Important Message: Update About Our Security
Dear Readers,
On February 15th at 3:00 AM we were hacked by brute force and infected with a trojan horse. We worked hard all day yesterday to find and remove all traces from the site. The good news is, balletuni.com is now verified clean and safe to visit once again! (Click here to view Sucuri SiteCheck scan results.)
We have found where we were vulnerable to the attack, and have taken more aggressive security measures to prevent any future attacks. Additionally, we are performing regular scans and backups to quickly catch any problems that might occur, and to ensure a speedy recovery.
I am so sorry that this happened, and please know that we are doing everything possible to make sure that we do not have a breach in our security again!
If you visited us in the past 5 days…
If you visited us between the 15th and the 20th (3 days after my last blog post), and you use Internet Explorer or Firefox, you may have unknowingly downloaded a fake anti-virus software, which is what this trojan horse does. Basically, it finds the vulnerabilities in your system to download an application called “Internet Security 2012″ without your knowing it, which will display false scan results in order to trick you into thinking that your computer is infected so that you will then purchase their program.
If you think you may have this rogue antivirus software, please do not purchase the Internet Security 2012 program (if you already have, please contact your credit card company and state that the program is a computer infection and a scam and that you would like to dispute the charge).
How to remove
I tried to find some good instructions for removal, but most sites are trying to get you to purchase their virus removal software. This site was the best that I could find, and it seems to be the most helpful and neutral:
Dedicated 2 Viruses: Internet Security 2012 – how to remove
One thing to be aware of: From what I read about this trojan, if you use Internet Explorer or Firefox it may be able to block websites, like the one above, by giving you a fake warning so that you will not be able to read the instructions to remove it. If this happens to you, I suggest that you try looking up the instructions on another computer, or temporarily use a different browser, like Google Chrome (Chrome is free; I use Chrome on my computer and have not been infected).
Again, I am profoundly sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at: mary@balletuni.com
Sincerely,
Mary Fernandez
