[SEL] Member's Sites on Oldengine.org - IMPORTANT

[Listerdiesel]

On 2/18/06, Dave Rotigel <rotigel at alltel.net> wrote:
>
> >It looks as though either the Oldengine server has had a hiccup, or
> >someone else has got something horribly wrong and it has somehow
> >changed everyone else's folders in the subsequent meltdown.
> >
> >Peter
>
> HI Peter, Are you now saying that you were wrong with your warning and
> there is nothing to worry about?
>          Dave
> PS, What EXACTLY is a "subsequent meltdown" in this context?
>

Dave:

A detailed reply for you:

When I first found the additional folders I assumed that this was
something on my own website only, but as soon as I started to see that
it was a wider issue, I sent out the warning so that others would be
aware and make any necessary backups that might be prudent.

Over the course of the evening it seems from feedback we are getting
that the folders are not in themselves a problem, but how they got
there might be. I don't have any feedback from the technician that
looks after the Oldengine site yet, and until I do I am working on the
basis that any reasonable precautions are worth taking. I believe that
Jim Dunmyer may be away for the weekend, so have contacted Greg
(techie) directly.

Frontpage is a well-known Microsoft product that folks use for writing
webpages, but these additional folders are present in sites (like
mine) where Frontpage has never been used, so there is a security
issue firstly and a cleanup issue secondly. The duplication of
existing files will also suddenly double the size of the hosted sites,
which shouldn't be a problem, but again I don't KNOW that.

I have now deleted all the additional folders and the duplicate files
contained therein on our own site, and as far as I can see there are
no operational problems with our site.

As the individual folders for ALL the Oldengine members are affected,
we must assume that there has been a fault or a problem with the
server than has caused this, and I will advise what Greg says when he
gets in touch. The fact that the problem is right across the server
raises a security issue as well, which is why I raised the alarm
originally, had it just been our own site that was affected I would
not have shouted.

The 'meltdown' aspect is what COULD happen should the server be
seriously compromised by a virus or worm and we all lose our sites. I
don't think this is likely, but at the same time I am not prepared to
take chances with my own or other people's sites.

Peter
--
Peter A Forbes
Email: listerdiesel at gmail.com
Web: www.oldengine.org/members/diesel