I’m back online. Did you miss me? 
Here’s the story:
Yesterday a user “jos” registered on my site with the email “john@chetkoe.tv”. That’s strange, I didn’t recall asking for people to register. So after checking to make sure it wasn’t somebody trying to subscribe by RSS or something, I deleted the user and changed my WordPress password.
When I got back home I started a backup of my entire site so I could upgrade to WordPress 2.9.2. DH wanted to go out to eat, so I left the backup running and went out. After all, not cooking dinner is a good thing, especially when you have a hacker to deal with.
Got home, got my backup, but couldn’t get into my dashboard with my new password. I still had access to my cPanel though, so I upgraded to 2.9.2 and then temporarily took my blog down.
Finally got another password and got back into my dashboard, where I promptly changed the registration settings, checked to make sure my files were clean, and here I am!
Lesson learned.
Here’s the moral of the story: If you’re still running an older version of WordPress this could happen to you. RUN, do not walk to the nearest computer and upgrade immediately (after backing up your site of course). Do not pass Go, and do not stop at the Old Spaghetti Factory, as delicious as that might be. (Feel free to go celebrate after you’re finished! Fighting hackers can be hungry work after all.)
Also in your dashboard, go to “Settings” in the menu on the left and click on “General”. If the “Anyone can register” box under “Membership” is checked then uncheck it. This is one way hackers can get in and if given enough time might even be able to set themselves up as an administrator. Then they will be able to do quite a bit of damage to your site, make you look like a spammer, etc. I’m not sure if this hack still works on 2.9.2 but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Luckily I was right there when it happened so I was able to catch it in time and prevent any permanent damage (except for the inconvenience of having to fix this whole mess instead of making art). You can be sure that in the future I am going to make regular backups of my site, as well as upgrade my WordPress as soon as the upgrades are out of beta.
Happy Quilting!
Yay, Laura, the hacker-fighting super-hero artist!
Glad to see that you’re back (and safer than before, to boot.)
I had the same person register on a site I maintain. My WP version is the latest. I black listed the email and the IP address used in registering. For this site, we encourage membership for participation. So, it is a bit more complicated in keeping out the would be assailants. Still, you provide excellent advice. Thank you.
Sorry you had to go through all that trouble! Maybe I should check if Blogger has the same issue.
How is your Dear Diary project going?
I checked with Derry (GloDer Works) about upgrading. He said the 2.9.2 has been shown to have stability problems so he doesn’t want to upgrade anyone to it yet. So keep an eye on it.
teri
Judi: Thanks! It’s good to be back. Hmmm … maybe there’s an art quilt in there somewhere or perhaps a new kind of comic book.
Brad: You’re right, that does make things more complicated. And it sure keeps all of us busy. Best of luck to you.
Nina Lise: I’m still doing my Dear Diary quilt (and having fun), although I’ve missed a few more days than I’d like and have to catch up. Sometimes life is complicated, so I have to be flexible. I’ll try to post more DD blocks soon.
Teri: It’s a trade-off to be sure, however in my case I think the extra security is worth the stability risk. I’ll just have to be sure to do regular backups. (That’s always a good idea anyways)
thanks for your comments and sorry for your trouble. I like photographing plants and seem to have some luck at it. Now I am going to check out blogger to see if I can avoid the same problem.
Eek! I want to know who all these weird hackers and trolls are who have so much time to waste, skulking around on the internet and causing trouble for everyone else. Is it white collar criminals with PCs in their jail cells? Teenaged gifted children getting into mischief in the high school PC lab? Glad to hear you caught it while it was still just an inconvenience instead of a disaster.