Using Different Passwords is Crucial

A traffic exchange owner recently emailed me asking why StartXchange wasn’t allowing it in rotation. After looking into it, his website was hacked and a malicious code was added. Looking into it further I found a couple of his sites have had this problem. About a month ago this same exchange was hacked, so clearly the problem wasn’t fixed.

The hack only inserted an iframe, which most anti-virus programs are good at keeping you from harm. But there is a much bigger security risk that seems to be ignored, or maybe just not thought of. That is your personal information.

If the hacker can access the pages to edit them, there is a good chance they can access the rest of the scripts. There is a good chance they can access the configuration files, which contain database logins. There is a good chance they can extract your email address and password. There is a good chance you are using the same logins on multiple exchanges, and even using the same password for your email address. And there is a good chance many are even using the same login information for Paypal.

Indeed, I fear this is a huge possibility, especially since I’ve seen a huge increase in stolen Paypal account purchases. So are you using unique passwords on every website? And do you have a Paypal Security Key? If not, you should stop everything until you do.

You can find the Paypal Security Key available in the Profile section on Paypal, under Account Information. It’s like 5 or 10 bucks, and it’s worth every penny!