An update on a recent Security Breach

I haven’t posted here in four days for two main reasons. The first is that much of my online time has been taken up trying to address a security breach on my blog which Google has flagged with an ‘Attack Site’ warning. Consequently when visitors click on my url, they are greeted with a Google message that says:

Reported Attack Site!

This web site at www.lucylopez.net has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.

Somewhere else (I can’t remember where, I have been looking at so many pages with so much information I have felt I was drowning particularly because so much of it is beyond my current technical understanding/capability), Google says that harmful software, ‘badware’ or ‘malware’ is often inserted into websites without the owner’s knowledge. Actually, now that I am looking at my post, I can see it right there at the bottom of the warning! Oh dear…I am even more disoriented than I feared.

Well, that certainly has been the case for me. Since being advised of this alert by a fellow EC member (Thank you Australian Women Online), I have requested help at the EC forums and from my web host (Thank you Andrew, my saint and saviour at Glass Obelisk). The former has generated a string of comments with suggestions, clarifications and support. Thank you all at Entrecard Forums.

Andrew has, as promptly and efficiently as ever, attended to the matter and removed the damaging code. His advice and a generic advice statement by WordPress is that versions of WordPress older than 2.5.1 have security vulnerabilities that make them particularly vulnerable to the kind of ‘badware’ my website got infected with.

I am now going through the process of getting my version of WP upgraded to 2.5.1, something I thought I had already done but clearly had not – a case of my lack of technical knowledge. I am also waiting to have my site reviewed by Google since the site has been cleaned even though the upgrade has not happened. Of course I would prefer that the upgrade is done as a preventative measure but I am hoping that this in itself is not going to prevent me from getting my site reviewed and Google’s warning removed.

When I was first alerted to the warning, I felt inclined to dismiss it as a mistake. Fortunately, a little voice in my head said with unmistakable urgency: Check this out. So I did. And thank goodness. That was Saturday night. It’s Monday 12 noon now. Thanks to Andrew, I feel I have made some progress but to what effect I won’t know until I get the results of Google’s review.

I was feeling a little deflated when I started writing this post, largely to do with feeling sorry for myself. You see, my blog has only just started getting some decent traffic in the last few months following over a year of ‘trickle and flop’!  Not only that, I had not long made my free ebook, I want Stars to Twinkle, available for download here and was delightedly watching the rising number of downloads until… Still, all that is history.  I am feeling better now. I think it has something to do with remembering and thanking the people who have helped me through this event. Such things always tend to awaken a very good, comforting feeling.

Anyway, the other reason why I haven’t posted is simply that I wasn’t sure if it was even safe for me to visit my own blog!! I didn’t wish to compound or spread any existing trouble! But, now that the badware has been removed, I might as well make a return! Having said that, whilst I was not posting here, I did give some of my attention to my other blog, The Mentor’s Method. I hope that if you happen to be reading this post (no longer perilous :-)), you will give that a visit!

Take care all and happy blogging and blog-hopping :-)

Love Always, Lucy
How shall I serve you, my Love?

For Online and Offline Mentoring/Meditation/Workshops/Retreats Contact lucy@lucylopez.net
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