GoDaddy Breached Yet Again! – Well, if bad customer service, poor server speeds, unethical business practices and a failing infrastructure weren’t enough to sway the intelligent masses away from the internet giant, maybe this will. GoDaddy, a leading domain registrar with 21 million customers and $4 billion in revenue in 2022, recently disclosed yet a ANOTHER multi-year security compromise that resulted in a theft of company source code, customer and employee login credentials, and installation of malware that redirected possibly THOUSANDS of customer websites to malicious sites.
GoDaddy Breached Yet Again!
GoDaddy (or NoDaddy as we call the failing hosting company) said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that three serious security events that occurred from 2020 through 2022 were carried out by what GoDaddy CLAIMS is the same intruder (more likely multiple), with the most recent event happening last December. The hacker(s) was/were able to gain access to the cPanel hosting servers, which customers use to manage their websites hosted by GoDaddy, and installed malware that intermittently redirected random customer websites to malicious sites.
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GoDaddy stated that the security breach was part of a sophisticated, multi-year campaign by a threat actor group that obtained pieces of code related to some of the services within the company. The investigation is still ongoing, but the company confirmed that it had evidence of a sophisticated and organized group targeting hosting services like GoDaddy. The goal of the attackers was to infect websites and servers with malware for phishing campaigns, malware distribution, and other malicious activities.
Side note, I am definitely NOT surprised. When I worked at GoDaddy, at their Buckeye Data Center in Phoenix, I was appalled at some of their equipment. Quite literally, there were computers on the floor in one room, with a Pentium logo. I asked what they were, laughing, as was advised it they were dedicated servers. Albeit legacy servers. Anyway, I digress…
GoDaddy Breached Yet Again!
So, apparently, in March 2020, the hacker obtained login credentials that gave access to a small number of employee accounts and the hosting accounts of roughly 28,000 customers, this breach was disclosed to affected customers in May 2020, preceding the one I wrote about it, READ HERE. The hosting login credentials didn’t provide access to the customers’ main GoDaddy account. The company is currently responding to subpoenas related to the incident that were issued by the Federal Trade Commission in July 2020 and October 2021. I started to slowly move all of my domains then and there to a more trusted hosting company, I have 2 more to go and Nerd of Fortune will be NoDaddy free – HALLELUJAH!!!!!!
Again, I digress, so sorry….
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So anyway, in November 2021, GoDaddy discovered another incident when the hacker obtained a password that gave access to source code for GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress service, which helps customers create and manage websites using the WordPress content management system. The unauthorized party used this access to obtain login credentials for WordPress admin accounts, FTP accounts, and email addresses for 1.2 million current and inactive Managed WordPress customers. The company disclosed this breach on November 22, 2021.
Over the years, along with consistently lowering customer service and unethical business practices being reported BY EMPLOYEES, GoDaddy has experienced several security lapses and vulnerabilities that have resulted in suspicious events involving massive numbers of sites hosted by the company. In 2019, a misconfigured domain name system service allowed hackers to hijack dozens of websites owned by companies like Expedia, Yelp, and Mozilla, using them to publish ransom notes threatening to blow up buildings and schools. The DNS vulnerability had been exposed three years prior. That same year, a researcher uncovered a campaign that used hundreds of compromised GoDaddy customer accounts to create 15,000 websites that published spam promoting weight-loss products and other goods.
GoDaddy Breached Yet Again!
The recent security breaches at GoDaddy highlight the company’s failing reputation as well as the importance of cybersecurity measures to protect customer data and prevent unauthorized access. As businesses increasingly rely on digital platforms to conduct transactions, the need for robust security protocols becomes even more critical. Companies must ensure that they have measures in place to identify and mitigate security threats and breaches, and regularly assess and update their security strategies to stay ahead of evolving threats. GoDaddy’s experience underscores the need for all organizations to prioritize cybersecurity to protect their customers, employees, and operations from potential harm.
A mass exodus has been underway at GoDaddy for a few years now, with MILLIONS fleeing the once reputable hosting giant. Poor service, slow performance, crooked sales tactics and the REPEATED security issues at Nodaddy, err, I mean Godaddy, make this train-wreck of a company something to avoid.
I am the Nerd of Fortune. I have been hustling from home (part-time) for about 10 years & working exclusively from home for almost 4 years – and loving it! I am a firm believer in making ‘working from home’ a success for everyone…
