The truth is that I’m very happy that I’m finally here again after some days of trauma. I really missed you guys but I don’t know how many of you missed me too. Since I started blogging for over a year now, I’ve never missed one full week without updating this blog except last Christmas. But, I was faced by a very terrible situation that took me unaware and I never knew I will be able to get over it. This post is about 2400 words, please take your time to read it all, thanks.
Before I continue with this post, I will like to give a very special thanks to my awesome friend Chadrack Irobogo because if not for his efforts, this blog wouldn’t have been alive by now. But he couldn’t have done it without the help of God of cause so, thank you Jesus. There are also some people that I will still mention as we go along.
However, I’m supposed to have announced the winners of my first giveaway by now, but unfortunately something strange happened which I will tell you soon. I will therefore announce the 3 lucky winners at the end of this post, hope you understand? Please bear with me.
A lot of things have happened to me lately that I was asking myself some questions, the first question that came to my mind was….. Why me? I now asked myself again….. Who could it have been? I don’t really know but, the whole thing was certainly too much on me.
First, it was Google disabling my adsense account. I was just recovering from that incident which I never expected and therefore came to me as a shock. I also wrote about it here on this blog and I received lots of concerns and suggestions from you guys. Thank you all for coming to my aid when I needed you most.
Now, as if that was not enough, on Thursday the 11th of April, I got a call from my friend Chedrack Irobogo telling me that my site has been hacked. He said that he left me a comment on my recent post and got a reply from someone, but when he now went to also reply the person, he couldn’t see my site again.
Oh my God, again? I hurriedly rushed to my site to see what he was talking about, and to my utmost surprise, what he said was true. When I went to my site, what I saw was the God forsaken face below.
Gush, my head swelled up, I didn’t know what I should do. I now called Chadrack again and he asked if I have a backup. Yea I have a backup, but it’s up to a month and some weeks. He now suggested I contact my host.
That was what I did immediately and they got to work at once. While they were on the process of resolving the issue, they sent me an email that there have been a very serious attack on wordpress blogs.
Now, I was asking myself…. Why should my site be among the victims? What I don’t really understand is what those hackers are gaining from hacking people’s blog. Is it just to punish the owner or what else? I also went to Facebook and announced it because I know that other people will also be visiting my site and they will also meet that ugly face.
Immediately I wrote about it on my status, I started getting many concerns and suggestions at once. Oh my God, I never knew I have such amazing friends. Below is the screen capture of some of the comments I received.
There are many other comments, but i can’t add all here. I can’t wait to thank those guys…. Bashir Ahmed, Ehsan Ullah, Babanature, King Babajide, Chadrack Irobogo, Valentine Belonwu, Philip Okechukwu, Nizam Khan, Enstine Muki, Ehsan Ullah, Amrik Virdi, Suresh Khanal, Avit Jit, Sergio Felix, Jason Mathes and Anis Chity. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.
On that same Thursday night, Bashir Ahmed tried a lot to assist me towards solving the problem. At least, by the time he finished, I was able to login to my WordPress Admin Dashboard. Thanks Ahmed. This really proved to me what Adrienne Smith said about having some wonderful friends that can assist you on your hour of need. When you have such friends, you’ll discover that the world is a beautiful place indeed.
That same night, I got an email from my host that the issue only affected my theme and therefore, my database is still intact. Wow, you can’t imagine how happy I was on hearing that good news. But what really got me even sadder was when I noticed that my other site and the ones I’m hosting for my clients were also affected.
Now, I did remove the themes and re-installed them, it seems everything was fine now but something else happened again that really got me worried. After I installed the theme, I wanted to publish a post at least to tell you what happened to me but I was met with another disappointment.
When I finished writing the post and hit the preview button, when the previewed page finished loading, I discovered that only half of the first paragraph of the article I just wrote appeared, the rest was cut off. Hmmmm, I haven’t encountered or heard about such thing before. The thing is that even when i hit the save or publish button, same thing happened.
What did I do? I started performing some research on Google for related issue and a possible solution but, all I was seeing was that I should contact my host that it might be that my Mob_Security was turned off. I don’t know the meaning of that so, I contacted them and they told me that it’s wasn’t from there.
Another mind blowing thing I noticed was that these strange characters (that normal don’t myself….) were appearing all over my posts that I didn’t know how they got in there. I quickly sent an email to some of my friends telling them what is happening to and asking if there anyway they could help me solve it.
