(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW0 — A couple of key stories escaped the “week in review” treatment last week because of my decision to focus on the spike in “green hosting” news during the week of Earth Day. Interestingly, however, this week saw us revisit several of those stories because of further developments.
On Tuesday, we reported that security experts had responded to a breach of Pentagon computer systems by hackers, security experts were speculating on the impact the news would have on web security, at the Pentagon and elsewhere. Early this week, security software company 54f3.com reported that the theft was the third such incident in two years, and could spark a serious look by the organization at its security compliance and scanning efforts.
The attack itself, originally reported last week, reportedly compromised information about the Pentagon’s $300 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project, the US Department of Defense’s costliest ever weapons program. According to some reports, intruders were able to access and copy several terabytes of data from the project’s design and electronics systems. Representatives from the Pentagon and contractor Lockheed Martin deny that the hack posed a serious security threat to the program, though they acknowledged some less sensitive systems may have been compromised.
In another story that harkened back to last week’s news, we reported on Wednesday that an archiving project had been launched to store websites that would eventually be orphaned by last week’s announcement that Yahoo! would be closing its long-running GeoCities free hosting service. The project, Archiveteam.org, is gaining notoriety for the effort to “save” the content that stands to be lost when the switch is flipped – content that might be most useful as an emblem of the Web’s awkward adolescence. The project reportedly had copied over 200,000 sites after 48 hours of work.
Yahoo! announced last week that, as one of a series of cost saving measures being undertaken at the struggling Internet giant, it was no longer accepting new accounts at the storied GeoCities service, and would be shutting it down entirely later in 2009. Yahoo! acquired the company in 1999 for $2.87 billion.
And in a story that reaches back a little farther, to a story from several months ago, we reported early this week that the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technolgoy and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky had filed a brief with the Kentucky Supreme Court urging it to uphold an order that overturned an earlier ruling ordering the seizure of 141 domain names, claiming the domains were “gambling devices,” banned under Kentucky law. State officials have recently appealed the order, which led to the issue being brought before the state’s Supreme Court.
And finally, in a story that doesn’t update any ongoing news, but which was several months in development, hosting provider PEER 1 announced this week that it had opened its European office, along with a data center facility in Southampton, UK and the appointment of hosting and data center industry veteran Dominic Monkhouse as managing director of the company’s European operations.
Much of this week’s news was following up or wrapping up ongoing stories, but some of those stories have further life that would make them worth following in the weeks to come, including the Kentucky domain seizure story and the potential review of information security practices at the Pentagon.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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