The largest free web hosting provider Daniel’s Hosting was shut down on March 10, at around 03:30 am UTC. According to the reports this the second instance in 16 months where Daniel’s Hosting is taken down after getting hacked. Around 7600 dark web portals associated with the dark web were taken down. In between the attack, the attacker deleted the entire database of the web hosting portal.
Attacker deleted all portals
Daniel Winzen the german software developer said the attacker got control of the DH backend and erased all hosting-related databases. The attacker then erased Winzen’s database account and created a new one to use for future operations.
The next morning Winzen realized that the site was hacked and most of the data was already lost. Sadly the service doesn’t keep backups by design. Winzen said that he has not discovered how the hacker broke into the DH backend. He also stated that currently busy with his daily life and other projects. He decided not to spend too much time investigating this issue.
Winzen pointed out that the hack only affected the DH backend database account, but not the accounts of users who had been hosting sites on the DH hosting platform. However, he advised users to change the password of their DH.
Winzen says that Daniel’s Hosting dark web hosting service will remain down for a certain future. He spends more time in deleting accounts that seem to be illegal or scammy than finding time for his developments. At this point, he plans to discontinue the hosting project.
Previously Daniel’s Hosting service was hacked in November 2018, when an attacker broke into the backend and deleted more than 6500 sites. His site became popular after a hacking group named ‘Anonymous’ took down Freedom Hosting 2. The group took down the site after they discovered that the hosting provider was sheltering child abuse portals.
Looking for more Security News? Signup our Newsletter for regular updates.
