At Wells Hamilton, protecting the trust of our authors, clients, and visitors is one of our highest priorities. Just days before the Seoul International Book Fair, which began on June 24, our website was compromised by a malicious actor. The attacker injected unauthorized code into our website that redirected certain visitors to an unrelated gambling website.

The timing of the attack was particularly unfortunate, as we were preparing to engage with authors, readers, and publishing professionals during one of the most important literary events of the year. As soon as we discovered the issue, our team immediately began investigating and took prompt action to contain and eliminate the threat.

What Happened?

Our investigation determined that unauthorized code had been inserted into portions of our website, causing some pages to redirect visitors to a third-party gambling website. This malicious content was not created or authorized by Wells Hamilton and was the result of an external security breach.

We immediately removed the injected code, restored affected content, and conducted a thorough review of our website. Based on our investigation, we found no evidence that customer information, author manuscripts, or confidential project files were accessed or compromised.

Our Response

To ensure the integrity of our website, we took several immediate steps, including:

• Removing all unauthorized code and malicious content.
• Restoring affected files from verified clean backups.
• Performing a comprehensive security audit of the website and server.
• Updating WordPress, plugins, and themes to their latest secure versions.
• Reviewing all user accounts and removing unnecessary access.
• Resetting administrative credentials and strengthening authentication measures.
• Implementing additional security protections, firewall rules, and continuous monitoring to help detect suspicious activity more quickly.

Ongoing Improvements

Cybersecurity is an ongoing responsibility. This incident has reinforced our commitment to maintaining a secure online environment. We have strengthened our website’s security practices through regular vulnerability assessments, proactive monitoring, scheduled backups, and routine software updates to better protect our authors, clients, and visitors.

Thank You for Your Patience

We sincerely appreciate the patience and understanding of everyone who was affected during this incident. While the attack temporarily impacted our website, our commitment to serving authors and protecting their trust has never changed.

We remain dedicated to providing a safe, reliable, and secure online experience. If you notice anything unusual while using our website or have any questions regarding this update, please don’t hesitate to contact our team.

Thank you for your continued trust in Wells Hamilton.