Anyone been hacked recently?

Discussion in 'Site & Server Administration' started by dsm56, Feb 23, 2006.

  1. #1
    Today I started getting some wierd submissions to my websites, pretty obvious someone was checking my server's defences, of course all completely useless, I think my servers are pretty secure.

    But...made me think...lets start a thread :)

    Check it out, Im getting submissions like this into plain text forms on my sites:

    I also cant decide whether its hacking or attempted spam.

    Anyway...anyone gotten messages like this recently? Or know what the hacker is trying to do?

    Pete
     
    dsm56, Feb 23, 2006 IP
  2. Edz

    Edz Peon

    Messages:
    1,690
    Likes Received:
    72
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    It does look strange but i doubt it that you can command the server from a form by entering commands in the ''to'' ''subject'' and ''body'' form fields.

    I could be wayyy of here since i am not a security expert but i doubt it.
    It does look strange though.
     
    Edz, Feb 24, 2006 IP
  3. hans

    hans Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,923
    Likes Received:
    126
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    173
    #3
    yes i have been hacked - REALLY hacked on feb 22
    see
    http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=60563
    if ever yoiu think your servers are secure - re-think twice and look even more often
    hackers never assume a site is secure
    they assume a site has week part/doors to enter
    the kind of hacking i have experienced is true professinal hacking with properly prepared SW tool-sets
    Google a publishers best friend
    G also a hackers best friend
    in my case and most likely up to a few dozen identical cases during the last weeks or months G has been the information source needed for the hacker
    each referral i have received in my log showed what G query they used to find a potential "victim"
     
    hans, Feb 25, 2006 IP
  4. dsm56

    dsm56 Active Member

    Messages:
    863
    Likes Received:
    27
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    78
    #4
    Thats pretty unlucky...
    May I ask, were you running some open source web page things e.g. phpbb, that got hacked?

    Pete
     
    dsm56, Feb 25, 2006 IP
  5. hans

    hans Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,923
    Likes Received:
    126
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    173
    #5
    open source never is a problem for security
    open source is open and hence free to be fixed by anyone

    the very severe ( criminal ) abuse involved a proprietary SW on my site
    that's definitely the worst ever that could happen to a site owner, specially if the coder or company who made the SW either is absent or careless about security - one of the 2 cases applies in my situaiton. no one there to help or fix the security hole

    the very same site intrusion may happen to many other users of same SW AND of many other software
    most of them never may become aware unless they have a truly excellent host that detects such intrusion like my host 1and1.com did so in BOTH situations, first in november 2005 now on feb 22 the worst case

    i am still investigating all data from past entire year to create a security report and may make it available by direct email to all interestees with a complete profile and own website registered in their name with a public whois record upon request

    it probably can happen to anyone having cgi, perl or php on his site - most likely even in this DP forum

    BTW
    on your website you have a FULL "Result: Failed validation"
    the cause for that fatal error is in your
    meta name="Description ...
    from �250 per hour

    if you remove the illegal character preceding the amount
    then you get the real number of errors to be fixed before validation possible
     
    hans, Feb 25, 2006 IP
  6. RectangleMan

    RectangleMan Notable Member

    Messages:
    2,825
    Likes Received:
    132
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    210
    #6
    I was rooted twice a few years ago before I switched to FreeBSD. Linux is so full of holes and security is the last thing most Linux distros carea bout.

    For FreeBSD security is a priority and since I been on it I have been excellent.
     
    RectangleMan, Feb 26, 2006 IP
  7. hans

    hans Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,923
    Likes Received:
    126
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    173
    #7
    I am quiete sure many who have been hacked are totally unaware of that and even more about how to find traces of an earlier security breach

    as my ongling investigation shows
    finding traces requires tools and basic knowledge about how and where to search or what kind of intrusion tools are used by hackers

    from the 40+ websites i wanted to inform of the ongoing hacker attacks, the webmasters only one had a valid webmaster email account - all others no public instantly available email contact

    the one with valid webmaster address responded and was affected as well
    all others may be hacked these very days by the same hacker(s) but unaware until too late

    the set of hacker tools used in my case is so professional that it rather looks like organized
     
    hans, Feb 27, 2006 IP
  8. wkd

    wkd Peon

    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    I was hacked a couple of weeks ago, but luckily I had backed up both my entire site and my forum database.

    Lesson learned:
    1. Change all directories that are set to 777 permissions to 775 or more secure permissions.
    2. hide and protect all php login files with tight permissions.
    3. Check awstats and apache logs weekly or more.
    4. Always keep a backup, and keep it on multiple computers or media in case you need it later.
     
    wkd, Feb 27, 2006 IP
  9. hans

    hans Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,923
    Likes Received:
    126
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    173
    #9
    did you check your logfiles for any files used on your site that now have been deleted ?

    in my case the hacker did no damage to my site
    they just USED my site for launching highly illegal activites
    and used a highly professional set of scripts that have been uplooaded and that apparentlys are intended to be deleted after use

    hence the only option left to find traces is to search access.log for previoius use of strange files
     
    hans, Feb 27, 2006 IP
  10. frankcow

    frankcow Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,859
    Likes Received:
    265
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    180
    #10
    I was hacked a few weeks ago, with and open source project, open-realty.

    It was my own fault though, I didn't chmod the config file properly, and the hacker overwrote it with their own message
     
    frankcow, Feb 28, 2006 IP
  11. frankcow

    frankcow Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,859
    Likes Received:
    265
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    180
    #11
    Interestingly though, I couldn't find the info in the log files, even though I know when it happened
     
    frankcow, Feb 28, 2006 IP
  12. wwm

    wwm Peon

    Messages:
    308
    Likes Received:
    10
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #12
    nope, i dont use any open source php scripts like joomla and phpbb for this reason,

    did anyone ever take a look at the source of these scripts?!!

    they are a disaster

    someone ought to teach these people how to program

    but seriously i code all the scripts myself and my friend and I regulary try various blackbox and whitebox techniques to try to break, hack each others scripts
     
    wwm, Feb 28, 2006 IP