Hijacked once more (Part 3)

This isn't the first time I had my websites highjacked.  One time it was a picture of Saddam with and anti-American slogan.  I thought "terrorism" at first, before I realised there are ten year old wise kids who can hack websites, for no other reason but for the fun of it.

Protecting websites is hard.  You can choose the security level of files and directories.  Overly secured impedes the function of the website; underly secured invites hackers.

Newer versions of Joomla come out frequently.  Updating a Joomla sites is daunting.  Anything that was custom on the previous site, chances are, are gone in the updated version.  I use to google for fixes, then dig through the php files to make them.

Failing to keep your Joomla websites updated leads to hacking.

Google Sites is a simple website program.  After a previous hacking of my domain, I moved my church's website over to Google Sites:

rlcpdx.org

And Jodie and I have our website at:

wittren.com

I like that I don't need to worry about updates.  Google handles all the technical stuff.  The downside is that the design options are limited, but at least it is "Troyproof"!

I felt like a failure the other night when I could not get my domain back up.  I wanted to give up and do no more websites.

But Pastor Roger wants his site back up, this time on Google Sites, so my webdesign work is not through...for now.

I hope Google Sites is hacker proof!

Hijacked once more (Part 2)

The other day, I received this email:

Dear Troy:

Your web hosting account for twittren.net has been deactivated (reason: terms of service violation).

Although your web site has been disabled, your data may still be available for
up to 15 days, after which it will be deleted.

If you feel this deactivation is in error, please contact customer support as
soon as possible.

Thank you,

I called to helpdesk.  He said there was "phishing" being done from my account.  That is (I think) using my account to wrongfully solicit information from others.  They saw a suspicious file someone had planted in my files.  I removed the file.  I looked for other files that looked suspicious.

I called back to ask if they could tell me what files were recently added.  They could not.  They had a list of contractors I could hire to help me.  I don't have money for that.

I found a phrase in one of my index files.  I googled it, and it was an Indonesian phrase, but I could not find it's meaning.

After I deleted a bunch of files and mysql databases, my domain still would not come up.  I called for istructions of how to reset my account.  My mid-fortynes, my "Troyishness", I  could not figure out what I needed to do.

I called and asked that my account cancelled.

Hijacked once more (Part 1)

My dreams of being a web designer suffered a setback this week.  When you make a website, you need to put it on a server where people can access it.  I rent space from a webhost for $6.95 a month.

I have been with this certain webhost for a number of years.  They were a highly rated webhost when I first started with them; now they aren't on the highly rated list.

I am not going to name them because they are refunding me for a half year of service,  which I think is a  big thing to do.

The last few years I have created a handful of websites.  I had one for my church, my son's football team, a chiropractor (who was busy and we never completed the site), and a pastor friend of mine who is starting a church.

I have use Joomla, a open source (free) content management system, to create websites.   I like putting the websites together - organizing and arranging the content, and finding the right modules and components (calendars, forms, etc...) to make the website fulfill it's purpose.

Joomla sites run with php files that work to store and access data onto a MYSQL database.  This is a "Troy" understanding of how things work.