The first update was a direct response to my email:

Hi Joshua,

Here is the post that we have recently put on our Facebook wall:

“The recent attack on GiftHulk was a defacement(vandalism) attack and not a hacking attack. The vandalists did not have access to any data stored at GiftHulk – it is stored at different location than the main “face” of GiftHulk and is double-encoded.
Again – none of your information that you have entered at GiftHulk was compromised.

Defacement is generally meant as a kind of electronic graffiti, although recently it has become a means to spread messages by politically motivated “cyber protesters” or hacktivists.

We are currently working on fixing the issue. There may be some downtime for the main page.”

We will also put up the page explaining the issue at Gifthulk.com soon. No personal information was compromised.
Victor

The second update I received regarding this issue was a direct link to the previously mentioned page, “Important Notice“. Quoted from the page:

Recently, an incident has happened, in which the main page of GiftHulk.com was altered and displayed a message from Saudi Arabia hacker.

This attack on GiftHulk was a defacement (vandalism) attack and not a hacking attack.

The vandalists did not have access to any data stored at GiftHulk – it is stored at different location than the main “face” of GiftHulk and is double-encoded.

Any information that you have entered at GiftHulk was not compromised.

Defacement is generally meant as a kind of electronic graffiti, although recently it has become a means to spread messages by politically motivated “cyber protesters” or “hacktivists”.

The defacement was made possible after recent software upgrade at the hosting service and this security hole is already closed.

All the personal data that you enter at GiftHulk and your GiftHulk passwords are stored in a double-encrypted database. One of the encryptions that are used is SHA-1. SHA-1 was designed by the United States National Security Agency and published by the United States NIST as a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard.

The issue is resolved and they have it under control. When the issue happened I saw a few people across the social networks freak out over this and say they’re leaving the site, but if you care at all: I’ll be sticking around as a member.

In my post yesterday I explained what the issue likely was, and fortunately I was correct. Hopefully we won’t see any further issues, and I would still recommend joining the site if you aren’t a member, or remaining a member if you are. Here’s proof of payment.

Related Posts:

• GiftHulk – Payment Proof
• GiftHulk Exclusive Offer
• GiftHulk – Website Defaced
• AwesomeGPT – Payment Proof
• How to make money online

The issue has been resolved and answered by GiftHulk. See this post for more details.

The big thing to note here is: don’t panic. In many cases if a site is defaced like this, no personal information is obtained. Most likely there was a small security hole in the script allowing the person to get in, make the change, and they got out. We won’t know exactly what else happened until/unless GiftHulk tells us.

However, I did find a forum thread (through a few Google searches) where somebody mentioned GiftHulk having been hacked/defaced back in October.

I’ve emailed their PR rep regarding this issue and I’m currently waiting for a response. I’ll update as soon as I have one.

Screenshot:

2/3/2012 (after midnight, why am I still awake?) Update:

GiftHulk is back online. GiftHulk announced through twitter and facebook that everybody’s personal data is safe. I’ll still follow up with an update if/when I hear back from the PR rep.

Related Posts:

• GiftHulk – Important Notice
• GiftHulk Exclusive Offer
• GiftHulk – Payment Proof
• Getting paid to watch videos
• Get paid to try apps – Part 2

The answer to this question is “no”. GiftHulk is legitimate and, in my opinion, a very well done website.

There are a lot of GPT sites out there that may be legit, but they look like they just came from Geocities circa 1996. GiftHulk looks professional and is appealing to the eyes, which is a big bonus for me.

The screenshot of my payment is below, but I wanted to point out that if you are not yet a GiftHulk member and you choose to sign up today using my referral link (click here), you can use the code “freeskrilla” (no quotes) to get 10 free Hulk Coins to get you started towards your own PayPal, Amazon, or another payment of your choice.

How do you use the code? Once you sign up through this link go to the “Fountain of Youth” and insert the code to get your free coins.

(This exclusive bonus code was provided by GiftHulk to be used through this website.)

Okay, I’ll shut up. Proof time:

Related Posts:

• GiftHulk Exclusive Offer
• AwesomeGPT – Payment Proof
• How to make money online
• Another CashPirate Post
• Is SimpleGPT a Scam?

Install Free Money Factory on your Android device and use invite code 12575 to get bonus points after signing up.

Get paid to try apps and more.

Related Posts:

• Get paid to try apps – Part 2
• How to make money online
• Get paid to try apps
• AppRedeem – Payment Proof
• GiftHulk Exclusive Offer

After multiple attempts to reach their support team regarding a vague and mysterious error with their app (“An error occurred, try again!“), no response has been received. I obtained the CEO’s email and did not receive a response from him either.

