There’s a lot of grumbling in the MySpace community about “hacking”. Technically, the problem is really phishing. More on that below. The amount of spam floating around in MySpace (in large part due to compromised accounts) has also been a big concern. Keep reading to not only protect your own account, but to help put an end to MySpace spam in general.

Dont be a Phishee: Don’t log in again if you’re already logged in and always type a site’s URL into your browser if the site requires you to log in.
I keep company with some pretty smart people, yet a few of them have given their login details away to spammers. This is an easy trap to fall into if you’re not looking for it. Some of the specifics would only help other spammers learn how to do it, but here’s the general idea: The spammer adds you as a friend or otherwise entices you to click on something within MySpace. The page you end up at is designed to look just like the page shown below, telling you that you need to log in. If you enter your account information in this page, it goes to the spammer and you are redirected back to content on MySpace, letting you think you’ve just logged back in.

Use a secure password: A mixture of upper and lower case characters as well as symbols and numbers works best.
If your password is “password”, “1234″ or the same as your username, stop reading for a second and go change it right now. A password should be hard for anyone else to guess. Don’t use your first, last, or middle name. Don’ t use a series of consecutive numbers or your address. The name of your child, spouse or pet is also forbidden. From now on, your password should be a mixture of upper and lower case characters, numbers, and symbols. Your password should also be at least six characters. An example of a secure password is “23sp@mSuxx” or “D13SPammeR$”. If you want more examples of BAD passwords or just want to read up on it some more, take a look at this article

Don’t turn a blind eye: Report anything that looks wrong to MySpace and others.
It’s easy to just delete spam or not fall for a phishing attempt, but we need to make the attempts stop. Next time you get spam from a stranger, report it. If it’s from a friend, call that friend and tell them about it. After all, you would want your friends to tell you if your account was compromised and sending spam to everyone, wouldn’t you? Finally, if you are ever sent to a page outside of MySpace that is made to phish your information, report it to MySpace, to the site’s hosting provider and to authorities. Usually, an email to abuse@myspace.com and abuse@[the host's domain name] will take care of it. If you have a minute, take the extra step and report the abuse at http://www.ic3.gov/, too.

Don’t encourage spam: Stop clicking on spam and/or signing up for stuff.
So you get spam for “free money answering surveys” or that “free Macy’s gift card”, and maybe you think it’s worth doing even thought it’s spam. Don’t do it. Don’t visit their sites, buy their goods, or sign up for their free offers. When enough people respond to a “marketing campaign” of any kind, it lets the person running that campaign know that it is working and they will continue that campaign until it no longer provides the profit they require. If nobody responds to the spam campaigns the way the spammers would like, they have no reason to continue those campaigns.

Leaving? Leave for good: If you no longer use your account, delete or disable it.
Sick of Myspace or just don’t have the time for it anymore? Disable or delete your account. If you aren’t logging into your account, nobody should be able to.

In summary, if you memorize these five rules, you will be part of the solution.
1. Dont be a Phishee: Don’t log in again if you’re already logged in and always type a site’s URL into your browser if the site requires you to log in.
2. Use a secure password: A mixture of upper and lower case characters as well as symbols and numbers works best.
3. Don’t turn a blind eye: Report anything that looks wrong to MySpace and others.
4. Don’t encourage spam: Stop clicking on spam and/or signing up for stuff.
5. Leaving? Leave for good. If you no longer use your account, delete or disable it.

It should be noted that these rules can be applied to most sites that require you to log in.

If you want to really make this work, Digg or Reddit this article and then copy the HTML below and post it in a bulletin on MySpace so others can read it, too.

UPDATE: MySpace bulletins keep breaking my link, so just forward the URL along:
http://www.joetech.com/2007/10/11/5-easy-ways-to-end-myspace-spam

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