Two days after Shari blogged about how Verity means the state or quality of being true or real, they got a big chance to prove it. Their website got hacked.

From yesterday’s Spoofing Alert post:

It appears that our log-in button has been re-routed to an unauthorized website. We are in the process right now of trying break the link or pull down our site.

Please do not log in to home banking at this time.

If you did try to log on earlier today and were asked for your credit card numbers AND YOU GAVE THEM, please call this number immediately to notify us at 1-800-444-4589 option 2. Please leave us a message and we will return your call as soon as possible.

We will keep you updated on this blog site.

They’ve since pulled the main website down completely – and their blog is, from what I can tell, the primary point of online contact for their members. From an exchange in the comments:

Anonymous: I answered some screening questions the last time I logged in e.g mothers maiden name, etc. Were these authentic or spoofed?

Shari: It appears that the spoofing happened about 10 am this morning …. Unfortunately, those questions you answered were not from us. Without saying too much (because the perpetrators can read this site as well as we can) we have done a few things to shore up the problem but are not ready just yet to announce that everything is fixed.

Anonymous: It was actually already happening this morning at 6:30… long before 10.

Shari: Thank you for letting us know that. I had logged on at 5 am yesterday morning and everything was fine. The next confirmed log-in that we received was 10:00 am. So we now know it happened sometime between 5:00 am and 6:30 am.

Jim Bruene picked up on this first, and he points out there’s a “silver lining.”

As bad as this is, Verity should be applauded for the rapid response, using both its website and blog to get the word out.

Shari, this drama will pass. The last two posts you’ve made have probably been the toughest ones you’ve ever had to write, knowing that all of your online members’ eyes are now being directed to your blog. Keep your chin up; you’re making Verity’s name match the definition.

To everyone else, this should long serve as a case study of a blog’s potential as much more than a corporate marketing tool.