| Political Podcast & Blog | Asheville News & Sports

Hacked. Updated

So my server company sent me an email the other day which mentioned that I was using a ton of resources. Why would I be using a lot of resources? I have three or four blogs and they are only visited by just a few people. I don’t run the Daily Kos or CNN or one of those sites that gets a million to 2 million visitors a day. So, I sent the email to my web guru, he did some investigating and found that someone placed code in my mail servers to send out spam. Actually, the crooks were brilliant. It was disruptive but yet not disruptive enough to cause an FBI investigation. They didn’t change any of my code, so it doesn’t alert the FBI. Instead, they simply got my server to send out a bunch of emails that nobody probably wanted.

It is like sitting on the beach in Maui, drinking a beer and reading a good book and suddenly this big, smelly, slob comes up next to you sits down and puts down this huge boombox which blares out music and ruined your day and your mood. It’s like that.

The server is fix. Web sites are working again. I have paid my web guru a ton of money for working overtime and on short notice. But, we are back to normal. I think…

Update: For around 6 weeks, I have been fighting hackers. I kick them out (well, my web guru does) and days later they are back. I have spent several thousand dollars to try to harden my site. Blogging was supposed to be – just a little something on the side. It was supposed to be low cost. Now, I’m wondering if I need to scrap the whole thing. This is really crazy.

By ecthompsonmd|2018-03-26T13:30:09-04:00March 25th, 2018|Blogging issues|Comments Off

Blogging Issues

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine was yacking away about how anyone could allow themselves to be hacked. Of course he was talking about Hillary. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that almost anyone can get hacked. Bill Gates is probably not hackable. The CEO for Symantec and McAfee are probably not hackable. Everyone else, though, um… yes.

This brings me to my blog. I haven’t been blogging much lately. I have tried to stay away from politics. There is more emotion and less thoughtfulness than there needs to be. The other day, however, I decided that I had something to say. I went to my website and this huge (HUGE) “Forbidden 404” exploded across it. What the hell? To make a long story short, someone was killing my blog. They were hitting it thousands of times per day; each time, for a few seconds. It was a denial of service attack. The hosting company claimed that I had been using too many resources and shut me down. For just $250/month, I could upgrade my account and …. Pfft!!! I blew them a raspberry.

I have a new host!!! I have upgraded security. I had the most security possible before, but I didn’t have my own server. Unless you have a team of IT gurus monitoring your blog 24/7, you can get hacked. Anyway, my blog is back up and running.

By ecthompsonmd|2016-10-28T22:57:22-04:00October 27th, 2016|Blogging issues, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Net Neutrality

I think this is important.

From DailyKos:

With the Federal Communications Commission set to vote on strong net neutrality rules this Thursday, the opposition is getting increasingly shrill, and their favorite talking point—a false one—is that it’s going to raise your taxes.

“Stop the federal internet takeover!” That’s the warning that Sen. Mike Lee blasted out to readers of conservative email lists last month. “This is essentially a massive tax increase on the middle class, being passed in the dead of night without the American public really being made aware of what is going on,” wrote the Utah Republican. “New taxes and fees” could total “$15 billion annually,” Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, claimed in an op-ed. It’s “Obamacare for the internet,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) hollered.

That false talking point comes from a discredited analysis of the issue by a group called the Progressive Policy Institute that claims that the option the FCC plans to take on net neutrality, reclassifying it under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, could cost American consumers up to $15 billion annually. The claim has been debunked by internet advocates andtraditional media fact-checkers alike, as relying on “fuzzy math” and “significant factual error[s].”

But it still gets traction, including at The New York Times, as Media Matters points out. TheTimes “Bits” blog, which really should know better, repeated the debunked claim in a post last week, even while it included a statement from FCC spokesperson Kim Hart that Wheeler’s plan “‘does not raise taxes or fees. Period.'”

The reality is that the FCC can and probably will “declare that broadband is a purely interstate telecom service,” as Free Press explains. “Because broadband access is interstate and not intrastate, none of the intrastate taxes or special telecom fees would apply.” States could impose a sales tax on interstate telecom services, but that’s just about the only tax that could apply here, and it would be a maximum of about $4 billion, nationally, as opposed to $15 billion. But the FCC and Congress could both take action to eliminate any extra taxes. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2015-02-24T02:07:31-04:00February 23rd, 2015|Blogging issues, Civil Rights|Comments Off