Author: Alexander

  • Spammers attack by using CleanTalk’s email

    Hello,
    We have to inform you that today we have been attacked by spammers who used our email for sending spam comments/registrations/subscriptions. At the moment, a total of about 4,000 websites were affected.
  • Checking Outbound Links with CleanTalk Security

    Checking Outbound Links with CleanTalk Security

    Outbound links have an effect on your SEO and when search crawls your web pages all of the outbound links may be an important thing for page ranking.

    We have added the option “Scan outbound links” in our WordPress Security Plugin.

    This option allows you to let know the number of outgoing links from your website and websites on which they linking to. All websites will be checked by our Database and will show results if they were used as links in spam messages. It allows you to check your website and find hidden links or spam links.

    You should always remember if you have links to other websites which have a bad reputation, it will be able to have an effect your on visitor’s trust and your SEO.

    To launch External Links Check go to your WordPress admin panel -> Settings -> Security by CleanTalk -> General Settings and pick Scan Links option. Next step, go to the tab “Malware Scanner” and press the button “Perform Scan”.

    The first step in the scanning is searching for malware in WordPress files, the second step is searching for links in your whole website including theme files, posts, and comments.

    The result of the scanning will be the list of each link you have. You can look it through and decide what links are unnecessary and delete them.

  • Security Statistics and Trends

    Hello,

    We have launched Security Statistics and trends so you can view the dynamics for each of your websites.That allows you to make right decisions to keep your website safe.

    Measuring effectiveness of security in the face of attacks is critical. Faster time of detection is critical to minimize damage from attacks. The logical step in this way to better web security is to establish full visibility of activity, as you can’t manage what you can’t see.

    The Statistics includes all registered actions and detailed statistics on individual security parameters.

    To see your statistics, go to your security dashboard and click “Trends” in Dashboard menu.

  • Changing SSL Policy Requirements

    Changing SSL Policy Requirements

    Hello,

    We want to inform you about changes in our SSL service providing.

    The Comodo Certificate Authority will make a change in Certification Authorities’ policy requirements, reducing the maximum lifetime for all TLS/SSL certificates to 825 days, which is just over 27 months. This is a reduction from the existing maximum term of 39 months, meaning the maximum validity for an SSL certificate is now two years, and not three.

    As a result, Comodo CA will adopt these new lifetime requirements effective March 1, 2018 and three-year certificates will be removed as options from all prices.

    So, you don’t have a much time left to buy SSL for 3 years and forget about re-insurance your SSL every year.

    Look at our SSL offer.

    Thank you!

  • CleanTalk Released a MOD for the Protection of XenForo 2 Against Spam and Spam Bots

    CleanTalk completed the development MOD for the XenForo2, to protect your online store against spam and spambots.

    The anti-spam MOD is compatible with XenForo versions v2.x. and approved on the XenForo official catalog.

    This extension allows users to quickly and easily connect to CleanTalk anti-spam service. Its service provides 100% protection from spam bots and provides a simple and convenient commentary/sign-up form for visitors.

    This MOD allows protection from automatically distributed spam, as well as from spam bots registrations. The protection method offered by CleanTalk allows users to switch from the methods that trouble the communication (CAPTCHA, question-answer etc.) to a more convenient one.

    CleanTalk saves time and resources spent on moderation and verification of questionable users or comments. Unnoticeable Protection from spam and registration forms, which does not require the visitor to prove who they are, increases the conversion in registration and is not annoying.

    CleanTalk is a cloud service, security module, installed on a website, which sends the behavior parameters of the visitor or spambot. These parameters are estimated, and the service makes a decision – to post a message or to define it as spam and reject.

    On the basis of such checks, the service forms its own list of email addresses used by spambots. Likewise, the registration of visitors is checked. The service adds not only email addresses to the blacklist but also IP addresses and domains of the websites that are promoted through spam mailout. The CleanTalk company developed unique algorithms to assess the behavior of the visitor, and with 100% accuracy, we keep spam messages at bay. All of this happens automatically and requires no action from the administration of the website.

    You can now download CleanTalk Anti-Spam from XenForo official catalog.

