March 27, 2011 at 8:24 PM

03/27/2011 @ 1957 hours CST:

We are aware of an issue with the Aries server, which is currently web inaccessible, and we are working to investigate and resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.

03/27/2011 @ 2025 hours CST:

Aries is now back online. Upon reboot of the server Aries underwent a file systems check, which caused approximately 20 minutes of additional downtime.

03/27/2011 @ 2033 hours CST:

Upon investigation of the incident, it was discovered that a user on the server had been compromised due to their having installed an outdated web script. The attacker used his limited access to this user's account to operate an outbound DDoS attack, which caused the server to overload. This activity has been halted by us and this user's account has been suspended pending additional maintenance. This is a good reminder to always ensure that your website's scripts are kept up-to-date! It should be noted that the attacker did not gain any access to the server which would affect users other than the specific user targeted due to his script vulnerability.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].