Dear blog owner and visitors,

This blog had been infected to serve up Gootloader malware to Google search victims, via a common tactic known as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) poisioning. Your blog was serving up 294 malicious pages. Your blogged served up malware to 0 visitors.

I tried my best to clean up the infection, but I would do the following:

• Upgrade WordPress to the latest version (one way the attackers might have gained access to your server)
• Upgrade all WordPress themes to the latest versions (another way the attackers might have gained access to your server)
• Upgrade all WordPress plugins (another way the attackers might have gained access to your server), and remove any unnecessary plugins.
• Verify all users are valid (in case the attackers left a backup account, to get back in)
• Change all passwords (for WordPress accounts, FTP, SSH, database, etc.) and keys. This is probably how the attackers got in, as they are known to brute force weak passwords
• Run antivirus scans on your server
• Block these IPs (5.8.18.7 and 89.238.176.151), either in your firewall, .htaccess file, or in your /etc/hosts file, as these are the attackers command and control servers, which send malicious commands for your blog to execute
• Check cronjobs (both server and WordPress), aka scheduled tasks. This is a common method that an attacker will use to get back in. If you are not sure, what this is, Google it
• Consider wiping the server completly, as you do not know how deep the infection is. If you decide not to, I recommend installing some security plugins for WordPress, to try and scan for any remaining malicious files. Integrity Checker, WordPress Core Integrity Checker, Sucuri Security,
  and Wordfence Security, all do some level of detection, but not 100% guaranteed
• Go through the process for Google to recrawl your site, to remove the malcious links (to see what malicious pages there were, Go to Google and search site:your_site.com agreement)
• Check subdomains, to see if they were infected as well
• Check file permissions

Gootloader (previously Gootkit) malware has been around since 2014, and is used to initally infect a system, and then sell that access off to other attackers, who then usually deploy additional malware, to include ransomware and banking trojans. By cleaning up your blog, it will make a dent in how they infect victims. PLEASE try to keep it up-to-date and secure, so this does not happen again.

Sincerly,

The Internet Janitor

Below are some links to research/further explaination on Gootloader:

https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2021/03/01/gootloader-expands-its-payload-delivery-options/

https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2021/08/12/gootloaders-mothership-controls-malicious-content/

https://www.richinfante.com/2020/04/12/reverse-engineering-dolly-wordpress-malware

https://blog.sucuri.net/2018/12/clever-seo-spam-injection.html

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The Arts Centre Gold Coast, 21 – 29 June 2014

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic rock opera screams into 2014, re-imagined for a world driven by social media and obsessed with celebrity.

With a contemporary Los Angeles setting, JC Superstar was given a Kurt Cobain spin and a tremendous modern staging, with the production featuring LED panels standing 7m high.

VIDEO AND IMAGES BELOW

Brisbane Powerhouse is Queensland’s champion for contemporary culture, a multi-discipline arts venue with multiple spaces programmed year-round, including a 600 seater main space, two 200 seat venues and three 100 seat venues, as well as a gallery space and two restaurants, Bar Alto and Watt.

Kris began as Artistic Director of Brisbane Powerhouse in July 2013, with a mandate to increase the audience engagement in the building and expand on its positioning as Queensland premier centre for contemporary culture.

In his first year at BPH, Kris oversaw a 14% increase in revenue and an equal 14% surge in ticket sales, with the venue hosting 1106 ticketed performances, 145 free events and a further 382 functions, totalling 1633 shows and events over a 12 month period.

Over 700,000 people visited the venue to experience a range of programming across music, comedy, dance, theatre, film, visual arts and ideas – and 737 Brisbane-based artists saw their work featured.

Amongst the prominent run of events in this time, a highlight was hosting the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) – the premier biennial industry event in the Asia Pacific region – while simultaneously presented the biennial World Theatre Festival.

Kris also launched the inaugural Queensland Cabaret Festival (QCF), delivering it in partnership with Queensland Performing Arts Centre, The Arts Centre Gold Coast, Ipswich Civic Centre and Queensland Conservatorium, and launched the artist development series SWEET!, which selected and funded three independent Queensland companies to develop and present new works.

