You might just be kissing that data goodbye.
Wisconsin-based email provider VFEmail has been providing its service t users since 2001. But a catastrophic hack they experienced this week has left them in an unenviable state. Not only was their service crippled by the attack, but it also wiped all data from their servers. As a notice on their homepage states:
!!!ALERT!!!! Update Feb 11 2019
www.vfemail.net and mail.vfemail.net are currently unavailable.
We have suffered catastrophic destruction at the hands of a hacker, last seen as [email protected]
This person has destroyed all data in the US, both primary and backup systems. We are working to recover what data we can.
VFEmail’s servers were mysteriously taken offline this week, at which point they discovered an attacker in their system. Thankfully, no emails were stolen. That said, the attacker seemed intent on destroying everything on those servers by formatting them.
According to owner Rick Romero, the company was able to recover a backup drive in the Netherlands. That said, all of the US-based data is, in all likelihood, gone for good. From Romero’s Twitter:
As to the who and why of the attack, that’s still up in the air. They were able to trace the attack to Bulgaria, with an IP address of 94.155.49.9 and a username: aktv. But that’s about it. According to Romero, he believes the attacker exploited a software vulnerability to break in. This is due to the fact that the servers all used different login credentials, and none of the passwords were recorded anywhere on them. VFEmail had an update later on February 11th which still stands:
Incoming mail is now being delivered.
Webmail is up. Note-mailboxes are created upon new mail delivery. If you cannot login, you may not have received mail.
Mailboxes are new, no subfolders exist.
No filters are in place. If you created a filter with Horde, Login to Horde, Create any folders you need.
Click Filter, Click Script, then click ‘Activate Script’.
There is no spam scanning at this time – Incoming mail may be Spam scanned depending on DNS status.
Free users should not attempt to send email, there is currently no delivery mechanism for free accounts. Paid accounts should be useable, including Horde/Roundcube contacts and calendars.
At this time I am unsure of the status of existing mail for US users. If you have your own email client, DO NOT TRY TO MAKE IT WORK.
If you reconnect your client to your new mailbox, all your local mail will be lost.
AT YOUR OWN RISK – POP users can use ‘nl101.vfemail.net’
IMAP Users should create a new account, then use ‘nl101.vfemail.net’ as the IMAP/SMTP server
While the service is at least functioning now for paid users, free users are still out of luck
Source: PC Mag
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