Last night this blog, Work From Home Business Blog got hacked. Yes, even just barely a few weeks ago, I had seen 2 of my friends’ blogs got hacked. One of them Yan’s, who got hacked, restored it and came back telling everyone about it in his now much talked about post “The Day I Got Hacked”. The other, a lady whom I cannot disclose her name for reasons I will mention later in this post. Oh yeah, it looks as though I’m close to following Yan’s footsteps in writing this post about how my blog got hacked. But first, I ought to rephrase the first sentence to ” Last Night this blog, Work From Home Business Blog Got Hacked….BY ME“. How it happened (11:30 p.m.) I had heard so much about the Threaded Comment Plugin and I wanted to install it on this blog. Somehow even though I could successfully activated the plugin, it didn’t work and the comments displayed looked exactly like before. I checked around for help and was told that I’ve got to replace my original comment.php file with the new one. I did that and as a result a fatal error occurred. The next thing….I lost my blog. I’ve been hacked….by myself. Call for HELP….(11:40 p.m.)
- After trying just about everything including back tracking what I did and trying to undo the damage, this didn’t work. Work From Home Business Blog remained lost, and Ive got myself to thank for.
- I then resorted to contact my host (Host-4-Profit), and knowing that I’ve a daily blog database backup helped ease some of my nerves now building up. But expecting to hear some good news, Murphy’s Law took control as the H4P guy told me the best option was to seek help from WordPress and that restoring the data from the WordPress tables in my database backup may not resolve the problem too. As I didn’t know who to turn to in Workpress, relying only on my intuition and to expedite things, I insisted that he did the data restoring from my back-up files I sent him.
Database Restoring in Progress(1:50 a.m.) So as there was nothing much I could do, I decided to turn in for the night or morning. As sleep came, the good news is that it did take my mind off it, but the bad news is that the nightmare came too. I dreamed that the guy told me ” Your blog is gone…finished’ but another guy said ” Hey your WP-database backup helped, BUT…” (alarm rings!!) Awoke to get Good News or Bad News (6.40 am)
- Afraid of the outcome, and feared the worst, I decided to check my emails first to find out the news from the H4P guy. The email said ” Restoring the database from your WP Tables did not solve your problem”. My heart sanked.
- But wait, there was another email from H4P guy and it read “OK, restoring the files from our backup on October 8th appeared to resolve the problem as I can now access it”. That to me were the sweetest 21 words I could ever have dreamed of.
My Blog was down from 11.30 p.m to 2.50 a.m. The “guy” you hear me mentioned about is a certain David Grimes from Host-4-Profit, my host which has never really been tested until last night. I guess when it came to the crunch, it delivered. David, if you are reading this post, thanks again for your great help and support. What you can learned from my painful experience:
- Start backing-up your blog database today using this WP-Database Backup Plugin. Don’t wait for any day longer. You’ll never know when it might happen to you. Installing this plugin is simple. In my case if I didn’t have my backup files, I would have 5 days of data as H4P’s last site and database backup was on Oct 9.
- Find out some useful information about how often it does site or database backup. That should give you added comfort to what you already have as a database backup.
- Find out from your host how you yourself can backup your website files from your webpanel if you don’t already know. It’s best to do this backup at least twice a month.
- Before changing any business-critical element of your website or blog, do backup for both your website and database. That way, it is fairly quick to restore it to the state it was in right before the problem arose.
If it could happen to me, it could happen to you too
First Reactions on blog hacks recently: Yan: “Who the hell did this to me?” The Lady I mentioned (unnamed to protect the incident): ” To the one who did this to me….I give you my 2 fingers…” Me: “OMG What did I do to deserve this?” Although it was a painful experience for me, on hindsight, it could have been a lot worse if I did not install my WP Database Backup Plugin and receive my daily back-up sent to my email inbox everyday. This was something I felt relief and comfort even in the midst of all my worrying and excited moments. Do you have any such similar experiences to share. Do you have any suggestions on how to be in better control of future blog hacks that we see so often today. I really like to hear your thoughts.
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October 15, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Having one of my sites hacked has always been a great fear of mine. I rely on my websites to provide almost all of my business and if I lost that it would really be devastating.
October 15, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Good to see back on where it is supposed to be. I’m sorry as I couldn’t be there to help you as I’m having a problem on my own right now. I just got back my internet connection.
I know I’m always the first person whom you would call for help but somehow I always have to dig deep into my spam folder to retrieve your email and so did this trackback from akismet. Sorry for all the delay in my response recently.
As I have said, don’t sweat it trying to install Brian’s Threaded Comment as the next WP upgrade will have the threaded comment comes as a default package. It took me an hour or so to get my comment.php work properly.
Anyway, I can’t stress further on the importance of backing up your database, you have said it all and I hope others will not take your too lightly.
Good luck, Peter.
Yan
Blog for Beginnerss last blog post..The Art of Writing Catchy Articles
October 15, 2008 at 6:14 pm
@John Edwards: Hi John, Thanks for dropping by and sharing with us your thoughts.Your fears of your sites getting hacked are justified. Don’t you backup your blogs too?
