The Morning After…
The last couple of days did not play out quite like I had planned. With Roomie out of town for about 3 days, I had planned to do a lot of hell-raising, basketball-watching, bar-hopping, and of course, spending time with you, my extended family of blog friends.
Having your blog penetrated, taken over, hacked, corrupted, compromised, screwed, (add your own descriptor) is not something we think about happening, not something we are really prepared for. And it sure as hell ain’t a lot of fun! For a couple of days, Blog Central was not its usual quiet citadel of intellectual grandeur and developmental introspection.
I do not want to dwell on this … rather, I have a couple of things to say and then I just want to get back to boring all you good people with more of my meaningless drivel. I’ve just got to develop that great blog idea I had about pygmy goats and their addiction to chocolate chip mint ice-cream…
- Whatever content management software you are using for blogging, make sure you have the latest version with any security patches available.
- If you don’t already know, check with your hosting company on what perimeter security and breach detection solutions they have in place.
- While you’re talking to them, find out how often they backup your blog, database, whatever, and make sure you know the procedure for invoking a restore.
- If you do not have a backup solution yourself, GET ONE and USE IT regularly. Also, know how to restore from it. If there is a way to test that your backup is valid, do so.
Dreamhost came through with flying colors. Their response took a bit longer than I would have preferred, but being in the network support business myself, I have learned to recognize and deal with the rush of anxiety, the sheer panic, the “if my network is not back up by the time I’m back from lunch, you will die” look on my customers’ faces.
They found what they believe was the opening for the hackers (vulnerabilities in old WordPress software). I understand and accept that as part of the problem. I also believe there is more that they do not want to say out loud. What you are looking at now is WordPress 2.0.2, the latest. So far, I like the new features of ot a lot, though I have not had time to fully explore. Dreamhost’s one-click install of WordPress is amazing! But misnamed… It takes one click to tell it to do it, and another click to confirm that you really want to do it, then a final click to acknowledge that it is finished. The entire process takes literally about 10 seconds. The upgrade took place following a complete restore of my site by Dreamhost , the database, css and php and html, and all the uploaded images etc. Thank you Dreamhost!
Y’all be careful out there… It’s a mean, cruel world!
Now, where did I misfile that research on the pygmy goats…
12 Comments so far
Winston, it is so good to see you back, to read you once again loud and clear. I’m so sorry for all the trouble you went through, but I recognize the value of what you can shout back to us “from the other side.” I’ve made my “to do” list. I hope you took some part of the weekend for hell-raising, people watching, and basketball … all the making of more good stories coming soon. I’m looking forward to them. -mg
Sorry that this crap happened! I’m fortunate that I have in-house tech support to help me look after this.
Hey Winston looks like you have been through the wars. I wondered what happened to the previous set-up, thought you had retired when I didn;t see the usual banner. Sorry you had to go through all this and that things have been restored. And thanks for the info on what to do. I’m about to look into mine. best regards
I see you’ve been toying with a new look. I like this banner very much. Nice colors….earthy and soothing. Hope you’re good Winston.
Holy Cripes…I like this even better! Are there more? Are you just throwing them out at us? I love the leaves….Fall’s my favorite season. Also like the graduated shading on the lefthand side….cool. Okay, so far, this is my favorite. You’re going to change it again, aren’t you? -Joy
Okay Winston, what happened to the leaves? I feel like I’m in some kind of timewarp with you. Don’t mess with me. It doesn’t take much to fry my brain these days. -Joy
Glad you’re back. I’m also sorry for the troubles you’ve had and hope they’re behind you.
Joy, is this one better? Colors are good but when time permits I need to replace the graphic in the header. Somehow I do not feel like a lilly or orchid or whatever that is…
Maybe a thistle…
I love the colors! But yeah, the lily doesn’t seem quite you.
I like this look. Nice color coordination.
Glad to you you’re back.
Winston….the colors here are REAL good. I like them very much…nice and mellow. And though I like the lily…it’s very pretty……it’s not YOU. I’ll be interested to see what you come up with. Nice job….
I have no tech skills.
I’ll just point at stuff and go ‘pret-ty’.
Does that help?