They paid $0.25 one time (25 cents… thanks for the quarter; that makes up for the one I didn’t find on the ground today) and then they stopped paying.

“Best” (used loosely) case: the company is poorly managed and does not support their own program.

Worst case: it’s a scam.

If you’ve had problems with AppRedeem, email their advertisers and let the advertisers know they’re wasting money by paying AppRedeem.

What’s done is done. Time to move on to the real ways to make money online.

Related Posts:

• AppRedeem – Payment Proof
• Get paid to try apps
• Beware of “The Dollar Pit”
• Understanding GPT Sites
• Is PrizeRebel a Scam?

Edit 12/14/2011: Well, that was short lived. I got paid one time, and then the next time I tried to “redeem” from my account I received the message “An error occurred try again!”. This has been the same message for days now, and support is not responding at all. Try at your own risk.

I went ahead and cashed out on AppRedeem (posted about yesterday) via PayPal to show proof of payment.

Just download AppRedeem on your Android or iOS device (iPod, iPad, iPhone), and you can use Bonus Code ngwoosh to get 50 free points to get started. Once you sign in for the first time, choose the option “Enter Bonus Code” to use the bonus code ngwoosh.

Related Posts:

• Get paid to try apps
• How to make money online
• Getting paid to watch videos
• Get paid to try apps – Part 2
• AwesomeGPT – Payment Proof

You earn Hulk Coins and exchange them for gift cards — They pay out in Amazon, PayPal, iTunes gift cards, as well as countless other gift cards.

Free $krilla exclusive: You can get an extra 10 Hulk Coins by clicking here to sign up, then visiting the “Fountain of Youth” and submitting the code freeskrilla.

Related Posts:

• How to make money online
• Another CashPirate Post
• Is SimpleGPT a Scam?
• Introducing AwesomeGPT
• ZoomBucks

If you think about it, you’re already paying your cable company (or Hulu) to make you watch commercials. You watch ads on YouTube and just about everything else now, and you get nothing for it. Now you can get paid for your time.

The company making this possible is called Jingit.

From Jingit‘s website: “Jingit™ is the action of giving your time and attention in exchange for real money… not “virtual currency” or “points”.”

Like some other posts I’ve made tonight, this one is available via your mobile phone. It is available for both Android and iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, etc), and it is also available on your computer.

They are a new site, so right now you have two main payment options: You can spend your money in their music store, called musicme. Alternatively, they also offer a prepaid Visa card through a partnership with U.S. Bank, and you can cash out directly to this card.

Their login system also uses Facebook, which keeps things simple. You know you wouldn’t remember your password anyway.

Check it out and see for yourself! Click here to join!

Related Posts:

• Get paid to try apps
• Get paid to try apps – Part 2
• AppRedeem – Payment Proof
• How to make money online
• Free Money Factory – Payment Proof

Yeah, so I found another one of these that I liked. It’s all about money right? SKRILLA

On this one the catch is, this guy is Android only.

You’ll want to download the app called “Free Money Factory“. This one only pays in Amazon cards (starting at $1)

Use coupon code (or invite code, whatever they call it): 12575 — You’ll get free bonus points to start off with, and of course it’ll help me along too.

Get paid to download and try new apps, play games, etc. — If you’re like me, you’re already trying new apps/games pretty frequently, so why not get paid for it? Just don’t forget that coupon/invite code to get started: 12575

Related Posts:

• Get paid to try apps
• How to make money online
• Free Money Factory – Payment Proof
• Getting paid to watch videos
• AppRedeem – Payment Proof

Edit 12/14/2011: Well, that was short lived. I got paid one time, and then the next time I tried to “redeem” from my account I received the message “An error occurred try again!”. This has been the same message for days now, and support is not responding at all. Try at your own risk.

This is a new one for me. Get paid to try apps on your Android or Apple (iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone…) device. There are both free and paid apps to try.

The app is called AppRedeem and once you download the app to your device, sign up for an account and use the “Bonus Code” (once you log in for the first time, click “Enter Bonus Code”) ngwoosh to get 50 bonus points to get started.

This basically tells them who told you about their service, but it does also benefit us both.

They pay out in Amazon, PayPal, and a few other options. I’ll post once again once I have proof of payment.

Related Posts:

• Get paid to try apps – Part 2
• AppRedeem – Payment Proof
• Getting paid to watch videos
• How to make money online
• Looking for a FREE iPhone?