Sometime yesterday, Friday, September 4th, one of the sites hosted on the same server as TDC got hacked. This was part of what appears to be a series of attacks on WordPress sites that have occurred over the past several days (sites which have not been upgraded are apparently much more vulnerable; TDC was upgraded two weeks ago, the site that was hacked had not been upgraded).
In an effort to restore that site, our host organization offered to do a server restore back to August 31st. What they failed to explain to us is that the restore would affect all the sites hosted on that server, not just the site that had been hacked. So, what we’ve wound up with is a situation where the restore has resulted in many more problems that the original hack. Par for the course in IT, as we are told.
We will be able to manually restore all the posts and media that has now been lost from the past few days, but, unfortunately, it is not likely that we will be able to restore the comments.
The good news is that all of the new registrations, up until about 5:00 p.m. last evening, had been exported by the apparently prescient Marlie7. So if any of you have registered in order to be on the list for upcoming announcements about special offers and events, rest assured that you will be included. Also, rest assured that no information from the database of TDC has been compromised in any way.
Our apologies for the inconvenience of lost commentary — no one is more upset about that than we are. And we have also spoken directly with supervisors at the hosting organization to make sure they amend their customer service procedures so that it is clear to account holders what a full server restore actually entails.
Please expect re-posts of the articles which have been lost due to this incident, and please continue to comment and participate with confidence. We are on the case!
— the staff of The David Chronicles
omg, I’m so sorry to hear of and see this. I’m sure this has entailed a lot of extra work for you dear, wonderful TDC administrators. How sad that hackers have nothing more positive to do with their time. Well, this site will prevail, and continue to brim with love. Hugs to all.
Thanks for explaining what I thought was MY problem. 🙂
My appreciation for those who “upkeep” this humble home of David’s Artistry is deep and often makes me teary-eyed.
If you like, you could send extra love toward Rascal and Marlie -- they are the tech wizards in residence. 🙂
Is that why everything was so slow?
Oh, wow, what a pain in the bootie THAT has to be! EXTRA LOVE --> {{{{Rascal & Marlie}}}}}
Rascal and Marlie, you MUST know how absolutely LOVED you 2 are ;;)
emoticon be damned…
;;) is supposed to be batting eyelashes! Ha Ha 🙂
Rascal and Marlie,
I’m so sorry for your trouble and I hope it won’t ruin your holiday weekend. We are fortunate to have such wizards of technology on our side keeping stuff updated. But what a pain in the caboose for you both.
Hackers be damned. 🙄
Rascal and Marlie -- aptly named, Labor Day. Hope you get some downtime. Thanks for all those things you do that I take for granted!
Doc Angelica,
Hmmm…emoticon queen too?
^:)^ I humbly bow to you! Ha! Ha!
GAH,
I give up…
angelofdja -- lol! Here, try saving this link.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies
Thanks Angelica 😉
So, is the chat channel gone for now? I don’t see it. I’m a little behind so please forgive me.
Nevermind!
daffyfordavid —
Yes, that is precisely why everything was so slow on Friday night and Saturday morning, and indeed the reason we actually identified the hack on the other site in the first place.
What is so frustrating is that had the server company clearly informed us that the back-date restoration was to affect all the sites on the server (including TDC), we could have easily made a backup (something we always do when upgrading the operating platform, for example) and restored all the new content very easily. The loss was entirely unnecessary.
Ain’t technology grand?!?
Rascal, I could think of a better word than “grand” for technology. Ha! Ha!:-)
🙂 (even the littlest techno-thingies get me flustered!)
what a pain! aggravation for sure. I feel for you guys and am in awe of your technical abilities.
Rascal YOU ROCK that is all 🙂
Oh EVERYONE at TDC ROCKS -- now that is all lol 🙂
Hi gemzone! I agree, Rascal totally rocks!