The Virus that hit PHP
 

Well, in case you haven't heard -- have you been under a rock? :hehe: -- my computer was hit with a nasty virus Monday morning. Billy and I were both at our desks at 4:30 and had gotten quite a bit accomplished. I opened an e-mail about 6:30 that had an attachment...

... now I know what you're thinking, and normally, I don't get duped. In fact, in my 41 years of life, I can't remember ever getting hit with a virus. However, this particular e-mail made sense because it referred to a situation I had been speaking to a customer about over the weekend, so I did it.

:bomb: Good-bye, hard drive. Good-bye, hard drive controller. Good-bye, mother board. (Someone on FB, I think, told me that it originated in India. Thanks, India. :cursin:)

It took Billy the better part of 60 hours to get my computer back up and running, but he did it. (Have I mentioned before that he's probably the smartest person I know?) The best part is that none of my data has been lost! :disbelief:

He finally hit the proverbial wall about an hour ago, and I directed him downstairs. I thought he was in bed, but the boys just came in from playing and informed me that he's on the couch. I tried to make him move, but I'm not going to win that fight. ;)

One important thing that we did want to let our customers know is that none of our secure data has been breached. One reason that we use FormSite to handle our order forms is that they encrypt customer's sensitive data (credit card info), so even if THEY'RE database was breached, the data wouldn't be available to nasty, creepy people. We actually access the information via password. In fact, we process customers' credit cards through an online server which has to be accessed via password, as well, so we never keep any credit card information (except for the last four digits and the expiration date) on our server at all -- and we LIKE it that way! :cheesy smile: We just wanted to let everyone know that they can rest assured that no slimy, freaky, hacker dude is out using your credit card info to buy a new iPad 2 online or anything. :compute:

Well, I have 50+ orders to get to and -- literally -- hundreds of e-mails to answer. The way my head feels, I believe the e-mails are going to have to wait. I did promise customers, however, that I would do my best to get their orders moving, and I'm going to be at my desk until I just physically CAN'T function. :thumbs up yellow:

Just dont burn yourself out too! Im sure PHP can't function with 2 of the 3 online workers out of commission... :/, Either way congratz on getting everything fixed, and good luck catching up again!

Thanks! Eight orders down... um... a bunch to go! :giggle: No complaints! Every single one is a blessing. Just didn't wish my head didn't hurt so much. I definitely need to update my headache thread. SO MUCH going on there that I want to tell everyone about! Good stuff, I think. ;)

Back to work. :overworked:

well either way dont have too much fun! :hehe: :smiley_roll1: oh and if anyone cares I am staying in Colorado until February next year. after I graduate I will be getting an apartment here and my job will be to help out an academic department with whatever they need... :D, plus ill get paid extra for the apartment :happy-dancing: then off to Texas for pilot training :woot::happy-dancing::happy-dancing::woot::woot::happy-dancing::woot::happy-dancing::woot::happy-dancing: :cheesy smile:

Sounds to me like you may have impressed a few people there? :thumbs up yellow: Good on ya, mate!

- Jack

That is some wonderful news, Tico! ;)

I'm a hater...I hate malicious hackers. Glad you were able to get all your data! My hard drive died hard a month ago and I lost a lot of stuff. I only had about 60% backed up.