Apologies to anyone who visited the blog a few nights ago, Tuesday night I think, and thought I had vanished offline!
It wasn't anything planned by me!
It began last week when I received an email receipt from Google Play that was entirely in Japanese. I phoned google to discover that my account had been hacked and that someone had spent £17 on apps in Japanese Yen. They spotted the mistake as soon as I pointed it out and are in the process of refunding me. In this technical age though, can't there be a way that flags up the fact that I am in the UK and have never in the time I have had this google account travelled abroad, and that someone logging in from Japan should be a little unusual? Just a thought.
Anyway, I reset my password and set up two step sign in, which means that if I sign in on a new device I need a second code that is messaged by SMS to my mobile phone.
Then came Tuesday morning when a friend messaged me on Facebook to ask where my blog had gone! I was unable to sign in to my google as they had suspended my account because of suspicious attempts to sign in elsewhere. So, I had to prove I was me, add another new password and thought a bit more seriously about where the problem lay. (Thankfully my blog reappeared once my account was reinstated.)
In recent months I have barely used our PC as it was so slow but a couple of weeks ago we had it sorted and it's running much better. I had been on it to check my emails a couple of times in those couple of weeks. It struck me that perhaps there was a virus on it as our antiviral was long out of date. I checked with my techy brother what would be the best free software to use, downloaded it, ran a scan and sure enough there were a couple of bugs. I think something must have sneaked on with some games one of the boys downloaded.
So, I'm more than a little hacked off with hackers! I have enough things to try and remember in this baby fogged brain of mine without having to keep changing my passwords around!
Moral of the story is, keep your antiviral software up to date, keep an eye on your account usage (I'm checking my google stats daily at the moment!) and back up your blog!!
Also, just in case things still aren't sorted and my blog seems to disappear again (I have no intention of taking my blog offline anytime soon) then I do have a Facebook page where I post updates even when I haven't got time to put out a full blog post. You can come on over and say 'hi' here.
I'm very glad you are back. Sorry for the trouble you've had!
ReplyDeleteHope you have a grand day!
I'm very glad you are back. Sorry for the trouble you've had!
ReplyDeleteHope you have a grand day!
Hi Kirsteen, I am just now getting a minute to come over and read this. It is a good reminder that we are all vulnerable… especially when things are changing so fast we can hardly catch up. I get foggy brained as well… so much info… so much to have to do, and as you say to add another password to the routine is always such hassle. I try to keep them written in a certain book, but can't always keep track of where I put that book. Well, alls well that ends well, as they say. I am just so glad you are back and every thing is okay… now I think I better be off and go check my own google accounts.
ReplyDeleteLove and Blessings,
Pam