Have you ever been hacked?

Maybe you opened a link in your e-mail (Subject: I Couldn’t Believe This Was You!!) and all of a sudden all your contacts are getting pictures of two miniature donkeys in a compromising position with the caption ‘How About A Little Ass?’.

Or maybe you hit a pop-up window that promised a MacBook Pro for twelve dollars and the next thing you know, your desktop is assaulted with porn pop-ups that only show themselves when the head of HR walks by.

For the most part, I’ve managed to steer clear of those kinds of problems. I think I’m pretty good at knowing what is and isn’t spam and generally live my life blissfully hack-free.

Until yesterday.

It happened on Facebook. I confirmed a friend request from Guyana (that should have tipped me off right away but I was feeling at one with the world) and really thought nothing of it. As it turns out, this friend had a photo that she was dying to share.

It was a picture of a naked hairy dude (face cropped) that looked like he could have passed for Santa Claus. Only the ‘present’ he was holding in his hand wasn’t exactly a candy cane.

You can’t imagine what it’s like to wake up from an afternoon nap to this message: ‘Stu! You’re tagged in a picture of a naked Santa! Call me.’

After the cobwebs cleared, I logged on to my Facebook page and there it was: a headless Santa holding his, uh, sack.

I started to laugh. The laughing got louder when I read the comments posted below the pic:

‘Stu!! You’ve got to take this s**t down!’

‘Stu? Is that you??’

‘I don’t know, Stu. Pretty inappropriate’

‘Lookin’ good, Stu!’ (That one was from my boss)

Needless to say, the culprit was found and de-friended and the picture deleted but the damage was done. Our overnight producer’s first words to me this morning were ‘Why, Santa. Why???’ Then came a ‘Ho Ho Ho!’ from sales followed by ‘One word. Brazilian.’ (Again, my boss)

The lesson here is we can all be spammed or hacked and the perps are getting better and raunchier.  Take it from me: think twice before you confirm that friend request or click that link.

Remember, Santa is watching you.