Scare Tactics
Posted on 10. May, 2010 by Kirsty in Blog
I’m not going to lie, until last night it had been a long time since I picked up one of the many guide books we collected a year or so ago. All of our spare time seems to be taken up doing little things for this blog. There is a lot to keep you entertained when trying to keep a blog like this and sometimes the most basic things, like security can be taken for granted.
WordPress was so easy to set up and took so little time I think we just assumed that it was safe from all the dangers lurking out there on the interwebs. Well it wasn’t, nothing is completely secure on the internet. As your reading this I am sucking your bank account details out through your eyeballs just to teach you a lesson!
ARRRGGGGHHHHHHH NOOOOOOO.... Photo Credit: wilburn.glenda
On Saturday, we thought we had lost our whole blog! We had a massive security breach with some hacker adding a Trojan to our site! It has attacked a large amount of WordPress blogs over the last few weeks. For more information click here. Apologies to anyone who might have tried to access the site and got redirected but it did give us the first chance to test go daddy’s support and we must say they were spot on. They are hit and miss dependant on who responds to your query both on the phone and via e-mail. Over the last week there has been many frustrations with Godaddy, but then they saved themselves with a very very very nice guy who seemed to be able to do everything all the other people had said they couldn’t. If they were all like him Godaddy would be ace….
A couple of nervous hours were spent worrying what the hell we were going to do?! Kirsty however is a genius and spent the night restoring the site to an earlier version, while I was out with my friends drinking my life away, what are boyfriends for? The restore seems to have worked but it got us to thinking, how did it happen in the first place?
Last night I spent some time researching wordpress security. I am not going to go into detail other than saying thank you to Adam for providing yet another amazing ‘how to’ just when we needed it: A Travel Bloggers Guide to Basic WordPress Security – Travels of Adam
No more hackers please... photo credit: thEOS.
It gave us both a bit of a scare that was probably needed and made us appreciate the simple things that can keep a blog running smoothly. Have any of you guys had similar problems, what things have you done to make your site securer?
An English couple travelling China and South East Asia since August 2010. 
Andi
11. May, 2010
This happened to me on Sunday! I was absolutely freaking out, as I know NOTHING about computers. Luckily a blogger-friend introduced me to Sucuri.net. I contacted them and I’m not joking w/i 30 minutes they fixed my blog. I can’t believe there are people in this world who create viruses to destroy computers. It really baffles me! Your gf rocks for fixing it on her own!!!
.-= Andi´s last blog ..imgp2629 =-.
Poi & Kirsty
11. May, 2010
She does rock! I must admit I was shocked with how quickly she got it sorted when I didn’t have a clue what to do. So once again THANKS KIRSTY!
We’ll have to check out Securi.net sounds like they really did you proud!
Matt
11. May, 2010
First of all, isn’t it amazing how the small things just seem to add up? I’ve been at my computer for about three hours, but don’t feel that I’ve accomplished much at all!
Second of all, glad to hear the security breach was resolved. I’ve (touch wood) had no problems to date with security and I hope it stays this way.
.-= Matt´s last blog ..A Day Trip on New Zealand’s West Coast (Photo Essay) =-.
Poi & Kirsty
11. May, 2010
I know it’s mad, Kirsty and I often write a list of things we need to get done that night and I don’t think we’ve ever completed one. Always new idea’s popping up that take priority although they shouldn’t.
Heather
11. May, 2010
I’ve seen quite a few sites with issues over the past few weeks and feel fortunate I haven’t been among them yet. Still, I had lots of spammer comments a couple of weeks ago and kept rejecting them all. I’ll be using Adam’s advice to keep my site safe, and thanks for posting the article from Go Daddy — I use them too! Good to know you had a positive experience with them!
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Cathedral. Castle. Cupcake. Curry. =-.
Poi & Kirsty
11. May, 2010
GoDaddy were very quick getting back to us and did as much as they could.
We’re just happy that nothing major was affected and we got it sorted nice and quickly. Adams advice is great and really simple to do!
Adam
11. May, 2010
Aw, sorry that you guys got hit with that malware attack, too. It was terrifying when it happened to me, and GoDaddy, though slow at first, eventually pulled through in helping me out. As did WPSecurityLock.
Glad that you found my post timely and useful!!!
.-= Adam´s last blog ..Interview with The Lost Girls & Book Giveaway =-.
Poi & Kirsty
15. May, 2010
Your post was amazing, just what we needed! Keep them coming! and I hope you are enjoying your trip
Tom Volpe
18. May, 2010
Hey guys, I’m glad the blog survived the attack, I just found it today and have enjoyed exploring. I look forward to reading about your travels once you set off!
Poi & Kirsty
20. May, 2010
Hey Tom, thanks for checking out our blog, I hope we entertain you at least a little bit! keep in touch!
ayngelina
20. May, 2010
I heard to happened to a bunch of Go Daddy sites, I was just talking to @shannonrtw about it as hers was hacked as well.
.-= ayngelina´s last blog ..Climbing Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala =-.
Poi & Kirsty
20. May, 2010
Yeah it happened to us for a second time after writing this – fingers crossed thats it for now!
enjirux
31. Oct, 2011
oh dear
an attack like that is probably quite fitting for halloween but no fun at all in real life. I’m glad you managed to save your blog!
Chris
09. Dec, 2011
Mine was wiped out two weeks ago too! Not because of a virus but because some idiot at GoDaddy failed to tell me what he was asking me to do would wipe out my site. You are 100% right about their customer service, I talked to 5 people who couldn’t help me or told me it wasn’t their responsibility, and when I was about to give up and take my business elsewhere, I finally got a hold of someone who could fix everything (and did). I gave him a great testimonial, but yeah Go Daddy has been disappointing lately. Glad you guys got back up and running tho!