Linkatopia under attack

- by Robert Giordano | Blog Index


We apologize for the inconvenience but our database server has been under attack for the past few days by hackers, spammers, or a mix of the two. At first we thought Linkatopia had become extremely busy, perhaps from someone on Digg talking about us. Unfortunately, the logs show an overwhelming stream of connections originating from a block of IP addresses in India. IPs can be spoofed of course so we're still checking into it. It really doesn't matter what precautions you take. If someone works hard enough, they will take you down no matter who you are. Things like this have happened to companies much larger than us.

Why did this happen? Who knows. We piss off spammers all the time when we delete their accounts and the hundreds of spam links they add to our database. There's a lot of money to be made on the internet, both honestly and dishonestly. Everyone wants to be at the top of a Google search. Many people will hire Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies based in India that promise to dramatically improve the ranking of their site. How does a company in India improve the search engine ranking of a car dealership in Nebraska? They pay dozens, perhaps hundreds of people, pennies a day to sit in a room and create backlinks. These people sit at a computer all day, signing up on sites like Linkatopia, creating multiple accounts, and adding links to that car dealership's web site. Multiply this by a thousand and we are swamped with accounts from people who aren't real and links that they are simply copying and pasting from a list.

Now what? We highly value all of our members and we assure you that all of your data is backed up. In 2008, we saw many "social bookmarking" sites vanish but Linkatopia is NOT GOING AWAY. What we may do is keep our current members and move to a private, "invitation only" service. Let us know what you think. We value your opinions. Please contact us.

Thanks,

Robert Giordano
President, Design215 Inc.





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