A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran

Looks like we finally found our evil hacker, and I spent the better part of the evening doing cleanup of forum spammers.

It was nothing personal. We were the target of a widespread WP hack. The drug company hack also nailed many university websites.

For security reasons, all blog registrations are now subject to approval.

If you have any trouble registering to comment, no problem. Just click the handy CONTACT form above, and I will set up an account for you.

It’s possible some legit accounts were affected by the mass deletions. If you suddenly find yourself unable to log in or comment, please contact me.

Web Goddess DC McQueen knew there was some kind of code being inserted into our system, but where?

I began to be suspicious of a large number of registrations on the blog recently, so I did some research. The spammers are a common feature of this hack. After registering, the hacker makes themself an admin and then inserts malicious code into your system. As I wrote, we could not find the code in our files, but lookie where we did find it:

Right there in the member registration!

Naturally you should be sure to look in your FTP files for suspicious code. One person told me he found the code in his WP Supercache file.

Certainly didn’t expect to find it in member info.

I apologize for the inconvenience, but all WP systems are vulnerable to this attack. On your own blogs, watch your member registrations. You may find yourself locked out of your own system when someone makes themselves an admin.

I am sincerely sorry if I deleted any legit account.

The best way to make sure you are not deleted in a future security sweep is to PLEASE use a name, not just a user name. You do not have to use your real name. However, spammers are less likely to use names.

Also, you may identify yourself with a personalized gravatar. This is that little image folks have next to their comments. Get your very own gravatar here!

It’s super easy to use, and helps me to identify a legit account. We have a fun and interesting community, and I will do everything I can to discourage the spammers, hackers, trolls, and other internet vermin. Thanks for your patience and understanding.