PC WEENIES

Tag: Wordpress

  • A Deeper Look at MarsEdit

    A Deeper Look at MarsEdit

    A few weeks ago, I wrote about my Mac blogging software stack. I use MarsEdit to write my posts. This week on the RocketYard blog, I take a deeper dive into MarsEdit’s offerings and why I prefer using it over the built-in WordPress editor.

    -Krishna

  • April Showers Bring Malware Flowers (and How I Fixed My Site with AI)

    April Showers Bring Malware Flowers (and How I Fixed My Site with AI)

    April must be the month of website problems for me. First, it was my portfolio site. 

    Yesterday, it was this site (again). To their credit, Bluehost reached out via text and email to inform me that pcweenies.com was dispensing malware. 

    This wasn’t a complete surprise, given what had already occurred a few weeks back. I had been observing unusual traffic to my website originating from Japan, courtesy of my site stat counter. The visitors were attempting to access directories and files that I did not have in my root folder. Repeatedly.

    Odd. 

    After returning the phone call, Bluehost informed me that my domain was generating malware, and that removing or deleting files wasn’t going to fix the issue. According to the tech I spoke with, it was a timed attack that would keep resurfacing. But Bluehost could make all my malware problems go away… for a mere $399US. 

    After being taken aback, I politely declined the offer. In a last ditch effort, Bluehost countered with a price reduction ($309), but it was still far too expensive. But now, I was left to solve the problem on my own.

    Let’s be clear: I’m no WordPress expert. I only know enough to be dangerous.

    The thought of wending through lines of PHP and working within SQL databases fills me with existential dread.

    I have a few friends who are experts at this stuff, but it was 9PM at night, and I wasn’t about to thrust my pressing website problems onto anyone else at that hour.

    So into Mordor I went… armed only with ChatGPT.

    We can debate the merits or demerits of AI, but I was desperate. I needed to solve this problem. NOW.

    I fed ChatGPT the specifics of the malware issue, including the logfile I received from Bluehost.  Patiently, it provided me with clear, step by step instructions on how to methodically troubleshoot the problem. I followed each step, one by one, asking clarifying questions to ChatGPT along the way. In the process, I discovered that my site had an oddly formatted wp-config.bak file and (even more alarming) 6 different FTP accounts of unknown origin. My site had been compromised.

    Following ChatGPT’s instructions, I first made a local backup of my site and corresponding SQL database. Next, I changed every single password related to my website (database, WP login, etc). Then, I removed all offending FTP accounts. I deleted key WP files / folders from the server. Finally, I reinstalled clean WordPress components using a fresh WordPress install.

    After two hours, my site was back up and running. Exhausted by that point, I called it a night. 

    I don’t have a moral to this story. But I will state this: Without the assist from AI, I wouldn’t have been able to solve the problem on my own. 

    -Krishna