UPDATE (4:17 pm): Attack Repelled?

After a day spent counter-hacking, Study Hacks should once again be back in business. That being said, please help me keep a wary eye for anything else amiss — it’s always possible a backdoor was left open.

I apologize for the few hours this afternoon when the site was down as I scrubbed it clean and updated it. For those who are interested in this type of thing, the attack I suffered is called the Online Pharma Hack. It’s a clever beast that presents the normal site to every user…except Google’s index spider, to which it presents spam. The idea is to hijack the site’s reputation in Google’s eyes to increase the ranking of certain keywords. The effect of the attack will still be seen for a while in Google search results (search for study hacks cialas to see what I mean), but hopefully, with re-indexing, they will eventually return to normal.

Finally, someone in the comments was worried about their e-mail information from subscribing to my feed. The e-mail subscription is handled by FeedBurner and all of your information is safe.

Study Hacks, Perhaps Ironically, Has Been Hacked

It appears that hackers have gained access to Study Hacks and have been inserting spam ads, among other intrusions, throughout the site. (Search for “Study Hacks” on Google to see the attacker’s “brilliance” in action.)

I’m working with my host company to re-secure and sanitize the site, and it should still continue to work fine in the interim, but there may be some weirdness in the near future as I update my software, etc., so be warned.

Two Notes:

  • If you notice any hacked pages, please e-mail them to my attention to aid my efforts in cleaning things up (author@calnewport.com).
  • If you know anything about WordPress hacking/securing and want to help, I would appreciate any assistance.

I’m crossing my fingers that any inconvenience will be minimal…