with “Cathy Danels” who tries to get them to buy a suite of products (including Microsoft office) with a *catch*
5. The products must be purchased from someone on their staff, and you need to send $235 via Western Union to:
   Penny Colson
   City : Pt. Townsend
   State : WA
   Zipcode : 98368
6. The candidates are told to check out whydowork.com as a check that the job and their company is legit

As we are probably the largest legitimate work at home job search engine on the web, it can be easy to believe the posting. I’m glad five people came forward to let us know of the scam. I’m hoping no one got taken in by it.

As a word of caution, both “Rey Davis” ( ray.davis85@yahoo.com) and “Cathy Danels” (cathydanels@yahoo.com) have emails at yahoo.com. A pretty good rule of thumb is that if someone is going to hire you, their email will definitely be from the company doing the hiring (i.e. someone@whydowork.com).

Keep your eyes peeled for these scammers, hopefully some spam bots will come by and find their email addresses appealing.

ISS003-E-5387 — Visible from space, a smoke plume rises from the Manhattan area after two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center. This photo was taken of metropolitan New York City (and other parts of New York as well as New Jersey) the morning of September 11, 2001. “Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else,” said Station Commander Frank Culbertson of Expedition 3, after the terrorists’ attacks. Image credit: NASA

If you use AdSense and Firefox, you really have no excuse not to download and use it!

Take a look at the growth in terms of active users, proof that if you build something useful, you’ll get customers: