[Updated] Webhost Easily hit by malware attack
UK webhosting company Easily has emailed its customers to inform them that it has fallen victim to a malware attack. COO Edwina McDowall says that the assailant is, as yet, unknown but steps have been taken to eliminate the malware.
The company warns that all customers should change their passwords as a precautionary measure, but seeks to assure people that credit card details have not been compromised.
The company has not revealed -- publicly -- how many customers have been affected by the attack but says that domain name ownership was never at risk. McDowall says that a forensic investigation by an external team uncovered the malware. Writing to customers whose accounts were not directly affected by the attack she said:
The investigation revealed that a list of domain names registered on behalf of our customers was accessed. However, none of the domain names that are registered to you were featured on the list that was accessed. We have found no evidence that your account details, passwords or any personal information which could identify you was accessed. However, as a precautionary measure, we recommend that you change the password which you use to log into easily.co.uk.
BetaNews has contacted Easily to find out more about the extent of the attacks, and we'll update this article when we hear more.
Update
The following statement has now been issued:
NetNames can confirm that we have taken action to isolate and remove malware which was found on our internal systems.
A forensic investigation by independent experts has confirmed that unauthorised access was gained to our internal systems and a list of domain names registered on behalf of our clients was accessed. This information is already publicly available on the “WHOIS” database which is a public listing of domain names. There is no evidence that any account details, passwords or personal information which could identify individual customers was accessed.
However, as a precaution, we are contacting all of our customers to recommend that they change the password which they use to log into our portals.
We will continue to prioritise and invest in our security systems.
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