Recently I had seen more bluehost users posted in bluehost forum, stating that their bluehost hosted website had been hacked. Various Bluehost web site hacking had been reported, which including .htaccess redirection to hacker site, modification of php.ini files, insertion of HTML content into index.html, iframe embeding into index.html webpage, etc.
This is a major concern for me as well, if there is any vulnerability in bluehost server, I would like the bluehost support team to get it patched. If we think from bluehost side, bluehost support team is excellent in maintaining a good hosting server. There is no doubt for cPanel security and safety as well. At this point, I assume bluehost support had performed the necessary server maintenance and taken the security measures.
Over 90% of website hacked is caused by weak user account login and password. The remaining reason this caused by the party website script that is vulnerable and having security hole. For an example, a hacker can exploit your textbox or web-form and injected SQL into your database, or they can inject HTML code into your web files. Another entrance for hackers is through FTP login, once they gain access, they will be able to change your web files in any means.
Thus, is important to secure your own hosting account and as well your ftp login. Make sure your password is 8 Character long and having combination of alphanumeric, Numbers, and symbol. safeguard your own login information. Finally, make sure your website script is updated with the latest version of script released. These are the best way to protect your website from being attacked again.
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24 Responses to “Bluehost website got hacked?”
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October 19th, 2008 at 9:17 am
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November 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Level 3 techs (Adam, Brandon, and Rick) have confirmed that if you use php with the fast-cgi option,, that certain *VERY IMPORTANT* functions in your php.ini files will NOT be processed (but not give an error), including (but not limited to):
disable functions
open_basedir
which can make it a lot easier to have your site hacked. I wonder if this contributed to your problems.
So, you can’t turn off the following via your php.ini (and I don’t know any other way to disable these while using fast-cgi — Bluehost’s only suggestion is to go back to standard php and put a php.ini in every directory — unverified yet if all php.ini functions work properly this way). This somewhat contradicts their marketing, which I’ve tried to point out to them, without a lot of resposne. Functions you can’t disable when using fast-cgi include:
allow_url_fopen = off; doesn’t work
allow_url_include = off; doesn’t work
register_globals = Off; doesn’t work
But more importantly, when I tried to disable functions or limit script execution, there was no log error or other indication of php.ini not working, EXCEPT that when I tried to hack my own site a bit, I was able to execute functions that had supposedly been disabled!! Very, very bad!
Better to throw an error during php parsing or at least warn about this issue on the php handler web setup page (where you select regular php or fast-cgi) than to leave users with a false sense of security.
Despite several Level 1 techs denying these problems, when you finally get to a “senior, Level 3″ tech, they confirm that Bluehost knows of these problems, and there’s no ETA to have them fixed, but I just wish that they’d be more honest with users instead of risking having sites hacked by having these functions unwittingly still enabled.
My recommendation: until these problems are fixed, do not use fast-cgi with your php on Bluehost until they show this as fixed, or you are making it easier for your site to be hacked.
November 30th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Bluehost is a joke of a company. How can the entire public_html, mail, even .trash, and .temp be deleted by a hacker?
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:47 am
I have hosted few my sites on bluehost . But almost them were hacked recently. This is a company with very low security. I came to know most of clients site of blue host were hacked. I am going to change hosting plan to any other server.
I am strongly advice all NOT TO PUBLISH you site with BLUE HOST.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:34 am
I was with blue host since 2006, when they were not that big. and quite good.
I found my account suspended yesterday.I called them and they opened my ftp access. I discovered few folders on my site with php files. i have never seen them before, no idea from where they came.
Anyway after sending them an email they send me a huge check list. I spend 10 hours checking my site via that list. and once i told them i am done, they replied sorry for the misunderstanding. your account is permanently banned, what a joke.
Basically they blame me for hacking. or using a non secure program.
So any of you wants to try bluehost? be careful!
BTW to cheat people more, they are using 2 other hosting companies as well by using same system and people.
bluehost.com
hostmonster.com
fastdomain.com
(visit above sites, and check their postal address)
September 17th, 2009 at 6:39 am
bluehost & hostmonster & fastdomain are the same company, we had blogged about it some time ago at here http://www.hostmonsterreview.org/hostmonster-vs-bluehost-vs-fastdomain
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
my account get hacked all the time too, i am tired of it. the support is not good.
I just have some simple html file on my website and our emails account get hacked all the time.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:46 am
hi Carl,
hacker usually attack via web forms or even contact us page… always make sure the html codes are secure. We highly recommend you use joomla cms scripts for personal or business site creation. Its secure.
Also, regarding account access and security, you have to login cpanel, get the password change, email password change and ftp login password change too. These three password should use secure password combination too.
December 29th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Just had 10 sites in one bluehost account hacked by Saudi Arabia hacker. My web guy thinks they must have come in through the server, not through my wordpress code.
Anyone have a better host to suggest?
Thanks.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:15 am
Sites also included Joomla sites, which really makes me think its a server weakness.
