A DDoS attack recently affected the server that houses your account. In order to mitigate the attack, we are changing the IP address of your account.
- What is a DDoS? Was I hacked?
- How does this affect my website?
- Help! My site still isn’t working!
- What Can I Do While I Am Waiting for Propagation?
What is a DDoS? Was I Hacked?
With this DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) Attack, no information was compromised and your website is still safe with us. A DDoS attack simply causes a server to become overloaded with traffic and does not affect the information on the server.
How Does This Affect My Website?
A DDoS attack can cause your website and email to become unresponsive intermittently, and may even cause your site not to load at all. As IP addresses of several accounts were rotated, some propagation time may be required. Our nameservers are automatically updated to reflect this change, so in most cases, you do not need to do anything to get your website back up. If you are using a third-party DNS hosting service, please see the instructions below. You can use this Domain Checker Tool to find out whether or not you are using your nameservers.
What Is InMotion Doing to Fix This, and When Will My Site Be Up?
In order to mitigate the attack, we are changing the IP address for the domains affected. There are two steps in the process that will take some time to complete:
IP Address Change
It typically takes 1-8 hours from the time you received this email for all the domains on the server to have their IP address updated. We sent you an email with the updated IP address, and you can check to see if your account has been updated from cPanel.
DNS Propagation
After the IP address is updated, DNS Propagation typically takes 4-24 hours to complete.
Due to the fact that this is a long process, taking 4-24 hours to complete, please be advised that we do not take the decision to change an IP address lightly. As normal mitigation efforts did not prove successful, this is the quickest way to get your websites back online.
Help! My Site Still Isn’t Working!
We want your website to be up and running just as much as you do, so we will be happy to assist you with the issues you are experiencing.
If You Are Using 3rd Party Nameservers Like Cloudflare
If you are using 3rd party nameservers such as Cloudflare, you will need to change the IP address that your domain points to. Check out this tool to find out whether or not you are using third-party nameservers. Please check the email we sent you with the new IP address. Steps to changing your IP or “A Record” at your DNS provider can vary, but the provider you are using should be able to point you in the right direction as to where to enter your new IP. You can find the new IP address in the email that we sent to you.
Please keep in mind that propagation can take up to 24 hours after changing your IP within your DNS provider.
Your Changes May Still Be Propagating
When you visit your website, your ISP is going to be looking up the location of your website from our servers and they will save the information. They will then update what they have stored periodically to ensure that they have the correct server. As not all service providers update their records at the same time, it is impossible to determine how long it will take them to check for the new IP that is now associated with your account. In most cases, this occurs within 4-24 hours. During propagation times, some users will be able to see your website but some will not. After propagation has completed, everyone should be able to see your site without trouble.
Local DNS and Browser Caching
To speed up the time it takes for your computer to load websites, it will store some information within a temporary location called a cache. This prevents every piece of data from being loaded every time a page is visited. Sometimes, it will store information that can cause it to become problematic, such as the old IP that you were previously located on. If you have waited through propagation time and are using our nameservers, we highly recommend clearing your browser cache, as well as clearing your DNS cache to eliminate the possibility that this is the issue.
What Can I Do While I Am Waiting for Propagation?
While you are waiting for propagation, you may always perform a hosts file modification. A hosts file modification will allow you to go directly to the server without the need to rely on any DNS providers. This simple change will allow you to be able to see your website and make changes as needed while the rest of the world is catching up with the new IP.
You can also access your site using the temporary URL in the meantime.