I sent a mail to
Tim Bonner
Enstine Muki
Sergio Felix
Adrienne Smith and
Sapna Kumari.
And within few hours, I started getting some wonderful suggestions from them except for Sapna who didn’t reply possibly because she didn’t got my email. But after applying their suggestions which include deactivating my plugins, installing the 2011 default wp theme, etc. It didn’t solve the issue.
Even Sergiu from Rockable Themes also tried to help but unfortunately, his suggestions didn’t help either.
My dear, you’ll know how you will feel if you happen to find yourself in such situation, I was very devastated. That same day, Enstine Muki joined me on Facebook and volunteered to assist me. We started doing it together whereby he asked me to login to my cpanel so that he’ll be telling me what to do.
Finally, he assisted me to publish the post via the PhpMyadmin side of my cpanel but, that didn’t solve the problem. The post I published that day was actually the initial version of what you’re reading now. Tim now told me that he will contact Ashvini to know what he can do about it.
If you remembered, Ashvini was the guy that helped Adrienne when she also had an issue with her blog. I was so happy when Tim told me that because I’ve heard a lot about him and how he has helped other bloggers.
As I was waiting to hear from Tim, my friend Chadrack started working on the site. He suggested that we delete the entire site and then re-install a fresh one so, I quickly downloaded my database, deleted the site and we both re-installed another one after which we imported my database but, that also did not solve it. In fact, when i clicked on any of my posts, it will take me to a 404 page.
My God, this was when I became even more afraid that I decided to give the whole thing up for good at least, to have some rest. But Chadrack assured me that everything will be fine. I stopped going to school because of this and Chadrack too ignored his work and just focused on finding a solution to my problem. I couldn’t have asked for more.
We will both be awake day and night chatting and looking for a way out. By this time, Tim sent me another email telling me that he finally got to Ashvini and that he is willing to help.
At a point, a friend of mine on Facebook advised that I go over to Fiverr and look for someone that will solve the problem for me at$5, I did so but, when the guy asked for my cpanel login, I was afraid to release it to him because, I don’t know him and that was the first time I’m going to fiverr for anything.
The following day, Chadrack deleted the site again and started another installation but this time, a different kind of installation because he has to abandon my plugin and some other folders. By the time he finished, he told me to start installing my plugins from afresh. Now, I can now publish a new article completely and all those strange characters were gone but, another issue surfaced. My thumbnails/Featured Image disappeared. If you load my blog, you will see the posts but, the featured images were no longer there. What you will see will look like the image below…..
Sapna Kumari
I went to my media folder and found nothing. But when I checked my cpanel, all the images are there on my wp-content folder. So, what could be the case this time?
Now, I sent an email to Ashvini telling him about the recent development and he told me that he can solve it but, it will be on Tuesday being tomorrow because he’ll travel by weekend. At lease, I was happy because I now have hope.
But, Chadrack didn’t rest, he started digging deep to find what the problem was again. After everything, he advised me to start uploading all the pictures I used as my featured image from day one. Because those images are still showing on the posts, I had to start downloading them one after the other and after all said and done, I was able to upload all of them again.
It took me so much time and efforts but, the good news is that I was able to finish them.
Finally, I was able to overcome that temptation that wanted to pull me down. What happened to me is what that will cause many people to quit if it happen to them but, due to my determination, the grace of God and with the help of my friends, I was able to get back on track. Thank you all.
Lesson Learnt
Everything that happened to a man comes with a lesson therefore; there are also somethings I learnt from this ugly incidence.
1. Ensure you have all the necessary plugin’s that takes care of the security of your site. In my own case, I have Wordfence, Better WP Security and Antivirus plugin yet, they couldn’t stop this culprit. Could it be that they are not effective? Is there any better one out there?
2. Ensure that you constantly backup your database because anything can happen anytime. You can also install a plugin that takes care of this and then configure it to be backing up your database automatically. I have Wp-DBmanager, but forgot to set it up for Auto backup…. Stupid me. I will also like to know if there is any better one.
I was lucky that this issue didn’t affect my database as my host said, but had it been that it was affected, there will be a problem. Though, I had a backup, but it’s up to 1-2 months since I downloaded it so, even if I should restore it, I will still lose some things. From now on, I will be backing up my database once per week
3. Build some solid relationship with other bloggers. As we all know, this is very crucial. Imagine if I didn’t have those friends, it would have been very tough for me. It is therefore very important that you try to network with other bloggers because you never know who will help you at a time like this.
