Live data from Hacker News

LxLabs boss found hanged after vuln wipes websites

theregister.co.uk

11–16 of 16 posts

Re: LxLabs boss found hanged after vuln wipes websites

#11
post #9
post #4

When will people learn to make good backups? It seems almost every week there's another story here about how people lost data because they didn't have backups.

We're in the same business as LXLabs, and believe me, backups are not as common in the hosting industry as we'd all like or expect. Even when it is made easy and automatic, we still get folks asking us for help with recovering or repairing data that could easily be recovered from backups...if they actually kept backups. And, of course, secure off-site backups are almost unheard of (actually making backups secure from…

making backups secure from attackers that have root access is a pretty hard problem

Tarsnap handles this easily with restricted keyfiles. :-)

Re: LxLabs boss found hanged after vuln wipes websites

#12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It screams "ego". I'm not surprised he had difficulty coming to terms with the damage done because of his software. I feel for the rest of the family. I can't even begin to imagine what it feels like to lose three relatives to suicide in a such a short span of time.

Agreed, though losing two would also be crushing. This article makes it sound like the security exploit and data loss was closely related to his suicide, but I suspect it really boils down to the loss of his mother and sister. People who lose loved ones to suicide are many times more likely to commit suicide themselves. Reading a bit of his blog, it also seems apparent that his father is an alcoholic and drug addict.…

Totally - I didn't mean to suggest his initial loss was in any way inferior or anything like that. I hope that's not how it came across. :)

Re: LxLabs boss found hanged after vuln wipes websites

#13
post #9
post #4

When will people learn to make good backups? It seems almost every week there's another story here about how people lost data because they didn't have backups.

We're in the same business as LXLabs, and believe me, backups are not as common in the hosting industry as we'd all like or expect. Even when it is made easy and automatic, we still get folks asking us for help with recovering or repairing data that could easily be recovered from backups...if they actually kept backups. And, of course, secure off-site backups are almost unheard of (actually making backups secure from…

Many of the lost accounts opted for the economy plan that did not include backup... they got what they paid for. No backup unless they took it upon themselves.

Re: LxLabs boss found hanged after vuln wipes websites

#14
post #9
post #4

When will people learn to make good backups? It seems almost every week there's another story here about how people lost data because they didn't have backups.

We're in the same business as LXLabs, and believe me, backups are not as common in the hosting industry as we'd all like or expect. Even when it is made easy and automatic, we still get folks asking us for help with recovering or repairing data that could easily be recovered from backups...if they actually kept backups. And, of course, secure off-site backups are almost unheard of (actually making backups secure from…

[deleted]

Re: LxLabs boss found hanged after vuln wipes websites

#15
Just saw this on Twitter: http://paste2.org/p/253717

According to this, it seems like HyperVM wasn't even the attack vector. It was merely the enabler of damage in an already exploited data center. Exploits are known to exist in HyperVM, but the case in question wasn't the result of it, if this post is to be believed.

Post reply on HN