Update WP-Super-Cache and W3TC WordPress Plugins Immediately

The Website security company Sucuri has found some serious vulnerabilities in the two most popular WordPress Plugins and issued a warning to the entire WordPress user community to update them as soon as possible. The two Plugins namely WP Super Cache and W3TC are found susceptible to a very serious vulnerability – remote code execution (RCE), a.k.a., arbitrary code execution. The website security expert commented that this issue was reported last month by few users but publishers issued a patch disabling the vulnerable function by default. Considering the widespread usage of these two plugins which comes somewhere close to 6 million downloads makes it a big concern. The comment friendly WordPress sites are more vulnerable. Plugin developers have acted quickly and recent updates are available for download. WordPress users can download the updated versions from Plugin Repository: WP Super Cache W3TC Total Cache Thanks to Sucuri and both Plugin Publishers for bring-up this matter and fixing the issue so quickly. You can read more about the issue here and some ref...

The Future of the Cookie

Session Cookies or Sitting / Persistent Cookies may they be used as Advertising Cookies or Process Cookies or Security Cookies or Preference Cookies or Analytics cookies. May they be First Party Cookies or Third Party Cookies, local objects / Flash Cookies or HTTP only cookies or Zombie Cookies. Cookies are now integral part of Browser based Digital Journeys, E-marketers may call them as basic units helps temporarily recording the data of Browsers to Buyer Experience or Play to Pause or Click to Close actions. Digital marketers and websites are using them for various purposes, may it be for segmentation, behavioural / Psyco-graphic targeting, tracking, personalization, security, advertising, eCommerce, and the usage list goes on. What started as method to store temporary browsing data has taken a big shape. Here is a nice article from IAB on Future of Cookies in the Digital Marketing...

FTC Strengthens Children’s Online Privacy Rules

To keep up the pace with fast growing and evolving digital ecosystem and trends, FTC has adopted some amendments to COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) that will give more control to parents to safeguard child’s privacy online. The Digital world is changing rapidly and Digital marketers are adopting new age technology tactics to collect more and more information from user. Content gathering in this Big data landscape need to be controlled. Digital Marketing Strategies now a days are getting more and more CRM / data driven. the final amendments to COPPA are: modify the list of “personal information”  that cannot be collected without parental notice and consent, clarifying that this category includes geolocation information, photographs, and videos; offer companies a streamlined, voluntary and transparent approval process for new ways of getting parental consent; close a loophole that allowed kid-directed apps and websites to permit third parties to collect personal information from children through plug-ins without parental notice and consent; extend coverage in some of those cases so that the third parties doing the additional collection also have to comply with COPPA; extend the COPPA Rule to cover persistent identifiers that can recognize users over time and across different websites or online services, such as IP addresses and mobile device IDs; strengthen data security protections by requiring that covered website operators and online service providers take reasonable steps to release children’s personal information only to companies that are capable of keeping it secure and confidential; require that covered website operators adopt reasonable procedures for data retention and deletion; and strengthen the FTC’s oversight of self-regulatory safe harbor programs. According to FTC’s News...

Digital Natives Looking for Privacy with Freedom of Speech!

Do Netzens know the rule? From Government to Citizens, From Kinds to Teens and from Youth to Grand’s everyone is online. May we call them as Generation Y, Millennial or Generation Z or Generation@, Net Generation or Generation Text… There is one term that can define them well which is DIGITAL NATIVES or The Cyber Citizens. The whole picture of digitalization on this information superhighway was considered as intellectual communication but the online identities or Digital identities of these still mostly remains anonymous.  In this age it was very easy  for these digital natives to cross this thin line between anonymity and pseudonymity, decently we use to call them as pen names. Since 1990, Millions of Netizens are communicating with each other and enjoying convenience of expression online. The communities now are online; they are digitally connected through various social media and micro blogs, forums and public video channels. The social sharing and networking sites including blogs, video sharing, micro blogs, and social networking sites became breeding grounds and vectors of such rumours and slanders.  These places are full of abusive remarks and statements on social affairs, public faces, and also affecting individual lives. Net victimization is leaving its mark on the entire cyber-globe. Net Victimization The risks of net victimization is spreading over three corners i.e content, community and commerce “CLICKING ANY LINK ONLINE HAS BECAME A CONDITIONAL REFLEX AND CYBER CRIMINALS KNOW THIS” This explosion of connected devices, connected communities and connected personas gave rise to annoying rumours  slanders, abuses, hatred speeches  The rise is cyber bullying, impersonation,  cyber stalking, identity-theft, profile hacking, phishing, adware, malware, WIFI HACKING, cyber-porn, cyber-baiting. Number of...