Custom Domain Migration, And Redirection Blocking

We see occasional frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, involving broken or unreliable custom domains.

I setup the Custom Domain properly, following the Google directions.

For some of my readers, my custom domain is not opening. I can see it is going in an infinite loop in the browser - and after a long time, it's throwing errors. My domain is setup, properly. Why do I have to deal with this?

And we will investigate - and in many cases, we find the domain is setup properly.

Some custom domain published blogs have problems, which have nothing to do with the domain setup.

Some custom domain problems involve custom code, added to the template, long ago.

Not everybody is in favour of the ongoing Blogger efforts to convince blog owners to force their readers to use HTTPS / SSL, in blog access.

A number of hackers are making their websites popular, by providing code that lets blogs block forced HTTPS access - just as they provided code that blocked local country domain redirection. Some blog owners add this dodgy code, to their blogs.

This hacking lets blog owners publish their blogs, and use accessories and gadgets that only support HTTP access. Unfortunately, with third party code, you get what you get.

Some third party code, which blocks HTTPS blog access, works OK - for a while.

When a blog is published to a custom domain, redirection to "blogspot.com" causes a redirect loop - or a security check.

<script type='text/javascript'>
var blog = document.location.href.toLowerCase();
if (!blog.match(/\.blogspot\.com/)) {
  blog = blog.replace(/\.blogspot\..*?\//, ".blogspot.com/ncr/");
  window.location.replace(blog);
  }
</script>

This is clever code, seen some time ago when used to block country local domain redirection. Then, as now, some blogs might be deleted or locked as malware hosts - or the blogs would become intermittently inaccessible.

Is the unreliability appropriate? You can add what code you like, to your blog. Eventually, what you add may cause you problems.

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Some #Blogger blog owners add clever code, to block HTTPS Redirection, to their blogs. This is the same hacker provided code, used long ago to block local country domain redirection.

Like country domain redirection, the code added may work fine, for a while. Eventually, the blog will be deleted / locked for malware hosting - or will start throwing 404 errors and similar confusion.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/71k8xOXxByI

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Is There A Purpose To Referer Spam?

We've been experiencing - and discussing - referer spam, since 2011.

We still see unaware blog owners, asking in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

When I checked my stats for my blog, and looked at traffic sources, I noticed a link from a different country - and it just seems weird that Russian readers would then go to a US site.

When we explain that they're probably seeing another referer spam attack - and that clicking on the links is not always a good idea, we get a variety of responses. Some want to know if there is a purpose, to this noise.

Referer spam has a variety of purposes - ranging from commercial, to dangerous, to deceptive.

Garbage? Or a purpose?



Here are just 3 examples, from Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

• Advertise any paying customer.
• Lead you to a website with hacking content.
• Attack innocent third parties.

Advertise any paying customer.

This is the commercial possibility. If there's money to be made from publishing informative, interesting, and original content, there is probably lots more money to be made herding innocent third parties to ads on any website needing traffic - and lacking informative, interesting, and original content.

This may even represent a variation of GPT. And with the volume of referer spam that's possible, there are surely enough naive blog owners to make this a very lucrative activity.

Lead you to a website with hacking content.

This is the dangerous possibility. With hacking activity as a possible destination, clicking on a Stats link blindly is like playing "Russian Roulette", with your computer.

And, don't expect the website URL to provide a clue as to the destination. "www.innocous-name.com" could itself be hacked - and might unknowingly serve content from "www.hacking-website.com" - or redirect to "www.hacking-website.com".

Attack innocent third parties.

This is the deceptive possibility.

My blog was a "victim" of referer spam attack, in 2011. I have seen similar referer spam reports, that suggest this is not an unusual use of referer spam.

Protect yourself - if you must investigate your referers.

Surely, there are still actual people surfing - and some referer links are genuine. Eventually, you will want to check out some of the more intriguing URLs, in "Traffic sources".

If you decide to investigate one of the links, copy the text of the link URL - then use a proxy server.

Just don't investigate links, without protection. That's what proxy servers are for.

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Some #Blogger blog owners want to know if referer spam has a purpose - or if it is simply random noise. It actually has a variety of purposes - commercial, dangerous, and deceptive.

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Blogger Magic - Add An HTML Gadget

Many popular accessories start with raw HTML / JavaScript code, from different third party services.

One of the advantages of publishing a Blogger blog is the abundance of available accessories. With Blogger being in the top 3 of Internet publishing platforms, every third party service wants customers who publish using Blogger.

There are plenty of abusive or malicious accessories, that should not be installed, even when offered - and there are ways to best install the accessories, that can be safely installed.

Most accessories, from third party services, will be provided as HTML / JavaScript.

To add HTML / JavaScript code, to a blog, you can use any of several techniques - though a new HTML / JavaScript gadget is the smartest choice. Adding an HTML gadget, to a Blogger blog, is not difficult.

Add an HTML / JavaScript gadget, using "Add a Gadget" in Layout.

Start from the dashboard Layout page, and select any convenient link to "Add a Gadget". Select "HTML/JavaScript" from the "Basics" tab, in the "Add a Gadget" wizard.



Select "HTML/JavaScript" in "Basics".



Paste the code, that you have to add, into the "Content" window, in the "Configure HTML/JavaScript" wizard. And if you wish, give your new gadget a Title.



Paste the code that you have, into "Content" - with the wizard in HTML mode ("Rich Text" displayed).



Avoid several well known mistakes, when adding gadgets.

There are mistakes, that you can avoid - if you know what to do.

• Be selective, when adding third party code.
• Add a gadget, using "Basics".
• Edit an HTML gadget, with "Rich Text" displayed as the caption.
• With a dynamic template, attach or embed the content in a static page.
• With a mobile display, enable the gadget, if you want it to be viewed.

Be selective, when adding third party code.

It's your blog - and you are allowed to install any accessories and tweaks that interest you. For long term stability and success, though, you should try to only install code from reliable sources.

Your readers will be happier, with your blog using reliable accessories.

Add a gadget, using "Basics".

You'll start with an "Add a Gadget" link, on the dashboard Layout page - and the "Add a Gadget" wizard.

The "Add a Gadget" wizard has the "Basics" tab, with the "HTML / JavaScript" gadget in the list - and it has the "Add your own" tab. You should find the "HTML / JavaScript" gadget, in "Basics".

Edit an HTML gadget, with "Rich Text" displayed as the caption.

The "HTML" / "Text" gadgets, intriguingly have the "Edit Html" / "Rich Text" tabs. If you want to add / edit HTML or JavaScript, the caption should read "Rich Text".



The HTML gadget, in HTML mode.