I know that even if my host was not there to restore my blog from the initial hack, a lot of them would have done the work for me free of charge. That’s why it is good not to be an Island.
That’s all. You guys must agree with me that last week wasn’t good for me at all. There is also an issue I’m having at school which I’m praying for God to solve for me. So, I seriously need your players on this too and I know you all will do it for me, or won’t you? I know you will.
Before I end this post, I will like to give you guys some of the links that my friends sent me when I was looking for a solution to my problem. I will advise you to also take your time and go through all of them because I’m sure you will learn something. You will also learn what you will tell any of your friends that might have such experience later. If your own site has never been hacked before, you will also learn how to prevent it……
Ehsan Ullah: http://www.guideandnews.com/wordpress-security
King Babajide: http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked
Nizam Khan: Got My Adsense Back After Getting Banned! Here’s my story
Bashir Ahmed: Global WordPress Brute Force Flood
The 3 Lucky Winners of my first Giveaway.
I know I’m not supposed to include this one here but, forgive me because I didn’t do it when I was supposed to. I used Raffle Copter to track this giveaway therefore; this result is based on what raffle copter gave me. It’s never my own decision. Congrats to the 3 lucky winners.
1. VISHAL VERMA: Won the Impressionist Theme
2. Chadrack: Won the Euphoria Magazine Theme
3. Babanature: Won the Impressionist Theme
You people will soon receive an email from Rockable themes that contains the themes you won. Congrats once again. For those that didn’t win, it’s never a waste of time to try, maybe you will win next time.
I pray that Google will accept my appeal and reinstate me; I also pray that I will never have these kind of experience again, and none of you will ever encounter it too in Jesus name, did I hear you say Amen? Good.
Please, I will like to hear what you have to say to me on the comment section and, also remember to share this post with your friends. Thanks for reading this far, it took me days to compile this.
UPDATE:
Google finally rejected my appeal so, I will go with some of the suggestions you guys gave me on that post….. Create a new adsense account, try other alternatives, etc. So far, i just created an account with Infolinks, let me see how it is.
Image source: Freedigitalphotos.net
Harleena Singh says
Hi Theodore,
Oh dear…you surely seem to have gone through a lot, and am so sorry to hear about it all. Yes, you writing all about it is a way to help those who might ever come across such a problem, which I hope no one encounters.
When you last visited my blog, I remember you mentioning that your site was functional now, and I did head over to your blog, but didn’t see any new post and thought perhaps you were taking your time getting things sorted out. I’d no idea you were facing one problem after another! Gosh!
Had it not been for all these wonderful friends who helped out at your time of need, I guess things might have taken longer. So, here’s a special thank you to everyone who helped you when you needed it. Hope everything is alright now at your blog.
I too would need to check my security because as you mentioned, even with the security measures you had taken, someone managed to hack your blog, so it can happen to anyone’s too.
Thanks for sharing all of this with us, and am glad your blog is running back as it was. Have a nice productive week ahead 🙂
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks a lot Harleena,
I really forgot to mention you on this post because i remembered you also encouraged me when you replied to my comment on your blog.
I’m really happy that i was able to overcome it all and just as you said, that’s why its always good to have some good friends around. That’s why they said that good friends are really the highest investment anyone can make.
Think of it, if it wasn’t for my friends, i know how much i would have spent to put all those things back to normal.
Thanks a lot Leena.
John Gibb says
hey guys,
that’s one of the main reasons why I keep writing, and blogging and guest posting, to make friends, and help others in need.
When time comes to get help, favor returns to me, ten fold. Amazing!
#Theodore,
I’m sorry to hear you had another challenge to overcome after the AdSense issue… hope (and I truly believe deep down my soul) all these problems will enrich you and empower you to blog harder. It shows you’re passionate about what you do, so I cannot help but wish you all the success in the world.
As for WP security, I use More Secure Login plugin, you might want to try it to, it asks for a secure code before logging into your WP dashboard.
Theodore Nwangene says
Hey John,
Welcome to my blog, I’m more than happy to have you here. I’ve read a lot of your guest posts and i must say that you’re really trying man. I really had some sad experience man but, just as you said, it only made me stronger.
