Today Netregistry announced the purchase of the troubled cloud host and offered customers free hosting for one month while they sort through the mess which includes billing issues not to mention a total loss of data for most Distribute.IT customers:
Here’s the FAQ from Netregistry’s site (plus view the video from Netregistry CEO, Larry Bloch above):
1. What exactly happened to Distribute.IT in the first instance?
It’s our understanding that there was a targeted hacker attack on the Distribute.IT network – following which the hacker caused permanent damage to backup systems as well as core services, making them impossible to restore.
2. Did we acquire Distribute.IT?
The Netregistry Group acquired Distribute.IT and Click ‘n Go customers and assets on 23th June 2011.
3. Access to registry info (for example delegation, transfer, EPP/domain passwords) –
When will Netregistry get access to assist customers with EPP requirements?
At this time, the current ETA on access to AusRegistry data is 24 hours.
4. How do I view the WHOIS details for Distribute.IT registered domains?
WHOIS for Distribute.IT is currently down, ie. we can not validate ownership. At this time there is no ETA on uptime of WHOIS to allow transfer out. We will update this FAQ as soon as this becomes available.
5. What services are we going to provide to these customers for free in the short term?
Web hosting including SiteBuilder, PHP, .NET and Database access.
6. How long can customers hold free services?
At this stage the minimum will be one month, during which we will review previous Distribute.IT billing data. We expect that within this one month period we should be able to settle everyone in, and make plans for subscriptions further down the track.
7. Is Netregistry Group going to match Distribute.IT prices?
We will be honouring all web hosting payments previously made to Distribute.IT. Where possible, we will maintain the same pricing as previously advertised on Distribute.IT and Click ‘n Go.
8. Are we going to support customers from today? Who’s doing it?
The Netregistry Group call centre will service all customers. ALL customer facing staff at Netregistry are now answering the Distribute.IT priority number for the time being. Shortly after more permanent support processes will be established.
9. Where is Distribute.IT email managed?
At Netregistry, there is a correspondence email queue and we endeavour to get back to all customers within a 24 hr period.
While this ensures Distribute.IT’s customers will have a place for their websites to call home, it’s highly unlikely many customers will ever recover their websites as Distribute.IT admit that not only were the original’s destroyed by the hackers but the backups were compromised and destroyed as well.
With more and more IT assets moving into the cloud this is a harsh and timely reminder that while the location of our IT data has changed, that best practices shouldn’t. Websites and other data should be backed up either offline or in a secure remote location. Well done for Netregistry, one of the few providers who clearly state their backup and disaster recovery processes on their website.
This is a good opportunity for all businesses to review their providers backup procedures (and liability insurance) and consider additional locations for their critical data. Good luck to (former) Distribute.IT customers. Hope you get up and running again soon after such an unwanted and unnecessary nightmare.
