It’s been a crazy few weeks to say the least. About a month ago, our family decided to take some time to go on a holiday overseas. During the course of our holiday which was a combination of assisting the grandparents with renovations and beach-side fun, I was introduced to a book called “The Blue Nowhere” by Jeffrey Deaver. I tend to read mainly spy and espionage books but I do also like crime and suspense, which is what this book fell into. To be honest, the techie in me couldn’t resist the story line either. The premise of the story is that a hacker is using his skills in a deadly way. By accessing people’s computers and gaining enough information about them to “social engineer” them to the point where the hacker lures them to their deaths. Interesting plot, and an entertaining read.
So, just when I thought I could relax away from the computer with friends and family and a good book, I reluctantly decided to check some emails. I opened the first of many emails from my hosting company to say that they have suspended my virtual private server (VPS) account! What?!? If you own a hosting account as I do, chances are you have quite a few websites under that account. All of them important from not only a professional point of view, but also from a monetary one as well. So to say that I was unhappy that the account was suspended and at the same time almost accused of these actions, would be the understatement of the year. What was actually happening was some evil computer savvy person compromised my VPS account by loading some phishing files onto my accounts. Very similar to what was happening in the story I was reading mind you. (Without the deadly social engineering bit, of course.) So began a very long and drawn out ordeal to find out how it was happening and the many tried measures to stop this from happening again.
I have to admit, my hosting company was great to respond and very helpful in working through this. This was frustrating for both myself and the hosting company because for every attempt we tried to rid these files, they would end up showing up again under other accounts. So I’d say over the past few weeks, all my websites, including this one, had only about a 30-40 percent up-time. Not good. I could have changed providers but with so many accounts I thought a migration to a new provider would be painful. Also, I did want to give them the benefit of investigating and potentially resolving the problem.
So finally, after weeks of efforts to better secure the server, and a server rebuild – I think we have finally stabilized my VPS. At the same time, the book has also come to an end. Strangely, my experience reading “The Blue Nowhere” has definitely been enhanced as a result of the past few weeks. I’ve never been so relieved to put down a good book.
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