Lock the Front Door: A Plain-English Security Checklist for Independent Podcasters

By Bill Bernardoni

Radio stations have engineers, transmitter logs, and a license on the wall. An independent podcast usually has one thing standing between it and a stranger: a password.

That’s not a scare line. This month, Podnews reported on a creator who stopped making his show, only to find that someone had gotten into his account, moved the podcast to a new host, cloned his voice with AI, and kept publishing episodes in his name. The hosting company paid him what the show had earned and moved it back. It’s a rare case, and it ended well. It’s also a good reason to spend twenty minutes this week on the boring stuff.

Here’s the checklist I’d give any show I work with:

• Use a unique password and turn on two-factor authentication on your hosting account, Apple Podcasts Connect, Spotify, YouTube, and your website. If your hosting company offers two-factor login, turn it on today.
• Protect the email address in your feed. Many podcast apps and hosting companies verify ownership by sending a code to the email address listed in your RSS feed. Whoever controls that inbox can often control your show. Make sure it’s an address you check, with two-factor on.
• Check your feed for the “locked” setting. Many hosting companies support a feed tag that tells other platforms not to import your show without your permission. If yours offers it, turn it on.
• Own your domain and renew it. If your show’s website or custom feed address lives on a domain, put it in your name, turn on auto-renew, and lock it at the registrar.
• Know who has the keys. Former producers, co-hosts, and agencies often still have logins. When someone leaves, change the passwords and remove their access.
• Look at your dormant shows. An abandoned feed is the easiest target because nobody’s watching it. Log in a couple of times a year, or close it properly.
• Set up a search alert for your show’s name. If episodes show up that you didn’t make, you want to know first.

None of this takes a security team. It takes an afternoon.

Your voice and your audience are the two things you can’t get back once someone else is using them. Lock the front door.

Bill Bernardoni is the founder of Bernardoni Media & Marketing in Ottawa, Illinois, and co-host of America at 250: Due Diligence with former Voice of America White House bureau chief Steve Herman.