Big Black Bag

[guy_spangenberg]

Seems that Big Black Bag went bye bye and took my money. I had renewed my website for two years in February of 2023. Now when I go to my site it says, “We are experiencing technical difficulty” and has my phone number listed. When I call Big Black Bag, the phone line is busy and then goes dead. Very frustrating! No warning, nothing just gone…. along with my money!  www.bigblackbag.com  When you go to their site, it takes you to a godaddy page. Terribly frustrating to say the least!

Anybody else experiencing the same?

[mikemorrellNL]

On 8/23/2023 at 12:00 AM, guy_spangenberg said:

Seems that Big Black Bag went bye bye and took my money. I had renewed my website for two years in February of 2023. Now when I go to my site it says, “We are experiencing technical difficulty” and has my phone number listed. When I call Big Black Bag, the phone line is busy and then goes dead. Very frustrating! No warning, nothing just gone…. along with my money!  www.bigblackbag.com  When you go to their site, it takes you to a godaddy page. Terribly frustrating to say the least!

Anybody else experiencing the same?

Hmm. mixed feelings out this. Just out of curiosity, I tried to visit http://www.bigblackbag.com/.  The website has an (old) "http" address rather than the much more current and safer "https" address. Never a good sign for an organization. Especially a 'web hoster'! My Chrome browser immediately flagged the website as an 'unsecure website' and I decided not to proceed.

On BigBlackBag's Facebook page, cclaim that they were hacked with ransomware, have paid the ransom and are gradually getting things back to normal.
I don't know 'BigBlackBags's' business model. It seems that they provide services to photographers.  It's quite possible that BigBlackBag use GoDaddy for their webhosting and storage. 

My advice:

1. follow the (published) developments at BigBlackBags on Facebook

2. If their record of being hacked (and still having a 'http' address) does't inspire confidence, consider alternatives.

3, I should add that some of the best protected organizations globally have been hacked with 'ransomware'. So BigBlackBags's website is just one of many.