Hey guys,

I threw together a blog post while I'm sitting here watching the World Series. But first, I have a story to tell.  I'll leave the names out, to protect the innocent.

A few month ago, somebody asked me to put a little sideline project website together.  It has nothing to do with AV, it's more or less a 3 page blog.  Very simple.  The client has hosting through 1&1, I build the site and everybody is happy.

Fast forward to a few days ago,  he asked me to move the domain and site over to my hosting services (Yes, I offer fully managed hosting services)..  we start the process and quickly realize his small site is absolutely loaded with Malware. (Malicious Software) a.k.a VIRUSES!

His hosting service had killed the site to protect the other sites on the server, they didn't make much of an effort if at all to let him know.  Looking at the logs, his site had been used to send out 10's of thousands of SPAM emails.

You guys need to protect your websites...If you're unsure about your web security, contact me and let's take a look at it.  I offer fully managed hosting services for you, which means you don't have to deal with this type of stuff, I handle it for you.  You can either PM me, or send me an email (in my signature)  

Please read this blog post because it's important for you and your clients.

[Link: paulryandesign.com]

It happened to me twice with Guijaboard.com. The issue both times was a hosted file that was being used by the wordpress theme author.

What that means is the theme relied on a file that someone else hosted on their own site...so that they could keep it updated. At some point that file was infected on the owners hosting space and that caused every wordpress theme that relied on the file to be open to infection.

So overnight one day thousands of websites are full of malware and 3rd party hosting companies all dealt with it differently. In some cases the whole site was just deleted. This is why its important to have someone watching your site and keeping up with wordpress/theme/plugin updates.

good to know, thanks.