Oct052009
I’d hang ‘em high myself …
Filed under Business by The Soaplady at 2:03 pm on Oct 05 2009
Who …?
the bast**ds who have hacked into my website over the weekend, that’s who …
I first noticed a problem when I couldn’t get into my shop administration dialog, and asked the lady who looks after the code for me, to take a look.
Meanwhile, she had received an email from the server providers, 1&1, who being very ‘on the ball’ had noticed an unauthorised intrusion and the upload of various files to my website netspace - apparently this enables the hackers to do phishing, malware distribution and spamming.
1&1 closed down the intrusion, but as my website shopping cart was using an old version of php language, they updated this version to the newest one, which prevents these intrusions, which is a reasonable step.
Unfortunately, parts of my online shop and the scripts that go with it do not function under the new version of php, so my website lady is having to do a full re-install and customisation of my online shop, which will take at least a weeks effort.
Happily all sensitive customer information is totally unreachable on a secure server, which is as it should be, and it can just be slotted back in when the re-install is done.
So I have a temporary message up at the moment, explaining what has happened, and an improvised product list so people can still choose what they want, and then the payment process must be done by a combination of email and phone. Just a bit laborious and effort-intensive for the markets that I concentrate upon …!
It’s just a little close to christmas for me to be really nonchalant about a week off-line, but I suppose in the long run it will place me better, until the next time, that is …!
But just goes to show you how dependent we become on these very ‘fragile’-seeming systems, doesn’t it, and how you always have to keep one step ahead of people who always seem to have time to find new loop-holes and ways in.
Am spitting fire here … apart from being just a little worried about lost business …
1 thelandladyon 05 Oct 2009 at 3:32 pm
AAArghhh! I’d hang ‘em high myself Soaplady, and disembowel them to boot!! Hope you don’t lose too much business- it does make one realise how dependent our businesses are on good safe internet access. I’d be lost without mine, and its a sobering thought that it can be so easily brought down by this sort of fraud.
good luck in getting it all sorted out SL.
2 Greg USAon 05 Oct 2009 at 11:54 pm
May your website be soon back in business Fair Linda.
May something that is often best described with the adjective “pernicious” afflict the innards of the beasts that messed with you.
3 Barneyon 06 Oct 2009 at 7:16 am
Once upon a time it was a challenge to master IT problems…. now it is just a horribly time-consuming chore, made worse by hackers, etc. May a bit of ” Empathetic Sympathy” make you feel a wee bit better.
4 Jillon 06 Oct 2009 at 8:18 am
What a bummer, SL. Hope you get everything fixed without (further) problems.
5 Arnish Lighthouseon 06 Oct 2009 at 8:42 pm
That is everything you DON’t need, sorry this happened to you. Hope all is back up soon.
6 Kingdomcaton 07 Oct 2009 at 5:45 pm
What a bummer SL. I hope you are back up and running soon. *purrs*
7 GravirLifeon 16 Oct 2009 at 8:50 am
Not nice… hope things have been resolved….RJG
8 Kingdomcaton 16 Oct 2009 at 6:57 pm
Looks like everything is back to normal. Soaplady wipes glow (ladies don’t sweat) from alabaster brow and looks forward to a stoatir of a Christmas!