On Saturday, February 5, something malicious crept into Berkeleyside. As some of our readers reported to us, there was a virus on our site which triggered anti-virus alerts and may have caused some malware problems.
When we found out about the possible virus on Monday, we engaged in what turned out to be a 24-hour hunt for the culprit. While there are readily available tools for virus hunting on your computer, combing through possible problems on a web server housed somewhere in southern California turns out to be more challenging. With the huge help of Berkeleysider Steve Sekiguchi, who chews up and spits out digital viruses for entertainment, we rooted out the nasty bugger and updated our defences.
For the technically minded, it seems that someone from France (or working through a computer in France) hacked into our site through a known WordPress vulnerability — now sealed up.
If you encounter problems with Berkeleyside, please let us know and we’ll work to resolve any issues as quickly as we can.