    The Company provides automatic spam protection services for popular CMS: WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, Drupal, DataLife Engine, IP Board, vBulletin, MediaWiki, SimpleMachinesForum and API for PHP, Perl, Python, NET.

  • Why You Must Be Using SSL on Your Website and for e-Commerce

    Why You Must Be Using SSL on Your Website and for e-Commerce

    With more and more businesses coming online and commercial markets opening every day, we are moving towards a cashless economy speedily. A wide range of goods and services are available online now. Cyber threats, in this scenario, aren’t any less. Hence, it has become equally important to protect and safeguard one’s legal rights online. That’s where Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates comes in handy. Most of the well-aware customers do not make a purchase from a website or consider a business less authentic if that ‘green light’ in your URL isn’t visible.

    Do you know what impacts can SSL make, why is it a compulsion for your online store or website, and how to install or download it?

    We have covered it all step-by-step. Take a quick look to understand it:

    What is SSL and how it works?

    The function of an SSL is to provide encryption between a Web server and a browser, by generating a link which guarantees that whatever information is passed between a browser and a server is completely secure and encrypted. This certificate is being used by websites all around the world today, especially by those, involved in e-commerce operations. It is mandatory to safeguard the transactions between a business and its customers.

    In order to create a successful SSL connection, a certification is required by your server. When activated, it leads to the creation of two cryptogenic keys upon confirmation of the identity of your site and service. One of these is private key and another is public. An SSL Certificate contains details that validate your authenticity including the name of your company, domain website and your official offline address.

    Benefits of SSL – Why is it Essential Today?

      1. SECURITY:
        Online privacy is of paramount importance to companies and individuals. Information passed from one source to another actually travels through many different computers before reaching the server it is destined for. Hence, the chance of a leak of private and crucial information such as credit card and bank account details is rather high, enhancing the need for a reliable security system such as SSL. Through SSL, identity thieves as well as hackers are kept at bay.SSL ensures tight encryption of the web pages, presence in registered domain. Through this, your buyers and visitors can stay assured that their personal information, identity and their other details are secure and that they are being legally protected against cyber theft and malpractice.Since e-commerce is being used by everyone and people have to share the confidential information, such as credit card details, no one trusts a non-SSL website for making purchase. Due to this security issue, your sales will face excessive decline. Not only your users, it also secures you by transmitting the amount to your account and not to the hacker.
      2. AUTHENTICITY
        Using SSL is the guarantee that the information that is transmitted, reaches the correct person. Even though multiple computers are involved in the transmission of information, safety is guaranteed.Authenticity grants the boon of trust amongst the customers and service providers. Many customers will be using multiple computers or devices to make the purchase. Suppose they make the purchase through cyber cafes, the chances of an impostor website pretending to be yours is very high. Such sites are aimed at obtaining the financial and personal details of the customers. SSL certificates are only handed to those companies and websites who are able to prove their identity through many means. Authentication of an SSL certificate is guaranteed by third-party involvement in the procedure. This leads to increased contrast between the website and the SSL provider as well.
      3. TRUST
        When customers see the symbols that are placed as visual cues for them – for example the symbol of a lock icon on their web browser- this indicates to them that the connection they are currently making is secure and that their information is being protected against any kind of misuse which helps build the crucial trust between the clients and the traders. Healthy professional relationships are built on trust and reliability of the quality of both the websites as well as the products they sell. It has been shown that customers would keep coming back to a site reputed to be safe rather than one that offers a wider selection of services and products or even the websites that offer similar goods for lesser prices- hence proving the essentiality of trust. Providers of SSL generally add visual cues targeted to your customers who upon noticing them are not reluctant to make a purchase from you- following their instincts of your website not being a scam.This is also attributed to the fact that in order to be able to obtain secure credit card information from the customers for your website- there are many credibility tests to be passed before achieving the qualification of being compliant with the Payment Card Industry standards and guidelines- and one of them is a licensed and valid SSL certification.
      4. PROTECTION AGAINST PHISHERS
        Many identity thieves and hacker websites resort to a scam method that is highly popular these days known as phishing- where in under the name of your company spam emails are sent out in mass to customers within and sometimes outside your database- so that when the customer- believing the e-mail to be sent by you opens the mail- they see a link which they assume is to your website- while in reality it is to a website set up by the phishers site where they either attempt to scam your customers out of information about their IDs or financial details including bank accounts and passwords. However, such phishing sites have one major drawback- they are not given any SSL Certification if your website has already acclaimed yours- hence to your customers who have previously visited your SSL protected site with the visual cues- something seems wrong and thus they do not trust that it is your website who has contacted them. This guarantees the safety of the customers from the phishers whilst leaving your reputation and customer relations untarnished.

