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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Turning Point in MY LIFE!

Good Morning! I just wanted to let you all know that this will be the end of Half Baked ( I know I'm sad to do it)But I will still be blogging but I'm going to blog about life and well Babe's Bowtique and More ! I hope that all of you will understand why after reading my post!

As, Most of you know I'm a stay at home Mom who has a wonderful little girl name Lilly ( Thats how the bow shop came to be) and a Fab Hubby that works away from home and we are lucky to see a weekend out of a month! I also run and own a domestic Bakery out of my home during the day ! ( where this blog came to be) things in our little life where going along pretty smooth The Cake shop was doing well and the Bow shop took off like fire in a dry field! I was tickled pink! Then one day I got a email from a customer saying that someone was sailing my products! ( I did not offer wholesale at the time) so I tried to go to the link I was sent, whole time thinking there has to be a mistake its not my stuff!Might be kinda like mine! But I could not find the page! So I replyed back to the email saying I can't find the shop and got a email back with her name. ( I know sounds like a lot of trouble, right!z but by then I wanted to see what she was talking about) and when I got to her personal page hoping to find a link to a fan page I was floored! Not only did she state on her personal page info about her shop but there was a photo ( MY CHILD ) saying happy customers! and then the link! I clicked the link and still would not let me see the page! I had been blocked ( and when someone blocks you on facebook you can't even do a search and find it, found that out the hard way)So I did the only thing I could think of and went under my hubby's profile and sure enough the link worked for his account! And what I saw turned my Tummy and I saw RED! Not only did she have some of my bows but personal pics off my personal facebook page of Lilly in Bows that I made! So I wrote her and I will have to be honest it was very nasty letter on my part ( but that was my kid) If you want to whole sale someones items ask don't steal and do it behind there back. NOT only did she get a letter but so did facebook. The message I got from facebook Made me even madder! Because I did not have proof of copyright of the photos there was nothing I can do but request they be removed! I then saw a deeper tone of red and wrote facebook back! I asked Are you telling me that if I take a photo and download it to my computer and then up load it to my page then I don't own the photo!? Well I cried when I found the answer out! If you dont own a copyright to every photo you post then there is nothing you can do but request to have the pic. removed! But if you want to PROTECT your pictures you take them to walmart or walgreens and have them transferred to a cd! Keep the cd and the proof of date ( walgreens is burned on the cd at some stores) that gives you ownership that you can fight with in court!( hope that never happens)Then find a program that you can use and make the Photo have a logo of your choice! ( if you would like a good free one I will be more then happy to share who I use) After I found this all out I wrote her again and this time told her I will stop at nothing to get my photos taken off her page and I wanted rights to post on her page that she was a lier and I made the dress and that was my daughter! I even sent the same request to facebook and all this happened within 2 days! The next morning I got up to check orders and give my morning hello and I could not log in! I thought I needed a cup of coffee so I did that a few other things and then tried again and the same thing! I could not get in my page! So I clicked on the can't remember passcode and answered the question it gave me and it told me it was not right! so I clicked the help (contact Us) button and wrote them and I left my number and email and what was going on. So I was mad and was thinking can my week get any worst and well let me tell ya I tried to go into my email and the same thing! I thought I had a worm or a bug on my computer! So I tried Larry's(the Hubby) and his worked fine. So I send a email from his to yahoo and Facebook and asked all info be sent to his! Yahoo asked me a bunch of questions and I had to answer all of them and I got them wrong!I GOT HACKED omg what do I do. Every question they asked I got wrong! The hacker changed my pass code and ser. questions and even my birthday! and the same with passcodes on face book! I then fought with facebook and yahoo for over 7 weeks trying to get my stuff back! And I posted on my shop under my hubbys name that I was hacked and would be back when I could to bear with me! I even had other Fans post the same but there where a few who did not read there posts and well bought bows and paided for them and never got them! ( They found emails stating I did what you asked and send you money thru paypal but still have not got my bows) I got a text message from a fan that said hey I just got a email sayin you were stuck in wales and was robbed and needed money! She knew me better to believe it and told me to let everyone know! thats when enough is enough I went to the police department and they took my labtop and contacted facebook and yahoo and within a little less then three days I had my shop back, email, persoanl page, and a heap of a mess to clean up! My hacker turned out to be the Bow shop lady Renee Marie Shark.( last name fits her I think) She messed up on a few emails and left her personal email on the messages and that is how they caught my Hacker! She now has no facebook shop or personal page and we go to court on the 20th of this month!

I will not let you in on what I did wrong and how you can help protect your self!

1. I had the same passcode for every account ( so once she found out my pass code it was easy to get into the rest of my stuff) Exp. On my bow shop was my email address so anyone can message me! and so is my daughters name ( which was my passcode so BAM she is in two account instead of one! but it gets better! :( not only were my bow shop and cake shop off my personal page she now had 4 accounts to play with) so do not have the same pass code on every account

2.Don't use stuff that is in your profile like birthday or when you got married or your kids names and mix it up throw some numbers in there too!

3.Change your pass code and ser. questions once every few months and don't save them on your computer write them down!

4.Copyright all photos and put your logo on them! If you have pics someone sent you of there child in your shops stuff them please get there okay 1st to put your logo on them and to post them and print that okay out and keep it on hand!

5.You might be asking how do hackers get into account? I asked the same thing and this was what I was email from yahoo!

