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The Resource is down for the count. I don't have much information to go
on at this time. I have to guess we were hacked. We have a backup
server, but I'm not keen to deploy it as it has the same software build as
the current server. It'll only get hacked again.

Toward the end, I tried security through obscurity. I couldn't update
some critical packages on the server to plug known vulnerabilities. I
turned off some services and moved others to high ports, hoping to avoid
the script-kiddie autorootkits. It worked for a time. In spite of that,
I think our OpenSSH was trojaned. I was able to log into the server using
SSH, even though *MY* SSH daemon was unavailable for comment.

In spite of my best efforts, I couldn't update some of the software on
the server. Intel built a tidy little package, replete with bells and
whistles, and sporting a dandy web-based management console. They also
thought enough to hook everything together to a central watchdog -- and
that was my undoing. Anything I compiled for the system caused the
watchdog to hiccup and reboot the server -- over and over again. I was
stuck.

Intel provided no relief. I contacted them earlier in the year,
requesting access to the source for the code they modified. A large
majority of the software they used was covered by the GNU Public License,
so this should have been a no brainer. They declined, in violation of the
various authors' copyrights.

But enough sob stories and finger pointing. The server is down, and I'm
responsible. I regret the inconvenience, and I'm hard at work building a
maintainable suite of software packages on the backup server. The
Resource will be down for some much needed renovation over the holidays.
Look for us sometime after the New Year. We won't look any different on
the showroom floor, until you pop the hood.

-Steve Jones

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