With a dynamic template, attach or embed the content in a static page.

Adding gadgets to dynamic templates is not a straightforward process. Gadgets have to be written specifically to support dynamic templates - and the HTML gadget is not written for this.

If you want an HTML gadget to work in a dynamic template, you'll need to attach or embed the gadget, in a static page.

With a mobile display, enable the gadget, if you want it to be viewed.

By default, the "HTML / JavaScript" gadget does not display, on a mobile browser. You will have to use the Template Editor, and enable the gadget to display, in mobile mode.

It's your blog.

There are ways to make an HTML gadget work, differently. Long term success will be much more likely, though, with attention to the advice above.

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One of the most common accessories, added to a #Blogger blog, starts with an HTML / JavaScript gadget. This is a very versatile gadget - and it's not difficult to install. There are several common sense details, however.

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Protect Your Online Life - Prevent Blog Loss

We've been seeing a few queries recently, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, suggesting very subtle account attacks going on.

Some reports are about accounts locked (and blogs temporarily offline), because of "suspicious" / "unusual" activity. Other reports are sadder - and mention blogs now owned by another person. When we're able to identify the new blog owner, too many look like intentional hackers.

Temporarily offline - or permanently stolen - both are stories that you do not want to tell. Fortunately, both stories can be prevented.

If you know the risks, and you can protect yourself and your Blogger account, you can be simply irritated by the ongoing hacking attempts.

I, personally, am no stranger to semi successful hacking. This blog has been taken offline twice, since Blogger / Google started their hacking mitigation program ("suspicious" / "unusual" account activity detection).

Once the activity takes place, and is detected, your account will be locked, and your blogs taken offline - though you may not see the two conditions as connected. However, if you protect yourself, you can treat an attack as a mere nuisance.

Consider what details are used, by Google, in requesting backup authentication.

When Google requests additional identity details, after you have successfully provided your account name / email address, and your password, they will ask for demographic details such as:

• Any passwords that you have used previously.
• What services (such as GMail, Google+, YouTube) have you used - and when did you first use them.
• How recently did you use a given service.

They appear to request these details randomly, in an effort to keep the hackers guessing.

Observing that these details are sometimes requested, it would make sense to have a 2 part policy.

1. Don't reveal these details, about yourself, online.
2. Take a few hours, whenever you have time - research, and record these details so you will have them when they are useful.

If you travel frequently - or if your Internet service makes you appear to move around your immediate neighbourhood - you may need these details sooner than you would expect.

If your Internet service changes, giving you a new email address - or if you change jobs, graduate from school, move and have different / new Internet service - prepare for the change. The first time you login, after a change, have the details needed, where they can be conveniently retrieved.

You may see this notice - even when you did nothing wrong - if your account is disabled for "suspicious" / "unusual" activity. Google code can be fickle, at times.

Here's hoping that you don't suffer from high blood pressure or chronic indigestion.



Google 2-Step Verification is a better way to protect yourself.

Google 2-Step Verification uses any of several options.

• A physical USB key, registered by you before trouble starts.
• Backup, one use authentication codes, retrieved by you before trouble starts.
• An authentication code generator, installed on your smartphone / tablet, registered by you before trouble starts.

Note the requirement "before trouble starts". After you get the "Your account is now locked" advice, and see your blogs now offline, it may be too late.

I, personally, see the "suspicious" / "unusual" activity notice - or receive "Please provide additional proof of identity" - several times yearly. Using my USB key, inserted into the computer, and tapping the button, I am generally back online within minutes.

If you're lucky, you may need neither additional details, or 2-Step.

Not everybody will need either proof of identity. I suspect a large proportion of the world population will go through life without ever seeing the "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity warning.

And if I convince you to do any or all of this, you never need to do it - and you come to me in 5 years and call me a wanker or worse, for wasting your time - I'll smile and at least know that you are not one of the people in the forum.

My blog is offline and I had to spend time figuring when I setup my GMail and YouTube accounts!

or

Help me! My blog is missing from my dashboard - and it's throwing spam at my readers!

I really prefer being called a wanker (or worse).

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Some Blogger blog owners are reporting new instances of "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity - some successfully executed, and blogs stolen. The sad part is that much of this can be avoided, by advance owner action.

Researching backup authentication details, and / or use of Google 2-Step Verification, can allow the owner of an attacked Blogger account to growl, and respond - and possibly have the account and blog(s) back online in minutes or hours. But the work has to be done before trouble starts.

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How to Hack/Reset Kali linux login password

Recently changed Kali Linux Log in Password and you have forgotten it. or May be You want to Hack someone's Kali Linux PC. I am giving you one full proof solution for both issues. I really don't know why Kali developers left a loophole behind the Kali Linux well i also want to tell you that this is also working with Backtrack. So doesn't matter you have forgotten your Backtrack Admin log in password or Kali Linux Admin Log in Password just follow below instruction.
1. First boot your kali linux and wait  untill the Grub will come,  As you will see the grub , then scroll down to recovery mode  then press E

                                                                   (click image for large view)

2. After pressing E you will see this screen. Here you have to change some words and need to add some sentence as shown in image 

3. After changing and adding just press F10

4. After pressing F10 it will be reboot and you will see this screen, Here you have to type a command passwd root and hit enter

5. Then type your new root password, hit enter and again retype your root password and hit enter afterthat you will see a massage password update successfully 

6. Now power off by pressing your laptop/PC power button and switch on it again and login with your new password 

(click image for large view)

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Recovering And Protecting Your GMail Account

Blogger blog owners may have productive action, when their Blogger accounts are successfully hacked through an attack on their GMail accounts.

GMail account owners can get detailed instructions on recovering a successfully hacked account, and on preventing future hacking attacks from being successful. Some of the instructions are specific to GMail use - but overall, Blogger account owners will benefit from their use.

To benefit from the GMail instructions, one should consider the differences between Blogger, email, and Google accounts.

GMail provides instructions for recovering hacked / stolen GMail accounts.

Gmail Account Recovery: Gmail Account Recovery and Security provides complete and detailed instructions for recovering a hacked and stolen GMail email account.

The Recovery instructions include specific mentions of Disabled / Suspended accounts, successfully Stolen accounts, and accounts locked or deleted because of Underage owners.

Accompanying the recovery advice is Gmail help and information: How NOT To Get Hacked. These are instructions for preventing a recurrence of a reported problem. This includes discussion of using a strong and secure password, identifying hacking techniques that involve the account owner, and preventing attacks which are conducted using the computer or network in use by the account owner.

Prevention instructions are similarly focused on GMail account security.

