If you're wondering about GetBlogs.com

[Paul_Short]

Hi,

A lot of the bloggers who frequent SSWT have their sites listed over at GetBlogs.com so I thought I'd post here as sort of a public service message.

You may have noticed that GetBlogs has been offline since about 3am EST today.

After several support requests to my web host, they informed me that yesterday, their server was hit by what they called a "Bandwidth Bomb", also known as a DNS (Denial Of Service) attack. Millions of attempts to access the IP address of the server were made in a short period of time until the server and connection were overloaded.

I noticed something strange going on yesterday with my stats. It appeared that the site was getting about 200-400 unique visitors per hour, eating up about 150k per hit, but the stats didn't show any referring URL's. The traffic didn't appear to be coming from anywhere. The DNS attack explains why.

Multiply the above across all other sites on the same server and you'll see how it could bring a server down.

The web host is transferring, or trying to salvage the sites that were hosted on the affected server, but appearantly it's not looking good. They are hopeful.

I may have to install backup copies of all pages and the database as well. So there could potentially be a loss of some of your listings.

I'll post here again in this thread with more news, and some instructions on getting your blog re-listed in the directory, as soon as the site is back online.

My regular @getblogs.com email addresses have also been affected so anyone with questions, comments or concerns, please email me at: getblogs@gmail.com

Please be patient. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Paul Short
GetBlogs.com

[theuniek1]

oh gosh Paul,
That does bite...that's the thing with virtual/shared hosting - you never know what kinds of other sites are on the same server...and there may be a site that somebody doesn't like (i.e. a site trying to bring down spyware, etc.) and it's the innocent folks who have nothing to do with their cause or mission who end up suffering...

I have virtual hosting as well, but am strongly considering getting my own IP address - the extra $4 a month would be worth it to me...

Hopefully too much damage wasn't done and restoring the back up won't be difficult...and thanks for the PSA

All the best,
Teli

[netadventures]

That's horrible, Paul. The last thing I'm worried about is my blog directory listing. It sounds like you've got a lot of work ahead of you - good luck, and you know us SSWT-ers are thinking of you.

[Paul_Short]

Thanks,

From what I gather from the hosts support forum, one of the customers sites on their servers was recently taken down because of spam complaints and hosting adult content, which is against their TOS. That's who they suspect is doing the bombing.

I haven't heard anything from them for a couple hours now (they have a lot of other client emails) but I'm hoping their hard drives weren't damaged, and the data can be simply copied, or the drive installed in the newer server.

All I can do right now is wait and see, but I've been getting all my backup's in order so I can simply upload the directory structure - link to the database - and get the site up again.

Thanks all!

Paul "the links below don't work" Short