Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Oops They Did it Again!

Oh great. What is it now?


Reported Attack Site!

This web site at [UniShit URL] has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.



Why is this site blocked?


According to Google,

Safe Browsing

Diagnostic page for [UniShit URL]

What is the current listing status for [UniShit URL]?

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.
Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 2 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 7 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 3 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-01-27, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-01-27.

Malicious software includes 3 scripting exploit(s), 3 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 0 new processes on the target machine.

Malicious software is hosted on 1 domain(s), including 710sese.cn/.
2 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including 2009eeee.cn/, s581.3322.org/
This site was hosted on 1 network(s) including AS9226 (SGIX).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, [UniShit URL] did not appear to function as an intermediary
for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

Next steps:
• Return to the previous page.
• If you are the owner of this web site, you can request a review of your site using Google Webmaster Tools. More information about the review process is available in Google's Webmaster Help Center.



I have been accessing the university website since a year ago and this is the first time this has happened. There has been quite a few problems within the site including: the 'hanging' of the site during online MCQ, the server being overwhelmed when project submission dates are impending, the unexplained disappearance of the Discussion Board and subsequent inaccessibility of the site itself (also a first), the system logging out halfway into course evaluation, the wrong answers in online MCQs which remain ‘uncorrectable’ (okay, that is due to human laziness rather than IT problems) and they appear to have been getting from bad to worse.

I didn’t change my security settings so this problem could not have been caused by my system. I got XH to try and he encountered the same thing. The recent problems, and the fact that this occurred during the holidays, suggest sinister forces at work. The Google Diagnostic page reports that malicious software are downloaded and installed without user’s consent, which implies the fools UniShit employs as IT support have either been sleeping or simply too incompetent to realize something’s wrong. I don’t know if my computer,, or anyone else’s has been infected as a result of logging on the university website. (I wonder if we could sue for damages if this actually happened.)

The site came down when nobody was around. Quite the impeccable timing. The hackers are free to do anything they want, at least until the infernal IT support returns to work tomorrow. I suspect it won’t make a huge difference. Notice the 'cn' extension at the end of the domains listed on the report. I don’t think UniShit outsources their IT to China. Maybe some disgruntled PRC students had enough of the stupid school and dropped by to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year.

I can’t imagine how the university’s management will react tomorrow. It’s time for UniShit’s under-qualified IT personnel to earn their pay. We have online assignments to do and the delay will cause us much inconvenience. It will be quite the shame if we are penalized for something that is not our fault. If they know what is good for them, the high-ups at UniShit better extend the deadlines for our assignments. We don’t want this little inconvenience to blow into a real storm do we?

To think that UniShit wants to have their courses based more online. The higher profits are quite lucrative, yet this episode demonstrates how laughable and ludicrous - and vulnerable – their racket is. I cannot imagine the uproar if the site collapses near the examination period and ALL the online reports, MCQs and grades are wiped out. The spectacle should be quite spectacular.

This is what you get when you have nearly everything online. This is what you get for employing cheap labor. This is what you get when you push people too far. O chaos! O wondrous chaos!

No comments: