You may have heard of Epik (the web host – not Epic the gaming company). According to Gizmodo, Epik the web host and domain registrar provides services to Gab, Parler, and Bitchute (which Gizmodo described as “conspiracy-theory-laden YouTube wannabe), and The Donald (a President Trump fansite).
Epik also recently hosted the Texas whistleblower website – which was intended to allow people to “snitch on Texas residents who want abortions.” Gizmodo reported that Epic forcibly removed the Texas site from the platform after determining it had violated Epik’s terms by non-consensually collecting third-party information.
Those sites seem to end up on Epik after breaking the terms of services of whatever mainstream hosting company they started with.
TechCrunch reported that hackers associated with the hacktivist collective Anonymous say they have leaked gigabytes of data from Epik. The hackers did not say how they obtained the breached data or when the hack took place. TechCrunch says that, according to time stamps, the most recent files suggest the hack “most likely” happened in late February.
It appears that the hackers have now released the information that was in the Epik data breach. TechCrunch reported what was in the data breach, based on a statement from the hackers.
What kind of information was in the data breach? TechCrunch reported that a statement was sent to a torrent file of the dumped data this week. It included a “decades worth” of company data, including “all that’s needed to trace actual ownership and management” of the company. The hackers claimed to have customer payment histories, domain purchases and transfers, passwords, credentials and employee mailboxes.
According to TechCrunch, Epik initially told reporters it was unaware of a breach but an email set out by founder and chief executive Robert Monster on Wednesday altered users to an “alleged security incident.” To me, it sounds like the damage had already been done before users were alerted to it by email.
This is a really good example of why you need to be absolutely certain that the web host that is hosting your content is a reliable one.
