12 Comments

1. Jeremy Tolbert on 02.05.2008 at 00:48 (Reply)

   What happened?

   1. Mary Robinette Kowal on 02.05.2008 at 00:50 (Reply)

      According to tech support at my host, someone hacked into my account and installed malicious script in it. It was taking down all the other accounts that shared the server, so my host, wisely, took my account offline. The only way to clean up the vandalism, safely, was to purge everything and reload from clean files.

      1. Jeremy Tolbert on 02.05.2008 at 00:52 (Reply)

         Yikes! You have my sympathies. We had a server death on our box last year. I ended up working the whole weekend to restore a dozen sites. Good luck with the others.

         1. Mary Robinette Kowal on 02.05.2008 at 00:55 (Reply)

            Thanks, fortunately, it doesn’t mess with my sql databases (we think) so I’m just uploading new versions of wordpress and phpbb. What took forever was making sure that I’d backed up all the data on the other sites. I back mine up pretty regularly, but not the ones that share my space. In all likelihood, the hacked site was one of the phpBB ones.

            1. Chris Billett on 02.05.2008 at 06:03 (Reply)

               phpBB 2 is a bit weak sometimes. I’m not sure if you’re going to be able to upgrade to version 3 without having it installed (temporarily). I did do the upgrade for Frameshift last year, so I can offer tips, but if you can find a way to install Vanilla and import the phpBB2 database, then that’s a really nice alternative.

               Hope that’s helpful and not just annoying unwanted advice - good luck, n’ drop me an email if I can help with the upgrades at all.

               1. Mary Robinette Kowal on 02.05.2008 at 10:56 (Reply)

                  Interesting… I’m taking a look at it now. Thanks for pointing Vanilla out.

      2. Jeff on 02.05.2008 at 02:04 (Reply)

         Holy crappers. People need better hobbies. Seriously. I have a server with about the same number of websites (one I just tinker with trying to modify applications and seeing if I can’t break it).

         Let’s hope sql is solid.

         That’s the unfortunate thing with the Open Source stuff sometimes…too OPEN to the public.

         1. Mary Robinette Kowal on 02.05.2008 at 10:39 (Reply)

            Yeah, I’m trying to bring a forum I host back online and it’s being recalcitrant.

2. Mike F on 02.05.2008 at 08:10 (Reply)

   Scalzi posted that you were down. That sucks. At least you know what you are doing; I’d have no idea what to do. Sorry you had to go through all this.

   1. Mary Robinette Kowal on 02.05.2008 at 10:40 (Reply)

      I sort of know what I’m doing, the other 99% I’m making up.

3. David Loftus on 02.05.2008 at 13:19 (Reply)

   I checked in a couple times yesterday and noted you were down, but I wasn’t worried; figured you’d be back fairly soon. Every time you guys start talking hardware OR software, I’m lost.

   Somebody hacked into your account, huh? The price of fame and achievement is envy.

   1. Mary Robinette Kowal on 02.05.2008 at 13:22 (Reply)

      And it had nothing to do with that conversation! Just random, unpleasant coincidence.

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