The Prevention instructions, many which are common sense issues to any IT professional or security expert, are specifically written to apply to GMail account owners. There may be additional issues which apply in general, to Blogger accounts - and specifically, to Blogger accounts which are based on non GMail email accounts.

There are a few differences between Blogger blog ownership and GMail account ownership, which will cause issues that cannot be easily resolved by Blogger Support, or by GMail Support, to the satisfaction of the (former) blog owner.

GMail accounts, unlike Blogger accounts, do not contain transferrable assets.

GMail accounts are, by nature, single owner - and ownership of a GMail account is never transferred. In contrast, Blogger blogs can be under team ownership - and ownership can be transferred.

• Intentional team blog ownership. Team blog ownership can cause problems with loss of blog control, when all known blog administrators (accidentally or intentionally) remove themselves as administrators, leaving an unknown administrator.
• Intentional transfer of control. A blog owner may assign administrator status to another person, voluntarily - then later regret his decision.
• Un intentional transfer of control. A blog owner may assign administrator status to another person, voluntarily - and the other person may then remove the former owner administrator status.
• Ownership theft after account hacking. A hacker, having temporarily gained control of a Blogger account, may transfer ownership of a blog to another Blogger account.

All of these scenarios are regarded as simple transfer of blog ownership, by Blogger Support.

Though maybe not preferred by the (former) blog owner, the blog in question will now be under control of another person. It's possible that some of these scenarios are considered by Google Security, when reviewing Blogger / Google accounts after hacking activity is detected.

Blogger accounts based on non GMail email have typical third party issues.

Blogger accounts, based on non GMail email addresses, will be subject to the typical uncertainty which accompanies any third party service in Blogger. Some details may be involve the email provider, while others will involve Blogger - and arbitrating between the two will be the responsibility of the Blogger account owner.

Owners of Blogger accounts which are based on non GMail email addresses will need to contact the providers of the actual email service, for resolution of some of these issues.

In general though, the GMail Account Loss Prevention and Recovery instructions provide good advice, for any Blogger account owner.

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Blogger And Google+ Continue To Move Ever Closer Together

Today, Blogger announced the most innovative step in integrating Blogger and Google+, since sharing of Blogger posts to Google+.

The December 2011 sharing option lets us publish our blog posts to Google+. Today, Blogger added the ability to do the same - and more - with our blog comments. Like basic Google+ post sharing, Google+ Comments will be shared, and be visible, on a Circle by Circle basis.

The ability to post a comment, against a Blogger blog post shared in Google+, and have the comment publish to the blog will make for interesting comment based conversations.

There will be challenges to this feature, however. One of the most annoying problems with Blogger comments, right now, involves the embedded comment form, and security limitations caused by cookie filtering on many readers computers.

This blog uses a full page comment form, because too many of my readers need to post comments, in spite of the cookie filtering on their computer. Blogger Google+ Commenting requires use of the embedded comment form.

Google+ Comments lets you bring the following conversations together in one place, right under your blog post:

• Comments made on your Blogger blog post
• Comments on the blog post that you’ve shared to Google+
• Shared content on Google+ that links to your blog post

Readers will need a Google+ page or profile to comment on your blog.

Anybody who publishes a blog, and has readers who do not understand the reason for allowing third party cookies, will not want to use an embedded comment form - and won't benefit from Google+ Commenting, either. Until either

• Blogger resolves their "third party cookies" problem, with the embedded comment form.
• All Blogger blog readers resolve their issues with filtering "third party cookies".

Google+ Comments will have a limited audience.

Many blog owners may find a problem, in the moderation process.

Once you enable Google+ Comments, you can moderate comments within the blog post itself.

Owners of large blogs may not enjoy having to check each post, one by one, to moderate comments - so, you let your readers moderate for you.

I check my dashboard Comments menu, several times daily - and see all comments posted to the blog, in one convenient place. Having to look at each post, to moderate comments, won't be as convenient.

A third challenge will come from blog owners who want everybody to be able to comment, on their blogs. Requiring a Google+ account to comment won't be widely accepted by blog owners who have readers who comment either Anonymously, or using an OpenID.

One of the benefits of Google+ Commenting will be a reduction in comment based spam. The increasingly annoying "nice blog" spam - and the accompanying security risks from having it published on our blogs - should be eliminated, from blogs using Google+ Comments.

Google+ Comments is a feature that is needed, on some Blogger blogs - but it needs to remain optional, for some time.

If you're in one of my Circles, and wish to test this new feature, see if you can comment, on my recipes blog, Chuck's Kitchen.

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If You Comment On Blogs Extensively, You Should Consider Using Google 2-Step Verification

One recently identified cause of deleted Blogger blogs appears to involve brute force hacking against our Blogger / Google accounts.

We've known, for some time, about blog owners receiving alerts about "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity. The alerts frequently involve locked or deleted Blogger / Google accounts - and generally include the owner having to change their password, solve a CAPTCHA, and / or provide their phone number (mobile or home phone) to login.

Later, people started reporting that their blogs were being deleted - possibly as a result of having to change their password, solve a CAPTCHA, and / or provide their phone number.

I've been observing - and blocking - an annoying style of comment based spam, which I have termed "nice blog" spam, for some time.

Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

This style of spam, from what I can tell, has been published by the millions, in various blog comments, on both Blogger and non Blogger platforms.

The reason for the spam always intrigued me. Observing that the spam was published in the millions, suggested to me that it had a special purpose, intended by its creators. Looking at a typical spam message, in my email (since I moderate before publishing), I could see no consistent type of content.

• Some messages would contain links, others not.
• Some messages would mention what looked like commercial products, other references were obviously imaginary targets.
• Some messages would appear to be mere babble.

Recently, I discovered one strong possibility for the purpose of the spam - a very ingenious form of email address mining. The spam comment is only needed to allow a hacker to subscribe to a given comment stream, using the "Email follow-up comments to ..." option. It's possible that the subscription is not even affected by moderation - whether the blog owner is moderating, either before or after the comment is published to the blog, the hacker remains subscribed to the comment stream.

All that the hacker / spammer has to do is to publish a spam comment, select the "Email follow-up comments to ..." option, and watch while his Inbox fills up with subsequent comments from other Blogger / Google / OpenID account owners. Any comment containing an email address, and linking to a Blogger blog, would go straight into the hackers database.

Later, the hacker could go to work against the Blogger accounts referenced in the comments. In some cases, this would result in successfully hijacked Blogger blogs, which would become part of a spammers blog farm where advertisements of various nature could be hosted. Valuable blogs, with established reader populations, could also be used to serve malware (and more hacking) to unsuspecting readers.

