The Hack of Fool & Scholar - An Overview (Patreon)

Hello Everyone,It's been over ten days since the initial hack hit us, and we wanted to give a clear but simple overview of what we have endured so far. This has been a harrowing experience for Fool & Scholar, and while we'll come out of this better equipped for the evils of the digital world, this whole event has shaken and hurt us. We were attacked on every level. They came after business assets and personal accounts, big and small. We're going to be vague for the sake of safety, so we can't answer all your questions. Let's make it simple. And what's more simple than an infographic?

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What happened?In mid-October, malicious malware was downloaded to our studio computer through an automatic file-sharing app used to collect audio files from our actors and contributors. This happened as we slept, and infected our other WIFI connected devices. This was the beginning of a complex cyberattack against Fool & Scholar.

What was affected?The attack went after everything. It reached our social media feeds and emails, deleting two accounts and stealing others. They targeted business and personal accounts alike (like Battle.net). They hacked into our Patreon and attempted to change the banking info, as well as our AdSense (YouTube). Note: They did not get any Patreon money.They went after all things big and small, from websites tied to banks... to shutting down our at-home vacuum robot. Later we learned they’d spoofed our phone numbers, causing new problems.

What did we do?So much. First was changing passwords and setting up new means of account authentication. With our phone numbers spoofed, this was harder than expected. We hired an online cyber security expert to scan and monitor our computers while we worked to save what we could. We hired another expert to come to our home and help us rebuild and strengthen our online and hardware securities. Then we wiped everything. We lost a lot (entire projects), but not as much as we would have without help. Other projects will be delayed.

How are we now?Tired, hardened, and certainly less trustful of anything on the internet. We took a financial hit from this attack, and it also came during the launch of our newest story: Don’t Mind Riku Cave, which suffered due to our lost social media accounts and lost time. We lost over fourteen days of work and many sleepless nights, but we are slowly recovering. We’re still fighting the good fight, and keeping up with cyber security will be an ongoing battle in this age of A.I.

Thank You.Support from our community, friends, and family has helped get us through this, and we can’t thank you enough. We encourage you to check for your data in online breaches, update your systems to the most secure versions, and double check your two-factor authentication on every platform possible. We make fiction podcasts and were still a target. Be safe out there.

Ways to helpPlease help us spread the word about Don't Mind Riku Cave. Our actors and collaborators put a lot of work into this show, and we want do right by them. Use #DontMindPod when talking about the show. They can take our socials but they can't take that.