Is Your Blogging Identity At Risk Of Being Stolen?
Identity theft has been a problem for some time and it can happen in several ways, one of which includes somebody using your credit card details to make illegal purchases over the internet or telephone. There are even cases listed where people have had their entire identity assumed by some jerk to open bank accounts, take out loans and even conduct illegal business transaction using a persona not their own.
Whilst I’ve always known this to be true I’ve never considered that some lowlife would stoop so low as to steal someone’s blogging identity. At least until yesterday. As part of my normal routine, I was checking comments left on my blogs when I noticed that one left by Mitch on my Step By Step Guide Of Hosting Your WordPress Blog was a little unusual. So unusual that I
checked the url linked to his name, and guess what? It didn’t link to his I’m Just Sharing Blog, and yet it bore his name, minus the capital M which was definitely not Mitch. Then there was also the stupid mistakes, again not something that Mitch would do.
So, this wanker had virtually stolen my mates blogging identity, complete with avatar. The reasons behind this are quite obvious and so it’s left me wondering whether or not someone has been leaving comments as Sire, shitty comments that may cheapen my online presence and all so they can spam other peoples blogs. So, has your blogging identity been stolen?
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This also happened to me Sire. JoseGregorio who is one of my readers, left me a strange comment and the URL was for weight loss. I knew immediately that is was spam. But do you know why they do it? If you have a Top Commentators, the spam URL will be saved as that commentator’s URL, until another comment is written by the same reader but with the real URL.
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Sire Reply:
September 29th, 2009 at 9:08 am
@Asswass@Polls, Yeah, I did notice that, as when I delinked the url Mitch’s link also disappeared in the Top Commentators. Still, knowing the real Mitch, it won’t be too long before his url comes back.
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You know as much as I like to think I keep pretty tight ship on this stuff chances are I could probably be doing a much better job.
I found that changing passwords once every two years isn’t a great idea.
Extreme John@Extreme John Blogs and Business´s last blog ..Community Coffee French Vanilla Review
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Klaus from TechPatio Reply:
September 29th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
@Extreme John, the thing is, a password is not even needed. You just have to figure out what e-mail address Mitch (to take this example) use when he posts comments. Then you create a new comment with that e-mail and his name but put a different URL and that’s all it takes to have his avatar (gravatar) appear.
It’s crap and I’m surprised it’s not a bigger problem than it really is. This is the first time I’ve seen it though, well, first time I’ve seen it caught at least.
Christie over at MiscBytes wrote about this recently too: http://www.miscbytes.com/disturbingly-easy-gravatar-impersonation-and-more-internet-fun/
I think I’m going to create an e-mail alias to use that’s not easily guessable. Then the only way people will be able to steal my blogging identity when it comes to comments, is if I comment at their blog to begin with so they will have my commentator-email address.
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..FIFA 2010 For iPhone? Guess It Can’t Get Any Worse Than For PS3
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Sire Reply:
September 29th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Klaus, that sounds like a good idea mate, at least that way it would be more difficult to pinch your avatar.
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Klaus from TechPatio Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 1:55 am
@Sire, Yep – except I just thought that it doesn’t fully help anyway, as people can just copy your avatar and add it to their own (hotmail or similar) email address. And since it’s only the blog owner who can see the e-mail address belonging to the commenter, then other readers might still think that the comment author is who it looks to be, and not some fake which it actually is.
Not sure what to do about it though…
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..FIFA 2010 For iPhone? Guess It Can’t Get Any Worse Than For PS3
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Sire Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 2:06 am
@Klaus @ TechPatio, Reckon it just means we have to stay on our toes. It’s not that hard to check to make sure the link in the url is the right one.
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Man o Man people can’t stoop any lower can they? It’s nauseating. I don’t even know how we could prevent these spammers from doing this.
I guess the way to do this would be to keep our emails very secretive – which is quite impossible if you ask me.
You could report his ip as spam too.