The demographics of some hijacking attacks provide interesting clues. In one episode, we had a significant number of home / personal / small business blogs that had been hijacked by one specific individual. Many of the victim blogs

• Contained details relevant to the owners, which provided clues to passwords used by the owners.
• Were owned by people who used commenting extensively, for networking both with friends, and with business targets.
• Were read (and commented upon) by similar people, who similarly provided password clues in their own blogs.

Having been part of the restore process, both with people who had their blogs hijacked, and who had their accounts locked and blogs deleted, I observed that the former (hijacked blogs) seem to have decreased in volume as the latter (accounts and blogs locked / deleted) increased in volume. I don't think that the relationship is coincidental - or spurious.

My opinion is that the locking of Blogger / Google accounts - and subsequent deletion of blogs - directly results from detected attacks against the accounts in question ("suspicious" / "unusual" activity). Noting that the attacks seem to be more common to people who comment on blogs as a form of networking, it appears that commenting can lead to accounts and blogs being locked or deleted, as Google protects us against hacking.

Considering this possible cause and effect relationship, Google 2-step verification is a good idea. Click here, for Google instructions on setting up 2-step verification.

Use of 2-step verification helps safeguard our accounts against brute force hacking. This will help anybody who is anxious about accounts and blogs being deleted or locked, as a result of "suspicious" / "unusual" activity. If you own a blog which is subject to this threat, you should consider using 2-step verification.

The sanity (heart attack, ulcer) that is saved may be your own.

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Accounts Locked For Unusual Account Activity

One of the more intriguing tales of Blogger blogs, currently being explored, involves blogs mysteriously deleted by Blogger.

My blog just disappeared from my dashboard - and no, it's not listed under "Deleted blogs"!

In some cases, the owner knows more than is implied, from the obvious wording of that problem report.

As Blogger / Google continues to improve the hacking / malware detection and removal process, they are making the recovery of accounts locked for "suspicious" / "unusual" activity easier - and more transparent. The increased transparency may, in some cases, cause mystery.

Diagnosing the many mysterious blog disappearances, currently being reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, may involve what the blog owner does not report - as much as what the owner does report.

Hacking Detection / Recovery is constantly being improved.

Blogger / Google is constantly refining the hacking detection / recovery process, to both improve the possibility that any activity will be detected, and to make it easier for the victims of the hacking to deal with the recovery process. As they make it easier for the owners to recover the accounts locked, they make it less likely that the owners will mention the locked account recovery, when later reporting the blogs, mysteriously missing from the dashboard.

Some owners will provide vague clues, alluding to hacking detection.

In some cases, the blog owner will provide vague clues, which refer to an immediately previous account unlock.

• Required to change the account password.
• Required to provide a phone number - and receive either a text or voice message with a recovery code.
• Required to solve a CAPTCHA.

All of these clues can be relevant to a locked account, or to various other anti-hacking / anti-spam activity by Blogger / Google - and can be overlooked as a locked account symptom, when stated in a forum problem report.

Other times, only the circumstances identify the situation.

In other cases, the only clue provided will be that the blogs in question are missing, and not listed in any dashboard list - "Deleted blogs", "Locked blogs", or "My blogs". In cases where we've simply reported missing blogs for malware / spam review, to Blogger Support, we're later advised to instruct the blog owner to recover the account.

Every owner does not always appreciate the diagnostic process.

Since immediate review of any blog cannot be always guaranteed by Blogger Support, it's to everybody's benefit that we request clues to verify the problems being reported. Unfortunately, the questions asked may not always seem relevant to some blog owners, unhappy about the mysterious loss of their blogs - even though they may contribute to the problem, inadvertently.

All owners won't even get email, alerting them to action taken.

And thanks to the possibility that not all blog owners may even get a notice when their accounts are locked, owners with multiple accounts may not even realise that a given Blogger account is locked. These owners find out that a given blog has been deleted, only after it goes offline and expires from cache. This will make some blog owners even less cooperative, when asked to provide diagnostic details about their problems.

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Blog Owners, Unable To Request Restore Of A Blog

One of the more intriguing issues, seen in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, involves people unable to recover control of their blogs.

I recently changed ISPs, and now I can't login to update my blog.

Occasionally, this issue becomes more complicated, because the blog is deleted - and the owner can't request that it be restored, using the automated review request wizard. Sometimes, the would be blog owner may to try to bypass the current blog recovery policy, by claiming special circumstances.

The blog has been deleted. I received no suspicious activity or password change notification emails, or emails of any kind related to my blog.

What is the story here? Can blogs just disappear from the Blogosphere, without the involvement of the blog owners - and be unrecoverable?

Recovery of a deleted blog starts with the requirement that only a blog owner can un delete a deleted blog - and this is where many mysterious disappearances start.

Only the blog owner can initiate hacked blog unlock review.

Since a Blogger blog is the property of the owner, and the owner is allowed to delete a blog any time required, it would not be right to let people who are not the owner un delete a blog - or demand that the blog be un deleted. To enforce this requirement, Blogger added the dashboard based Restore wizard.

Since only the owner will have the deleted blog listed in their dashboard "Deleted Blogs" list, only the owner can request restore of the blog in question.

Dashboard requested restores have multiple purposes.

The dashboard Restore wizard serves blog owners, with blogs deleted under various circumstances.

• Deleted by the owner.
• Deleted by Blogger, as a suspected spam host.
• Deleted by Google, for TOS Violation.

Any deleted blog will appear in a special dashboard list, "Deleted Blogs" or "Locked Blogs" - when it can be recovered. If the blog is not recoverable by the owner, there may not be a link.

Dashboard requested restores may not always be successful.

There are specific cases where a deleted blog may not be recoverable using the recovery wizard.

• The blog is locked, pending integrity check (following account lock for suspicious activity).
• The blog is owned under a different Blogger account, and is listed on another dashboard, under "Deleted blogs".
• A blog owner deleted the blog, long ago - and the blog is no longer recoverable.

A blog locked, pending integrity check, cannot be requested for restore.

Dashboard requested restores start with owner requested unlock.

The owner has to first have the owning account unlocked. Similar to the account recovery process, Blogger / Google will require that the owner provide proof of ownership, before the account will be unlocked. Only if the account can be unlocked, security specialists will inspect each blog owned by the account, and verify that each does not contain evidence of tampering by a temporarily successful hacker.

With blog security review in progress, the blog will be offline and invisible.

While a blog is under integrity check, it won't be listed on the dashboard of the owner - either under "Deleted blogs", "Locked blogs", or "My blogs". Neither the owner, nor any third parties, will be able to do anything except wait, patiently.

