Last Wednesday started just as any Wednesday does in my home- I woke up, got the kids off to school and then spent the rest of my morning teaching 14 little preschoolers their ABC’s. So you can imagine the shock and worry I was hit with when I finally checked my email for the day and was overloaded with messages from so many of you telling me my site had been hacked!!!
Remember this lovely message?
Talk about worry and confusion! How did this happen and what did this mean?
Would I ever be able to restore my site again?
I am certainly no website expert, and to be honest, I had no idea where to look or where to start!
And that is where my new best friend comes in!
Ladies (and gentlemen if you’re out there), please meet Debbie from Lagniappe Marketing…
I remember hearing about Debbie maybe a month ago in a skype conversation I was having with some other bloggers. A couple girls were ranting and raving about how helpful Debbie was and how they would be lost on WordPress without her!
Debbie came to my rescue last week and I will be forever grateful for her kindness!
According to her, she has been building websites and saving the day since Al Gore invented the internet- she knows it all!!!
We skyped for the better part of the afternoon that day and she told me exactly what to do and how to fix the problem. She cleaned up the back end of my site, gave me tips on certain things I knew nothing about, and pumped me up and prepared me for the dreaded conversation I had to have with my hosting company about why this happened to begin with!
Apparently someone hacked into my site at 2am Wednesday morning. I don’t know how they got in- it could have been an outdated plugin, a spam comment that went undetected somehow or someone guessed my password! Either way, they got in and made a mess! Google blacklisted me for 2 days- not fun! I had 3 separate phone calls with GoDaddy, my hosting company, and they found the code that was alerting Google and cleaned it up. I don’t want to blame GoDaddy because they too were very helpful and they insisted their servers were secure, but in talking with several other bloggers, it turns out quite a few of them who also use GoDaddy had the same thing happen to them that very week… go figure! The fix was fairly simple, it just took time. I ended up purchasing Site Scanner- a program the scans my site everyday to alert me of any weaknesses my site may have so I am sleeping a lot better at night!
A couple days after the issue was resolved, Debbie checked back in on me to make sure everything worked out and then she made a few tweaks to my site so that it runs better than ever before! Somewhat Simple is virus free and very well taken care of, and I owe it all to Debbie!
Debbie offers some great services for anyone who may need or want it. She offers online workshops for those who want to switch to WP and one on one tutoring for those who need a bit more help with their WP blogs. She has a rock star client portfolio featuring some big-name bloggers who trust her with their sites.
Let me say that I am writing this post without getting any compensation- Debbie is not my advertiser, I am just her fan!
I am writing this post because I am so thankful for her and I want all of you to know where to go if (heaven forbid) this should happen to you!
Debbie is so kind and thoughtful. She knows her stuff and she can help you. Bookmark her site- you’ll be glad you did!
About Stephanie
Oh my !! You were sure on MY mind. Every time I went to my site, I got a warning about YOUR site! (I suppose because I link to you etc) I can only imagine what you were going through. I would love to know how it happened and can it happen to me?
So glad you got it all fixed, and glad you had a guardian angel in Debbie!
gail
Apparently someone hacked into my site at 2am Wednesday morning. I don’t know how they got in- it could have been an outdated plugin, a spam comment that went undetected somehow or someone guessed my password or something! Either way, they got in and made a mess! Google blacklisted me for 2 days- not fun! I had 3 separate phone calls with GoDaddy, my hosting company, and they found the code that was alerting Google and cleaned it up. I don’t want to blame GoDaddy because they too were very helpful and they insisted their servers were secure, but in talking with several other bloggers, it turns out quite a few of them who also use GoDaddy had the same thing happen to them that very week… go figure! The fix was fairly simple, it just took time. I ended up purchasing Site Scanner- a program the scans my site everyday to alert me of any weaknesses my site may have so I am sleeping a lot better at night!
I am bookmarking her site right now…you never know when you need someone like her.
I’m glad your site is all fixed!
Seriously, I will use her for any problems from here on out!
That is horrible!! I am so glad Debbie was able to save and work it all out for you!! I am definitely going to remember her if I ever need anything. I am so grateful for good people out there that can help us when bad happens.
It is nice to know someone who can help and is willing to help! Save her name- your site gets good traffic, I am sure, so this could happen to you someday!
So glad you were able to figure things out! Thanks so much for the contact info!
~ Sarah
Thanks Sarah! And yes, keep her contact info!
When I clicked on one of your posts Wednesday, I got that same message. Needless to say, I figured you knew about it by then so I just slowly backed away from the site.
Glad it’s fixed
Ha ha! I would have run away from the site!
Glad it all worked out. I’ll get you back on my blogroll again.
Michael
Thanks Michael!
So glad that everything worked out!
I couldn’t get to my site because I link back to you so I was down until you got it all worked out!
Sorry Emily! I can’t believe how much 1 stinkin’ virus would effect us!!!! UGH! Glad its all fixed!
Thank goodness you were able to fix it. I kept trying to pull up an old post and my virus protection kept shutting it down. Your blog is one of my favorites so I am so happy that you were able to solve the issue. Thankfully, there are wonderful people out there to be helpful. I do not understand what satisfaction those who do hacking get from it. Anyway, glad your back!!
Thanks Shirley! Its good to be back!