5 Reasons It Sucked Getting Hacked.

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Taken From My Personal Blog —-> My Rambling Thoughts.

So recently, my itty bitty blog took a hit from someone and it took me over the edge. Getting hacked sucks. After taking a couple of weeks and some change to cool down, I thought, let’s channel some of this anger toward a post. Dude, so sorry. So even though it sucked, I want you to leave here with a bit more in your arsenal so you know what to do if this ever happens to you! Here’s how it went down, people.

1. What the what, man!?

Seriously, I don’t even know where to start. But I found out from a fellow blogger on Twitter, in the lobby waiting for an appointment that required getting my blood pressure as part of my check-in. You can guess how that went. Thankfully, the person getting my reading for my blood pressure understood I dabble in blogging and that my site got hacked because I needed to blab out my frustration (this is where I’m sure she’s like checked out, because she’s not a blogger, and she was like hours away from her vacation.). She notated that it was “a little high”.

It would be at least an hour before I would be home to even start the process of fixing whatever mess was waiting for me. I just kept thinking. WHY? I write about my kid’s puberty happening, how I rock being a mom, and not wanting to adult. I don’t engage in debates where blood is shed. You know? I’m all about puppies & unicorns and laughing at stupid stuff. I like to engage as much as I can and with that, you create little bits of support around the bloggy town. Help each other when you can and say something. I don’t think I would have known as quick as I did had it not been for this Twitter Blogger not sent me a quick note!

I got home and opened up my computer and just stared.  WHAT THE WHAT, MAN?  

My Takeaway–Our Blogging community is supportive and looks out for each other.  #Grateful

The Takeaway–Our Blogging community is supportive and looks out for each other. #Grateful #HauoliTips Click To Tweet

2. I didn’t even know where to start?

Who do I call? Where to I go? I literally had a moment where of course, I googled the word hacked (and reminded myself, keyword IS so important). Up popped way too many articles to read so I took a minute and stepped away. When I could snap out of the daze I had put myself in, I picked one of the articles. I read it. And then read it again. And kept telling myself to get my head together. Every minute I read, I kept thinking little hacker bots were making it’s way out of some hole and invading my computer and it’s precious contents.

My Takeaway—–Freak out for just a minute.  Because you’ll need to.  Get it out of your system.  Because then, you can focus without that chatter of pure frustration going on in your head.  Make your plan & execute it like a blogger boss!

Freak out for just a minute & then make your plan & execute it like a #BloggerBoss! #HauoliTip Click To Tweet

3. I need to contact other people and wait. 

I read the articles and told myself to just follow the instructions and get er done.  Scan this, Scan that, contact this person, Contact that person.  I did.  And I waited.  That part sucked.  Not because they took long, but because waiting felt like an eternity.  Waiting made me feel useless because once you’ve put out your distress call, you have to wait for backup.  Do I pull the power plug out of the wall?  Just in case it’s all Matrix-like.  Do I package my computer up back in her pretty box that saved and send her back?  I don’t know how to sit and wait.  I’m not very good at it.  So I went to clean my fridge out.   Ding said my phone and more guidance from the man who hosts my site was spilling from his email.  (I’ll get to the rest of the fridge later).

My Takeaway—–The Internet world doesn’t want you to get hacked anymore than you do.   Every single person & company for each plugin or program I used for my site that spit out a malicious code reached out back to me to look into why this could have happened with their product and advice on how to move forward.  

Our community of computer people don't want you to get hacked anymore than you do, they will help. #HauoliTip Click To Tweet

4. It had me scared and hiding from my own blog

That someone could just slide right into my blog, made me feel vulnerable. Like a thief coming into your home. Knowing someone was in your space unwanted left me not wanting to touch my blog. I don’t know how to take care of you obviously, sweet blog and In a world where all I wanted to do was leave my ramblings, someone else sees this as a game to see if they can infiltrate your bloggy house. And take a little or a lot. Thankfully, it was just a little. (But it still felt like a lot.)

I did everything necessary to trash what I needed to trash and protect my blog. But I felt like touching it, would make it vulnerable again. Still, as I’m writing this, I’m not all the way back to normal. I worry by just saying the word hacked invites those from that world to give me a go. But I’ve set myself up to be safe. I need to keep my bloggy head held high (but with caution). My hosting provider was AMAZING and he tipped me off to check this site to help scan my site and to ease my mind I can pop over here daily if I desire and see if it detects anything. Click the image to scan your own site and ease your mind. It’s helped me twice.

My Takeaway—–I got derailed.  brush yourself off, get back on track and find your safe speed and proceed forward. don’t give up what you love to do.

Brush yourself off, get back on track & find your safe speed & proceed forward. Don't give up what you love to do. #HauoliTip Click To Tweet

5. My backup schedule was not good enough.  

“Did you backup your blog?” The first answer, was yes. I did. The second answer, was no. I should just do it daily, but I didn’t. It was just a day away from it’s scheduled backup and I lost my latest content that was highjacked. Yah, that sucked right? Long deep sigh. If you don’t backup, DO IT! If you do, just look at your schedule and see if you need to tweak it. Imagine, if you got hacked. Are you able to bring your blog back to life?

So this has been in my drafts until I felt ready to go ahead and finalize it. And you know what? I was testing my RSS feed way back when and in my emails was my original post that got hacked so I could bring it back to life. THANK you bloggy Jesus! Big middle finger to you Hacker. You are not taking me down.

Again…BACKUP! Because what happened to me, was just a little hack on one post that led to some spam bots as well in a couple other posts that I could fix and redo. They could mess up your Theme, the plugins and how you customized your page. Some of us create our Blog (that can be a headache) or pay someone to do it (which cost money). Having to start the process again, can bring on a migraine or empty our pocketbooks.

My Takeaway—–Backup! Backup! Backup!  

BACK IT UP! This can either cost you a big headache OR more money to have your web designer fix what the hackers broke #Hacked #HauoliTip Click To Tweet

 

Good luck!

Everyone tells you this when you’ve emailed them about your site getting hacked.  And I know that if this happens, I do wish you good luck.  Remember, YOU GOT THIS M’Fer! I’ve even made a dang info-graphic you can pin to your Pinterest Board as a resource to remember what to do, just in case.   This is me virtually holding your hand and saying, this is what I did.  Hope it helps. 

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