I can't think of any other way to address this issue. The last 48 hours have been nothing but hell for me as far as Tera-byte/4webspace is concern.

I had been informed by 4webspace a couple of days ago that a hacker entered the system. As a result of this, some of the servers had to be reset to its original state. I asked 4webspace if this was necessary. At first I was told no, but they could not promise me that this problem would not happen again. Well, I told them that I was willing to take my chances. I really didn't think that any of the information on my server had been trojaned - as they told me it might.

After being told that nothing would be done, I get an email from Tim telling me that my server had been put back on the network so that I could backup my data. He said that they would only give me a day to do this. Not being a very technical person, I had to hire someone at the rate of $30/hr. to back up mySQL database which contains the information for my vbulleting messageboard. A few hours later, I infomred Tim that the data had been backed up and that he could continue with the proceedure to restore the server. He told me that the proceedure would not take long and that I should expect the server to be back up in a couple of hours from the time it was taken down.

OK, this is where the problem starts.

I noticed that they began the work on my server right away in which I later got an email from them informing me of my new login information. After getting this, the person that I hired, and I began the proceedure of restoring the data back to the server. A few hours later (a total of 7 hours) all of the data was restored and everything was working fine by the time a logged on to the server yesterday morning.

Well, I wake up this morning logon to the server, and for some reason my user info isn't working. I'm thinking, "hmmmmmm, must be some minor network problem". However, when I check my email, I get the following message.

We've started restoring it as of 4:23am MDT, and it will take about 2 hours to fully restore and get back online. We will e-mail you with the details when the server has been set up again.

Regards,
Dave R.

I'm like WTF??? My server had already been restored. Why was it reset again? I called tera-byte to find out why this happened. I was told that the request to have my server reset was never taken out of the cue. But how could that be, when the work was already done?

Dave went on to tell me that there was nothing that they could do and if that I could talk to the manager when he got into the office.

Tera-byte, I don't think you have any idea what this has done to me. When I told you guys before that that there was a potential that I could be out of business, that was no lie. Well, it looks like it has become reality. I am almost certain the person that I hired no longer has that backup info. And because the problems that I have had with down time and lost data in the past because of bad webhosting, my vistors are pretty much to the point of just staying with my competitors.

Thanks Tera-byte for bringing to an end of almost 4 years of blood, sweat, and tears in just 2 days.

This may be an ignorant question - but shouldn't they have a full backup of all your data that they could restore from? Losing a few days worth of data is a lot better than losing 4 years worth.. :(

Andy

Originally posted by AndyB
This may be an ignorant question - but shouldn't they have a full backup of all your data that they could restore from? Losing a few days worth of data is a lot better than losing 4 years worth.. :(

Andy

Andy,

I asked him this very question. He told me that they did not bother to back the data up. How crazy is this?

BTW - When I mean 4 years, I meant the amount time that I have run the business. Not 4 years of data.

Boy... That's bad... Very very bad...

If your life "depends" on your data then you HAVE TO BACK IT UP regularily.

Whom are you going to blame if the harddisk fails or the databases are corrupted?

Originally posted by lienzi
If your life "depends" on your data then you HAVE TO BACK IT UP regularily.

Whom are you going to blame if the harddisk fails or the databases are corrupted?

Thank goodness my life doesn depend on it. And while your point is well taken, it still doesn't excuse 4webspace for what it did.

What does your agreement with them say about data integrity? They probably left themselves a gaping loophole. But if they didn't.. "We didn't bother" smacks of serious unprofessionalism. I actually cannot believe they said that. Wow.

Andy

You have to see it also from this point:

you only rent a server - the hardware, and nothing else. 4webspace also has to make sure that their environment is stable, running etc. if you were attacked then it is primarily your "problem". you have to choices then: they setup your server and make it running, or you will be permanently disconnected. It is not their responsibility to backup the harddisks etc.

On the other hand I would be unhappy as well if they restore the server twice - that is an oversight from their side - excusable or not, I do not know, probably not :)

On a totally unrelated note, they still haven't responded to 2 e-mails I sent in about a billing problem.

[Edited by syanet on 04-12-2001 at 12:27 PM]

Syanet, went back through the queue looking for anything with your email addresses and every question you have ever asked us has been responded to in a timely manner, there is one outstanding issue for you which is waiting for processing butr its all been taken care of.

I spoke to gsu90 on the phone this morning and that is also being taken care of. Hacks to dedicated servers are not something we can predict nor can we take responsibility for , it is up to the owner of each box to deal with the security of that box, however we will and do take responsibility of our network and any box that is comprimising the intergrity of that network must be removed, normally i wouldnt put a server back up at all thats been comprimised because the risk to the network is to great, GSU90,s server was constantly being monitored while it was back up so he could retrieve data at a considerable manpower cost, it also isnt a case of we wont back up someones data, we will, but again there is a cost that has to be covered.

Steve

Steve...These last two e-mails have been from senhost@neo.rr.com.

Keeg: probably you should better point out the responsibility of the customers as well.

Backing up a mysql database? Isn't that just a matter of archiving the directory it's in and then extracting it on the new server?

At $30/hr how many 'hours' did it take to do this simple task?

I think he said it took 7(!!!).

And I'm still waiting for a reply to my e-mails.

I'm not on anyone's side here but if this was 4 years blood sweat and guts shouldnt you of backed up data on a regular basis? not really 4webspaces is problem.

This whole scenario really just emphasizes the state of the world out here.

There are many service providers with many different levels of service.

There are many different types of customers, with varying degrees of capability and understanding.

Between the different vendor service models and the different customer types, expectations are rarely met.

The almost daily query of "I'm looking for a web hosting solution that offers unlimited bandwith, storage and pre-installed applications, unlimited ftp and subdomains, is always fast, never goes down, etc, etc, etc and I only want to pay $4.95 a month," really goes to the heart of the matter.

Customers often assume that the vendor is "taking care of them" and backing up their data.

Vendors often assume that customers are capable of taking care of themselves and that they understand the service levels they are paying for.

A problem arrises. Assumptions are tested. They are not met. Everyone is unhappy.

Happens out here every day... Who was right? Who was wronged? I don't think there is ever an easy answer.

Hard to argue with that thewitt. Tera's error was restoring the server twice (granted a major whups!), but I think it isn't quite right to state entirely that, "4webspace, its because of you that I maybe out of business...for good!"

gsu90 found out that a server could indeed be cracked, was allowed to get a backup of the data, and then deleted it after 24 hours? I understand the error of Tera, but I also think this is extremely short-sighted.

Any number of things could have happened (besides the second restoration)... 2nd crack, HD failure, etc. Anyway, I feel for gsu90, and know that besides blaming people, the data is lost, and he/she needs to go on from here.

Your best bet, now, may be to contact the person who had the backup and see if it is possible for them to retrieve it. I know it is soetimes possible, but unfortaunately I don't know much about how to go about doing this. You may want to post on the board.

I'd like to hear from Keeg about why the server was restored twice.