Dear Participants, Partners, Voters and Friends of Gaahleri,
We want to reach out directly to sincerely apologize for the stress, confusion, and frustration the recent platform issues have caused.
It is with great regret that we must inform you that the official GWCC website has recently suffered a malicious cyberattack.
The attackers carried out two serious actions:
- They maliciously deleted all artwork data carefully created and submitted by our participants;
- They illegally accessed the website system and used its email permissions to send unauthorized malicious emails to all registered users.
Seeing the work you poured your hearts into destroyed, and knowing that our users were disturbed by misleading messages, the Gaahleri team feels deeply responsible, apologetic, heartbroken, and aggrieved.
Regarding the unauthorized emails you received, we make the following solemn clarifications:
- The competition will NOT be cancelled, and prizes will be distributed as planned. Claims in the malicious emails about “competition cancellation” or “prize cancellation” are completely false and misleading. GWCC will continue. All cash prizes and awards will be distributed in full according to the original plan. Your efforts will not be in vain, and we will stay with you until this competition is successfully completed.
- The official Gaahleri main site and all Gaahleri partner websites remain secure and unaffected. This attack was limited to the independent temporary GWCC event website, which has no connection to the official Gaahleri shopping main site or any Gaahleri partner website. The official Gaahleri main site is built on the highly secure Shopify architecture, and your account information, orders, and payment security have not been affected. Please rest assured.
The originally intention behind launching the inaugural GWCC was simple: we wanted to build a borderless online competition—a platform where creators around the globe could freely connect and share ideas, with cash prizes and rewards fully funded by us to champion every passionate soul. Whether you spent hundreds of hours pouring your heart into a build, or simply took part by following along, commenting, and encouraging others, this space was made for you.
We truly cannot understand whose interests in a free competition that exists purely to support creators could have offended. We feel deep regret and anger at the hackers’ actions in destroying everyone’s hard work. Cyberspace is not a lawless place. We have begun collecting evidence and reserve the right to pursue legal action against the attackers. We will not compromise.
Seeing people actively create, feel inspired, and connect through this shared passion is the very reason this event exists. That is why, despite every challenge, we remain committed to seeing GWCC through to the end. Your months of hard work, passion, and late-night building will not go to waste.
The competition will move forward, and we are making the new setup safer and simpler:
-
Rebuild a secure and stable new site.
We are urgently evaluating and building a new, highly secure and stable site, possibly based on Shopify or another top-tier security platform. Although the new site may not have as many features as before, it will be more secure and will fully meet the core needs of the final stage: artwork display and public voting. Please give us some time to complete the plan, build, security and testing. -
Use the official GWCC email for proactive contact.
Because the original website system was damaged, from now on we will use the official GWCC event email, gwcc@gaahleri.com, to contact all participants. -
Provide assistance for re-uploading artwork.
Your GWCC journey is not starting over. All existing text content—your posts, captions, and comments—remains intact, and only some visual content, such as artwork images or videos will need to be uploaded again to the new platform. To keep things simple, we will also send all participants a detailed step-by-step email. Please keep in touch with us for further confirmation.
After the site is live and the artworks are restored, we will inform everyone to visit the new platform and vote.
To Our Creators & Participants
To every creator who has entrusted GWCC with your work, your time, and your passion: thank you. We know how much of yourselves you have poured into this competition, and we are deeply sorry for the disruption this attack has caused. Your creativity is the heart of GWCC, and we are committed to protecting it, restoring what was lost, and making sure your work receives the showcase and recognition it deserves. We will send all participants a detailed step-by-step email, so please keep in touch with us as we rebuild together.
To Our Voters & Supporters
To our amazing community who have been supporting these creators: thank you. We know many of you have already spent considerable time commenting, engaging with creators, and earning points as part of the voting process. We are reviewing how the points and engagement system will work on the new platform and will make sure the next stage is clearly explained before it begins. Further details on voter participation and the updated points system will be announced when the new platform goes live.
To Our Official Partners
We want to express our deepest gratitude to our official partners who have stood by us and supported this vision from day one. Your continued trust and support mean a great deal to us, especially during a difficult moment like this. We are committed to keeping you informed as we rebuild and move forward with the competition.
Thank you all for believing in GWCC. We will keep moving forward, together.
Important Security Reminder
Please only recognize our official GWCC event email: gwcc@gaahleri.com. If you receive any uncertain email content or have doubts, please do not click any suspicious links. Be sure to verify through our official email info@gaahleri.com or our customer service and support email support@gaahleri.com. Our next official update will be shared within the next few days.
We also want to reaffirm our commitment to protecting the personal information and privacy data of all creators, participants, voters, and official partners and co-organizers. Safeguarding your data and privacy remains a top priority for us.
Once again, we offer our most sincere apologies and our deepest thanks for your understanding, patience, and support. Adversity will only make us stronger, and we will stand with you until the very end. We are committed to making this right, protecting your work, and seeing this competition through to the grand finale you all deserve.
Sincerely,
GWCC and GAAHLERI Team