I really appreciate your visiting my site today and yes, i will checkout that plugin too.
Thanks for coming, hope to see you again.
Siegfried says
Hello!
Glad you are back!
Best regards
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for your concern Siegfried.
I appreciate a lot.
Suresh Khanal says
Hi Theodore,
Great to see you back and the lesson you learned are truly useful to everybody. This is really a good lesson to all of us.
Now the storm is stopped and hope future is more smooth. My best wishes to you.
Theodore Nwangene says
Yea Suresh,
Thanks a lot for all your tireless assistance when i was facing that problem. You’re really a friend.
I’m also happy you learnt something from it.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Evan says
Oh, sorry for all these desasters. Hope now everything will be cool again! Fingers cross for you) you have a great blog and you deserve success like no one other)
Theodore Nwangene says
You flattered me Evan,
Thanks a lot for the compliment. Yea, everything is now cool.
Thanks for your concern.
Chadrack says
Hi Theodore,
As they say, all is well that ends well! 🙂 I must say your doggedness was also crucial in the face of what you passed through. You just keep it up. Like I mentioned on Facebook, misfortunes are part of life and they are hear to teach us more about success.
It’s really a pleasure to be part of the joyful outcome. I’m really glad that you gave all the glory to Lord Almighty because he alone really gave the wisdom of what to do. It was a trickish situations that could have lead to more mistakes being made but by simple faith, the outcome has brought joy.
It really a joy to be among the winners! Yes, I was really going for the top winner if not for the problem the blog faced. I was prepared to enter as many times as possible because of that but the second position is okay all the same! Thanks for the opportunity.
And most especially, WELCOME BACK from the valley of death! 🙂
Theodore Nwangene says
You’re simply more than a friend Chadrack,
I really appreciate all your efforts towards my blog and i know that God will certainly reward you a million folds.
O yea, i agree with you on that. And another word i like is that no misfortune will ever leave you the way it met, it will either take you higher or lower you and, I’m happy to say that this one has really taken me more higher.
Thanks a lot for everything man, you’re so impossible.
Koj Tajo says
Hey Bro, All I am doing is smiling a lot. Thanks everyone from y side who were there for you in this very uninviting period. You are a gifted person Bro as you can see lot of people around you call you as friend and are always available even in crunch times. I have been visiting you blog and I am so so glad to see TBC running like before. And never let those friends ever leave, as I feel they are great human being to be around with. Gladly, I have written a post on it.
Be very careful in near future Bro. I know many have been victim but I hate it when it happens to someone we really care.
I really appreciate you for rolling out this post. It is one anecdote, I feel, will genuinely hep many. These 2400 words have lots of lessons for us to learn.
Congrats All the Winners !!!
See you around a lot.
ANd Now, Happy Blogging Ahead.
Keep Coaching Bro,
Regards
– Koj
Theodore Nwangene says
Hi Koj,
The truth is that I’m short of words right now, i don’t really know what to say.
But, all i can say is thanks a lot for the compliments. Yea, we all need to have some good and caring friends that will be willing and able to help you in times like this.
Thanks a lot for your concern bro.
Nwosu Desmond says
My friend Theodore i am glad your site has been restored, there has been serious hack attacks on WordPress recently and users with admin, wordpress and test login usernames are mostly affected, i receive hack attempt reports everyday on my blog and of course i have secured my site as much as i could. I have taken time to compiled a detailed post on how you can stay safe from such hack attempts in my latest blog post. Please ensure to get all necessary security plugins needed to protect your site and also remember there is another method of hacking wordpress sites called symlinking especially if you are on a shared hosting, you may have to protect your wp-admin folder with a little edit on your .htaccess file.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thats very kind of you Desmond,
I also heard about the recent attacks on wordpress sites, but that was after i became a victim.
I’ve never used Admin or any other thing like that as my username before though so, i wonder how they were able to get me.
What plugins are you using to secure your blog?
I will sure check out your post now. Thanks a lot for your concern bro.
Enstine Muki says
Hey bro,
Good to see that this blog is back to live thanks to all the support you had from friends here and there. I remember the last time we were trying to sort the featured image issue, my very unstable home Internet connection just went off till the next day. However, thanks to Chadrack for the final solution
Thanks for sharing the propositions too bro
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Enstine,
You really tried for me too and i appreciate that. Yea, Chadrack did very well although, the issue really disturbed him a lot.
