What if your web site just vanished?
On December 28th, 2015, several of WebGuy's customer's web sites were hacked. The sites suddenly went offline with a ransom note demanding the sum of $310 USD to get the files back. Without a backup, this could have turned out to be a really big deal. Not at WebGuy Communications. We do daily offsite backups — as well as weekly server wide backups — so you will never lose more than 7 days of data on your web site. Usually, only a day or two and that's only if your web site goes down. Host with WebGuy and your site will be up 99.9999% of the time. (that's six freakin' 9s.)
Without a backup, this handful of web site operators would be totally screwed. They would have to pay outlandish ransom demands or start from scratch.
Update, Update, Update!
The key to avoiding issues like this is to BACKUP your site. WebGuy does this for you automatically. You should also UPDATE your site. Hackers and malware innovate all the time. There will always be a 'new threat'. This one has just popped up in November 2015 and it is making its way across the Interwebs. Once the ransomware accessed these sites, it would encrypt web site folders. Their site would be offline. The hackers left a note. A README_FOR_DECRYPT.txt file with a ransom demand. It asked website owners to pay a certain sum in bitcoins to have the site restored.
Here is a live list of sites currently infectedHow they did it
One of the more common and destructive computer crimes to emerge over the past few years involves ransomware. Ransomeware is malicious code that scrambles an infected user’s documents and files with strong encryption. A ransom, to be paid in Bitcoin, is demanded in exchange for a key to unlock the files. It appears fraudsters are developing ransomware that does the same but for Web sites. An attack essentially holds the site’s files, pages and images for ransom.
The Ransom Note:
Hey, at least they left a note.
To decrypt files you need to obtain the private key.
The single copy of the private key, which will allow to decrypt the files, located on a secret server at the Internet. After that, nobody and never will be able to restore files...
To obtain the private key and php script for this computer, which will automatically decrypt files, you need to pay 1 bitcoin(s) (~310 USD). Without this key, you will never be able to get your original files back.
This is what the sites were replaced with
Crisis Averted
The sites were down less than 24 hours before they were fully restored and further safeguarded from future attacks. There's a big difference between WebGuy and GoDaddy. You think GoDaddy would restore your site for you after you got hacked — you know — without a lengthy tech support call, or two, or several? With WebGuy these sites were restored before the web site owners even noticed they were offline.
Is your site backed up? if it was suddenly gone how long would it take for you to get it back up and running? With WebGuy hosting, there's so much you never have to worry about. Stop worrying and tart living. Contact us today to learn how you can switch your hosting to WebGuy. We've got shared plans and dedicated SSD based cloud servers. They're always up and backed up daily offsite.
