Greetings:
Well, I woke up this morning to
a nasty little surprise -
the RFCafe.com
server had been hacked. My AirplanesAndRockets.com
website is on the same virtual private server hosted
by InMotionHosting.com. The welcoming screen below
appeared. Fortunately, the hacker, TiGER-M@TE, is
no more malicious than to place index.php files
in the root and next level folders that replaces
and/or commandeers the index.htm, index.html, or
default.htm files so that unless a specific file
name is requested, the terrifying HACKED screen
is presented! Trust me, there are few more horrific
experiences as a business owner than to learn that
your supposedly safe confines have been breached.
An IMPORTANT aspect
of this hack is that NO virus was involved, only
a firewall breach occurred. InMotionHosting
is addressing the issue as I write this.
A quick Internet search turned up lots of info on
this infamous hacker, who, as mentioned, is out
for the sport of it - not to cause real harm. In
brick and mortar terms, it's akin to having someone
pick the lock on your store and hang a huge sign
on the window letting everybody - especially you
- know that she could have done real damage if the
desire ever fills her (just being non-sexist here
- women can be as evil as men). TiGER-M@TE has touched
the lives of many, including no less than Google,
Amazon.com, Yahoo, Microsoft, and host of others.
I was able to find multiple accounts of people having
been hit last night, including at least one other
whose website was hosted by InMotionHotsing.com.
According to the time stamp on the index.php
file, the attack occurred at 5:35 AM, so I was able
to fix it within a couple hours.