Blogs found to contain malware can be locked as TOS Violations, with the owner later required to remove the malware found. This requirement will apply for malware installed by the owner (intentionally, or unintentionally), or for malware installed by a hacker.

With blog malware review in progress, the blog will be offline - but visible.

With a blog locked pending malware removal, the owner is given the benefit of the doubt, and allowed to simply remove the malware, no questions asked. In some cases, Blogger may be able to assist by providing specific identification of the malware found - but this won't happen, consistently.

A blog owned under another account must be un deleted by the owner of the other account. Again, only a blog owner can have a blog restored - whether deleted by an owner, or by Blogger / Google.

A blog deleted over 90 days previously cannot be recovered. It won't appear on the dashboard of any (former) owner, since it can't be recovered.

It's dead, Jim.

Either way, you the owner have to wait for review to complete.

The basic rule is simple. If your blog was deleted, and if you're able to un delete it (or request un deletion), you'll have a link on your dashboard. If a blog is not listed on your dashboard, you can't request, with any predictable success, that it be un deleted - any more than you can demand that a non deleted blog be restored to your control.

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Some Blogger Blogs Being Locked As Malware Hosts

For a long time, we've been dealing with various malware / spam mitigation issues, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Recently, malware detections, long simply identified as "Malicious JavaScript" in the well known Spam Appeal Guidelines, was given its own identity, and a separate classification / appeal process. We're now seeing several common types of JavaScript, included in blogs which are typically mentioned in forum reports.

It may be helpful to describe some examples of JavaScript code being seen, so blog owners can avoid making the same mistakes, by not including these scripts in their blogs.

There are several common types of JavaScript applications, found in many blogs with the owners requesting review / unlock action.

1. CPA / Cost Per Action.
2. Multiple popups, such as a generic "Welcome!", followed by "Like my blog, before you read it!".
3. Password protection, on a page basis.
4. Security warning popups, suggesting that you need to install a recommended security software.
5. Social networking popups, demanding "Like my blog, before you read it!".
6. Traffic Redirection, targeting other blogs / websites.
7. Traffic redirection, targeting the canonical URL for the host blog.

CPA / CPALeads / Cost Per Action, and similar online marketing terminology, involves providing a reward for viewing a blog, or for subscribing to the blog feed. Some CPA scripts may be used to collect email addresses, also known as "email address mining", later used for hacking activity or spam distribution.

CPA scripts present another problem. Since Blogger blogs are intended to reward the readers by providing interesting and unique content, blogs which use CPA may be improperly designed or maintained. Blogger wants the blog owners to publish blogs which entertain or inform their readers - not blogs which require artificial or ingenious techniques to generate traffic, and visitor activity.

Multiple popups, such as an initial "Welcome to my blog!" greeting, followed by the well known FaceBook "Like my blog, to read my blog!" demand. If multiple popups should become an established practice, it's possible that malware producers could enjoy this technique, to conceal a malware installation.

Password protection, on a page basis, is an attempt to make a blog (or blog portion) private, by using a password. This protection is easily defeated, as the password is provided in the page (post / template) code, as plain text - and can easily be identified by anybody knowing how to view page source as text.

Besides the "protection" being easily bypassed, this is a problem because security scanning programs - such as the malicious scripting bot - can't pass through JavaScript code easily. When encountering this JavaScript application, your blog will be righteously classified, as a malicious script host.

Security warning popups, suggesting that your computer is infected - and offering, for immediate installation, the perfect tool to remove the claimed malware. Security experts know that this is similarly a favourite malware installation technique, where the computer owner would give permission to have the offered software installed - and the installed software would later install a botnet client or similar malicious trash.

Social networking popups are an arrogant way of wasting your readers time, and guaranteeing eventual malware classification of your blog. Popular among some WordPress blogs, the circular FaceBook "Like my blog, to read my blog!" demand is a good way to make genuine readers go elsewhere.

If you want genuine readers, who read a Blogger blog because of thoughtful, unique content, you will not get them by demanding that they boost your FaceBook popularity, before reading your blog. This is just another way of buying "Likes" - and it belongs in WordPress, not in Blogger.

Traffic Redirection, targeting other blogs / websites is a technique attempted by many hackers and spammers. The use of some blogs as gateways, leading to redistributors, which in turn lead to payload blogs or non Google websites, is part of many hacking / spam attacks. Google is trying to restrict the use of Blogger blogs as malware / spam hosts - and actively prevents scripts, which only shuffle readers from one blog to another, without choice.

Even though Blogger will not encourage you to move your blog, to Tumblr, Weebly, WordPress, or wherever, you are allowed to do this - if you feel the need.

Hello, faithful readers:

This blog is now hosted at my new blogging host. Please update your blog lists and bookmarks!

If you must do this, it's OK to post a notice, in your Blogger blog. You can even put a link, to the new blog, in the notice. You just can't use JavaScript, to automatically redirect the reader to the new blog.

Traffic redirection, targeting the canonical URL for the host blog, is a technique used by some blog owners who perceive Country Code Alias Redirection to present a problem. Some accessories installed on their blogs, and various non Google services which may be used to provide activity on their blogs, may not properly reference the canonical URL tag included in all Blogger blogs.

Since Blogger / Google wants all Blogger blog owners to benefit from improved world wide access to Blogger blogs, blogs which employ automatic canonical URL redirection may damage the effect of CC alias redirection. Blogs which host scripts which immediately redirect readers to the canonical URL, and are considered undesirable by any host government, may force an offended host government to block the entire Blogger service, in their country.

To prevent malicious misuse of Blogger by hackers and spammers, and to encourage effective long term use of Blogger by legitimate blog owners, Blogger / Google may detect any blogs which use these types of scripts as part of their general malware / spam classification strategy. Given the ability and willingness of the blog owner, to remove the JavaScript code in question, most blogs can be returned to service - but each blog will remain offline, until the removal is verified.

It's to everybody's benefit to identify, and to avoid use of, these scripts in our blogs, before it's too late. If your blog contains one of these scripts, why not remove the problem now, instead of waiting until you too have to post your problem report, in the forum

Help me! My blog was just locked for

MALICIOUS JAVASCRIPT

What do I do, now?

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Browser Cache, And Blogs Locked After Hacking

The effects of browser cache, upon our Internet life, are not always understood.

Most of us know, by now, to clear cache and restart the browser, after updating a blog, for consistent testing. Some folks know that blog security changes don't always take complete and immediate effect.

Recently, we're seeing a new effect, reported by owners of Blogger accounts locked, after hacking activity is detected.

