RimuHosting Blog

Tag: Security

  • SSLv3 and securing against Poodle

    If you are using SSL in your web server, you probably want to read this. Google recently published details about an attack that targets SSLv3. The exploit first allows attackers to initiate a “downgrade dance” that tells the client that the server doesn’t support the more secure TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol and forces it…

  • Connecting to MySQL from external sources + IPTables

    By default, MySQL only allows local connections. This is due to security, and for the most part works just fine for most people. Ideally you can use things like PHPMyAdmin for things like this, or even command line. Occasionally people need to connect from externally, either from a web front end, or some other PC,…

  • Two Factor Authentication

    We have just added optional two factor authentication to the RimuHosting control panel. You can enable it at http://rimuhosting.com/cp/twofactor.jsp It uses Time-based One Time Password (TOTP) so you will need an application like Google Authenticator or Authy. To enable 2FA scan the QR code to your TOTP application then enter the 6 digit token your…

  • Preventing brute force WordPress login attacks

    Over the last month or two we have seen an increase in WordPress brute force login attacks. The symptom is typically higher CPU usage on your server (often resulting in slower page load times). It can be particularly painful on servers running php through fast CGI (like Plesk server setups). For a good summary of…

  • NTP servers and DoS Attacks

    NTP servers have been in the news over the New Year, as security sites and social media talk about potential attacks. This is important because many linux servers run ntpd to help keep their clock time correct. One of the first reports and some solutions are clearly described on litnet … In LITNET we recently…

  • CPanel Upgrades break Cookie IP validation

    A few people have done upgrades on their WHM/CPanel found the default change to ‘Cookie IP validation’ is now giving them the message that their IP address has changed. The easy fix is to change this from Strict to Loose, however if you are unable to login to the admin panel this may be a…

  • How to restore a WordPress site after hacks or exploits in 10 easy steps

    A lot of people use WordPress, and seemingly a lot forget to click the upgrade button regularly enough and find they are exploited.  In an ideal world, you would click that button whenever you see it needs updates, and have copious amounts of good backups. However, sometimes these things do not happen, and you need…

  • How to install Drupal on Plesk – Step by Step instructions

    We have had a customer who is not overly technical wanting these instructions. Since i thought he was probably not the only one wanting a simple step by step instruction on how to install drupal on plesk easily, i though i would put them on the blog for anyone else interested

  • Old tomcat 5.5 installs being exploited

    We have noticed a couple of people running older tomcat 5.5 installs, and these are being exploited . The main thing we noticed were slowdowns on bandwidth as well as CPU along with a few odd other things running as tomcat user eg www-data 20654 0.0 0.6 38616 8004 ? S 21:26 0:00 \_ /usr/sbin/apache2…

  • How to restore your root password after forgetting or being exploited via Single user mode

    I have been seeing a few people unsure what to do when they lose or forget their root password. Some are resorting to reinstalling their server thinking this is the only option, however there is another option with Rimuhosting.