Results 1 to 15 of 15
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    697

    They just don't read the TOS...

    A friends' webhost mailed her:
    "You've been hacked.
    We took your site offline.
    If you want it back online,
    • please pay the $60 "unlock fee"

    • send us this confirmation in lieu of an oath that (many things) and blah.
    "

    To me that sounds extremely uncommon and generally crazy.
    It's really in the TOS she signed up for. I don't know why people still don't know to check TOS before they sign up for something.

    Anyway. my friend *does* have backups.

    I don't see reason in staying a host who has a reputation for being hacked all too often and offically practices something close to blackmail to year-long customers on first incident.

    Can that company do anything against an outgoing domain transfer?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    54
    Quote Originally Posted by wartungsfenster View Post
    A friends' webhost mailed her:
    "You've been hacked.
    We took your site offline.
    If you want it back online,
    [LIST]please pay the $60 "unlock fee"
    Wow, this sounds absolutely crazy and stupid to me, $60 to unlock an account which has been hacked!!!!! Seriously! This hosting company isn't great, by the sounds of it.

    Moral of the story definitely is to read the TOS, its important to fully understand what you buying into!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    US; UK/EU; Asia/Australia
    Posts
    895
    Could you share with us the name of that provider ?
    That is absolutely ludacris and could be a sneaky way for a host to squeeze money out of it's clients.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    697
    Quote Originally Posted by kambone View Post
    Could you share with us the name of that provider ?
    That is absolutely ludacris and could be a sneaky way for a host to squeeze money out of it's clients.
    Hi,

    I'll ask for an OK after the domain is safely moved and the contract cancellation notice is out and received.
    Personally I'd be curious to see the file permissions.
    Right now it's 50:50 whether my friends' (quite recent) WP install was hacked or it was actually done on the server side.

    Glad to get feedback that is in line with my guts.

    Like:
    x Yes, it's hard to secure a webhost so it can weather attacks against individual PHP sites
    x It's harder to make use of selinux or mod_sec to actually protect any stuff the users might be running. Nonetheless it's an option he'd had.
    x putting an .htaccess inplace, or removing it is a _really_ quick task. So besides it being his JOB doing hosting, it's not remotely worth the price asked


    Imho, if i as a host get constantly hacked, and I fail to lock down... I gotta go back to the design table and improve my overall security.
    And next, give users an easy access to fix their sites. Not this ******** "i'll bring it back online for $$$ and then you can try secure it, while it's out there in the open and guess what I'll do if you get hacked in the meantime... hahaha"

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    5,393
    Quote Originally Posted by wartungsfenster View Post
    Right now it's 50:50 whether my friends' (quite recent) WP install was hacked or it was actually done on the server side.
    A local hack is the way it happens 99% of the time. Especially if the host is not using CageFS or CloakFS to virtualize the file system and the users config files were not running with 600 permissions.

    The $60 fee is quite nice for the host, especially if the provider's servers are prone to hacks. Nothing like rewarding yourself for sloppy security.
    Last edited by DWS2006; 01-29-2014 at 09:24 AM.
    WHMEasyBackup.com - Take Control Of Your Backups!
    Complete Backup Solution For WHM Reseller Accounts

  6. #6
    If you have registered the domain with a third party registrar, changing the host is easy. You should be able to signup with another host, set up the site and change the name servers and get the new site up - all within 24 hours. Otherwise it is a pain, host might force you to pay before you move.

    If they have your credit card saved, edit / delete it with a an incorrect number. Make sure that they can't change you in any way.
    Hosting Coupons: MediaTemple Recurring Discount, HostNine Offers and more..

  7. #7
    well.. some hosts really charge a fee for what we may deem as a "simple 3 min job"

    but $60 is too much, especially since the hack incident wasn't even your friend's fault to begin with.

    if you guys registered the domain with the host then i wish you the best of luck, hopefully they don't charge you to have your domain unlocked

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    US/UK/MY
    Posts
    3,042
    If it is a common occurrence for a specific client for their account being compromised due to their own poor security, then I could see a reason to start charging them a fee, but as a general policy, that's quite absurd.
    SimpleSonic - We Make Fast... Easy!
    US/UK/MY - 100% Uptime - Shared - Reseller - cPanel - DirectAdmin - WHMCS Included!
    Blazing Fast NVMe SSD - CloudLinux - Imunify360 - LiteSpeed - MailChannels - JetBackup

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    639
    Yea, that fee is bs. It feels like they don't care about their clients. It's good that you are giving them the same feeling by moving.
    bihira.com | 10+ Years of Web Hosting Experience!
    Shared Hosting | Reseller Hosting | 30 Day Money Back Guarantee
    cPanel | CloudLinux | R1Soft | Softaculous
    Find us on facebook and follow us on twitter @bihira

  10. #10
    I was really shocked to see that a host would actually charge a customer to get a site back up if the site was hacked, and especially a fee of $60 really? Wow, not worth that. I suggest going with a different host and like the saying goes you better read everything before you agree or sign to it that way you know what you are getting yourself into.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    127.0.0.1
    Posts
    5,732
    I have now heard it all! Is it ran by kids? It sounds like it, a fee to re-activate an account because it was hacked.. Next it will be a $1,000 cancellation fee.

  12. #12
    To be fair though it isn't uncommon not to read the TOS, I mean those are really long and tedious sometimes

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
    2,121
    Seems like LET is coming to WHT...

    http://i.imgur.com/4ogjsqu.png
    ExtraVM - DDoS Protected NVMe VPS, Website Hosting, & Game Servers
    Dallas, TX | Miami, FL | Los Angeles, CA | Piscataway, NJ | Amsterdam, NL | Singapore | Tokyo, JP

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    US; UK/EU; Asia/Australia
    Posts
    895
    If you have a client which is being hacked frequently - you work with that client to make it stable and secure.
    It is in no one's interest, neither yours, neither your client's.
    After all the client is paying you for his website to be online, not offline and hacked.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    931
    I'd be curious to see the actual correspondence sent by the host. The OP is clearly paraphrasing and for all we know the customer could be a continual source of various kinds of network abuse.
    ▄▀▄ Brian Harrison, Lead Engineer - Reprise Hosting (AS62838)
    ▄▀▄ Deals on cheap dedicated server hosting. IPMI included! Unmetered bandwidth.
    ▄▀▄ Website migration, 24/7/365 support, basic server setup, 15 day money back.
    ▄▀▄ Looking for DEALS on self-managed cheap VPS hosting? Visit VPSHostingDEAL.com

Similar Threads

  1. Customers who read your TOS
    By Gary Flintstone in forum Running a Web Hosting Business
    Replies: 18
    Last Post: 06-11-2007, 07:27 PM
  2. What happens if you forget to read TOS
    By mistyduck in forum VPS Hosting
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 05-20-2007, 05:02 AM
  3. Replies: 33
    Last Post: 01-26-2006, 06:57 AM
  4. Replies: 1
    Last Post: 07-09-2004, 08:58 AM
  5. TOS and why they don't read it?
    By ANMMark in forum Running a Web Hosting Business
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 10-18-2003, 08:49 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •