RimuHosting Blog

Tag: Security

  • Old versions of PHPMyAdmin and Automated Scanning

    It has come to our attention that we have had a decent number of  alerts about machines scanning on our networks in the last day. All of them have been running hacks from /tmp named things like /tmp/dd_ssh etc. These files are owned and run by the apache user, and on further investigation all put…

  • WordPress & WordPress MU mass upgrade script 3.0

    Sorry for the slower than usual update this time. I was rather busy/sidetracked and left it for a day or two before doing it. Since it wasn’t a exploit fix release i figured it wasn’t a major. Anyway, here goes the new wordpress mass upgrade script. I no longer have a wordpress MU available to…

  • Formatting problems and Syntax Highlighting in wordpress

    As you may have realized, we use wordpress on our blog. Its simple and easy and nice to use, however it doesnt come without its oddities which can be a pain in the butt for a technical blog. — being translated into em-dash When doing firewall scripts or shell scripts you often use the double…

  • Easy Peasy Linux Firewalling – iptables

    A lot of our customers have asked for firewalls, and since this is a common theme, i decided that I would help them out. Of course it can be a mission to learn how to make your own and what to do or not do, and some of the pre-made ones can be confusing. So…

  • Picking Your Distro

    We frequently get questions asking which distribution to choose. The short answer is – pick whatever distribution you’re currently using if it’s one that you like and are comfortable using. :) It’s not going to make a tremendous difference at the end of the day and the differences are mostly in the way you’ll manage…

  • RimuHosting adds live chat

    Today are launching a trial of ‘live chat‘ support.  This gives our customers one more way to access us (in addition to email, IM, tickets and phone). We still expect the bulk of our support work to be done via emails or tickets.  Since that let’s both parties keep a good written history of the…

  • EV SSL certificate sale

    Our SSL cert provider is having a bit of a sale on EV SSL certificates. The ‘EV’ certs are the ones that (typically) create a green bar in your address bar with your actual business name.  They require more proof of identity (e.g. company documents) than regular certificates. Our provider’s sale lasts till the end…

  • Keeping Tabs on Successful Logins

    There are a number of things that any sysadmin should be doing (or is already doing) to keep tabs on the systems they manage. One of the things that I do which is quite simple (read: quick and dirty) is having my server send me a message anytime a user logs into the server. I…

  • Remember to Check Domain Expiration Dates

    Today’s post isn’t anything technical; it’s somewhat of a public service announcement instead. Your domain registrar likely emails you when your domain is nearing the end of its life (at least the end of its life in your possession). What if that email is caught in your spam filter or goes to a non-existent address?…

  • Quick and easy iptables blocking and firewalling basics

    A customer emailed in today had noticed somebody trying to hack or crash his VPS. He tracked it down to one particular IP address but didnt know how to block him. There are several things you can do to block him, the long term solution and better option is probably using a firewall like iptables.…