Hey there, Opencart store owners! Are spammers giving you a headache? Let us put a smile on your face. CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin for Opencart 4 is your new best friend in the fight against online nuisances!
Imagine a world where your Opencart checkout form is protected from spam and fraudulent orders. Well, guess what? That world is here! Our clever little plugin works tirelessly behind the scenes to keep your store safe and your customers happy.
Here’s why you’ll love CleanTalk:
Spam-Be-Gone: Watch those annoying spam attempts bounce right off your checkout form. It’s like having a bouncer for your online store!
Fraud Fighter: Say “not today” to those sneaky fraud orders. CleanTalk’s got your back, 24/7.
Easy-Peasy Integration: No tech wizardry required! CleanTalk plays nice with Opencart 4, making setup a breeze.
Happy Customers, Happy You: With a smooth, spam-free checkout, your real customers will love shopping with you even more.
Time-Saver Extraordinaire: Less time cleaning up spam means more time growing your business. Who doesn’t want that?
But don’t just take our word for it! Give CleanTalk a spin and see the difference for yourself. Your Opencart store deserves the best protection from checkout form spam and fraud orders, and that’s exactly what we deliver.
Ready to kick spam to the curb and give your store the shield it deserves? Hop on board with CleanTalk today – because a happy checkout is a protected checkout!
We’re writing to inform you that the public widget for CleanTalk Anti-Spam will be removed from the plugin and no longer be supported after August 1, 2024.
What does this mean for you?
The public widget, which is typically displayed on public pages and demonstrates the number of spam attacks, is no longer considered compatible with modern WordPress development practices and has seen low user demand. As a result, we’re removing it from the plugin to ensure optimal performance, streamline the user experience, and focus on core functionalities. This removal also helps us stay aligned with future WordPress versions.
What action should you take?
While the public widget will no longer be available after August 1, 2024, CleanTalk Anti-Spam’s core functionality remains unchanged and will continue to provide robust spam protection for your WordPress site.
Here’s what you can do:
No action required: If you don’t utilize the public widget, you don’t need to take any further action. CleanTalk Anti-Spam will continue to operate seamlessly.
Review alternative widget usage: If you’ve been using the public widget, we recommend exploring alternative methods for interacting with CleanTalk Anti-Spam’s features. These may include accessing settings pages or utilizing shortcodes.
Affiliate Program Guidance
If you’ve been using the public widget to promote the CleanTalk AntiSpam Affiliate program, we recommend transitioning to using Affiliate links along with our banner. This method provides a more streamlined and effective way to promote the program.
To get started with Affiliate links:
Access your CleanTalk Affiliate Dashboard: Log in to your CleanTalk account and navigate to the Affiliate program section.
Generate your Affiliate link: Your unique Affiliate link is provided within the dashboard. Copy this link for use in your promotional materials.
Utilize our Affiliate banner: We offer a visually appealing banner that you can include alongside your Affiliate link. Download the banner from the Affiliate dashboard.
Promote your Affiliate link and banner: Share your Affiliate link and banner on your website, social media channels, or other relevant platforms. When a visitor clicks on your link and signs up for CleanTalk AntiSpam, you’ll earn a commission.
By transitioning to Affiliate links and our banner, you can continue to effectively promote the CleanTalk AntiSpam Affiliate program while aligning with the updated public widget removal.
We understand that change can be challenging, and we appreciate your understanding as we work to enhance the CleanTalk Anti-Spam experience.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team.
Thank you for being a valued CleanTalk Anti-Spam user!
The CleanTalk Security plugin now offers built-in plugin vulnerability checks, empowering you to safeguard your WordPress website proactively. Just a friendly reminder if you haven’t try it till now: feel free to pick up the plugin and install it according to these instructions.
While plugins add valuable functionality, they can also introduce security risks if vulnerabilities exist. To address this, CleanTalk regularly scans popular plugins and integrates the findings directly into the Security plugin.
Here’s how it benefits you:
Real-time Vulnerability Insights: Get notified within the plugin itself whenever potential vulnerabilities are detected in your active plugins.
Proactive Security Measures: Take immediate action to address vulnerabilities and minimize the risk of attacks.
Simplified Security Management: No need to visit external platforms for vulnerability information; it’s all accessible within the plugin.
This integration strengthens your WordPress security by informing you about potential threats and allowing you to take immediate action.
Stay Updated, Stay Secure!
The CleanTalk Security plugin continues to evolve, offering comprehensive security solutions for your WordPress site. Remember to update the plugin to benefit from the latest features and vulnerability checks.
In April, CleanTalk SpamFireWall achieved a significant milestone by blocking an impressive 777 million bot requests. This accomplishment underscores our commitment to enhancing digital security through cutting-edge technology and vigilant monitoring.
This feat serves as a reminder of the persistent threat posed by automated bots in today’s interconnected world. SpamFireWall plays a crucial role in safeguarding online platforms from exploitation by swiftly identifying and neutralizing suspicious activities.
We owe this success to our team’s dedication and our customers’ support. Their invaluable feedback and collaboration have been instrumental in achieving this remarkable milestone.
You can find our latest spam stats here for those interested in more detailed statistics on bot activity and SpamFireWall’s performance.
SpamFireWall, an optional feature of the CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin, enhances website security by blocking access for spam-active IP addresses, effectively denying them entry (via blocking GET requests). By intercepting spambots before they reach the website, SpamFireWall prevents the loading of pages for these malicious bots. This action alleviates the burden on your web server, reducing the load on both the database and server resources.
Moving forward, SpamFireWall remains committed to staying at the forefront of cybersecurity. We will continue to innovate and adapt to emerging threats to ensure a safer digital landscape for all users.
This achievement in April reflects our unwavering resolve to combat cyber threats and uphold the highest standards of digital security. Together, we will continue to protect online ecosystems and instill confidence in users worldwide.
In the vast world of the internet, your WordPress site faces constant threats from brute force attacks. But worry not! Security & Malware Scan by CleanTalk is here to fortify your digital fortress and ensure it remains impervious to intrusion.
In WordPress security, the login form is both essential and vulnerable. Hackers target it with relentless brute force attacks, exploiting weaknesses in passwords and outdated software. Once inside, they wreak havoc, defacing sites or stealing sensitive data. However, with measures like two-factor authentication and regular updates, we can strengthen our defenses and keep our digital kingdoms safe from harm.
Enhance Your Security: Key Features
Security Firewall: Guard Your Gates
“Build a sturdy wall around your website! CleanTalk’s Security Firewall filters out malicious IPs and halts DDoS attacks, safeguarding your WordPress site from harm.”
Malware Scanner: Detect and Remove Threats
Hunt down hidden dangers! CleanTalk’s vigilant scanner identifies and eliminates malware, ensuring your WordPress files stay clean and your site stays secure.
Brute Force Protection: Keep Intruders Out
“Block unwanted guests from your site! CleanTalk’s Brute Force Protection plugin limits login attempts and adds delays on failed logins, effectively thwarting brute force attacks.
Two-Factor Authentication: Double Up on Security
Add an extra layer of protection! CleanTalk’s Two-Factor Authentication ensures that only authorized users gain access to your WordPress domain, boosting security for your peace of mind.
Custom wp-login URL: Hide Your Entry Point
Keep your login page under wraps! CleanTalk lets you customize your login URL, confusing automated login attempts and safeguarding against unauthorized access.
Secure Your WordPress Stronghold
With over 20,000 active installations and nearly a perfect 5-star rating on WordPress.org, Security & Malware Scan by CleanTalk stands as a trusted guardian in the realm of WordPress security. Its widespread adoption and high user satisfaction attest to its effectiveness in fortifying websites against cyber threats. From thwarting brute force attacks to detecting and eliminating malware, Security & Malware Scan by CleanTalk offers a comprehensive suite of features to keep your WordPress site safe and secure.
Don’t overlook the critical need to fortify your digital defenses. Stay informed with CleanTalk Research, your indispensable source for real-time alerts on plugin vulnerabilities and PSC plugin security certificates. Subscribe to our Telegram channel and stay one step ahead of cyber threats. Learn more: Subscribe to CleanTalk Research
Choose Security & Malware scan by CleanTalk and protect your WordPress kingdom with ease and efficiency. Your digital fortress awaits its impenetrable shield!
In the expansive domain of WordPress, a critical security flaw has been unveiled within the widely-utilized All-in-One SEO plugin. Known by its identifier, CVE-2024-3368, this vulnerability exposes a concerning loophole that malicious actors can exploit through Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks, jeopardizing the security of numerous websites. The trouble concerns all versions of All-in-One SEO older than 4.6.1.1.
This flaw was unearthed during routine security evaluations, shedding light on a troubling scenario where unauthorized individuals can inject harmful JavaScript code directly into WordPress posts. This unauthorized access allows for the manipulation of administrative privileges, potentially leading to serious repercussions such as website tampering and unauthorized data access.
In response to this alarming revelation, immediate action is crucial. WordPress website owners are strongly advised to promptly update their All-in-One SEO plugin to the latest version, fortified with patches to address this vulnerability. Furthermore, implementing stringent security measures, including regular audits and access controls, is essential to mitigate the risk of exploitation.
Behind the scenes, CleanTalk remains dedicated to safeguarding the WordPress ecosystem. Through vigilant monitoring of plugins and the provision of timely alerts, CleanTalk aims to empower website owners with the necessary tools and knowledge to defend against cyber threats effectively and preserve the integrity of their digital platforms.
We’ve been wanting to make our own branded useful merch for our customers for a while now. For this purpose, we needed a marketplace on which we could place our goods, as well as deliver them to customers. No wonder we chose Amazon. In this article, we’d like to share our experience in launching our giftware sales and hopefully help those who are just thinking about how to start selling on Amazon.
Step 1: Finding the Right Products to Sell
One of the most important factors in determining your success on Amazon is finding the right products to sell. If you go to https://www.amazon.com/bestsellers you will see lots of products, that are sold way more often than others. Here you need to research products that sell well to find the ones, you like best or what you would be more comfortable branding.
We have chosen the water bottle category for us for several reasons:
It’s a product for everyday use.
It promotes the healthy habit of drinking enough water every day.
These bottles look great and it will be convenient to put a logo on one.
After choosing the right category and product you will need a product that you can buy as cheaply as possible, apply your logo, and sell at the average market price or higher. To find such a product we went to alibaba.com. It was difficult to find the same item as we wanted, but we were able to find the most similar one and contacted the seller to find out the details.
The good news was that for orders of 50 pieces or more, the seller would put the logo on the items for free. All we had to do was send the logo to the seller and a day later we received a photo of a bottle with the logo already applied.
To make sure of good quality goods and quality logo application we ordered delivery of 1 item.
Despite the $38 shipping cost on a $10 order, it was the right decision. Because after a week we received the product and after that, we were absolutely sure that the product would be a pleasure to use. So we ordered a full batch of 50 water bottles.
Step 2: Setting Up Your Amazon Seller Account
First, you need to choose a seller account type. There are two types of seller accounts:
Individual accounts are free but you are charged $0.99 per sale.
Professional accounts cost $39.99 per month, no matter how many items you sell.
We weren’t sure at what rate the items would sell, so we chose an individual account.
After that, you will access your Amazon Dashboard. Once you have connected your payment card and added your brand information, you are ready to add your product to Amazon.
Step 3: Adding a product and setting up a fulfillment plan
ASIN is an Amazon Standard Identification Number, which is the unique combination of 10 letters and/or numbers that is given to your product by Amazon. ISBN is an International Standard Book Numbers, which are unique identifiers for commercial books with a barcode. UPC or Universal Product Codes, is a unique 12-digit code assigned to retail packaging to help identify products in the US. EAN or European Article Numbers is simply a European version of UPC. It consists of 12- or 13-digit numbers for product identification.
If your product is unique like ours, select “I’m adding a product not sold on Amazon”. In this case, Amazon will assign an ASIN to your product, which will become your product’s primary identifier.
After that, you need to fill in all the information about the product in as much detail as possible. Here’s how it looked for us in the end.
And since Amazon’s interface doesn’t explain what and where it is, we’ve prepared a hint for you.
Title 200 characters max, capitalize the first letter of every word
Images 500 x 500 or 1,000 x 1,000 pixels to increase listing quality
Variations Such as different colors, scents, or sizes
Bullet points Short, descriptive sentences highlighting key features and benefits
Featured offer (“Buy Box”) The featured offer on a detail page. Customers can add to their cart or “Buy Now”
Other offers The same product sold by multiple sellers offering a different price, shipping options, etc.
Description Keywords improve the chances that people will find your listing
Once your item is added you need to decide how you will package and ship your items. Amazon has 2 solutions for this:
You can fulfill orders yourself, maintaining your own inventory and shipping products directly to customers. We call this merchant-fulfilled shipping (MFN).
You can send your inventory to Amazon and have us pick, pack, and deliver products through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). FBA also takes care of customer service and returns.
We chose the second option because we wanted to delegate this issue to experienced professionals to minimize the possibility of mistakes.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
We would like to talk about this option separately, as it has both pros and cons.
Pros
free shipping for your customers;
lower operating costs;
no need to contend with client inquiries;
Cons
laborious product preparation requirements;
potentially costly charges;
long-term storage fees;
complex sales tax;
Long story short, FBA is definitely not a cheap option and can make it difficult to justify the expense. But if you want to save your time it is really great.
Step 4: Driving traffic to the product
When you want to increase your sales in a marketplace you shouldn’t just rely on people finding your product on their own and choosing it because of its quality-to-cost ratio. Because there are indeed a lot of products on Amazon. This is especially true for products about a brand that, few people know about.
In this case, you need to take care of additional sources of traffic and a good option could be your website or online store, where people are familiar with your brand.
We have placed several banners on our blog and on our clients’ dashboards. This is roughly what it looked like.
Statistics on traffic sources and purchases are not available on the individual tariff, so we can’t say for sure what share of sales these banners brought, but we assume that not less than a half, taking into account the fact that the main products of our company and the brand itself for a fairly narrow audience.
Step 5: Keep track of your orders and adjust the price
In case you’ve enabled the FBA option, the only thing you’ll have to do is keep an eye on the status of your orders and how Amazon does everything itself.
Also, we recommend you collect sales statistics for a certain period and try to increase or decrease the cost of the product and track the impact of the cost on the number of sales as it can help you optimize your costs and increase your profits.
We wish you great sales!
It is difficult to fit all of our experiences into this article, but we have tried to mention the most important issues that we had to deal with ourselves.
We welcome questions in the comments and will be happy to share more specifics to help you save time and money.
Securing your WordPress website is a critical aspect of website maintenance. In this article, we will explore how using the “Send additional HTTP headers” option from CleanTalk can help bolster your site’s security. We’ll delve into three crucial HTTP headers: “X-Content-Type-Options,” “X-XSS-Protection,” and “Strict-Transport-Security.” We will understand how they work and the benefits they bring to your site’s security.
1. Header “X-Content-Type-Options”
What Is It?
The “X-Content-Type-Options” header is a mechanism designed to prevent certain types of attacks related to file types on your site.
How Does It Work?
This header, with the “nosniff” parameter, instructs the browser to strictly adhere to the Content-Type specified in the header. If the browser detects a mismatch between the actual file type and the one specified in the header, it can block script execution and prevent the download of potentially malicious files.
Benefits for Your Site
Setting the “X-Content-Type-Options” header with the “nosniff” parameter helps prevent attacks such as MIME-type attacks and drive-by downloads, safeguarding your users from potentially harmful files.
2. Header “X-XSS-Protection”
What Is It?
The “X-XSS-Protection” header is designed to combat cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
How Does It Work?
This header enables built-in protection against XSS in modern browsers. If the browser detects a potentially malicious script on a page, it can automatically prevent its execution.
Benefits for Your Site
The “X-XSS-Protection” header helps protect your site and users from XSS attacks by preventing the injection of malicious scripts, thus keeping data secure.
3. Header “Strict-Transport-Security”
What Is It?
The “Strict-Transport-Security” (HSTS) header ensures your site’s data is secure during transmission.
How Does It Work?
HSTS requires the browser to establish only secure (HTTPS) connections with your site, even if a user attempts to connect via insecure HTTP. This prevents attacks related to data interception.
Benefits for Your Site
Utilizing the “Strict-Transport-Security” header helps ensure the security of your site’s data and protects users from potential attacks associated with data interception.
Conclusion
Configuring HTTP headers on your WordPress site using the “Send additional HTTP headers” option from CleanTalk can significantly enhance your site’s security. The “X-Content-Type-Options,” “X-XSS-Protection,” and “Strict-Transport-Security” headers provide robust protection mechanisms against various types of attacks. Remember to stay updated and regularly assess your site’s security to ensure reliability and protection for your users.
If you are seeking solutions to enable security headers and safeguard your website, look no further than Security by CleanTalk. Elevate your WordPress security effortlessly with these essential headers by choosing Security by CleanTalk.
