Browsing the Dutch Shepherd Forum Securely

Frequently Asked Questions
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centrop67
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Posts: 3581
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2012 3:42 pm
Tell us about yourself: Owned by Hondo and Mustang - two MAD rescue dogs.
Location: Cutler Bay, FL, USA

Browsing the Dutch Shepherd Forum Securely

Post by centrop67 »

I have taken several steps to ensure that interacting with the Dutch Shepherd Forum website is safe and secure. This is a monumental and ongoing task in a world where hackers and miscreants thrive on breaking, disrupting, and exploiting vulnerabilities.

There's two types of issues for you as a user:
1. (ID Theft) Someone steals your id/password. In this case, they can mess up your posts, and perhaps post on your behalf in a way that discredits you.
2. (Phishing) They can hijack links or pictures in a way that tricks you into exposing personal information or allowing access to your PC or mobile device.

Recommendations for secure browsing:
This isn't unique to this site. You should think about this anywhere on the Internet.
1. (ID Theft) Make your user name and especially your password unique to this site. If someone compromises your user name and password they can attempt to use the same items on another site and perhaps gain access to places you really don't want compromised.

Change your password from time to time.

If you are on a page asking for your login credentials, make sure that https:// is the start of the URL at the top of the browser. THE SAME IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT ON ANY PAGE ASKING FOR CC INFO!

2. (Phishing) Some people already are skeptical of clicking links, and that's okay. The best way to ensure you are going somewhere okay is to:
a) First copy the link
b) Paste the link into the browser address
c) Inspect the start of the link.
..It should start with https://, other wise the information you send will be clear text and readable by anyone who knows how to do it.
d) Inspect the domain (This one's a little harder).
..The domain is the last two words of the text that comes between https:// and the first /.
..Example:

Code: Select all

https://www.bankofamerica.com/Login = bankofamerica.com
https://mobile.bankofamerica.com/login = bankofamerica.com
https://mobile.bankofamerica.banksecurity.com/login = banksecurity.com (Probably Harmful) 
Steps I have taken to secure the Dutch Shepherd Forum
1. I make sure the underlying software powering this site is at the latest version.
2. I have a secure certificate (SSL) installed for the site.
3. I force all access to the site to go through the secure encrypted protocol of https://.

Finally
Over ten years of user-generated content means that there are links that begin with only HTTP. That means that you won't always see "This Site is Secure" in the browser. If you follow the steps I outlined above regarding links there should be no problems.

With changing technology and smarter and smarter hackers, nothing is 100%, but I am doing all that I can for this site.

If you have any issues at all don't hesitate to email me.
Michael
Location - Cutler Bay, FL USA
Image RIP: Leela, Radar, Tequila, and Snickers
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers
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