Where the Hell Have I Been?

DenaMay 19, 2010

Deep into the night of my twenty-sixth birthday—12:47 a.m. to be exact—someone hacked into my site and installed malicious adware. I am not sure what that term actually means, I have a general understanding, but I don’t care to know the extent of it. Simply put, I was crushed when I realized what had happened.

Over the next few days, I had to take everything apart and then put it back together—several times. It had taken me two whole months to get everything functioning properly the first time around. Having to do it again—after an attack—was daunting to say the least. My technical knowledge is “limited” at best. There were moments when I wanted to give in, give up, and let go. But then I thought of The Alchemist and how the Universe tests our strengths of will as we get closer to accomplishing our dreams. I accepted and understood that I was being tested and that all of this was necessary. I am getting closer to realizing the full potential of my dreams.

Bottom line: I am not giving up.

Shit happens. Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. 😉

Throughout this ordeal there were times when I wanted to cry, scream, curse my luck, etc. Instead, I remembered that thousands of people were affected by this hack. I was not alone. There was a vulnerability in the version of WordPress that I was using and I am sure that there were other factors that lead up to the incident. But none of that even matters. What matters is that it happened. And because it happened, it was meant to happen. As much as I may have wanted to cry, scream, curse, and so on, I didn’t. I knew that if the Universe did not want me to endure it, I would not have been enduring it.

When it comes to the will of the Universe, resistance is never the answer. Acceptance always is.

It has been exactly two weeks now and the pieces are finally coming back together—albeit very slowly. Not only do I accept that this happened, but now I am grateful that this happened. I had been planning some changes & upgrades for awhile and this event has pushed those things to the front burner.

If this was my test, then bring it on Universe. I am not planning to give up on my dream anytime soon!

You can expect some changes here in the near future, including a new visual identity, new content features, and a much more “personal” feel to some of my writing. Thank you to those of you who have stuck around. Please be sure to update your RSS subscriptions. If you were receiving updates from a feed reader, be sure to re-subscribe here. If you were receiving updates by email, re-subscribe here. Or just click the links on the right side of the page.

In love & light,

Comments (16)

  • Dena Botbyl

    May 19, 2010 at 7:53 pm

    Where the Hell Have I Been? http://su.pr/1KOlhv

  • Brad Chaffee

    May 19, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    RT @denabotbyl: Where the Hell Have I Been? http://su.pr/1KOlhv

  • David Damron

    May 19, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    Help a fellow blogger build her site after the #WordpressHack …. http://bit.ly/cceI0K @denabotbyl

  • J. D. Bentley

    May 19, 2010 at 10:07 pm

    Yeah that all really sucked. I’m glad you finally pushed through it (also glad to see you’re running Headway!)

    You might want to look into backing up your database so that if something like this ever happens again you can just go back as if nothing ever happened. I’m using a host that backs up the server every day and I have a copy of my database backed up and sent to my email, too. Can’t be too careful!

    Good luck with this rebirth! I’m sure things will be better than ever!

    1. Dena

      May 19, 2010 at 10:27 pm

      @JD – Thank you so much for the comment & the support. I can not tell you how much it means to me.

      The sad thing is that my database was backed up and luckily, I had a “back up” for my back up of all my posts. But, for some reason, it wasn’t as easy as replacing the database. None of my theme information was saved in the back up and I ended up having issues with my feeds as well.

      It’s very possible that I didn’t do things the right way, even though I spent at least 6 hours on the phone with my host support team (GoDaddy). As I mentioned in the post (and as you know better than anyone, ha!) my technical skills leave much to be desired… Oh well — this time around — I’ll be saving everything and then some. 😉

      Yes, thank you for the good luck wishes and I agree — better than ever!

  • J. D. Bentley

    May 19, 2010 at 9:09 pm

    RT @daviddamron: Help a fellow blogger build her site after the #WordpressHack …. http://bit.ly/cceI0K @denabotbyl

  • Karen

    May 19, 2010 at 10:50 pm

    Dena! That sucks!

    SO sorry to hear of this frustration, especially after you have come so far in your re-launch.

    I almost erased ALL of my my site once, and it drove me insane. Thank god my host had a back up, and I could restore it. Technical things are unbelievable frustrating… but good to see you back! You’ll get it up and running as good as new soon 🙂

    1. Dena

      May 19, 2010 at 10:52 pm

      @Karen – Thank you for the comment and for sharing your story. It really does make me feel better to know that I am not alone. <3

  • Dena Botbyl

    May 20, 2010 at 12:52 am

    Where the Hell Have I Been?? http://su.pr/1KOlhv

  • Brad Chaffee

    May 20, 2010 at 1:54 am

    Dena, I am so sorry to hear that you got hacked! I know that must have ruined your day pretty bad, but a strong person like yourself probably did better than most. To be really honest I almost completely lost my mind when I thought a year of blogging had been completely erased. This happened right after my subscribers went from 40 to 140 overnight. About a week later I BROKE something messing around with code and Hostmonster at first told me there was nothing they could do that I would have to start all over again. Luckily I found the one and only back I had that I forgot all about which was done a month prior, but all the changes I made to EOD during that time were for nothing because I had to do it ALL over again.

    I have been doing backups ever since. LOL

    P.S. I don’t have to write any articles for Mint for two whole weeks, so if I can get my act together, look forward to hearing from me about you know what!!

    1. Dena

      May 20, 2010 at 9:52 am

      @Brad – Hey Brad! Thank you so much for the comment & for sharing your story! Wow! I can not imagine how stressful that must have been for you. I am so glad that things worked out in the long run. There is no doubt in my mind — this stuff happens to test our strength of will. How much do we really want to help others? In our cases, the will to help fight the good fight will always overcome the adversity stacked against us.

      I will be looking forward to hearing from you. 😉

  • J. D. Bentley

    May 20, 2010 at 1:08 am

    RT @denabotbyl: Where the Hell Have I Been?? http://su.pr/1KOlhv

  • Karen Hill

    May 20, 2010 at 1:46 am

    RT @denabotbyl: Where the Hell Have I Been?? http://su.pr/1KOlhv

  • Tim Brownson

    May 20, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    Help @denabotbyl she recently got hacked and lost all her subscribers http://evolutionyou.net/?p=564

  • Duff McDuffee

    May 20, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    RT @TimBrownson: Help @denabotbyl she recently got hacked and lost all her subscribers http://evolutionyou.net/?p=564

  • Carousel—06.25.10 | evolution you

    June 25, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    […] The Tale of GoDaddy, Ukrainian Hackers, and one WordPress Blog: Remember when my blog got hacked back in May? Well now I know what happened. Thanks to Nubby for sharing the tale. It makes me feel […]

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