We were contacted by one WordPress website owner with the issue of a website hack. Consequences of the hack were that their whole website content was deleted, meaning articles, pictures, plugins and themes were gone and visiting the website displayed a blank page. What was left in the folder «wp-content» was a single folder «uploads», new files in the root directory and many custom files «.htaccess» in other folders.
What measures were taken in the first place before restoring the website. To avoid future successful connections from the hacker, all passwords were changed, including database ones, authorization over HTTP was enabled, installation of any files and themes were allowed only over FTP.
What Has Been Done to Find Out the Source of the Hack
The main task was gathering information about how the hacker managed to get access to the website and delete all of its content.
The first step was saving the entire file system in a way where the files can not be created anew but to be saved in their current state (It’s important to know for identifying the creation time of the malicious files).
saving nginx «access.log» on the date of the detected hack
saving nginx «error.log» on the date of the detected hack
saving nginx «syslog» on the date of the detected hack
Input data:
logs «access.log» (200 MB) «error.log» (47 MB)
website files
The local repository of Splunk was chosen for the log analysis, data sources were the files «access.log» and «error.log».
To determine the time when the website infection happened, the creation time of the suspicious files in the website folder was inputted.
The next step was selecting a set of lines from the log files within a certain time period and the server response 200, while requests from «admin_ajax» and «wp_cron» were excluded.
Thus, we found the hacker’s IP address that was able to get a response 200 for its POST request to this address: /wp-content/themes/seotheme/db.php?
Next, we analyzed every line of activity of this IP address within the same time period. Based on this data, we see that someone created this folder: /wp-content/themes/seotheme
Furthermore,
the cybercriminal from the IP address 43.153.77.57 was able to get a response 200 to their POST request while forcing /wp-content/themes/seotheme/db.php?u and in the end a number of malicious files was created which were started being called;
a set of files «.htaccess» was created and modified specifically for the Apache-like webserver to allow executing files;
the file «index.php» was modified, added obfuscated malicious code;
the file «plugins.php» was modified, added obfuscated malicious code;
the file «pluggable.php» was modified, added obfuscated malicious code;
there were some eval constructions in the files, and parsing them was impossible.
It’s also impossible to know the origin of the folder /wp-content/themes/seotheme and the files in it, the reason is self-deletion of the malware results.
How to prevent future hacks:
constant monitoring of the website files for any new unknown files in the system,
aggressive response to status changes of the «.htaccess» files if you use an Apache web-server
force to implement any filesystem actions with a protected FTP account only, you can edit your wp-config.php by adding the code below:
CleanTalk Traffic Control monitors each request from any IP address and if the number of requests exceeds the limit in a certain time period then this IP address will be temporarily blocked and it wouldn’t be able to access your website at all.
For instance, if an IP address sends requests to your website with a frequency of 1000 requests per 1 hour, such activity will definitely be blocked for 1 hour.
You can adjust the settings of Traffic Control as you want and as you find appropriate. To do that, go to your WP Dashboard → Settings → Security by CleanTalk → General Setting → Firewall.
Time frame to measure page hits – here you can set a time period which will be taken to calculate the number of requests of your visitors.
Block a visitor if the count of the opened pages in the time frame more than – here you can set your limit of requests after exceeding which any IP address will be blocked.
Block a visitor if they exceed the limit of opened pages for X minutes – this option is meant for setting a time period a blocked IP address will be put in.
Ignore logged-in users – tick this option to ignore all requests going from your logged-in users.
Also, on the tab Firewall, you can see all IP addresses that are visiting your website right now.
What are DDoS and DoS?
These are types of attacks on a website when a lot of requests are being sent. If the number of requests is quite high then it will result in problems with the website functioning.
The difference between DDoS and DoS consists of that DDoS has a distributed attack, meaning it is executed from many IP addresses, while DoS has just one or a few IP addresses.
Why DDoS and DoS might be dangerous to a website
Such types of attacks is based on the fact that a webserver has to process each request, thus running all website page scripts, loading all pictures, and so on spending its resources. As a result, the website will function slower or start giving an error on attempts of visiting any page. The second trouble is in a high volume of your website traffic, in some cases, it may lead to unexpected expenses or a warning from your hosting provider.
It’s unwise to underestimate the dangers of such types of attacks and spend your time forbidding IP addresses manually, it’s more efficient to give this task to the automated tools.