What are you even doing about that your internet connection? Don’t you have any alternative?
Avi Jit says
Hey! Friend, it’s really good to see your blog running. Thanks for the mention. I’ve just gave you some suggestions but you almost did everything on your own. I know some people helped you a lot too. That’s the best part of working like a team and having good friends. All the best buddy for your future works. 🙂
Theodore Nwangene says
That’s very correct Avi,
Its really very good to have a team and people that can help you in your hour of needs.
Thanks a lot fro your assistance man, you’re also a friend.
Akhil Pulotil says
Hello Theodore,
I’m really sad about your loss. But hey, finally you got your site back right 😉 😀
Now hit back with more powerful posts 😀 .
And adsense is not everything. You can surely try affiliate marketing. Or try to apply for buy sell ads.
We all are always here to help you 🙂
Theodore Nwangene says
You’re always here to help me,
I’m very happy to hear that Akhil, thats the kind of friends we all want to have so that we’ll all be helping each other at our hour of needs.
Thanks a lot for taking your time to visit my blog today dear, hope i will see you more often.
Thanks also for your concern.
Tim Bonner says
Hey Theodore
Great to see you back and I’m always happy to help.
If I don’t know the answer, there’s always someone I might know who does.
Have you tried SocialSpark for monetizing your blog? I’ve just added a banner on my site via them and it includes Google Adsense ads. They take a cut but it would mean you could get Adsense ads back on your blog without setting up another account.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Tim,
I will never forget your effort towards solving my problem. Yea, you didn’t know how to solve it but, you managed to get me someone who will now, isn’t that awesome?
I’ve not heard of social spark before, but will have to check them out.
Thanks a lot for your concern man and extend my regards to your family.
Oluwaseun Babajide says
Welcome back. I can understand the stress you went through. I must admit, I love your courage, keep it up this is motivation for all of us.
Well done. 🙂
Theodore Nwangene says
Hey man,
Whats up? I remembered you called me immediately you saw what happened and that’s really amazing man.
I can’t thank you enough though, it only showed you’re also my good friend.
Thanks a lot for your concern.
Babanature says
Hello Theodore,
Glad to see you up and running bro and i truly wish you the best and always watch your back bro because you’ll never know whats next.
Glad to see that i amm one of the winners of your lovely theme. Hope to see it emailed to me soon. Thanks
Theodore Nwangene says
Yea man,
I also glad. You’ll hear from them soon, just sent them an email now. Thanks for coming.
Mark Trueman says
Hey Theodore,
Happy to hear you’re back up man. I can’t imagine what I would do if this happened to me. Getting hacked really sucks and for no apparent reason too.
Luckily you had a lot of friends who could help you through the ordeal.
I have been looking into making my wordpress blog secure for a while and I recently began the process of switching over to wpengine for hosting. It was suggested by a lot of famous bloggers including Shane Melaugh (for its speed not its security but they do seem to be very secure). You should consider switching over to make your blog more secure so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.
– Mark T.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for your concern Mark,
It was really a terrible experience but, thank God for my friends. I’m also changing my host but, I’ve not heard of Wpengine before, i will check them out.
Thanks for coming man and have a lovely day.
BTW: I saw your work at Adrienne Smith’s blog, very awesome. I didn’t know you also know coding. Maybe, you’ll also do mine one day, thanks.
Ehsan says
Hey Theodore, Glad you’re back!
That’s what I always say that relationship building and interacting with other bloggers is so important. One of the best way to grow a blog faster is to make as many friends as possible because friends are the ones can help us grow and often promote as well.
I must say you’ve done a great job, and motivated all bloggers out there with your courage. It couldn’t be able for me to stand again after falling like that.
Thanks so much for mentioning my name and post there Theodore, It’s appreciated.
Ehsan
Theodore Nwangene says
You’re most welcome Ehsan,
That your post is worth sharing man. It wasn’t easy for me at all but, I’m lucky that i have such amazing friends if not, i wonder what i would have done.
I know i will still solve the problem without them though but, i will have to spend a fortune to hire someone that will do it. So, building those relationships is very very necessary man.
Thanks for coming and sharing my feeling.
Sergio Felix says
Hey Theodore,
So sorry that you had to go through all of this man and I really wished I could have helped you more.
I sure know you are more aware now about the importance of a well secure wordpress installation and proper maintenance so there is always a lesson to learn out of these events.
Take care man and keep on going forward!
Sergio
Ps. Thanks for the shout out, really appreciate it! 😉
Theodore Nwangene says
Yea Sergio,
I’ve learnt some lesson indeed though, my blog was secured enough before. I guess that was just what wanted to happen anyway. I really appreciate your efforts to me then man, i know you would have done more if you had the opportunity.
Thanks a lot for your concern.
VISHAL VERMA says
What happened to your adsense account? What about the appeal?
They replied me “our specialists have confirmed that we’re unable to reinstate your AdSense account.”
Now I use Yahoo Ads… they are also Good….
Theodore Nwangene says
They also rejected my appeal man,
I will look at yahoo ads to. Thanks.
BTW: Have you received the theme you won from Rockable themes?
Vaibhav Srivastava says
Hey Theodore,
Sorry for the bad time you had but its a happy moment for all of us as your blog is back means you are back. I hope now its all going smoothly and it will always be like the same. Best of luck man and also saying Congrats to all the winners of the giveaway.
Cheers,
Vaibhav S
Theodore Nwangene says
Hi Vaibhav,
Thanks a lot for your wonderful concern and support, i really appreciate. I’m back now and won’t go off again by the grace of God. Yea, I’m also happy for the winners, hope you’ll win next time.
Thanks.
Saanvi says
As always, excellent article! and you’re write always awesome post. Which People will benefit from using the pieces of wisdom in this article!
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Saavni,
I appreciate your visit.
Sarvesh Darak says
Hello Theodore,
Very sad about your loss, but i think every problem leads to some great success from which we can learn lot of things.
Now about adsense, its becoming very worst day by day as many blogger’s loosing their adsense accounts with out any reasons.
I hope you’ll get more success in upcoming days..
thanks
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for your words of encouragement Sarvesh,
I agree with you that every problem leads to some great success from which we can learn lot of things because i really learnt so many things from that ugly experience.
I really appreciate your concern man, thanks.
Adrienne says
Oh wow Theodore, you poor thing. When it rains it pours doesn’t it! My goodness, that’s horrible, I’m so sorry you had to go through this.
Like you said in the post though and what I’ve said time and time again, those relationships you make with other bloggers are the best relationships in the world. People will tell you that if someone visits your blog who is not in your niche then don’t bother with them because they won’t buy from you. Maybe not but those friendships can lead to other things and in your case, that’s exactly what happened.
I know that Ashvini was traveling but he would have been there for you and I’m glad you reached out to him. I’m also so happy to see you back up and I didn’t come by so besides your email I wasn’t aware this was going on. I’ve had a very busy month myself and I’m still behind. It seems like I’ll never catch up.
I’m so glad you have such wonderful friends Theodore that put everything aside to help you. I know they didn’t do it to be acknowledged in a post but that’s why they are worth mentioning right! Because they don’t expect it.
I want to say thank you all so much for helping Theodore. I’m so not good with this type of thing and I would have called Ashvini to help me. I’m just so thrilled you had people to help as well.
I would like to recommend one thing Theodore. I use a plug-in called Limited Login Attempts. What it will do is any time someone tries to hack into your blog you’ll be sent an email. I immediately copy their IP address and paste that into my hosting service under the section Deny Manager. The next time they type in my URL, they will receive a warning sign that they aren’t allowed to view this site. I linked my post that I wrote about this to this comment so check it out. Just this morning I was hit 20 times within 30 minutes. I would have never known if it weren’t for this plug-in but they’ll have to go to a different computer to try again.
Good luck Theodore!
~Adrienne
Theodore Nwangene says
That’s very incredible Adrienne,
But the question i keep asking myself over and over again is “What’s in it for them”? i don’t seem to understand why someone will not get himself busy with some good things other than hacking people’s poor sites. God will also hack their life soon.
Yeap, I’m more than lucky to have such friends you know, i wished i started building those relationships earlier though. Ashvini really wanted to help me and we’re now best of friends too.
I just installed that plugin and hoping that it will be blocking those hoodlums. Whatever i know today about building relationships, i learnt it from you Adrienne so, thanks a lot for that. You’re also a very valuable friend of mine.
