How easy is it to hack into someone else's blog?
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I know this is probably a weird question, but:
I’ve been the admin of a small, comments-driven blog on Blogspot with Disqus comments for about four years. The blog’s regular readers/commenters and I have been frustrated with both Blogspot & Disqus for quite some time and are considering moving to WordPress. I have a WP version of our blog set up for my regulars to try out for a few days before we make our decision.
One commenter in particular is is quite keen on us moving to WP. The thing is, he is someone who has been sort of a low-grade nuisance over the years. He’ll show up every few months for a week or two to tell us what a bunch of phonies we are or to gloat that the blog is dying if we’re going through a low-traffic period or something like that, then he disappears again for awhile.
All of his comments encouraging us to move to WP have been cordial and helpful, but he’s so keen on the move and this amity is so out-of-character for this person that I’m starting to suspect an ulterior motive.
I’m not a techie. Part of me thinks that, if someone were tech-savvy enough to hack into a WP blog, they’d be tech-savvy enough to hack into a Blogspot blog or the Disqus comment platform that we’re currently using. But, as I said, this guy’s current helpfulness is so out-of-character that I can’t help but be a bit paranoid about it.
Does anyone with more technical knowledge tell me if there’s any mischievous reason why this guy is so keen on us moving?
Thanks!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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I don’t really see why someone would maliciously suggest moving to wordpress.com, millions of people have no problem with wordpress.com, but by the same token, plenty of people use blogger. In reality I really see no ‘easy’ way to hack into your blog, in fact, wordpress is quite secure, but the main, ‘chink in the chain’ is your account’s password. That’s the easiest way to get access to the blog. If you have a strong password (and have one for your email as well, since that can be used to reset your password), a person can’t hack into your account. Further, you can use two-step authentication, which means you’ll get a code from an app on your phone, or sent to you, which you must enter to log in. So someone would need your password and this code, essentially preventing anyone hacking into your account through your log in. And as you say, if someone was good enough to hack into wordpress, I’m sure they could get into Blogger just as easily, if not easier.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/security/
en.support.wordpress.com/security/two-step-authentication/ -
Note also there are two flavors of “WordPress” This is the WordPress.COM flavor
For more on the difference: http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
As noted above the weak points are your account password, email password and maybe a virus on your PC –
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PS – having a lot of Admin’s can be a big problem – have seen several times where an upset Admin trashed a blog – having only one Admin is best – also don’t give people more rights than they really need to do their job
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Okay, thanks. I had a feeling I was just being paranoid, but like I said (twice) above — this guy normally only shows up to tell us what a bunch of losers we are, so his sudden niceness and enthusiasm for the move to WordPress are a bit disorienting! :-)
Thanks for the advice about admins. I do have two other people designated as admins, but I know that I can trust them and I think it’s necessary due to a 6 hour time difference between me and many of the blog’s regulars.
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