You’ve probably heard of worms, viruses and Trojan horse programs that can seriously damage or make your computer vulnerable to remotely controlled exploits.
Hackers like to look for ‘security holes’ through which they can gain entry without much trouble. These holes frequently exist in the programs and plugins that we install on our sites.
Hackers also use programs that are designed to figure out the passwords to your accounts. Typically known as brute force password attacks, these programs run through letter and number combinations until it gets a match and gains access to your account. When your server is being bombarded by one of these attacks, the sites may become interminably slow.
Perhaps the ugliest type of hack is the one to whom you gave your password willingly because he or she is doing some programming work on your site.

6.Keep your computer programs up to date! Hello they work with this day in and day out so they will help protect you the best they can but only if the files of the programs are up to date

7. Use other forms of firewalls or programing if you don't know how to do it your self! and watch for update!

8.Do not leave important emails in your mailbox :
The moment you receive a confirmation letter from a website where you have signed up, print out the information or write it down on a notepad and delete the email immediately. This would ensure that no personal information would be derived directly from your email whether by a hacker or a close friend.

9. FIREFOX WEB BROWSER or Goggle Crome. Security is one of the reasons why these two programs are the best way to surf the internet.The thousands of add-ons which can add almost any functionality you can think of is just a bonus. So if you are not yet using Firefox or Goggle Crome, you may want to consider it now.

10.PROFILE SETTINGS. Although most social networking sites work very hard to keep their sites safe, it is not enough guarantee that your account will never be hacked. Because hackers work hard too! Facebook and MySpace both have Privacy Settings... use it to control what information is visible and who can see the information on your profile. Keep in mind that if you display all information about yourself, someone can use that information to impersonate you. It's called spoofing.

11.APPLICATIONS. One of the reasons why millions of people are enjoying Facebook and MySpace is the applications that are really addictive like Mafia Wars, Farmville, Yoville, and Farm Town to name few. But you should understand that every time you install an application, you allow the creators of the application to access your personal information. I use a different email account and Facebook account to play Mafia Wars so that what ever happens, my personal email and private information are safe. It is actually recommended to use a different email account for your social networking sites. Use a different email for free samples as well!

12.BE VIGILANT. Constantly check your account for any unusual postings, comments, or bulletin posts. If you see something that you do not remember doing, chances are your account got hacked. You should report this to admin immediately.

13.BEWARE OF SITES YOU CLICK. Do not click any link posted in the message, comments, or bulletin because this is one method that hackers use to get information from you. Links from hackers will usually open a window for you that look like Facebook or MySpace asking you to relog-in. If you fall for it, the information you entered will be sent directly to the hackers.

I Really Hope that this helps you all out! I have heard of people getting hacked but never thought I would be one of them! Please protect your self and let others know as well! If I can help anyone in any form please let me know and I will do what I can! Thanks again! Heather!:0)

10 comments:

Unknown

Oh my! I am so sorry you had to go through this! Glad they caught the person (last name DOES fit!) Hope all things work out in your favor on the 20th

Cupcake

Thanks so Very Much.:0)

Two Little Bluebirds

What a terrible ordeal! I'm so sorry you had to go through this. Can you tell me how to add a logo to photos? Thanks so much for sharing your story and helping us all out!

Stephanie

Cupcake

Stephanie I use Picnik.com most of there stuff is free but some you pay for! They offer free the c with the circle around it in there free items and that is the copyright sign. As long as you have your pics on a CD you can use the copyright sign and then you place a sign that shows its yours I use my shops name! You will see it on all of ,y photos also off to the side of my page that tells about me I state I have all copyrights of photos used! I hope this helps if not I will be more then welcome to email a walk thru on how to do it! Some people I know have watermarks on there photos and I don't know a way to do that with out paying someone!

Heather

Amanda

I'm so sorry to hear this... But really glad you actually caught the "Shark" and can prosecute. Luckily- you're back in! I was wondering where you went!

I'm totally with you on keeping your machines updated- I'm a Mac user, but have been on a PC since I toasted the hard drive- the computer is almost 10 years old (yes, the mac!). It's really important that you do look where you're going online, and don't click any funny links that lead you to other sites!

Firefox and Chrome are awesome security-wise!
We don't need anti-security ware on the Macs, but I still do use Firefox as my browser.

Welcome back!!!!!

Cupcake

Thanks Amanda Its good to be back! Wow a Mac you so need a award for having it for 10 years! lol just jokin! I was so surprised at the little I over looked!

Tolduso

wow...Thanks so much for the info..I am sorry this happened to you....but for you to share this important information is great of you...
Good luck and happy sales in your future...

Lisa/Tolduso

Cupcake

Thanks so much Lisa!

Auntie Jill

Thanks for passing this on - yesterday my computer got hacked into and I'm not sure what was stolen. I immediately went to another computer and started changing passwords, but its going to take a while to change all of them! The hack job showed up as my computer "detecting a virus" but there were grammatical errors and it said I was on Internet Explorer (which I NEVER use). I'm going to get better about protecting myself now! (I hadn't even thought of all my photos...ugh.) Thanks for sharing this post!!!

Cupcake

Auntie Jill ~ I am so glad you got to it before it got real bad! I have gotten a few emails about kids hacking into other kids facebooks and posting they had died or where not coming back to school because they where having a baby. I'm very dumb founded out the gull of people. They don't understand that some people this is there life, food on the table, the extra money needed to clothe there kids or so forth. may I ask what program you used to find the virus! I bought the PC tools spy ware doctor and use a few others...lol now that I been hit they will have a tuff time getting thru all the firewalls and what not! But do be care full on your photos! Good Luck!

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