Thank you for your patience while we pulled out our hair. I mean really pulled out our hair! After going to a conference this weekend, I know we were not alone or singled out in the website hackers mind. Many WordPress sites (this is the software that was used to put our site together) were affected according to many we talked to. Yet, that did not lessen my frustration over the last few weeks of getting phone calls or emails letting us know that our site had interesting, sometimes inappropriate material popping up. We were working with 2 very competent web guys and it still took sometime to get it all cleared up. Many of you probably do not know that our website that appears to be just one website is actually two websites. The shop side is a complete website separate from our original website. The hackers managed to affect our original website two (maybe three times) before the software could be updated. I now know the reason you have to keep paying to update software is because hackers eventually find the holes in the old versions. Just as I thought, phew, we are done with that challenge, the hackers went on to affect our other website. We received more emails from folks trying to order and it took us a day to get that hashed out. What I learned from all this and what you can take away is the following……………………
1. Have a good IT guy. I am thankful to be working with Jimp Studios after our original designer JoelbyDesign went back to school to study scripture and become an Eastern Orthodox Priest.
2. Keep your software up to date.
3. It isn’t always personal. These hackers were just acting randomly. When someone figures out the why behind this behavior, let me know.
4. Keep all personal information on a secure site. PLEASE DO NOT WORRY. All of your purchasing information is held on the paypal site with much more security than we can afford to date. Again, there was no compromise of any personal information.
5. Search and Order with confidence. It is fixed!