Maybe we can find a solution to this.
All the best,
Eren Mckay
Eren@ homemaker ´s last blog ..Whitney Houston interviewed by Oprah Winfrey my perspective on it all
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Sire Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Well Eren, there is one way that you can stop the avatar from being stolen and that is to have it linked to a completely different email, one not related to your blogging identity.
As for his IP, it was 84.203.77.33 and I think there is a plugin that enable you to spam it.
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Wow. What a horrible thing…and you’re right, it’s so easy for folks to do that. Bleck.
Sharing this post with my network, thanks!
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Sire Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 8:44 am
@Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach, Thanks Barbara for spreading the word and taking the time to comment.
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It does not surprise me what people come up with. When you close a loophole then they just find another one.
I guess it boils down to who comments on your site and how well you know them. I had one comment from a regular user, but the url was different. So I contacted them and asked and it was a new site that they had just started. I was a bit relieved.
George Serradinho´s last blog ..eBooks – 5 Various Free eBooks for Download
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Sire Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 8:43 am
@George Serradinho, Yeah, I sometimes use a different url, because I have so many blogs, and I was once asked to confirm a comment as my own. I have no problems with that.
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Stealing identities will be a big issue in cyber criminal area in the next decade. I’m sure wise guys will come out with a great solutions, but I’m afraid it will mean less freedom and more control on the net.
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Sire Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 8:46 am
@Andrew@Hotel Bled, Luckily Andrew, whilst it’s a pain in the ass, this form of identity theft isn’t as bad as some of the others and it’s pretty easy to keep it in control as long as you’re willing to take a bit more time to moderate your comments.
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This is why IntenseDebate is handy – you have to log in to use it and you have a username/password combo. I’d love to say that I use it for just this reason, but that wouldn’t be true :)
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Sire Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
@ray@cult tv series, Hey Ray, if it get’s so that it’s more than I can handle I may look at trying something like IntenseDebate, but for now, I’m happy with the way WordPress handles the comments.
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It sucks the things people will do. I can definitely see that once they have your email address you are using to write your comments… they can easily have a field day. I think that is a reason a lot of bloggers are switching to comment software like Disqus. I really do not want to do that as I really like the way the WordPress commenting software works… but who knows what the future lies?
Doug Dillard´s last blog ..My Premium Domain Names For Sale Cheap!
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Sire Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
@Doug Dillard, I’ve actually tried Disqus and I din’t really like it Doug, and I will only go that way as a last resort.
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Doug Dillard Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
@Sire, I agree… it will be a last resort for me as well. But I do think it helps from Identity Theft.
Doug Dillard´s last blog ..My Premium Domain Names For Sale Cheap!
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Well i think this is first time i hear about this kind of issues. I never thought of anybody could do so low tricks just to let som spams on other blogs. The question you raised is a good one: would someone using our idientity to do this kind of garbage messages on other blogs??? Well i cant find a quick solution to this question, please share with us if you have some kind of counter attack to this.
Thanks
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John Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 am
@Botezuri,
Yeah, the new tricks and traps of scammers will never cease to amaze me. This one is new to me, but I guess it was just a matter of time.
I think the best way you can protect against this kind of stuff is to have a good network of bloggers who will look out for you and spread the word. In any media business, the name of the game is having reach. As long as more people see the legit sites instead of the scammers, the word will get out.
Of course, mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, and the fact that someone wants to copy you is in many ways a validation. So I say, call up your friends & allies, and turn it in to a PR victory!
John´s last blog ..Advertising with Controversy
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Sire Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:25 pm
@John, Nicely said John. The more that get behind the cause, watching out for each other’s backs, the less of this stuff that will filter through.
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First, I love the colors!
Second, just imagine how I felt when Sire shared it with me. I couldn’t believe it, then I thought about it and Sire got it right. It could have been one guy who got my email address, and let’s face it, I have it in my About page on my blog, so it’s not hard to discover. And it could have come by commenting on someone else’s blog who is kind of sneaky.
