Dear Brainwrap Client--
I'm happy to report that the extreme server load spike issue from a few days ago seems to have been successfully resolved.
There appear to have been 2 different issues which combined to cause this incident:
- At around 11:10am on Wednesday morning, there was an attempted "brute-force attack" on the server. The attack was not successful, but generated significant server resources in warding it off.
After extensive discussions with the LiquidWeb tech support team, significant security improvements have been implemented which should prevent this sort of attack from causing further issues in the future.
- At around the same time (possibly but not necessarily related) one client's email account was hacked by a spammer, generating thousands of outbound spam messages which caused a large server load.
This account has been reset and the issue resolved. Aside from this specific email account, no other client account information, email or website data was compromised at any time during this incident.
The server has been running smoothly for more than 24 hours and will continue to be monitored closely for any unusual issues or activity.
I appreciate your patience during this incident.
I will also be sending some important security recommendations regarding website & email management in the near future.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Charles Gaba
Brainwrap Web Design
