Downtime...

I don't know if anyone's noticed, but the forums and the info site have been - or, in fact still are, in the info site case - offline.

This is because the Domain Name Server shut them down because of a phiishing attempt last week, and the notification to our webmaster went to his spam mail!

Neil is working to get stuff up and running again but our man in Canada is completely blind presently and cannot do a thing!!

Fingers crossed that everything is back to normal ASAP, and thanks, Neil, for all tbe efforts!!

Thanks for letting the membership know what was going on John! It was very frustrating not being able to access anything until late today.

So, what the hell happened?!
Here's the poop:

Our information website (www.westoneguitars.net) was recently the victim of a "phishing" attempt. A fake Bank of America registration page was inserted into our database by hackers for the purposes of credit card fraud and identity theft. These buggers are clever and found what we think was a "leaky" plugin on the site. (don't worry if that makes no sense whatsoever)

We (Neil) were notified by InternetIdentity.com on behalf of their client but the attempt proved to be futile since we do not allow public input on the site, so nobody could actually enter any personal info. Our host provider, Neil Smith (MacScruffs.com) in the UK looked after the technical details of removing the offending pages and code from the database. Just to make things more fun, the actual server is in the States, I'm in Canada, and our beloved Admin is in the land of Oz. Gotta love this Global Village! Let's just say communications has been fun!

However, in the meantime, the Internet Registrar (they who regulate Internet entities and traffic) had blocked our domain name on the Domain Name Servers (DNS) of the world because of the phishing attempt. DNS's serve an important function on the 'net. They translate the domain name that you type into your brower's address line into an IP address that web servers can understand and know what to display.

But, they did that AFTER the threat had already been dealt with by our Neil! That's why your browser told you, "Server not found". The physical server with all our stuff on it was there, but it didn't know what to display! Very frustrating.

Unfortunately, the notification of the block also ended up in his SPAM folder and was not noticed until I emailed him that we could not connect in North America. Since the web site and this forum share the same domain name, this also resulted in not being able to connect to either one! To add to the frustration, DNS servers require time to update themselves since they are all over the world. That's another reason some people (like John) were able to access the Forum while others (like me) could not see it yet.

As I write this we're back to normal, here at least, but the website is still undergoing repairs and restoration by Neil. Looks like the database isn't quite right yet. I should add that Neil does this for the love of Westone and is a sideline to his real business. So, let me add my thanks also to him for his time and continuing support!

As I write, the website is still experiencing some display difficulty.
If you are accessing the site on a computer, instead of the page being displayed you are offered a file to download.

Do not be concerned. This is not malicious code or spam. It is in fact, a compressed archive file of the web page's display code, the programming behind the browser if you like. Just cancel it.

I did a quick test of the Mobile version and had mixed results. I get some content being displayed, so if you're desperate to look up something you might try that approach.

I haven't been able to talk with Neil in awhile but I presume that he's in the process of rebuilding the site from backup files. Most likely he's been called away to do some "real" work...you know, the kind that pays actual money? 

No doubt all will be well in the Westie universe again soon. Please have patience.

It looks like WestoneGuitars.net has again returned to normal.

Thanks Neil!

Indeed; good on ya, mate!!