Truthseekers
06-12-2003, 08:59 PM
Well ladies and gentlemen it has been over one year and it is about time that those of us who worked in tech support at ADDR.COM speak out about the company. The reason that this is significant is that we were all required to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the operation of their services for a period of one year following ther termination of employment. This year period expired at the end of April 2003.
First and foremost I think that everyone already knows about the hacking of the customer database and the resultant information that was stolen (credit cards, names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) This was already confirmed by many of the employees immediately following their termination. This issue had already been discussed in length in different areas of this forum. I just wanted to add something that I do not believe was ever discussed. I was part of a team that investigated this hacking and our conclusions (short of obtaining a court order for access records for dialup access through the ISP that sent the emails to our customers) was that Experthosting was, in some way, involved with the hack by at least having purchased the customer information regarding emails. This was primarily gathered by looking at the emails that were received by the customers and looking at the addresses the emails were sent to as well as the headers of those emails. For the most part all of the email messages were sent to the email address that was listed as a contact address for the individual rather than to their email address that came with the account. This email information could only have been obtained by accessing the customer database and getting the email addresses. All IP addresses from the two mass emails (one from experthosting and the other stating the closing of the company) originated from a dialup account somewhere in England. There is always the possibility that our investigation is flawed but the pieces fit too well. This by no means is proof that Experthosting engaged in hacking but from the information we were able to gather they were somewhat involved.
Second, their operations in the Denver area (to my knowledge) have completely ceased. Their local number has been disconnected but they have kept the Denver address on their website. I suppose that it is possible that they had the number changed but I am not inclined to learn what this number is as the company no longer directly effects me.
Third, I would like to invite any and all former members of Addr.com to post whatever information they would like regarding the operation of the company or experiences they had. I know of at least 5 people who occasionally lurk on the boards hereand I hope that they will post something that will shed a little bit of light on this company.
Fourth, I would like to invite anyone who has ever had a question regarding Addr.com to post here. Most of us were very familiar with their systems and we might be able to get you some information on the working of scripts or different things on their systems.
Fifth, I would like to thank webhosting talk for letting there be a forum where we can get information out to those that want information regarding web hosting companies. Hopefully people will take note regarding Addr.com's activities and choose not to use their services.
Finally I would like to thank Addr.com for giving me the opportunity to learn more about computers an internet operation and how to fix broken systems. I would also like to thank them giving me the chance to observe first-hand how not to run a company.
First and foremost I think that everyone already knows about the hacking of the customer database and the resultant information that was stolen (credit cards, names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) This was already confirmed by many of the employees immediately following their termination. This issue had already been discussed in length in different areas of this forum. I just wanted to add something that I do not believe was ever discussed. I was part of a team that investigated this hacking and our conclusions (short of obtaining a court order for access records for dialup access through the ISP that sent the emails to our customers) was that Experthosting was, in some way, involved with the hack by at least having purchased the customer information regarding emails. This was primarily gathered by looking at the emails that were received by the customers and looking at the addresses the emails were sent to as well as the headers of those emails. For the most part all of the email messages were sent to the email address that was listed as a contact address for the individual rather than to their email address that came with the account. This email information could only have been obtained by accessing the customer database and getting the email addresses. All IP addresses from the two mass emails (one from experthosting and the other stating the closing of the company) originated from a dialup account somewhere in England. There is always the possibility that our investigation is flawed but the pieces fit too well. This by no means is proof that Experthosting engaged in hacking but from the information we were able to gather they were somewhat involved.
Second, their operations in the Denver area (to my knowledge) have completely ceased. Their local number has been disconnected but they have kept the Denver address on their website. I suppose that it is possible that they had the number changed but I am not inclined to learn what this number is as the company no longer directly effects me.
Third, I would like to invite any and all former members of Addr.com to post whatever information they would like regarding the operation of the company or experiences they had. I know of at least 5 people who occasionally lurk on the boards hereand I hope that they will post something that will shed a little bit of light on this company.
Fourth, I would like to invite anyone who has ever had a question regarding Addr.com to post here. Most of us were very familiar with their systems and we might be able to get you some information on the working of scripts or different things on their systems.
Fifth, I would like to thank webhosting talk for letting there be a forum where we can get information out to those that want information regarding web hosting companies. Hopefully people will take note regarding Addr.com's activities and choose not to use their services.
Finally I would like to thank Addr.com for giving me the opportunity to learn more about computers an internet operation and how to fix broken systems. I would also like to thank them giving me the chance to observe first-hand how not to run a company.