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SYSTEM STATUS AND HOSTING NEWS
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14 Jan 2010
Thu 9:00 AM | | [Completed] Newton Emergency drive replacement
A failing drive was replaced on Newton overnight. The server is online however it is now running an automated raid rebuild. This procedure is extremely resource intensive and will affect the server's performance until it has completed. Some services such as email may be intermittently unavailable. We regret any inconvenience this may cause during this emergency work.
Update: The raid rebuild is complete and the server is operating normally now. Thank you for your patience whilst this issue was resolved. |
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13 Jan 2010
Wed | | Spoof "mailing service" emails alert
Please be aware that recently there has been a sharp increase in fake emails suggesting that your "mailing service" has had a security upgrade. These emails then usually ask the user to click on a link to apply the new settings. The link itself is spoofed to look like it is from your own domain (or ours), usually in the form of http://your-domain.com/owa/service_directory/settings.php?email=you@your-domain.com, but is actually linking to an externally compromised host that we have no control over. The emails usually end along the lines of "Best regards, your-domain.com Technical Support," where your-domain.com is your actual domain.
Please note these emails are fake and designed to trick the user into logging on to a phishing site or compromise your computer. Please delete these emails and DO NOT click on the link or submit any login information to a 3rd party. If you think you have submitted your login details via one of these emails please change your email and FTP passwords as soon as possible via your site's control panel and contact us.
All genuine emails sent by W2-S Internet Services come from w2s.net and usually refer to you personally by name and will have the proper contact details in the email's signature. |
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31 Dec 2009
Thu 9:00 AM | | [Resolved] London Server Reboot
The London server is being rebooted, updates to follow.
Update: Investigations are continuing. We regret any inconvenience this downtime may cause.
Update: All services back to normal. W2-S Internet Services wishes to thank you for your patience whilst this issue was resolved. |
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9 Dec 2009
Wed 5:35 PM | | [Resolved] Network issues
The London Internet Exchange, where the vast majority of the UK Internet traffic is routed trough, is currently experiencing severe networking difficulties. This is causing significant packet loss and intermittent outages to several servers on the Internet.
Update 18:00: We have received confirmation that LINX are currently experiencing difficulties with a core switch located in Telehouse East. LINX are currently working on the issue and hope to restore full connectivity shortly.
Please note that we are not directly affected by this issue, however access ISPs who rely on LINX connectivity to reach us may be experiencing difficulties if they do not have enough capacity through backup transit providers.
Update 19:00: LINX now believe that they have restored stability to the exchange but are still working to bring it back to full operational capacity.
Update 23:30: While the major issues are now resolved LINX are still experiencing some minor issues which may be affecting a large number of networks and ISPs around the country. This is not directly related or caused by our data facility yet as a safeguard, all traffic from the facility is now set to bypass LINX until they have issued a full all clear notification. Anyone still having issues are advised to contact their ISP as it is likely they will still be routing through LINX. |
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25 Nov 2009
Wed | | [Completed] Richards RAM Upgrade
The Richards server has a RAM upgrade planned for this evening between 7pm and 8pm. It should not involve more than 10 minutes downtime.
Update 19:25: The upgrade has been completed successfully. |
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16 Oct 2009
Fri 5:00 PM | | [Resolved] Newton server network outage
The Newton sever is currently unavailable due to a network error at the data centre. W2-S Internet Services wishes to thank you for your patience in this matter while it is being resolved.
Update 17:55: This issue is now resolved. We regret any inconvenience caused.
Update 22:00: Today at approximately 16:25 BST the data centre that hosts the Newton server experienced a router failure. As a result this knocked out a number of servers from a variety of companies. This was resolved by 17:50 BST. The data on the server was not affected and all services are now back to normal. |
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7 Sep 2009
Mon | | Wordpress exploit affecting all versions pre 2.8.4
If you are using Wordpress you must make sure you upgrade it to 2.8.4 *IMMEDIATELY* or remove it from your site entirely. Details on how to upgrade are located here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress
Last night a number of people on Twitter and blogs mentioned that their Wordpress sites were acting up. Specifically that permalinks were broken and showing up with weird code.
There are two clues that your WordPress site has been attacked:
1) There are strange additions to the pretty permalinks, such as example.com/category/post-title/%&(%7B$%7Beval(base64_decode($_SERVER%5BHTTP_REFERER%5D))%7D%7D|.+)&%/. The keywords are "eval" and "base64_decode." (Check your permalinks in Admin > Settings > Permalinks).
2) A "back door" was created by a "hidden" Administrator. Check your site users for "Administrator (2)" or a name you do not recognize. You will probably be unable to access that account.
Wordpress has identified that there are hackers out there, hacking sites that aren't using the most-current version of Wordpress (versions below 2.8.4 as of 05/09/2009 -- there are rumours that 2.8.5 is due to be released imminently so keep an eye out for that too).
If you have not yet been hacked, UPGRADE NOW! Immediately. Stop reading this, really, and go upgrade. Again, details on how to upgrade are located here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress
If you have been hacked, sorry, you're going to be busy! Upgrading alone will not fix a hacked site. Mashable.com's alert said: "You'll likely need to export your all your content with the built-in XML WordPress export, uninstall and reinstall WordPress and re-import the content. It's a nasty attack that goes all the way into the database, so exporting the database will result in exporting the hacked code too."
Not sure how to do that? It's not that difficult, but it is very time-consuming.
I cannot stress how important it is to get your Wordpress installation up-to-date, a number of our customers have reported problems in the last 48 hours, the source of these problems have been to do with out of date Wordpress installs. Remember: If your scripts are out-of-date then your site is insecure and could be hacked at any moment. |
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