    All this being said here is why SSL isn’t that popular among many websites yet-

    1. The high cost of obtaining an SSL certification and renewing it periodically is not something that is affordable to most start-up and developing websites. Since the provision of an SSL service is rather detailed and tedious with most of the work being of a rather complicated nature, the cost is bound to be high for the amount of work put in. Since the arrival of numerous competitors the prices however have more or less been regulated.
    2. There is a delay in delivering high speed performance due to the multiple servers and multiple encryptions involved for each of these services which then has to be decoded by the designated server- the involvement of multiple resources along with the detailed encryption might lead to a less effective overall performance.

    Improve Search Ranking. In recent orders by Google, the sites that have procured an SSL certification are listed as secure websites and hence prioritised by the search engine by boosting them to the top of the search results, thus SSL acts as an SEO tool without you even realising it. Google provides warnings to its users about the sites that are not using SSL by stating that these sites are not secure, quite rightly. A high ranking in the search results is a very important tool in the success of any online venture- business or not, hence this is of paramount importance to the commercial websites that they ensure they stay in the good books and approved lists of the very popular and highly trusted search engine providers such as Google since it is the most important link between any site and their potential customers or viewers. Since the impact of Google is rather high, customers are one hundred percent likely to steer clear of any site that has been given the label of being not secure by Google.

    However, since the benefits outweigh the risks and drawbacks by a large amount, the best option is to always invest in a quality SSL providing service. Now the need comes to choosing wisely the best SSL available to you.

    One of the most highly recommended SSL services would be CleanTalk which is ideal for start up websites who are practising small to medium scale businesses. Services are provided for personal blogging sites as well.

    Why CleanTalk is one of the best SSL provider?

    It is definitely one of the most cost effective SSL provider for small websites, among all others because it uses an effective and necessary SSL certificate that is the least expensive one of them all but covers all your basic needs- it guarantees your safety as well as your customers just like all the other SSL certifications but instead cuts out implications that are unnecessary for smaller websites- so there is no additional cost as this certification is provided keeping in mind exactly what you need and the financial drawbacks that are experienced by small scale websites.

    User information is one hundred percent protected, the less expense does not compromise in any manner with the effectiveness of the service- customer satisfaction is guaranteed- in both quality and effect of the service- which has stood test of time.

    At very affordable packages, you can avail the following services-

    1. Securing your domain name- both abc.com as well as www.abc.com (examples)
    2. A single domain can be effectively secured.
    3. The site is modified to be supported in mobile format.
    4. Guarantees 99.99 percent browser recognition.
    5. All this is done using 2048 bit signatures or 256 bit encryption.
    6. CleanTalk provides you with unlimited reissuance of the certification.
    7. Unlimited server licenses available.
    8. No tedious paper work involved- once certificate is obtained, the Comodo Certificate Centre automatically checks the domain name you have secured – saving you the need for other forms of legislation and proof in the form of additional paperwork.
    9. Search engine optimization results in Google search.

    CleanTalk believes in putting the needs of the clients ahead of anything else and thus customer satisfaction and providing an error free service beneficial to the clients and their customers is the top priority. Technical support is always available on the website whether you need advice or help of any kind. All the staff are highly experienced and provide you with reassuring and always accessible services. It is an investment that is guaranteed to bring out the best in you along with guaranteed raise in your customer count. Other services are available on the site to protect you from scams. For effective security and a guaranteed beneficial plan avail now by reaching out as soon as possible – for the sooner you are secure, the more exposure you receive and higher is the success and popularity of your website as well as your overall reputation. So hurry now-now is the time and CleanTalk is the place to start building the trust and authenticity you and your brand deserve. Contact us for more details and check out our attractive deals available at easy access on our website – no time to waste if you want your rankings to be the top. Cleantalk is a reliable and trustworthy service that many popular sites have benefited upon and grown with mutually benefitting one another in the process.