Weasel; I hate those people, and I’m glad Sire knew it wasn’t me.
Mitch´s last blog ..When Is The Last Time You Searched Your Name?
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Ching Ya Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 12:01 am
@Mitch, Great to see the real Mitch is here with us today (you are, right?)^^ Another great thing about being a regular commenter — recognizable. It’s just dreadful to see people would do anything to spam. A friend of mine complaint earlier that her blog link was used by someone when posting comments. NO idea what’s the intention but just as annoying.
What do you guys think about Backtype? Seems like 1 of the ways to detect who has been stealing your identity while leaving comments. Any other ideas?
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Ching Ya´s last blog ..13 Facebook Applications to Promote Your Blog
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Sire Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 2:12 am
@Ching Ya, You definitely have to keep a watchful eye on your comments, thats for sure.
I’m a Backtype member and I’ve never thought of using it to keep track of identity theft. How would that work exactly?
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Ching Ya Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 8:30 am
@Sire,Oh! My bad! Backtype has the record of all the comments you made on net identified by the.. ‘website URL’! I mistakenly thought it was identified by email add instead. Sorry.. =P only works for those pretending to be someone with exact same identity.
Guess we still need a better solution.
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Sire Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 8:36 am
It’s OK Ching Ya…..Reckon we just have to keep looking for a solution.
Sire´s last blog ..A Poem For Halloween The Night Of Frights
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Mitch Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Yup, it’s really me! And I don’t know about Backtype, but I’m learning about it through the conversation you’re having with Sire.
Mitch´s last blog ..GoogleRankings Is Dead; For The Most Part
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With all of the plugins and add-ons that are available for WordPress and Firefox, I’m constantly concerned that giving the passwords will lead to identity theft. I want to stay on top of the latest technology, so have to have some level of trust in order to use the latest tools.
Geoff@Homes For Sale In Rancho Santa Fe´s last blog ..San Diego Luxury Home Foreclosures
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Sire Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Unfortunately it seems that for certain situations you don’t even need passwords for certain identity theft.
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WOW! I haven’t really thought of this kind of stolen identity. In this type of scenario, i would contact the guy who left the foul comment via his blog to find out if he or she really wrote the comment in question.
Here’s a quick tip. After installing wordpress, make sure to delete wp-admin/install.php. It so happens that whenever connection to your database cannot be made, wordpress sometimes assumes that you haven’t completed the setup process so it loads install.php and asks you to fill in your details. Anybody you stumbles upon this glitch, can take over your blog so beware.
You can get more info @ http://perishablepress.com/press/2009/05/05/important-security-fix-for-wordpress/
Cheers.
Udegbunam Chukwudi@Patchwork Of Tips´s last blog ..Opera 10: Dial-up Internet Connection’s Best Friend
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Sire Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Thanks for the tip and the link. I usually always install the install.php file, something I learned from my forums, but after reading this I thought I would check. I was shocked to find I forgot this particular one, and your comment allowed me to rectify the problem. Thanks again
Sire´s last blog ..Anticipation Of Having Halloween Sex
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I would suggest that you try running a Google Alert for your name.
The only thing is the Comment would have to get Indexed for Google to find it & alert you.
Also if you have a common name then you may find tons of alerts that have nothing to do with you.
You may also try blacklisting their URL in your spam catcher. That way they at least can’t do that crap on your site again.
If these bumms took the time to just follow the rules thing of how far they would be. They are wasting time placing comments that are deleted & also bringing some really bad ju-ju to themselves.
Sheryl Loch´s last blog ..How To Set Up BING Webmaster Tools
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Sire Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 1:05 am
I’m not all that fussed Sheryl, especially as it was Mitch’s name who was hijacked.
Still, at least I now know where to look should I want to keep track of who’s abusing my name.
Sire´s last blog ..The Reason Behind Your MLM Failure
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