My self-hosted WordPress site was hacked in late July/early August. In a short time period almost one million files were uploaded to the server. The first sign that there was a problem was redirects sending visitors to unexpected sites. I spent a frantic weekend deleting files using FTP programs on two computers, but the hackers must have installed backdoors which resulted in repeated problems. Over the next two months, I dealt with files that were mysteriously deleted and php files that autogenerated SPAM. By October, scripts installed within my sites triggered my web hosting service to suspend any sites hosted within my account until I showed proof that the sites had been professionally cleaned. I talked to the service recommended by my web host, Hostgator, and the cost for my site alone was $120 with no guarantee that the scan would actually solve the problem. Since I was hosting multiple sites, I chose to discontinue my personal blog and move my site to Wordpress.com.

The unfortunate side-effect of being hacked is that all of my work from the last four years has been destroyed. I generally received between 3,000 and 4,000 pageviews each month, and starting over is a very frustrating and disappointing consequence to being hacked. Unfortunately, I can’t see any other way to bounce back from the damage that was done. I will be attempting to recreate those posts that were most popular on my self-hosted site. This will take some time, however, so I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.