Website Hacked on the 31st of Dec, restored on the 1st of Jan- An interesting start to my New Year

On a regular day

It was a lovely end to the New Year and a great morning on the 1st of Jan. As I've done for many years before, I managed to click the last sunset of 2013 and the first sunrise of 2014 as well.

No appointments on the 1st morning meant that I could  actually de-clutter, so I tackled my phone, laptop, I pad and camera, ensuring that only the 'must have' files and pics were retained on those devices and  the rest filed away methodically or deleted entirely.

So far so good. 

Lunch , followed by groceries, stopping at my favourite spot  on a hill overlooking the sea to click the first sunset of the New Year as well.   

Later that evening, I settled down to answer e mails and review a few things that I wanted to add to my  website 

http://www.sunainasernaahluwalia.com/

which I've had for the last three years.

Dealing with that on the first day of the New Year seemed to be a good thing and so I clicked on the link. To my shock, this is what I found on the page. It had been hacked and the hacker had even left his name on it. A strange, hysterical thought arose in my mind as I recalled a particular scene in the James Bond movie 'Skyfall' where M  played by Judi Dench returns to her office and sees her computer, looking really odd. A hacker had taken over and had left his calling card- a joker's face....



And here's what my website looked like...

The hacked page 

The video with Arabic music playing as a backdrop against a black page

I  thought about it for just over a minute and then 'Whats app'd' Mohit Bhalla of X Pert Net Technologies, New Delhi, who had built this website for me  in 2010 when he was at Webcommerce. 

It was about 8 pm my time which would make it 930 pm IST and he could have been doing anything but he responded within seconds. In fact as soon as he had understood  the situation,  he offered to tackle it with me right away. 

Looking for help and finding it via 'Whats app' in another country, I really couldn't have asked for more!

We then worked on it non stop from our individual locations- Muscat and New Delhi respectively for about 45 minutes and I felt a huge sense of relief when I saw it back up and running. 

Restored after we worked on it for 45 minutes.Thank You Mohit!

So you see, there's really no way one can tell what lies around the very next corner.On that note, here's wishing all of you a very Happy New Year!

Memories are made of this

An incomparable view

For my first post of this year, I decided to write about a day which was truly memorable. Warm, bright and sunny and one which just begged'"get out doors and stay out!"

Which is exactly what we then did...

Driving through old Muscat and then upto the Al Bustan and Bar Al Jissa is one of the treats of this time of the year in Muscat and I'm sharing some of the pics I clicked along the route.

I'll keep this post short and sweet and let the photographs do the talking.

So here they are - and you will probably understand why I say that memories are made of this.

December was a particularly horrible month as we learnt about the brutal gang rape and eventual death of a young brave-heart girl in India. I salute her for her courage and pray for the peace of the departed soul. With the hope that her death will help a million other girls in India be saved from a similar fate, here's wishing all of you a safe,  happy and prosperous New Year .

The Al Bustan R/A in all its glory