A lot of businesses use Tumblr on their company’s web page, and that’s cool, except for the fact that Tumblr has been compromised by the GNAA.   Several people and companies have recently reported that their Tumblr accounts were hacked after clicking on a provocative post that starts with “Dear Tumblr users…”  The post goes on to diss the millions of social media users who love posting photos of their daily lives, even if they don’t really make sense.  Never mind that it’s the public’s prerogative and that’s the beauty of the internet — it’s free for everyone to use and express their thoughts and feelings.

While most of us would just ignore senseless photos shared in our Facebook streams or mute annoying Twitterers, one hacker group has instead meddled with thousands of people’s lives by spreading malware on the popular blogging platform, Tumblr.

Tumblr has advised compromised users to log out of their accounts and close all browsers using Tumblr, and of course change their passwords.  But aside from that, what else can people do to keep their Tumblr account, or any other online account safe?

5 Tips to secure online accounts

Use strong passwords.  Aside from using an alphanumeric password, you should also alternate upper and lower case letters and do not use birthdays, significant dates and especially your social security number.

Keep passwords locked in your head, or at least somewhere no one can get to them.  Also, it would be best if you change passwords every 3-6 months, just to be sure.

Update software and pluggins.  This fixes bugs so hackers won’t easily access your account.  So if you get notified that an update is available, download and run it.

Use the Google Webmaster Tool.  This tool provides your site with Google protection, as they scan for potential issues and inform you if malware has been detected on your site.  This eliminates the possibility of your site spreading malware to visitors.  Aside from that, the tool also helps you understand your site’s traffic so you can better understand how you can improve visitor experience.

Avoid free themes.  A lot of site owners like to add their own personal touch to their web page and often times they use free themes to do so.  Getting free stuff is awesome, but you’ll ultimately pay for it in the end, as “free” on the internet can mean that something’s malware-laced.  Still, not everyone can afford paid themes so the best you can do is get a file and site scanner such as VirusTotal to minimize the potential of your site being compromised.