My domain got hacked!

[LavenderLounge]

I think I figured out how they got in. I have a vBullitien discussion board on one of my doorway sites. It two installs to get it set up, so the first one was this there, but not active. They hacked the inactive discussion board and put up one of the "we own you" pages. Since it was inactive, I would have never noticed.

I also found an ftp login that I didn't recognize, so I deleted that and created all new ones.

My blog software is also a possible entryway, so I want to upgrade that, but I need help to do it.

Looks like I've got a lot of work to be done beyond my technical knowledge, so I am going to start a new thread looking to hire a techie contractor here in San Francisco. Please pass the word.

Thanks for all the help everybody!

[krusher]

Man, there are a million ways to hack a site. If anyone wants a decent book on basic hacking, try How to Break Web Software link here.

This was actually the text book we used for my web security class. To learn how to defend against attacks, you must learn about how they are attacked. If all they did was change your page, then your lucky. Either way, once there is a security breach, you should rebuild the server to be sure.

[gaybucks_chip]

If he's got the time to do it, I highly recommend Emil Kasperski at Intercage.com. He's one of the most well-rounded, exceptionally sharp people I know as far as network admin/IT security/server maintenance and admin. He owns and manages Intercage, which is a small ISP based in San Francisco, and I'm pretty sure that he deals with this sort of server security issue. I think that he does consulting jobs (dunno for sure) Message me if you want his phone number...

[krusher]

Here is a tool that can help with scanning websites for exposures. It may alert you of any problems that may exist.

http://www.parosproxy.org/index.shtml

[LavenderLounge]

Thanks for the tip, Krusher, but it's beyond my technical capabilities.

I'm a one-man operation juggling a lot of plates, and a very low-tech site. Running that software will only tell me what I already know - my site is vunerable to hacking.

I also live in an earthquake zone, and the Big One is definitely coming. I've had to assume a great amount of "managed risk" about that, too.