Thanks for coming and have a nice day.
Adrienne says
I was on a webinar a few years ago and a guy that use to hack sites was the host. He was showing us what we could do to protect ourselves. He said he did it because it was a challenge and some do it to steal your traffic. Others do it to blast emails out to your list with their products under your name and then others do it for financial gain. There are a bunch of different reasons but whichever one it was for you it’s still just wrong.
I’m glad that you’ve gotten a chance to get to know Ashvini and you now understand why building relationships with other is so important. Even if they’re doing what you’re doing you should never view them as competition. You might need them some day! 😉
Thanks Theodore and I love hearing that you’ve learned this through me. You just made my day!
~Adrienne
Theodore Nwangene says
You’re most welcome Adrienne,
I’ve really learnt and is still learning a lot from you. Thanks for all your guidance so far. I’m sorry for all those guys doing that out there, they will soon meet their end if they didn’t change.
Thanks for letting me know all these.
Jon says
Theodore
Sorry to hear about your site getting hacked. It definitely sucks when it happens.
There was a year where I slacked on updating/securing my sites and I was chasing a virus for about 2 months trying to clean my sites.
Now I have a VA go through my sites at least once a month and perform the following routine maintenance:
– Security (see the steps below)
– Speed Improvements/Testing
– Monetization (test affiliate links)
Here are the detailed security steps my VA does on each site, this may help. Best of luck recovering and keeping your site safe!
Change Username From “Admin” if applicable
Modify Password To Unique Secure Password
Remove All Other User Accounts
Backup Site to a shared DropBox account
Reduce & Remove Unneccesary Plugins
Remove Unused Themes
Update WordPress Version
Update WordPress Plugins & Theme
Install & Activate “Better WP Security” Plugin
Install “Limit Login Attempts” plugin
Theodore Nwangene says
Hey Jon,
Chasing a virus for about 2 months trying to clean your sites? Now, that’s a lot of work man. I guess we have to be more careful and security consious now. I really saw hell those few days. But thank God I’m back on it now. I will have to apply all the tips you gave me here to ensure that i don’t experience that again.
I’m very happy for your success with your authority site, how is it going so far? Kudos man. Thanks for visiting and sharing your concern for me.
Daniel says
Hey!Friend, it’s really good to see your blog running. Thanks for the mention.I’ve just gave you some suggestions but you almost did everything on your own.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Dan.
I really appreciate your help too, you’re qualified to be a friend. Thanks and more strength to your elbows.
Karnal Singh says
You have nicely written your experience.It will help others also…..
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Karnal
Neamat Tawadrous says
Hi Theodore,
What a horrible experience you went through my friend! I am really sorry you had to go through all this. But thank God you managed to get through it stronger than you already are.
And thanks to all your friends who helped you through all this. They are all amazing and God Bless them all. Indeed, these kind of relationships are priceless and we should treasure them.
Thanks Theodore for sharing this article and your experience. It sure helped and now I have to look for ways to secure my blog and take some of the recommendations you suggested here.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
Theodore Nwangene says
Thank you Neamat,
I very glad you like the post. I’m sorry i didn’t tell you but, i went through a lot dear, you can’t imagine what happened.
But i think the good thing now is that I’m finally back and better. Thanks a lot for your concern friend. Its really important to have such friends indeed.
Chadrack says
Hey my man,
Just want to let you know that I’ve gotten my prize. Received it a few days ago! Thanks for the opportunity.
Theodore Nwangene says
You’re most welcome Chadrack,
I’m also happy you won.
Lisa says
Theodore, I’m so sorry you had to go through this but thankfully you had wonderful people to assist you along the way. I’ve of heard this happening many times now, kinda scary. Is it just WordPress sites that always get hacked into? I wonder why. It sounded like you had all the security plug-ins you needed too. Even scarier. Glad to see you back and hope you won’t have to go through this again or anyone else for that matter.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks a lot Lisa,
It wasn’t easy. i must tell you. But, i also thank God for giving such friends, Am i not lucky? It seems that wordpress sites are more easier to hack, don’t know why either.
Yea, i still wonder how they managed to break through my site even when i had all those plugins. We only need to tight up our belt more. I also pray that it doesn’t happen to me again or any other person.
Thanks a lot for coming Lisa.
abisola says
this is such an amazing forum….am so happy to be part of it….thanks for the good work