    Are you ready to receive an SSL Certificate?

     

     

  • CleanTalk Released a plugin for the Protection of MODX Against Spam and Spam Bots

    CleanTalk Released a plugin for the Protection of MODX Against Spam and Spam Bots

    CleanTalk completed the development extension for the MODX, to protect your online store against spam and spambots.

    The anti-spam extension is compatible with MODX versions v1.x. and approved on the MODX official marketplace.

    This extension allows users to quickly and easily connect to CleanTalk anti-spam service. Its service provides 100% protection from spam bots and provides a simple and convenient commentary/sign-up form for visitors.
    This extension allows protection from automatically distributed spam, as well as from spam bots registrations. The protection method offered by CleanTalk allows users to switch from the methods that trouble the communication (CAPTCHA, question-answer etc.) to a more convenient one.

    CleanTalk saves time and resources spent on moderation and verification of questionable users or comments. Unnoticeable Protection from spam and registration forms, which does not require the visitor to prove who they are, increases the conversion in registration and is not annoying.

    CleanTalk is a cloud service, security module, installed on a website, which sends the behavior parameters of the visitor or spambot. These parameters are estimated, and the service makes a decision – to post a message or to define it as spam and reject.

    On the basis of such checks, the service forms its own list of email addresses used by spambots. Likewise, the registration of visitors is checked. The service adds not only email addresses to the blacklist but also IP addresses and domains of the websites that are promoted through spam mailout. The CleanTalk company developed unique algorithms to assess the behavior of the visitor, and with 100% accuracy, we keep spam messages at bay. All of this happens automatically and requires no action from the administration of the website.

    You can now download CleanTalk Anti-Spam for MODX from the official catalog.

    The Company provides automatic spam protection services for popular CMS: Drupal, IP.Board, IPS Community Suite, Joomla, Magento, MediaWiki, ModX Revolution, MyBB, OpenCart, phpBB, Simple Machines Forum, Typo3, vBulletin, WooCommerce, WordPress, XenForo and API for PHP, Perl, Python, NET.

  • Rearrange of management for “Stop Word” interface

    Stop Word Feature allows you to block comments and messages which contain any word from your Stop-Word List to filter out to enhance spam protection and messages with obscene words blocking.

    The control of interface of the “Stop Word” option has been moved to the main management interface for personal blacklists.
    It allows you to manage all of your BlackLists in the one place.
    So, we also added a counter for requests. It allows you to know a number of blocked/allowed requests by stop words.

    Many spam messages contain some words markers in the text on which you can identify spam.
    For example: Earn per week, 100% free, No credit check, and etc.
    All messages that contain these words will be sent for moderation.

    Thus, using the stop words option, it is possible to improve the protection against spam, including manual spam and block comments with indecent and offensive content.

    To create a list of blocked words you can click here to add particular words or phrases. We also recommend checking comments from time to time and adding new stop words. If you already use your own lists they will be moved automatically.

    Our instruction How to use Stop Word here.

  • CleanTalk SpamFireWall – Option Help

    Hello,

    This is our video guide for SpamFireWall options.

  • 18 ways to improve Speed of your WordPress Website

    18 ways to improve Speed of your WordPress Website

    If your e-commerce website makes the customer wait for more than 3 seconds, don’t expect any sale; says a study. Things are very similar for the business and blogging websites, where website speed significantly affects conversion rate. If your site does not have a quicker approach to load and performs against the other available sites then it will automatically not deliver results you want. Therefore, you must always look for the ways by which you can improve your website’s speed.

    18 best tips to optimize WordPress website’s speed are mentioned here:

    1. Taking Pingdom Test

    One of the effective ways that you can try is doing the Pingdom Website Speed Test for your website. This test will help you in knowing the speed of your website along with finding the reasons that are responsible for the slow speed. This is the ultimate speed test that you can take for your WordPress site.

    All you have to do is to enter the URL of your site and then selecting the location before clicking on the ‘start test’ option.

    With this test, you can get the complete insights of your website with all the facility to access all the amazing features that it offers to your website.