Blog for Beginners: Hey Yan, thanks for reminding everyone to backup their database. You’d probably went through a more traumatic experience than me as yours was a real hack. I think losing your blog is like losing a part of your body. It can surely hurt.
Peter
Work At Home Ideas
October 15, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Thank you for that Peter..
I have heard that H4P support is 2nd to none and I think they may have made a believer out of you. I do back-up my files, but certainly not enough. Going to start making some notes for myself to remember this important task
Good luck and thanks
Leon Bowes
October 15, 2008 at 9:20 pm
@Leon Bowes: Hi Leon, thanks for dropping by. I think their service is excellence as they have been very responsive to my queries and in this case came to my help withing minutes.
Peter
Work At Home Ideas
October 15, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Hi Peter,
Wow, that’s a good lesson for all bloggers. I’ve also heard
of hackers and was always looking out for information on
how to keep myself away from them. So when I saw your post,
my gosh, I could be a potential destroyer of my own blog.
Thanks for sharing this lesson, Peter. Much obliged.
Asher
MoreMoneyToSpend.com/blog
October 15, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Aww sorry to hear that peter.. But I glad you got it back. Great reminder! Gonna start backing up now..
Ben Peis last blog post..Make Money Blogging Community Training – Part 2
October 15, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Hi Asher, I can’t stress enough of how important backup. I took actions when I found how my friends’ blogs could be easily hacked and that scares the hell out of me.
Hi Ben, Yes please do your backup now. Get that peace of mind. I know I did.
Peter
Work At Home Ideas
October 15, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I must admit that this is the first time that I have heard that Brian’s threaded comments caused a melt down to an entire blog. I’ve have no problems on any of my blogs that have that plugin installed and have actually substituted his comments.php on two blogs in order to get commentluv to work.
It must have been some major incompatibility with your theme.
Glad you got it all back.
Sires last blog post..The Meaning Of Life In A Poem
October 15, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Good post Peter,
I hacked myself as well, playing around with a redirect code and boom my blog wouldn’t load and i had nothing. H4P support had everything up and running within 12 hours. It was scary stuff thou..
Good Luck with your next wordpress edit.
Jason
October 15, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hi Sire,
I know it’s kinda strange that it happened. Well we have freak accidents now we have freak hacks. It could be my blog theme, or it could be something I goofed but the remains that during that 3 over hours I lost my blog. Anyway, I still think it’s a good plugin in itself. I understand that the next WP version has Threaded Comments so I’ll just wait for that.
Peter
October 16, 2008 at 12:13 am
@Genuine Home Business: Hi Jason, Thanks for sharing your experience. Oh I didn’t know it can be so common to hack oneself. Anyway plugins that require us to replace existing php files, I guess we have to be extremely careful.
Peter
Legitimate Home Internet Business
October 16, 2008 at 9:06 am
This is why I keep I keep my designer on retainer (although I know she sometimes wants to block my emails LOL)
I do not mess around inside unless I get the directions in real plain English
Glad tro see ytou’re up and running.
Dennis Edells last blog post..Contest Over: Prizes Coming – Link Love First!
October 16, 2008 at 9:10 am
@Dennis Edell: Hey Dennis, nice to see you here again. Yup! it feels good to be back after “once bitten”. Yeah that’s good advice-Don’t mess up things unless your know what you’re doing. Anyway it’s a good lesson learned and still a technical hack with blog recovery as well so it’s a painful experience.
Peter
October 16, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Hey Peter,
I replied your comment about the tech fave exchange program. Do check it out!
Ben Peis last blog post..Make Money Blogging Community Training – Part 2
October 16, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the timely warning. It sounds like a very worrying time for you.
Alan Thomas
Simple Work From Home Opportunitys last blog post..Home Based Business Scams To Avoid
October 16, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Oh you got that right, I know my limitations, weaknesses and strengths…..first two are usually learned the hard way though
Dennis Edells last blog post..Contest Over: Prizes Coming – Link Love First!
October 16, 2008 at 6:23 pm
@Ben Pei: Hi Ben, Yes, I’ve checked it out and understands this better. I’ll get back to you.
@Simple Work From Home Opportunity: Hi Alan, Yes, it was a bad experience for me. Nevertheless a lesson learned in some sorts.BTW I just visited your blog and left a comment.
@Dennis Edell:The good thing about learning the hard way hopefully sinks in more than other ways and that you remember it for life. Anyway there is a first time for everything.
Peter
Work At Home Ideas
October 16, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I couldn’t have said it better myself…on both counts
Dennis Edells last blog post..7 Tips for Choosing a Business Name
October 16, 2008 at 8:08 pm
When I saw this topic on my blog, I was thinking “why is Peter showing this post again”. Then I decided to pop over here and realized Yan wrote that first one. Hacked yourself; shame on you!
One thing I make sure I do is to keep the original files on my computer so that, if I’d uploaded something else like comment.php, I could always replace it. And, of course, Yan also talked about making sure you back up all of your blog content. Lesson learned, I guess; glad you were able to recover.