2014 closed with another new event WONDERLAND, Brisbane’s festival of circus, sideshow and spectacle, which featured 29 shows over 10 days, 81 performances, and over 120 individual artists. Wonderland hosted an excess of 10,000 ticketed patrons, with thousands more every night soaking up the carnival atmosphere of the bars, foyers and outdoor areas on offer by the World Food Markets.

2015 opens with MELT, Brisbane’s inaugural festival celebrating queer culture, before BPH hosts the Brisbane Comedy Festival and in May IRL, a new event celebrating the convergence between live arts and digital and gaming culture.

After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Kris spent two years at Melbourne Theatre Company, working with Roger Hodgman, the Artistic Director of the time and a mentor of his. Here, he worked as an assistant director on a number of productions (including Assassins and A Little Night Music), and directed educational works or re-staged touring productions.

After assisting Roger on an earlier production, Kris directed David Hare’s Skylight for Sydney, Adelaide and country Victoria. It was challenging, because he was soon new to the company and a recent graduate, but it was a great opportunity to work with some extraordinary actors.

REVIEWS FOR SKYLIGHT

“Hard edged and realistic, (with a directorial presence that is) characteristically invisible and all pervasive, Skylight reconfirms how ideas can be brought, so satisfyingly and entertainingly, to life in the theatre.”  TIM LLOYD (The Adelaide Advertiser)

“Melbourne Theatre Company’s triumphant production of David Hare’s Skylight has ignited the stage at the Space Theatre … this all-new production is directed with a sure hand by Kris Stewart; deftly supporting the text and guiding the characters whilst not obstructing an onlooker’s capacity to interpret for themselves … Enjoy Skylight, enjoy the reaction it provokes – but be wary of how revealing your response could be.” SCOTT TRELOAR (Rip It Up magazine)

“David Hare’s Olivier Award-winning play Skylight deftly covers sweepingly profound issues of public and private morality without ever losing humour or pace … with seamless direction, this is first-rate theatre; enjoyable, yet thought-provoking enough to keep you mulling over it for days.”  JACKIE TRACY (The Adelaide Sunday Mail)

If they made an album, Kylie would be the A-side and Dannii, the B-side. The C-Side is the hilariously and brilliantly unremarkable story of Dannii and Kylie’s C-lister sister, Erin Minogue.

A one-hour, one-woman comic cabaret about the ‘nearly-ran’ who never ran, featuring a swag of classic Kylie and Dannii hits, sung by Erin (Lizzie Moore) from her own unique perspective. The C-Side is an eye-opening staged-biopic of an extraordinary life unled, revealing untold insight into a celebrity sibling who never existed, based on an entirely untrue story.

Sydney Town Hall, 23 February 2013

The Dragon Ball was the third part of the Trocadero Trilogy, a series of swingband based theatre environments created from 2011 to 2013.  For more info, check out the Trocadero page.

From the City of Sydney website:

“For the first time in 40 years, Sydneysiders can enjoy an unforgettable evening of glamour, music and spectacular dancing with the return of the city’s Dragon Ball – for one night only on 23 February at Sydney Town Hall.

A 20-piece big-band will belt out hits by everyone from Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé and Adele to Michael Bublé and Frank Sinatra, while hundreds of Sydneysiders take to the floor to do the cha-cha, New Vogue and swing, and learn new routines taught by professional dancers.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the Dragon Ball was once a huge part of Sydney’s social scene and its revival for this year’s Chinese New Year Festival would bring back the glitz, glamour and fancy frocks of a bygone era.

“A big band, big sounds, big frocks, floor shows, dancers and performers will make the Dragon Ball an unforgettable way to welcome the Year of the Snake,” the Lord Mayor said.

“It’s 40 years since the last Dragon Ball, so we’ve asked internationally renowned director Kris Stewart to reimagine this grand old event for 2013.”

A Sydney institution much-loved by Chinese-Australians, the annual Dragon Ball took place from 1938-73 and was a night local Asian communities wouldn’t miss for the world.

Held at the Trocadero before moving to the Chevron Hotel in Kings Cross and Sydney Town Hall in its final years, the event saw young debutantes rehearse for months before they were presented to the Chinese Consul General with their families looking on.”