I got a message mentioning suspicious account activity, when I logged in to Blogger. I provided my phone number, and I received a code on my phone, that I had to enter before I could then log in. My blog was working fine just after I logged in. A short while later, though, it was gone. Why was my blog deleted, because I unlocked my account?

This blog owner is just slightly confused, about the cause and effect here.

Google robotic processes are constantly monitoring account login activity, and watching for signs of hacking activity, such as brute force password entry.

Hacking Cannot Be Detected, Immediately.

When hacking is detected, the detection may not be immediate - so Google protects us by considering the possibility that the hacking could have been successful, and deletes or locks blogs owned by the account under attack. The blogs in question are taken offline, immediately, when hacking is detected.

When a blog is taken offline, blog content may be found in cache.

If a blog owner has just been working on a blog, as is frequently the case, the blog contents will be cached somewhere between the owner and the Blogger servers. Blogger can take the blogs offline, on their servers - but any cache containing the blogs will remain. If the blog owner is working on a blog while the Blogger account is under attack, what's in cache will remain, visible to the owner, until cache expires.

If a Blogger account is attacked, and the attack is detected, shortly after the owner has viewed a blog, what's in cache will be used, until it expires. The owner won't see the effects of the blog being deleted until the cache expires, and the browser tries to retrieve a fresh copy from the Blogger servers.

As cache expires later, the blog owner sees the blog go offline.

The blog owner sees the blog go offline shortly after he verifies account ownership, and thinks that the verification process caused the blog to go offline. In reality, the blog was taken offline before the owner even knew of "suspicious" account activity.

The blog owner has to wait, while the blogs are examined for hacker changes.

Now, the blog owner can do nothing, except wait until the account and the blogs are examined for signs of tampering. In some cases, no notification of progress will be received - and the owner will see the blog(s) returned to service, sometime later.

How much later the blogs return to service will vary widely, depending upon several details - and this variation, added to the uncertainty caused by cache latency, leads to mystery. And less attentive owners may take the delay as revenge, by Blogger, for their lack of attention to their blog(s).

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Browser Cache, And Confusion About Blogs Locked After Suspected Account Hacking
Browser Cache, And Blogs Locked After Hacking

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Deleted / Locked Blogs Have Several Causes

Many blog owners are occasionally confused, by the effects of various Blogger / Google security processes.

We see the agony, daily, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from those who only want to login to Blogger and work on their blogs.

The side effects of the security processes are similar - and depending upon various owner specific details, can be easily confused for each other. The possibility of confusion requires careful initial analysis, when we are faced with an angry blog owner.

My blog was deleted, by Blogger. How could they do this? I do not publish spam!

This is a typical problem report, which can reflect any one of the processes, each requiring different action in the forums.

There are multiple Blogger / Google security / TOS enforcement processes, which encourage observance of various Blogger / Google requirements.

Each process may cause a Blogger account and / or blog to be unavailable for public access, at any time.

• DMCA Violation looks for copyright and similar violations.
• Hacking detection looks for automated attacks against our Blogger accounts and blogs.
• Malware detection looks for malicious code installed in our Blogger blogs.
• Porn classification looks for blogs with adult content, and with unacceptable advertisements (aka monetised porn).
• Spam blog classification looks for Blogger blogs which contain spammy material or use spammy techniques.
• Repeated offenses can have gradually increasing severity of action taken.
• Owner deletion or rename may be confused with spam classification.
• Team blog ownership will affect blogs owned in common, by that team.

Each different process has a different effect on the Blogger account and blogs owned - and requires different attention by the blog owners, by the forum helpers, and by Blogger Support and Google Security. Not all blogs will be listed in the "Deleted blogs" dashboard inventory.

DMCA Violation

Accounts and blogs can be deleted, for progressive DMCA violations. The DMCA violation process originated with complaints made by the major entertainment industry content enforcement organisations, citing theft of "intellectual property" which they control.

In the USA, this would involve the "MPAA" (Motion Picture Association of America), and the "RIAA" (Recording Industry Association of America). I have been told that similar content enforcement organisations exist in other countries.

In more recent events, private citizens have been known to use the DMCA Violation complaint process, for miscellaneous copyright violation reporting. DMCA Violations have a formal complaint and appeal process.

Hacking detection

Blogger / Google network monitors are constantly analysing account login activity, and looking for signs of brute force password hacking.

When hacking activity is discovered, the Blogger account - and all blogs owned by the account - are deleted and locked, pending account verification by the owner, and blog integrity checking by Google Security.

The blog owner, after changing the account password, solving a CAPTCHA, and / or verifying account ownership by providing various personal details, is left waiting for the blogs owned by the account to be examined for signs of abuse by the hacker.

Until the blog(s) are returned to online status, they appear in neither the "Deleted blogs" or "Locked blogs" dashboard lists. The owner, even when logged in to the right Blogger account, simply sees the dashboard advice

You are not an author on any blogs.

In this case, neither the blog owner nor the forum helpers can do anything useful, except wait, anxiously - possibly, with no notice provided. The blog being offline may not be immediately observed by the owner - and this may cause more confusion.

Malware detection

Blogger robotic processes are constantly checking the various blogs, looking for malicious blog accessories, components, and scripts. When a blog is subject to "Malware" classification, the blog will appear in one of two dashboard lists, in sequence.

1. Initially, the blog will appear in the "Deleted blogs" list. While the blog is in "Deleted" status, the blog owner will be able to do nothing, except request "Restore".
2. Once the owner has requested "Restore", the blog is undeleted, and placed into the "Locked blogs" list. While the blog is in "Locked" status, all authors can access the blog to remove malware - but the blog remains offline, to all viewers. Once all malware has been removed from the blog, the owner can "Request Unlock Review".

If the blog remains in "Locked" status for over 48 hours, the blog owner may report this in the forums, and may request a manual review. The forum helpers, and online viewers, will generally see the blog displayed as "TOS violation".

This blog is in violation of Blogger Terms of Service and is open to authors only

Adult Content / Porn Detection

Blogger will soon classify and delete blogs with "adult content", which host advertisements to commercial porn sites. Like spam classification, this will probably involve both false negatives and false positives.

Spam detection

Blogger robotic processes are constantly checking the various blogs, looking for signs of spam activity and content. When a blog is subject to "Spam" classification, the blog will be displayed in the "Deleted blogs" dashboard list.

The owner can do nothing, except request "Restore". If the blog remains in "Deleted" status for over 48 hours, the blog owner may report this in the forums, and may request a manual review. The forum helpers, and online viewers, will generally see the blog displayed as "Removed".

Blog has been removed Sorry, the blog at xxxxxxx.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

Repeated Offenses

We have recently noted that repeated TOS Violations, involving DMCA, Malware, Porn, and Spam, are being dealt with in increasing severity.

