Comments for Michael Torbert

Comment on Media Temple Hacked by Halil

Halil — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:55:02 +0000

This will be somewhat like resurrecting an old post but, hence some security-conscious people seem to come here from time to time, it looked me like an OK place to mumble this.

Surprise surprise! By default, all recent versions of Plesk including 8, 9 and 10 (most probably old versions too), store all account, ftp, database and email passwords in plain in a database named “psa”. This is a well-known fact for years.

Shared hosting is insecure. But Plesk gives you even more options to dis-secure it: it allows to use PHP as a module with Apache, without any suexec and suPHP options.

Any shared hosting provider which properly locks up everything? I’ve yet see one. This is because securing a shared server is unresourcefully time-consuming, and no shared hosting provider I know of does meaningfully more than the installation defaults.

I’m not telling these to dis any server panel or any hosting provider. Since I can be considered fairly involved in this business too, I can see their positions. And yet decently secure shared hosting providers can exist. And if you know one, please tell us! But I wouldn’t hold my breath, if you can measure the security of a shared provider, you are probably quite ahead of using one.

Looking for a secure shared hosting? Start training yourself on *nix file permissions, chrooting, suexec/suPHP, hidden (non-)holes (re: PHP cgi_fix_pathinfo on nginx, of which even an nginx book writer seems to be unaware of), server log parsing, fail2ban, logwatch, audits, SELinux, etc etc.

And by the time you have some grasp on these, I bet you wouldn’t be looking for shared hosting any more This is of course, if you really mind security, unlike most of the businesses and customers out there, which you don’t have to

Comment on Media Temple Hacked by Stu

Stu — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:16:40 +0000

I used to use MediaTemple (around the time you posted your article). Just googled them and found your post. Glad I left! Thanks for sharing your experience.

Stu.

Comment on WordPress Christmas by Greg

Greg — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:09:56 +0000

I think it was good that you offered something to all concerned
Have a nice Christmas
Greg

Comment on WordPress Christmas by Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:05:12 +0000

Where did you order them from?

Comment on 2010 Year in Blogging by Doug

Doug — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:18:30 +0000

Hey Micheal,
I am enjoying reading all of the post on your site. I have been online a long time, building, marketing and consulting. However I have never had a site built with my name on it. I recently spoke with my best friend and he said I needed to brand myself, and start getting ready to put out my on digital products.
So I am looking around trying to figure out how and what to put on such a site.
Up until now I haven’t really seen anything or format that I liked, but I do really like your format.
Anyway just wanted you to know that. I also like the fact that you are a Christian and a Patriot! We need more of you in this great country my friend.

Be Blessed, Doug

Comment on All in One SEO Pack for WordPress Stickers by mozes

mozes — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:04:50 +0000

Please send me one

Comment on All in One SEO Pack for WordPress Stickers by Don Cobb

Don Cobb — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:36:25 +0000

Felt led to download your SEO Pack for WordPress. I have no idea how to configure it. I take it it’s for pros? I don’t even do html, that’s why I use WP as my publisher. I almost paid for the pro version, but because I can’t even figure out the free version, I have no idea what the plugin is for. It looked good, and showed up at the top of the list of “Popular” WP plugins. A simple explanation would be helpful but I don’t expect it. It’s probably just over my head – that simple.

Comment on A Big Thank You by Doctor Stock

Doctor Stock — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:37:00 +0000

As a newbie at all this, Thanks… it’s been great Michael. Very helpful tool, esp. for beginners.

Comment on WordPress 3.2 by Troy

Troy — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:35:43 +0000

I haven’t dug into the features of WP3.2

What’s your opinion? Is it worth jumping on the upgrade? What feature are you most excited about?

Comment on Cory Miller’s WordCamp Chicago Presentation by Benny Howe

Benny Howe — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:36:57 +0000

I love it! Although I was expecting something a little more serious lol

Although a Geek getting pelted by stress balls thrown by a bunch of Geeks, is pure genius

Comment on Media Temple Hacked by SomeGuy

SomeGuy — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:28:40 +0000

I will give Media Temple credit, there interface is good, and the products for most part are pretty good and do not need much attention. Pretty much run on their own. What I do have to say is the level of customer service I just experienced. They apparently let a brute force attack hit my box resulting in my box getting hacked, there response was “shutdown” my server until I reinstalled.
Which took me about 12 hours because even after the reinstall things did not work as they were supposed to. When I called tech support they told me I was on my own, and they can only help if the box was not running. And it was running just not working right. After calling back several times I finally got a person who was not only nice, but went out of his way to help me.

