Just a short note to apologise if you have tried to access our websites over the past fortnight. Our problems are now fixed and it's business as usual!

What happened? The three Better Photography sites are hosted along with the International Landscape and Aerial Photographer of the Year sites - five in total. We had a problem with the Aerial site - a file had been hacked which closed down the site. It was the 'start up' file, for want of a better description, so once it was fixed, the rest of the site is back to normal.

However, the people hosting my websites were concerned that there could be a vulnerability somewhere else, so following their security protocols, all five of the websites were closed. Then there was the usual Christmas/New Year holidays, changes in staff and a perfect storm which meant the 24/7 service took a lot longer. Mind you, I've been with these guys for 15 or 20 years and generally I love what they do - they do look after me!

In the end, we have seen no security problems with any of the sites, with the original exception and this has now been upgraded and will be live shortly as well.

So if you've been trying to access the magazine or your courses without success, things should now be back to normal. If not, please let me know!!