Owner deletion or rename

Mistakes made by the owner can be confused with Spam detection. When a blog is deleted by the owner, it will appear in the dashboard "Deleted blogs" list for up to 90 days.

During the 90 days, the owner (or a team member, when applicable) may "Restore" the blog. After the 90 days expire, the blog will be removed from "Deleted blogs", and will be unrecoverable. Besides being unrecoverable, no other details have been determined.

If the blog is renamed (published under a different BlogSpot URL), the external symptom may be similar to deletion by the owner.

Blog has been removed Sorry, the blog at myblog.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

In this case, the blog will be listed in the dashboard "My blogs" list, under the right Title. The owner needs to setup a stub blog, pointing the readers to the new URL.

Team Ownership

Any blogs owned by a deleted / locked Blogger account may simply disappear from the dashboards of other team members. If the Blogger account is not restored / unlocked, the blogs owned by that account - including any team owned blogs - may remain deleted - and inaccessible to everybody.

The Confusion Accumulates

Because of anonymous blog ownership, loss of account control, team blog ownership, and use of inactive or non existent email addresses, any account / blog which is deleted or locked for hacking (actively / as a victim), malware, and / or spam may not be easily discovered or recovered by the owner.

And, not all scenarios can be easily diagnosed. Besides the deleted blogs, there are blogs that remain online - but have still disappeared from the dashboard of the owner.

All of these issues cause further confusion and frustration.

These scenarios may appear, to the untrained eye, to be signs of fraudulent, malicious, and / or petty actions by Blogger - and are loudly claimed so by spammers with their own agenda. None of these accusations are true - the above processes simply represent Blogger and Google attempting, in the best possible way, to protect everybody against the various hacking, malware, porn, and spam attacks which are constantly in progress.

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"Nice Blog" Spam Is Recently Becoming More Obscure, In Content And Style

In 2009, we discovered an odd style of spam comments which, from all appearances, served no purpose.

I recently came across your blog, and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

When discovered, Google Search suggested that over 22,000,000 copies of these comments had been successfully installed, on various blogs and websites.

A couple years ago, I suggested a possible reason for the spam - and later showed how Google+, and various Blogger security measures, were making the spam less useful.

Last month, we began to see suggestions, from some blog owners, that this "nice blog" spam was morphing, into more obscurely phrased and structured styles.

A lot of spam comments are being published on my blog. This problem started a few weeks ago - though previously, Google almost always put them in my Spam Folder.

Upon examination of examples of the spam comments, we see the same spam style as observed in 2009 - yet more imaginatively phrased.

Today, I spent a couple hours, and scanned through the comments queues on this blog. Both the Awaiting, and Spam, folders yielded some interesting specimens.

This topic is very educational and it took my interest. Hope it will always be alive! And provide productive information to many others.

and

Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on websites I stumble upon every day. It's always interesting to read articles from other writers and practice a little something from other sites.

These were the comment bodies of just two examples which I located - and these resemble others identified by various other blog owners.

The bodies of the comments examined, this week, will sometimes contain embedded links, while other examples will have external links - and some comments seem to contain no links at all, to any payload. The only thing consistent about the comments is their vague and apparently pointless nature.

The comments are both large in volume, and varied in content and structure. Both patience and persistence, from every blog owner moderating the spam, is required. The spam filters must be trained, to recognise the new content and structures - and this will require more effort, from everybody seeing the spam.

Since various reports about the spam have been seen recently, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we added a rollup discussion there, where we are requesting minimally organised details about the comments being observed.

• Are you moderating before, or after publishing?
• What's the average amount of time the spam comment sits in "Awaiting" or "Published", before being moved to "Spam"?
• How often do you check "Awaiting" and "Published", looking for more spam comments?
• How often do you check "Spam", looking for non spam comments?
• How many spam comments do you typically dispatch, in each batch?
• Looking objectively in your personal "Awaiting", "Published", and "Spam" folders, what number of this style of comments do you typically see in each, without your intervention?
• When did you first observe this threat, in your comment folders?

As always, please help here by answering as carefully and completely as possible - and please only post relevant replies. Do not turn the rollup discussion into a chat room.

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Check Your Template, And Look For Unfamiliar JavaScript Code, Following Odd Blog Behaviour

Recently, we've been seeing some odd problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, suggesting deviously hijacked blogs.

My blog is requesting me to login, using a user name and password, when I view it.

Given the URL of the window requesting the login, it's a simple matter for us to use the right forensic Internet software, and to locate a relevant snippet of code, frequently installed as part of the blog template.

Sometimes, when we reply to the blog owner with advice to remove a bit of dodgy code, we get a response suggesting disbelief. Our advice

Use the Template Editor, and remove the highlighted code snippet.

may receive a confused or skeptical response.

Where did that bit of code come from? I never installed that!

How did the code in question get installed? Discussion of one possible scenario may require thinking outside the box. Not every unrecognised blog change is being caused by memory loss by the blog owner, after an intentional accessory install or template tweak.

Looking at the subject / theme of some blogs involved in recent problem reports, we're seeing a beginning of a trend, which may indicate a new - and very subtle - blog hijacking technique. We know that Blogger blogs are subjected to brute force password guessing attacks, and we know that Blogger / Google has to consider the possibility that a brute force attack detection is made after the attack was successful.

Current blog security, and defense against blog hijacks, involves detection of hijack attempts, by Google Security. It's possible that some blogs, with some owning Blogger accounts and passwords, are more vulnerable to sophisticated password guess hacking.

When you login to Blogger or Google, you hopefully know the right account name and password, and are generally able to get logged in - after maybe one or two mistakes. You learn, soon enough, that if you have to guess your account name or current password - and you require more than a couple tries - you may have to solve yet another CAPTCHA, or request account unlock, to continue.

The ever unpopular CAPTCHA / locked account comes from Google, detecting a possible brute force attack in progress, and protecting your account and your blogs. A Blogger blog, with its content providing enough clues, combined with a simple account password that is easily guessed, may allow an experienced hacker to login to your account in one or two tries, without being detected by Google attack monitors.

It's alternately possible that some attacks are being conducted by very patient hackers, who are able to use days, and / or thousands of different computers, to conduct a throttled brute force password attack. Again, just attack without providing a detectable pattern.

This may help to explain the mysterious spam blog setups, of last year.

A hacker, able to login to a Blogger account without being detected, could install small changes in a blog template without ever being discovered. The blog owner would never discover subtle template changes, made by an easily satisfied hacker.

