I Got Hacked

After almost nine years writing this blog, and over 350 blog posts, last week I found out I got hacked. For a time I thought we wouldn’t gain back access, but the site is back online with only a few issues. Here’s what to know and what’s happening on Mel on the Go.

How I Found Out About the Hack

We still don’t know when I got hacked. We only found out when the site went down and we couldn’t access the back end. Mel on the Go was down for two days last week, which some of you may have noticed.

The hackers changed the email address for the host account, locking us out. We contacted the host, sent documentation and proof of ownership, and waited 24 hours while they evaluated our claim. During that time, we didn’t know if we would even get my site back.

The Mel On The Go Blog

I started writing the blog on my first solo trip in 2016, years before we decided to buy a boat. I continued blogging to document our visits to new places and new adventures.

The blog is a hobby, but it means something to me. It’s how I express my opinions and emotions about our lives on the boat at sea and in port. It also helps us track our journey, and the achievements and failures along the way. This blog archives our different milestones, big voyages, and where in the world we were for momentous holidays. Plus, I exercise my creativity writing this blog, in the breaks between sailing, fixing things, and day to day boat monotony.

So imagine how it felt to be blocked from accessing my own site. All so those hackers could insert ads into my content. Yes, once Mel on the Go was live again, we spotted pop up ads on it. I got hacked so they could make pennies off my content.

What Was Lost

I got hacked and disappointingly, out latest backup was old. Our mistake. As a result, my site content has reverted back a couple of months. The backup was soon after the post “The Worst Wave” which was published in March. I wrote four blog posts since then, all of which are lost, and I do not have copies of them anywhere. It will take some time, but I am determined to rewrite those posts.

If I had known, I would have screen grabbed them, because now I have to rewrite all four posts. It’s not the end of the world: I still have my other 340+ blog posts, which is a relief.

I will try to rewrite those posts quickly, with the same links as originally published, but it will take a while. Writing a post months after an experience is difficult, which is why I try to do it while it’s fresh.

Thanks for reading my blog! We’re still rebuilding so it may be a little different for a while. Fingers crossed Mel on the Go remains unhacked.

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