October 17, 2008 at 2:24 am
I hate to say it, but I reckon that I will have to get hacked first before I become a diligent backup blogger. I know I should, and I actually downloaded the plugin but it’s too much of a bother. I wonder if there would be a way of doing it via a cron job or something?
Sires last blog post..Is Timing Of the Essence In Regards To Blog Posts?
October 17, 2008 at 2:33 am
@Sire: Hey Sire, I don’t quite understand your concern.If you’ve installed the plugin didn’t you set to automatically backup daily and get it sent to your email box. You can literally sleep on it. Did I miss something?
Peter
October 17, 2008 at 12:29 pm
“page not fpound” when attemptinmg to download plugin.
Question – is this a full back-up? Meaning….all is lost, do I just restore from this given backup and EVERYTHING is good as new – full blog ready to go again?
I’ve never backed-up before either.
Dennis Edells last blog post..7 Tips for Choosing a Business Name
October 17, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Good to see you back Peter, keep on blogging, Well I guess I have to backup my blog regularly after this.
Norhafidzs last blog post..Promotional Items – Use Your Imagination
October 17, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Peter, I definitely feel your pain. I too screwed up my blog two weeks ago and went into a total panic after deleting my blog by accident. Thank God for friends and for Hostgator.
I use HostGators support a lot. I am not very techie and they are always right there to help out.
Most of my blogs have the WP back-up but wouldn’t you know I did not have it for this. Thankfully my blog had a back-up and HostGator got me back on track in just a few hours and I never lost any data.
This was extremely frightening.
Getting Paid to do Surveyss last blog post..How Do I Make Money With Online Surveys
October 17, 2008 at 11:09 pm
@Dennis Edell: Dennis, take a look at Yan’s post. It has a section on how to restore. You may find your answer there. Anyway, if it happens, your host should be able to help you when you give them your backup files. Just remember to tick all checkboxes for your WP database backup when you set it up:
* wp_ak_popularity
* wp_ak_popularity_options
* wp_post2tag
* wp_similar_posts
* wp_tag_synonyms
* wp_tags
* wp_tla_data
* wp_tla_rss_map
* wpau_active_plugins_info
* wpau_upgrade_log
@Norhafidz: Hi Norhafidz, it’s good to see you here.Yes backup, backup, backup. I’ve been reminded time and again by others who felt the pain too.
@Getting Paid to do Surveys: Thanks for dropping by and sharing similar experience too. Glad that nothing was lost for your blog. Hope to see you here again.
Peter
Work At Home Ideas
October 18, 2008 at 1:12 am
NP on getting hostgators help restoring, I’m just making sure, the plugin does basically back-up EVERYTHING as long as all the boxes are ticked.
Dennis Edells last blog post..7 Tips for Choosing a Business Name
October 18, 2008 at 9:57 am
Haha I was expecting something else… In the last days a website of mine got hacked, I talked with my server support and they reset the password through my database. The good think was that the hacker broke into a parked domain, so it doesn’t had access to all my other sites..
Mr Javos last blog post..Mr Javo 2.0 Give Away!
October 18, 2008 at 10:08 am
@Mr Javo: Hey Mr Javo it’s good of you to come. You sounded cool about being hacked. Was it an anxious moment for you. I presume you have a backup too?
BTW, how’s your contest coming along?
Peter
Work At Home Ideas
October 18, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Thanks for a great post. Being hacked should be a great concern for all webmasters. A great web host and support cannot be overstated.
Thanks
Ruan Wests last blog post..Web Page Links
October 18, 2008 at 11:24 pm
@Ruan West: Hi Ruan, thanks for dropping by. Yes but I do believe whatever support and help you could get from them may not help you if you don’t start your own blog backup. Hope to see you here in this community. There’s lots of sharing here.
Peter
Legitimate Home Internet Business
November 3, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Ok, now that you’ve scared the beejeezas out of me. I will start backing up. I only do it for one blog or my 6. Kindof stupid eh? Anyway it starts today. And my other IM sites for that matter. Time for house cleaning, maybe while I watch Monday night football. lol
November 3, 2008 at 6:14 pm
@How To Make Money: Thanks for dropping by. Yes, the threat is very real. It’s good to be prepared before something like this happens.
-Peter
Make Money Online
November 8, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Peter,
This is quite an alarming post but, for me, very important to read.
I originally saw your post on the Warrior Forum about your blog gettinh hacked.
Now I am reading a very in depth account and it has promped me to take action. I will download the wordpress plugin that you have mentioned above.
Thanks for continuing to share your wisdom.
Your blog is really quite exceptional.
November 9, 2008 at 11:33 am
@Work From Home Opportunity: Hi John, Yes getting hacked is very real and frightening, more so if you don’t even have a back-up. I’ve been reminding people to BACKUP countless times since this happened to me.
-Peter
Legitimate Home Internet Business
March 10, 2009 at 9:20 pm
i just hate hackers. These people need to get a life.
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