Finally, install latent code that does not activate immediately, as we observed during Winter 2009 / 2010, so no blogs show symptoms until the hack is installed on thousands of blogs. If one or two blog owners discover the odd code in their blogs, who would ever suspect their blog being part of a massive cloud of victims?

If you report odd behaviour by your blog, you write to Blogger Help requesting advice, and you are advised to remove a bit of dodgy code from the template - and you do not remember having installed the noted dodgy code - you may want to review your Blogger / Google password, and make the password harder to guess. Better still, start using 2-step verification for logging in to your Blogger / Google account.

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Recovery From Locked Blogger / Google Accounts

Not all blog owners understand the reasons behind the locked Blogger / Google accounts.

Even less understand why recovery of locked accounts, and of the blogs owned by the locked accounts, is not immediate. We see the occasional report, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I had to change the password on my account - and now my blogs are deleted! Why should I wait another "24 to 48 hours" to get my blogs back?

This blog owner does not understand the possible reasons for the locked account - and the work that goes on after the account is unlocked.

Brute force hacking of our Blogger / Google accounts, by hackers / spammers, who have use of the various botnets in the Internet, is a constant activity. Opposing activity, by the Security teams in Blogger / Google, to not let hackers and spammers take control of our accounts and blogs, is just as constant.

Some of the Security activity requires our patience - and blog owners, having to recover their deleted blogs, are not always patient.

The Security processes, in Blogger / Google hacking prevention, have to work from a worst case scenario, when detecting hacking activity.

Immediate detection of hacking is not always a possibility.

Account hacking cannot always be detected instantly. When hacking is detected, the hacking prevention process has to consider the possibility that the accounts under attack have already been compromised.

When Blogger / Google Security detects possible brute force hacking against an account, they lock the account - and delete the blogs owned by the account.

Alternatively, they quarantine the computers used in the hacking activity. This is where we see the notice of "suspicious account activity" - and possibly the dreaded "403 Forbidden".

Post detection security analysis looks at owner mistakes, and for hacking artifacts.

When we discover a locked account, and request its restore, the security process looks for signs of security weaknesses allowed by the account owners - or possibly added by the (temporarily) successful hacker. In some cases, the owner may be required to change the account password, and receive instruction on using a more secure ("strong") password.

Ongoing efforts by Blogger / Google, to make the account recovery easier for the blog owners to endure, may cause mystery about blogs missing from the dashboard, without obvious recovery options.

After the account is restored, all blogs must be carefully checked.

After the Blogger / Google account is restored, the integrity of the blogs owned by the account must be verified.

• The blog content must be examined for spammy content added.
• The blog Permissions list must be checked, for backdoor accounts added.
• The Mail-to-Blogger settings must be considered as a possible backdoor.

These are simply examples of what must be done, to ensure that our blogs were not compromised, even temporarily, by the hacking just detected. After you get your account back, it's not a bad idea for you to verify this, on your own. If you just got your blog back, after resetting your Blogger account password and / or verifying your phone number, check your template carefully, looking for references to unfamiliar JavaScript code, hosted outside Google address space.

Account / blog verification will take time.

The process of account and blog integrity verification will require an unpredictable time period - and needs to be done with the blogs inaccessible to anybody but the Blogger / Google security processes. The blog being offline may not be immediately observed by the owner - and this may cause more confusion.

Blogger Support is aware that nobody wants to deal with the stress of having a locked or deleted blog - especially after they have gone through the process of verifying their account. They are also well aware of the frustration that is present when someone reports

Somebody is publishing spam on my blog - and I can't access the dashboard to remove the spam!

Locking the owned blogs, after hacking activity is detected, complements the ongoing policy of not disclosing the account names, in helping to keep our blogs under our control.

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http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2013/01/confusion-over-recovery-from-locked.html
Confusion Over Recovery From Locked Blogger / Google Accounts

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Use Of Google+ For Networking, And Keeping Your Blogger Account And Blogs Safe

One constant activity in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken involves blog owners whose blogs were deleted - either righteously or spuriously - as part of the ongoing battle against spam, in Blogger blogs. Generally, the problem comes directly from the blog content.

Sometimes, the problem is more subtle.

When I tried to login to Blogger, I got a screen that said my account needed to be verified, due to "unusual activity on my account". Having verified my account, I see that my blogs have been deleted.

This is part of one of the more intriguing episodes, in the never ending fight against hacking and spam, in Blogger.

Some Blogger blog owners participate in comment based discussions, and provide their email addresses there. Some state their email addresses openly, in the body of the comments, for the world to see when viewing the comments. Others post comments using their Blogger accounts, knowing that the blog owners can see their email address in the comment moderation / notification email messages - and can contact them using email.

Spammers use comment based networking, to their advantage. They subscribe to any comment thread, using the "Notify me" option - then wait while blog readers comment using their Blogger accounts. As the email comes in, from blog readers commenting, they scrape the email addresses from the email content. Since most people commenting either openly state their blog URLs in the comment bodies - or link to a list of their blogs - the spammer now has two essential ingredients, to be used for hacking someone's Blogger account, and gaining control of the blogs owned by the account.

Google now provides Google+, where we can network with a designated audience, and avoid spam in our email. Using Google+, our email addresses are not revealed, and spammers have less incentive to use Google+ for email address harvesting. This protects our Blogger accounts and blogs against hacking, and relieves us from email based spam.

For people who update their Blogger accounts to use Google+ based profiles, but continue to network using Blogger comments, Blogger now protects us by using anonymous email addresses in all comment generated email. This leaves people who continue to comment, using Blogger accounts with native Blogger profiles, vulnerable to ongoing email address harvesting, and account hacking.

Blogger account hacking, using email addresses harvested from Blogger blog comments, will typically involve brute force password guessing. Blogger, detecting brute force attempts against a vulnerable Blogger account, will lock the account and the blogs. Once we verify ownership of our Blogger account - and hopefully change the Blogger account password to something less vulnerable to guessing - the blogs owned by a possibly compromised account remain locked, until they can be examined for signs of tampering, by Google security / spam analysts.

We also must consider the possibility that not all brute force password guessing attacks are being detected by Google - and some Blogger accounts are being deviously, and temporarily, hijacked.

People who setup Blogger accounts based on bogus email addresses - or who have accounts based on old email addresses which they can't use - continue to present a challenge here. These people will never receive essential email advising them of a problem in either verifying their Blogger account - or their blogs. This will continue to make our initial spam lock advice relevant.

Can you login to Blogger? Do you have a dashboard link "Deleted blogs"? That's where you start.

You wait 24 to 48 hours after submitting a Restore request - then you post back here, and we take the next step.

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