Did I mention a previous tech set my websites to use the “admin” account and password just to get my databases up and running because he could not get the mySQL user accounts I setup to work. I would never use the “admin” account for this purpose, and yet they did.

Comment on House to Approve Bill without Voting by Bob Dole

Bob Dole — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:34:03 +0000

Look at how many times Bush used presidential signing statements to push something through:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_statement#Presidential_usage

I don’t see any posts on your blog that address that topic, though.

Comment on WordPress buttons, stickers, and pins… Oh My! by Katie

Katie — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:07:21 +0000

Hey there, I know this post is older, though do you happen to have any WP stickers left? Somehow I went to both the Raleigh and SF WordCamps this year and forgot to get stickers at both places. (:

PS – pogs rule. (: My old rainbow slammer FTW.

Comment on A Small Orange hacked by Ellie Kenon

Ellie Kenon — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:41:19 +0000

this does not affect me but its nice to see a company looking out for their customers and informing them of a possible problem instead of trying to cover it up.

Comment on A Small Orange hacked by Really?

Really? — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:19:20 +0000

I was with ASO for 3 or so years. You know those circus cars, those tiny little 1950s Fiats? The ones where 10 clowns pile out of? That’s ASO.

Comment on Media Temple Hacked by WordPress Performance Server Stack - Debian w/ Nginx, APC and PHP-FPM

WordPress Performance Server Stack - Debian w/ Nginx, APC and PHP-FPM — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:48:10 +0000

[...] and Rackspace as I’ve had problems with both and they’ve had well documented security vulnerabilities in the past.Next Page: Connecting to your server the first time. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 3 [...]

Comment on A Small Orange hacked by Simon

Simon — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:32:39 +0000

thanks for sharing the clear picture and the steps for making the network secure.

Aileen Simon

Comment on All in One SEO Pack – Pro Version update by Kamran

Kamran — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:15:06 +0000

Hi , What things I must to type in my external CSS file to show everything good in IE?

Comment on A Small Orange hacked by Douglas Hanna

Douglas Hanna — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:10:47 +0000

Michael,

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We’re happy to help however we can.

All the best,

Douglas Hanna
CEO, A Small Orange

Comment on Media Temple Hacked by A Small Orange hacked | Michael Torbert

A Small Orange hacked | Michael Torbert — Mon, 16 May 2011 22:56:47 +0000

[...] hosting company, A Small Orange, sent this email to its customers today. I’m reminded of when Media Temple was hacked recently. However, while A Small Orange still hasn’t let us know all the details, [...]

Comment on WordPress Plugin and Theme GPL Misconceptions, Misinformation, and Perspective by Doug

Doug — Tue, 03 May 2011 06:48:11 +0000

Hi, I’m shocked that anyone would slave away writing plugins and providing support- for free. You would have to literally value your time at $0 unless you feel that answering the 10,000th email about why your plugin affects someone’s modified theme is more fun than getting out for some fresh air, playing a game or talking to your family.

It’s just sad. And the dirty little secret of this bizarre programming-for-love approach is that WordPress plugins are nearly all lousy, broken and unsupported. After all, most people come to their sense eventually or get good enough to write software that pays.

Comment on Most overused fonts by Courtney Rose Galschiodt

Courtney Rose Galschiodt — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:25:38 +0000

Thanks so much for posting my article!

Comment on All in One SEO Pack increased support for WordPress as a CMS by Carson

Carson — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 10:06:54 +0000

useful plugin. like it!

thanks a lot!

Comment on 2010 Year in Blogging by Kent Hadley

Kent Hadley — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:36:28 +0000

I am an absolute beginner with WordPress and web page development. My wife and I operate a small pop-up rental business, one camper in the summer months. We could not afford to have anyone develop a page for us. Some very helpful people got me started with WordPress. After the site was up Google had a nightmare and my site did not show within the first 100 pages of a keyword search. I struggled to learn SEO and correct the hundreds of mistakes when I accidentally stumble upon the plug-ins. Remember I am very new. I installed Your All in One SEO and followed the input on a web page about the settings and now I am listed either from #1 to #3 with all of my keywords on Google.
I am certain you would rather have cash than praise and promise as soon as I get some together from this business it will be forthcoming. However, I could not wait to send the praise. Thanks so much for giving me something that works and I could understand.
Kent Hadley

Comment on All in One SEO Pack for WordPress Stickers by Sam

Sam — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:29:20 +0000

Awesome!