    This performance metrics, in turn, will improve the speed of your website.

    From content to site structure, Pingdom will analysis everything from you.

    2. Select a good host

    One of the major reasons for the slow speed of the sites is due to the insufficient and incapable host provider. Thus to better up the speed of the WordPress website, it is important to hunt for the best host. Considering the shared hosting option may seem good in the beginning but with time it will eventually cost you way too much. The shared host will make the speed of your website really slow or may keep the site down most of the time. It, therefore, becomes a must to have a high-speed host for your WordPress. You may ask the other bloggers which host are they using or you can search the market with the good reputed names by yourself to get the best host that can make things easy, simple yet effectively fast for your WordPress website.

    3. Minimizing the widgets

    Having some amount of ads, widgets and badges are oaky for any blog. No doubt they add a little personality to the blog. Some of the users find the extra ads, widgets, etc. on the blog useful as they can get some beneficial information for them. But most of the users get really annoyed if there are too much of widgets, badges, and ads on your WordPress website.

    The users when encounters too many ads feel that they are being used for no reason. Also, your users are not interested in knowing from where the other visitors are coming on your site. Therefore you must try and keep these ads and widgets on a very minimal note.

    4. Choose a relevant theme

    Having the right framework, theme or template for the website – This may not get your attention in the beginning but sooner you will realize that the template you choose for your website is one of the contributing factors that affect the loading and response time of the website. Don’t go for too much of everything; rather be specific and limited in reaching to your customers with your vision.

    If you have chosen the template or theme that has a lot of extra factors that are of no use those factors will take a significant amount of time to load and hence will reduce the performing time of your site by reducing its speed. Thus don’t go for glitters but choose the real gold for your website.

    5. Image optimization

    All the marketers that work hard for attracting the customers know how important the role of an image is in attracting and retaining the customers. An image with clear and smooth pixels will speak and convey your message way louder than using many words. Thus you must be very specific in choosing the images that you will be uploading on your websites.

    Choosing only the relevant images will also help in reducing the loading time of those images. Unnecessary uploading any type of images on your site will enhance the overall loading time of the site by combining the loading time of all those images. Therefore you must use a minimum number of images that can be uploaded within a specified time limit.

    6. Remove excess buttons for sharing

    It is quite obvious that we all want our website to reach to as many people as possible and to achieve this we are always ready to experiment with a number of options, ways, and methods. In order to improve the visibility of our site, we often tend to do too much on the site. One such thing is using too many share buttons on the website hoping to reach a huge amount of people.

    Using too many sharing options on the website destroy the speed of the site like anything. With too many linking to the various other platforms, you cut down the loading and performing time of the website. Rather you can try and use only the sharing buttons of those sites from where you expect a huge amount of traffic and leads. After doing this, you can remove all the other buttons and can focus on optimizing the use of the available buttons on your website.

    7. Content management

    Website is not a place where you can put each and everything about your business or work. It is a place that gives an idea to your audience about the type of work that you are doing along with the manner in which you target it. Therefore, the role of content management comes into the picture. Knowing and managing the content that you are uploading on your website will help the audience to understand your business and working more effectively and easily.

    Content management will also reduce the efforts and time that you would have to invest for managing, balancing and correcting the data on your website. Along with this basic benefit, you also get the benefit of reduced uploading time of the content which directly affects the loading and response time of your website. Hence, you must only put the relevant data on your website to avoid the unnecessary delays in uploads.

    8. Reduced number of comments

    Your audience will be very much interested in knowing the information that you are putting on your WordPress site in the form of the article. Having some comments on your post is okay and acceptable but allowing any type of comment to be visible in your posts is not acceptable.

    Rather you must reduce the number of comments that appear on your post and manage it to only a relevant number with relevance to the post. This will cut short the time the post will take to upload and also will help the readers to get the genuine idea about the content of the post’s information.

    9. Compressed format

    Remember how easy it is to use the compressed form of data for uploading, transferring, etc. The same ease can be felt when you are dealing with your website. Compress the entire data that you are sending, uploading or transferring from the website. This will reduce the overall time that you require and thereby increasing the loading and response time of your website by making it perform better and effectively.

