[ISN] Death of software exec adds pathos to attack on Web hosting firm

http://blogs.computerworld.com/death_of_software_exec_adds_pathos_to_attack_on_web_hosting_firm

By Jaikumar Vijayan
Second Take
Computerworld Blogs
June 10, 2009

The apparent suicide earlier this week by the owner of a company that 
develops virtualization software used by low cost Web hosting companies 
has added pathos to a massive hacking incident at one of the firm's 
U.K.-based customers.

KT Ligesh, the 32-year old owner of Bangalore based LX Labs was found 
dead in his home on Monday morning according to a report in the Times of 
India. The paper quoting local police said the suicide might have been 
prompted by Lx Lab's recent loss of a contract to a rival firm and other 
personal issues stemming from the suicide of his mother and sister a few 
years ago.

Ligesh's death came just a day after VAserv, a U.K. Web hosting company 
disclosed that unknown hackers had breached its virtual server 
infrastructure and completely deleted 100,000 Web sites being hosted by 
the company. Nearly half of those might have irretrievably lost data 
because they did not have back-ups of their data according to a story in 
The Register.

According to VAserv the hackers breached the company's servers by taking 
advantage of a zero-day flaw in HyperVM, a virtualization platform sold 
by LX Lab. But a note published ostensibly by the hacker claimed that 
the attacks had happened because VAserv had insecure password management 
practices and not because of HyperVM flaws.

[...]


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