The hosting company providing the website for KDX Radio has not allowed me to post new Low Power Hours ever since Storm Sandy, so naturally I’ve supposed that the storm messed up some servers. But it may be something different.
Today I finally gave the provider a call and they report an ongoing problem with DDOS attacks, some kind of hacker intrusion that causes “denial of service”.
I am pleased that my provider is the one who is trying to repair the problem, which is better than me having to solve some difficulty at my end.
What kind of people would spend their time messing with legitimate websites? I’ll start a list, then maybe you have some suggestions….
People Who Would Cause DDOS Attacks
– disgruntled former employees;
– inside saboteurs;
– angry former customers;
– competitors;
– the cyber attack division of homesick security;
– beer drinkers in dorm rooms;
Any other thoughts?
Back Up Thinking
As just described, a DDOS attack is keeping me from using my own bought and paid for website. So I’m thinking “back up”.
Think no more!
MRAM has already proven that a website can be mounted right on the home PC!
Here it is
http://mram.gotdns.com/
Coming soon…. Carl’s backup website.
I know who did it.
It’s got to be Morgan Ford’s
twin brother: Merlin.
He gets hired by businesses
as a mail delivery guy.
He has a cart with a huge magnet
that he puts next to computers.
The magnet is extremely powerful.
The problem is that he gets found
out almost immediately, so he
constantly has to move on.
The magnet that is attached to his cart
is so powerful that hundreds of paper
clips, pens, staplers, and other items
get stuck to his cart. One person’s belt
buckle got stuck to the cart. Unfortunately
for Merlin, the belt belonged to the
CEO of the company. So not only was
the CEO’s belt stuck to the cart, but
so was the CEO. The CEO had to go into
a meeting dragging the cart.
They tried to fire Merlin and bring him
up on charges, but he disappeared.
A number of magnets and electromagnets
were left behind on a back stairway
which lead to an emergency exit.
I read about this in Induction Magazine.
It’s hard to tell where Merlin will strike
next.
That odd. My watch stopped.
Bruce, W 60 HZ – – 1020 AM CC
Checked Out
I checked out what Bruce MICRO1700 was talking about, and unexpectedly found it to be true.
Evidently Melvin Ford is doing these things.
Because he is associated with the Low Power Hour by way of our staff member Morgan Ford, we are taking action by prohibiting.
As of this time we are not sure what to prohibit.
Just The Same
“MRAM has already proven that a website can be mounted right on the home PC!”
Yeah imagine what can happen when those with time to waste on bogging down a large host provider does to a home IP address hosting a website.
And I believe in never say never.
Might want to invest in nix!
RFB
Last Night
Finally the road opened and after 5 days I was able to access my website.
Low Power Hour No. 62 is out the door and ready for world transmission.
That’s right! It’s Melvin, not Merlin!
Bruce, W 60 HZ – – 1020 AM CC
Don’t Be Too Sure
A full scale investigation is now underway as to whether the instigator is Melvin or Merlin.
Apparently Morgan Ford may have two brothers, and as of this time facts are lacking as we report conjectures in their place.
I don’t want to be a
I don’t want to be a naysayer, but there are a lot of things to consider when putting up a website on your own computer.
First and foremost, some ISP’s don’t allow that, either in a ‘hard’ way i.e. they block the ports necessary (such as 80 or 8080) or in a soft way i.e. if they catch you (and they have their ways), then they get nasty, up to and including terminating your account. You need to check (or take your chances). I use a low level business account – not that much more cost than a residential account – with a static IP, so they expect me to be running a server.
Then there are your security issues, as RFB is alluding to. Both on the hardware and software side. You need to make sure you have a router that you can close off unneeded ports with. And you want to make sure you’ve set up your accounts/web site security properly – if you have never done it before, you need to do some research before opening your arms up the Internet, figuratively speaking, and saying ‘Come On In’. You also want to make sure that there is nothing personal on the server computer if someone does manage to break in – it’s important that you isolate that computer as much as possible from the rest of your internal network.
Hackers have software that routinely troll the Internet, looking for open ports that they then try to gain access with. I know the biggest pain I have is my FTP site, used to allow contributors to send me stuff. Many a time it was left open, only to have my server grind to a halt with hacker software attempting to log in (a form of denial of service attack). The home solution: keep it closed (so that hackers are stopped at the router i.e. hardware side) and only open it up, briefly, at coordinated times. Another solution would have been to have a dedicated FTP server, with very strong passwords (so that only computer would grind to a halt).
There are guys who make their living doing this stuff (not me, though, so do your research).
Water Under Bridges
My website people used the DDOS story at first, then my website started working and I was able to upload files to it, until the next day when it failed again.
The second time I talked to my provider they claimed the problem was being caused by my browser, my antivirus, or my internet ISP.
They might be right, because if I change browsers and chase my tail in a circle it sometimes works so that I can catch up with uploads.
Plan B.
I spent today learning how to use the FTP tool to enter my website and change files. Life goes on.