March 14th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
I’ve never been more disappointed with the customer service team at Bluehost. Until today I thought they were a great company. Today their security issues are costing me thousands and thousands of dollars.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I spent probably 60 hours rebuilding a client site that kept getting repeatedly hacked on a bluehost site. I finally traced the logs and determined that someone hacked into cpanel through the password retrieval tool. All the passwords were strong. I switched the site to another host and haven’t had an issue since. I wrote about my experience here. My favorite part is the bluehost support tech’s constant insistence that it was my wordpress site that was the security vulnerability. In reality, it was the password retrieval function on bluehost’s cpanel.
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:03 am
bluehost upgrade their server recently, and require all password to be changed.
this might be related issue and get resolved now. it take some time for major server patch to take place.
April 1st, 2010 at 10:04 pm
I just went to BlueHost from Host Gator just to have some new ip blocks. Today 4-1-10 a Turkish bunch of idiots took over all my sites and left a dirty little “Hacked by CmTr” logo on there. I spent all day fixing the messes they created and getting secure. Blue Host responded back saying that they only protect their servers, not the users. Thanks for looking out for us Blue Host!
I have about 200 other sites hosted with Host Gator and Web Host Pad – None of them were compromised which left BlueHost as the root of all evil. I would say their servers have probably been hacked and they are coming in through the back door.
Advice to potential Blue Host Customers: Go to Host Gator!
April 12th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Hacked with a redirect.
This has happened before, stopped for awhile, and now its back.
Very frustrating.
April 14th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Same issues as others… I got hacked a while back… fixed the problems…updated all scripts, changed passwords, did everything they advised… sites were back up then they shut them down today because 1 site was hacked again… now they won’t let me put them back up until I’ve outlined the details I took to fix their mistakes. None of my sites on MT or hostgator or even a few other bluehost servers have ever been hacked. Just this same server the same way. Avoid bluehost unless you want to spend more time fixing servers than making money with a live website.
April 15th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Bluehost has rendered almost 7 years of my work obsolete by changing a password that does not work with my Dreamweaver software. They said my software is suddenly obsolete so I needed to purchase the upgarde which is HUNDREDS of dollars. I am absolutely horrified. They simply DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMER AT ALL! I was told they would hook me up to billing for a refund! I HATE THEM NOW! I have been reduced to tears, on the phone for many, many hours and nobody will help me. Developers have never returned calls even though my case was escalated more than once. My work iand my clients work is being held hostage because they REFUSE to support me….I was never given any warning at all. This is a known issue and I am literally screwed as are my clients who also use the same software. All I can say is that Matt Heaton (I had great respect for him) is a great example of success having gone to his head. He too has ignored my letter and my pleas for assistance. They just blew me off! I hope everybody out there gets a grip on Bluehost because they are not the company they used to be! Now they employ a bunch of arrogant “know-itall” type geeks who would just rather blow you off than deal with tye issues they have caused.
April 20th, 2010 at 8:30 am
is the dreamweaver failed with the remote server file uploading?
you can use the dreamweaver to create and edit your website content… but place the web files at local computer…
then use the filezilla to upload the web files over to server…
*filezilla support the new bluehost password requirement.
April 20th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Dreamweaver worked seamlessly before these change. I have tried using filezilla MANY times after having placed my files in public_html on my local computer. The directories are different, images and links are broken and things come over differently.
April 22nd, 2010 at 7:25 pm
from your dreamweaver, open the web file, code view, and make sure the directory or images html code is not getting source from local computer C:\
for directory, you can use
“../” as refering to website homepage.
“../image/” as refering to image directory in homepage dir.
by this, when you use filezilla to upload files to web server public_html folder, your webfiles can be executed and get images etc from the public_html folder and subdir as well. not from your local C:\.
Do double check.
June 11th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
There is a glitch in Dreamweaver that try it tries to retain the old password even though it has been changed. The easiest way to fix the problem is to create a new connection through site manager.
Unless you are a hacker you will have no idea how vulnerable WordPress, Joomla, and other FREE programs are to hack. There are new vulnerabilities found to access sites using these programs on a weekly basis (almost daily for Joomla.. see http://joomlaexploit.com). The programs themselves are fairly secure, it’s the plugins and components that render them highly vulnerable. It is not Bluehost’s responsibility to make sure YOUR scripts are up to date. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to maintain the security of your site. They can only do the best they can, but it’s the customer;s ultimate responsibility to stay updated. Hackers can delete every file on your account by uploading a single shell script (look up c99 or r57). Since all of the recent attacks on Network solutions and Godaddy, Bluehost has increased the security of their server dramatically, unfortunately if your code is out of date you will still be hacked regardless. They are planning on rolling out an Intrusion Detection System, that will prevent certain files from being uploaded. If you want to be as close to 100% secure, then invest in a monitoring service like Sucuri or SecureLive.
July 3rd, 2010 at 12:43 am
I’m having similar troubles with Bluehost right now. Site deleted six times in the last month, no matter what I do (per their instructions) to harden them.
Now, facing the possibility of re-loading a large site for the seventh time (with no help from Bluehost “support” — which I used to love) and my account about to expire shortly anyway, I’m definitely thinking about a change in hosts.
July 13th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
BLUEHOST SECURITY AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT IN THAT DEPARTMENT IS TERRIBLE. Got hacked countless times redering my sites and email unusable. Had to switch hosts.
August 9th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
My website was hacked too and the company blamed ME! for it. They said I must have given my log in info to the hackers. And they are also charging me $50 to clean it up. Unbelievable.