My Site Got Hacked Today

[BirdOPrey5]

Very sorry to hear but this should serve as a waning to anyone else here- You are ONE BAD DAY AWAY from *EVERYTHING* about your forum being wiped off the face of the Earth.

You *NEED* backups... Daily, weekly, monthly, SOMETHING. And even if your web host claims they back up for you that is not enough- You still need a backup on your own system(s) because your web host is also one bad day away from being wiped out.

I understand daily backups (manually) are annoying but if you invest any time in your forums there's no excuses for not at least monthly backups. Make it a routine thing on the 1st of the month.

You can google for some software/packages that will help automate database backups.

[Paul M]

Yes, very sorry to hear about this.

You have, unfortunately, learned the hard way, ALWAYs have backups of everything (off-site).

[Big Al]

@Gemma. I am sorry to hear that you were hacked. As it seems all your sites were affected it does seem like you were targeted.

I know a little of what this is like, as I was hacked twice and my personal information stolen, to be used by low life's and those who support them.

Your loss is more than mine and I am sorry to hear about it.

The hackers and scammers pose a real threat to decent people and many of us are doing our best to stop them, but sadly they sometimes have influence and are believed by others.

I am not a tech but If I can help just ask. AL.

[daveaite]

Sorry to hear about this...

Let us know if theirs anything you need.

I think we've all dealt with scammers, hackers and hacker attempts. Birdoprey and Paul M have written some sound advice above.

I am however impressed how you were able to survive without backups for 8 years... that is actually quite a feat..

[thecore762]

My old site was hacked, I decided to re-do the whole thing but it took tons of hours and months to get it back to where I needed, since then I setup a secondary backup server where if something happened to my main vps that there would be a backup server on a different machine that I can access it, you never know the internet and how evil some people are.

I feel for you mate, one of the worst feelings ever.

[Gemma]

Thanks for the replies and offers of help

I am however impressed how you were able to survive without backups for 8 years... that is actually quite a feat..

Didn't say I didn't have any backups....just none from the last few months and I'd be missing a hell of a lot of customizations and hacks that are either no longer available or I'd tailored to my own site needs. I've got a bitter taste in my mouth just now that leaves me wanting nothing to do with rebuilding or restoring anything.

Was this shared hosting or a VPS and what control panel did you use?

I was given some server space by KW802 from my time helping out on v3 Arcade - it doesn't look like it was anything to do with the server though as only my site and files are affected. I agree with others saying it was a personal attack - which itself is interesting and I have an incline as to who may be responsible if that is the case (though I think they are too dumb to hack anything themselves) - I'm also seeing tons of site access entries from hidemyass.com IPs (not sure how relevant that is), I also have the feeling that Living Avatars admin panel may have something to do with it all but can't be sure (yet).

[Big Al]

@Gemma. An area for concern is how did they gain access? Is your pc security also compromised

I think it would be a good idea to do some scans for a keylogger.

If you need a good free anti root kit program just send me a pm and I will give you the details.

[DivisionByZero]

Did you have the second patch level installed? I know it can be tedious to keep up with patches and updates. Maybe someday vB will have, like WordPress, auto-updates. If you're being targeted, you could try CloudFlare. It's free and takes on the task of handling these kinds of issues.

Also, if you're on cPanel, i'd highly recommend going to a Plesk host, or, since VPS technology is available on every street corner for a song, get a linux VPS, install Plesk (cheap) and let it update itself automatically to keep up with OS level security.

[setishock]

Don't give up. That's exactly what they want you to do. Just give em the finger and keep on trucking.

[TheLastSuperman]

Gemma,

As Setishock said... "Don't give up" !

Please take care of yourself though and I hope you hear nothing but good news in the follow up!

Remember, they fight poorly and only those who "fight the good fight" live life better .