    10. Enable content delivery network

    It is a not so common fact but the speed of your website depends upon the two major locations. First is the location where you are locating and the second is from where the website is hosted.  If there is not a balance between these two then there will be certain delays in the performance of the website’s loading time.

    A content delivery network helps in managing all the data of your website and putting the files on the static servers which are located very near to the client side. Whenever the client request for any of the service from your site, these servers will help the files reach to the clients as fast as possible. It is just like reaching your destination via the shortest route.

    11. Homepage optimization

    The very first thing that the visitors will notice about your WordPress site is your homepage. The visitors will get the very first impression of your website from the homepage of your website. Thus you must always take necessary steps when optimizing the homepage for the website. Optimizing the homepage and making it relevant to your work will help it get loaded easily and quickly and thereby increasing its speed.

    One of the ways by which you can optimize your website is by removing the irrelevant and unnecessary data from your site. Only keep the data and things that contribute to the relevance of your work.

    12. Ditch hotlinking

    Hotlinking is the process when the other sites directly link from their articles the various links on the images which are available on your website. This direct linking to the various sites adds to the loading time of your website and thereby reduces your performance. This can also cause unnecessary scrap posts being linked with your site’s images that have no relevance to your site and this will downfall your reputation in the market.

    Thus, you must reduce the use of hotlinks as much as you can in order to avoid unnecessary of the linking of other sites to your websites. This will automatically increase your site’s speed.

    13. Optimize database

    This is something that most the people ignore and don’t take into account. As most of the people concentrate only on the outer side of the website and don’t really bother with what’s going on inside. But along with managing the outer performance of the website, it is equally important to balance the internal functioning of the site.

    Optimizing the database of your website is one of the tasks that you must take care when trying the various ways of improving the speed of your WordPress site. You can try the plugins like WP-Optimize or WP-Database Manager for enhancing the process of database management.

    14. Fix all broken points:

    One of the easiest ways to make your website work and load really fast is by fixing all the broken points that it has. For this you would have to analyze the website on regular basis and then to note down all the points where you find the performance of the website is lacking. This can help in fixing the damaging part and thus to make the website perform better on those fronts.

    15. Minify your CSS and JS files:

    You can make your website perform faster and better by minifying the various CSS and JS files available. The process to minify the CSS and JS helps in removing the white space, combining the various files along with reducing the number of unnecessary comments on the posts. This in return helps the site to get rid of the not so necessary complications and help it to load and perform at a much faster speed than ever.

    16. Try faster plugins

    To improve the speed of your website, it is recommended to use less number of plugins. No doubt plugins are important for the speed of the website but that does not mean that you have to use each and every plugin that you know or come across. Rather you should select and reduce the number of plugins to only those that actually contribute in the enhancement of the website’s speed.

    17. Disable trackbacks

    If your WordPress site is accessing the trackbacks, then it is obvious that it will interact with the other blogs and blogging sites that are equipped with the same. However, this interaction may not seem any trouble initially but will increase the loading time after some time. Whenever any of the other blogs and blogging site mentions your site anywhere, you will get a notification for the same. This will keep updating the data in the post. It doesn’t require much of an explanation that too much of data on the post can reduce its performing time by increasing the loading time.

    Thus to avoid any such problem, it is always advisable to turn off the trackbacks by making adjustments in the settings of your website.

    18. Use the best plugin for cache

    Plugins are one of the essential factors that help any site to reduce its loading time and enhance its speed. Just like the other sites, WordPress also uses a number of plugins for the same. However, it is always beneficial to use those plugins that are in the caching category. These plugins provide all the required benefits to the sites that it need to improve their speed and reduce the loading time.

    Out of the many, W3 Total Cache is the most popular one that is trending in the market and is being used by all the leading blogging sites. The other popular cache plugins that are used are WP Rocket, WP Super Cache, Comet Cache, etc. These can be easily installed along with offering easy and reliable use.

    These are some of the basic ways that can enhance the speed of your WordPress site along with delivering you better and optimized results. How do you keep your website speed and load optimized, any other way? So, CleanTalk optimizes their anti-spam and security plugins to improve your website speed and these plugins are one of the fastest.