Hi Everybody! A quick update on the status of ThreeStooges.net:
As I said in my last post, some assholes hacked into the site at some point and uploaded a bunch of files that allowed them to piggy-back some kind of email scam on the server. I was able to identify and delete all of the hacker's folders and files (having a complete unique site helps, since they stood out like sore thumbs to me once I knew to look for them. I know my own code and folder structure. lol)
The biggest headache of all this is the primary hosting company's tech support. They are apparently being made to use a new support ticket system which hasn't been integrated with the old system and which won't send out the email notifications that should be getting sent. Basically they've gotten too big for their britches and now some idiot new IT manager has to screw things up by "updating" something that was working fine without making damn sure everything was properly integrated first.
Anyway, we've confirmed to them that all of the offending files are gone, and the site is supposed to get a review and then re-activated if everything checks. The only question now is how long is that going to take. They've know for about 5 hours so far, and the account is still suspended, so your guess is as good as mine. Hopefully sometime this evening, from what we've seen this weekend it could still be a day or two.
Everything is intact (the hacker's never touched the site's files, which is why I hadn't noticed them,) and the database doesn't seem to have been hacked, so once the site clears tech support it should just reappear.
I do need to get back to work on the site this summer (Brent will be glad to hear that.) I need to finish converting the admin code so I can eliminate pretty much all the scripts on the public side of the server. Then I can lock that down even tighter to keep the assholes out. [sigh] This is the kind of crap that helped me loose interest in the site over the past few years; I get tired of fighting the jerks who think they have a right to screw with other people's work. It made it easier to just set everything aside as I dealt with other issues in my life. But since there are obviously still a few loopholes that jackasses can use to their advantage, I'd better get back to work, I guess. Maybe I can figure out how to make the site more "mobile friendly" too.
