Tuesday, February 11, 2014

My Apologies for The Inconvenience!

Dear Friends,

The past few days my blog has been 'locked' by Blogger and no one has been able to view it. I have found out that recently, there have been a flood of blogs that have been attacked by someone trying to insert a malicious code or third party link. I believe my vulnerable spot was in my Archives page which was right under my Header. I have since removed it along without anything else that uses an HTML code in a "Gadget" that could possibly be altered by a third party. If you are also a blogger, please check your Gadgets frequently to make sure there have been no alterations. If so, remove it immediately.

I am saddened that anyone would go to such lengths, but given what has happened to Target and also Neiman Marcus in the past couple of months with their customer data being breached, it certainly doesn't come as a surprise.  

I am also sad that the notice given to visitors is that I was in violation of the Blogger "Terms of Service Policy".  The reality is I was not the violator but the violated. 

My apologies to you for any inconvenience and thank you to all of you who emailed me expressing concern about what had happened. I am truly thankful for all the followers of my blog!

My thanks to Blogger for bringing my blog back online within six days. If know for some, it has taken a lot longer.


Sincerely, Susan

28 comments:

  1. I'm very happy to read you again Susan ! A warm hug

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  2. I think there should be a new advisory.. specifying that hacking had taken place through no fault of yours..if this situation ever arises with anyone of us again..
    I know that twice I have had Pinterest warnings.. yet the advisory to me is kind..gentle..explicit..
    And I don't feel at fault..and rightly so.. because I am simply repinning something I saw Pinned:)

    Blogger..with all it offers us..and I am grateful and indebted.. could use a PR.. person addressing this kind of issue..case in point..the advisory given when trying to access your blog..during this hacking ..
    X
    I am so happy to see you again also.


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  3. So glad you're back up and running. Several blogs I read regularly had the same problem, so I figured something had gone wrong somewhere. So sorry this happened to you!

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  4. Welcome back! I can imagine how frustrating it would be without your blog. I am doing a check on my own blog. Thanks for letting us know.

    Velva

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  5. Hi, Susan! Glad you're back! I will be checking my blog! Have a good week!!!

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  6. Glad you are back! Remember a few months ago that when I came here from Debbie's i got that warning? It said it was an unsafe site.

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  7. I had thought you were doing some adjustment in your blog template. I am so glad it's over and able to read your blog again, Susan.
    Have a lovely day!
    Angie

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  8. I was a bit confused when I tried to visit, but I am so glad you are back and blogging :D
    I didn't think you could be a violator!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

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  9. I cannot imagine your frustration. I would have, as they say in the South, been beside myself. I'm so glad you got it fixed and even sorrier that it happened to you.
    Sam

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  10. Thanks for letting us know. It happened to me a few weeks ago but only for a few hours. I have no idea why. I am on blogger so there is no one to ask. Glad that you are back. I'm going to check the gadget function. It does make me sad that spam and things like malicious code take some of the fun out of blogging. It pained me that I had to put that comment code on but one day I got 500 spams and it was just too much.

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  11. Welcome back! I'm glad that things were put back in order. The entire thing is alarming isn't it? We take our privacy and our control of our blogs seriously and a breach like this is insulting on many levels. I will take your advice and have a look at my gadgets today.

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  12. What a terrible thing to have happened. If something like that ever happened to me, I won't even know where to start to fix the problem as I'm not tech savvy at all.

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  13. blimey!... thanks for the heads up!

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  14. I find it sad that someone feels the need to do this sort of thing. I saw that same message on another blog that I follow. The message made it sound as if the blogger had committed a blogging a violation as well. Thanks for the advice. I'll be checking things out now and frequently.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  15. It's good to see you back. Oh, but you must have been terribly aggravated, disappointed too. I find it terribly disturbing when this malicious activity goes on. I am glad the situation has been resolved.

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  16. I feel your frustration Susan, since the same thing happened to my blog. Glad you're up and running now and let's hope it never happens again!

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  17. Hi Susan, I am so glad you are back online. I had tried your site a couple times and go the error and I got to thinking you might have been hacked. I feel your pain, I also got hacked back in December and it was a nightmare to get everything working again. Along the way my laptop got infected when I was trying to fix the issues. Glad you are back online!!!

    Did you by chance see my recent post: Valentine Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping!!?

    If you are back in town email me.

    Michael :-)
    http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/strawberry-topped-cheesecake/

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  18. So sorry that happened to you Susan. Glad you are back. I don't know why anyone would do such a thing. I appreciate your warning too.

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  19. Thanks for the heads up! Checking gadgets now!

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  20. Susan, Good to hear you were able to get things back. I am so sorry this happened. I hate we are all so vulnerable to those who don't want to do the right thing. Bonnie

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  21. Glad they got you back up and running.
    A real shame someone that does something like that, does not use that same time and energy to do something good in the world.
    Enjoy your evening.

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  22. Such an unnecessary headache, glad to hear you're back up and operational:@)

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  23. I figured it was something like that! I have had mine shut down twice so that is when I decided to print it off. I do that every six months so that at least if I lost it permanently I would have all of the work I have gone through! So glad you are back up. I kept checking back and it made me sick! Technology is great when it works but horrible when it doesn't!

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  24. Glad everything was resolved, Susan! AS I told you in e-mail it happened to me once a few years ago. It is so frustrating that hackers are always trying to infect and disrupt businesses and blogs and do e-mail phishing. We all have to be so alert and have good virus programs on our computers, but even then those nefarious people seems to be one step ahead.

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  25. Hi Susan,
    What a relief that the matter was resolved. It must be a frustrating experience, unable to do anything about it.
    Glad to see that your blog is back in action!
    Have a great delicious weekend ahead!

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  26. Hi Susan I didn't notice until I came for your recipe for cauliflower steaks. I'm happy all is well now. It's frustrating when things happen that are out of our control. I haven't been blogging of late, but I do keep an eye on blogs that are my faves. How are you enjoying our winter? It's been winter alright, and since it's my favorite season I have no complaints but for those who regard it as a nuisance, I empathize! Take care Susan. Now I'm off to make that cauliflower recipe. (I just finished shoveling today's snowfall!)

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  27. I cant believe that I have never had a salmon cake. After seeing this delicious post, I realize that I'm missing out. Wonderful.

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