I was Hacked!

Dear friends,
If you have stopped by to visit me in the last couple of days you may have noticed I was gone. Poof! Just like that, no Lola Nova, no explanation, just gone! Oh it gives me the shudders just thinking about it!

I was HACKED!!!!

The result of my being hacked was that my Google account was deleted, my blog removed, all of the contacts in my email account were sent a scam phishing email saying that I was stuck in Madrid, had been attacked and needed money! I know many of you received this email, and for that I am truly sorry.

I simply woke up one morning and went to send an email and everything was gone! I'll tell you that I let out a scream, then I double checked everything, then I yelled NO! loud enough for the neighbors to hear. I will admit I had a full on freak out. Then I hid under the covers unable to move for the rest of the day.

I was able to send a recovery request to Google. I had to provide them with a whole lot of details to prove that I was hacked, that I am indeed the owner of my account and then the process took some time. This morning I was reinstated and my blog is back!

I am indeed grateful beyond words to have my shiny place back. The downside is that all of my emails were lost and there are significant repairs needed to my email account, but I'm working on it.

I can not tell you how devastating this whole thing has been. It has truly opened my eyes as to how vulnerable many of us are. My job today is to research my security options. I suggest to you my blog friends, to do the same. I also suggest saving important emails to a separate file on your computer - that is what I'm going to do. Yes, we all have good intentions on backing things up and making sure we are not victims of hackers and computer failures, but I know I get busy and my intentions don't always get the follow through they should.

If I come across any helpful sites or resources on how to protect ourselves, I will be sure to share them with you.

Lastly, I want to thank my readers - my friends, many of you turned into detectives and found me on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and let me know you had received bogus emails, asked if there was anything you could do, did research to find ways to help me, and were so very kind and supportive. Many of you sent kind notes and hugs! I'm getting misty eyed just thinking about this lovely community and family that have gone to such lengths to show me I am cared for.

Extra special thanks go to Sherri, Deb, and Tif for putting on super sleuth hats and sending lots of support.

I might need a couple of days to recover from the shock of it all, but I am so very grateful to be back!

Big love to you all!