Ack Ack Ack - It's a Cyber Attack...
Drop all you're doing... 'cause you've been hacked!
Then you have to take them off and look all around, try to find out where somebody could come in, change all your passwords, talk to the web host, etc. etc. etc. etc. and run virus checks on everything, take off scripts, etc. etc. etc. which of course takes forever.
Then you must put it back, label everything you took off and keep a copy, look again and again at pages, re-submit all to Google, reload files, then put in a reconsideration request. And that is just for one site.
After that, you can check out the suspicious sites that are still out there, download multiple safety programs and check them out, go and look at all your pages and sites that are out there, and then fix the holes in all your copy.
Then you must read all kinds of information about hacking and what it involves. Ack ack ACK!!!! I won't be completely done for a long time.
It takes LOT of concentration and speed-reading in order to see what is going on and get rid of it in a timely manner. There is still so much for me to learn, too.
Do any of my readers have a hacking story? Now that this has happened, I want to learn more about hacking and the many ways it can be done. Not to do it to anybody else, but just to understand more about it.
I also found some sites that I went to, that now have something completely different on their website than they had when I visited. Go figure! I don't know if these sites are aware that they have weird pages on their sites or not. Hackers can split a site up and show a legitimate page to some people or machines, and have an entirely separate one going on the side. Yuck.
It's a learning experience, all right. There were already a million things to check and put on my to-do list. Now I will be learning more online. I have already spent a lot of time learning and re-doing things.
I guess I already know the answer to the first question I had - Why do hackers want to inflict this kind of pain on people? I guess the main answer is: to make money.
It's lots easier to use somebody else's work instead of doing it yourself. And I also think that hackers sometimes take delight in somebody else's grief... but it might just still be money, business and nothing personal.
While I was researching, I found an old web page that promised instant revenge on hackers. When their program noticed something wrong going on with your site, it retaliated with multiple attacks on the hacker(s). I think this might make the hacker(s) respond in kind. It is enough for me to get things back on track.
But I don't mind sending an email or two to other sites that may need to know who, or what is on their site.
Do you have a hacking story to share? Write a comment below!
-Betsyanne
Beginning hacker student
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The art here on this blog posting is from the Microsoft site at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/ and from the free art site at Clkr.com.