Important update from the Telegram channel: James Drake, [14.11.17 05:16]
just wanted to let everyone know that we have fully regained control of our GoDaddy account. We have several authorities now that have access to all of the data and files that have been compromised, as well as all of the log files which will help establish the chain of attack and finalize our case against those who have tried to corrupt our network.
Now that we have our servers back and under control I can finally direct our course out of the delays. There are two definite results of this attack that will actually help us.
1) This should be the final nail in the coffin of all the Embercoin/Embermine confusion.
How we came to get hacked was because a group of individuals who lost massive amounts of money on EMB hacked us in an attempt to extort us for money by threatening us with Embercoin's (NOT Embermine's) data. They have sent emails and communication with some of our potential and existing business partners in an effort to force our hands, all the while claiming that they have evidence of Embercoin's obvious manipulation. As far as we know at this stage, they either really do have this information or they don't. It does not matter to me. In fact, it is exactly this evidence the removes, beyond any doubt or suspicion, any connection between Embermine, its employees and business partners, and whoever was in charge of Embercoin.
The simple fact that these two rocket scientists decided to hack us looking for more dirt or in an attempt to extort us with the very release of information that will prove nothing more than our innocence, and in the course of that hack, did nothing but reveal to them a storage network full of data proving our actual work for our business, means that their hack did nothing but acquit our efforts with Embermine.
But there are greater considerations than those of our files. There is concern for our customers and business partners. Just because we do not mind that our information is or was in the hands of those who mean to do us harm does not meant that we can take lightly the concern that our Community and business partners may have regarding the same information, whether that be ours or theirs. This leads me to the second result of the hack.
2) The cause of Decentralization and personal Data Accountability was just proven to be even more important especially upon the network upon which our Users exist. Nothing that has happened in the past week has done anything except show me exactly how important our cause is, not just to our Community, our business partners, and our company. But to me, personally. I detected and discovered the infiltration within seconds of it happening. I immediately informed all of the authorities in question and proceeded to shut the hacker down in every area of my personal and professional life in a matter of a few phone calls, with the notable exception for our servers.
James Drake, [14.11.17 05:16]
This was not just our websites. But also our email servers. Application servers. All with an open pipe to the world's data networks with multitudes of targets and vulnerabilites, and not just Embermine ones. All it would have taken was for our hacker bros to either a) Want an open application server to run scripts and send them out to an unsuspecting audience or b) know what to do with just such an opportunity and they would have had over 6 days of unfettered access to these resources to wreak havok. The delay and friction that existed just to get anyone to even listen and take corrective action upon this confirmed activity was astounding. The simple fact that this is not a much much bigger issue is because, frankly. only because of either a lack of desire or a lack of ability. Something that everyone knows is rarely the case. I already had a hard stance on decentralization, but this event has showed me that the real battle is with data control. As we fly into the rapid digitization of everything from finance to our history, centralization of data and its access provides an unacceptable level of control over someone's digital value in the hands of those who value it the least, but gain the biggest profit by having it: companies, hackers, and governments, but care the least about its protection. This does not mean that they don't care, it simply means that the scales of economy differ to them. They, by proportion, care far less about your data than you do, but their ability to extract value from it is significantly easier by that same porportion.
This is why an effective digital economy cannot be centralized. The counterparty risk is too high in proportion to the value we receive for giving it up our control of it, and that gulf widens every single day as more people are forced to do it in order to participate in the digital economy at all. So we currently play roulette with our data. We may be the house, but the odds are out of sync with the pay out. Some people only have to lose ONCE and they can lose everything. We are lucky because we started this company upon a foundation of transparency. I tell everyone every single day how important it is that we always act in accordance with our Manifesto. That we must always assume that people are paying attention (as they should), and our own actions will indict or acquit our actions and activities. Which is why we were never concerned about the data that was stolen. Yes, we would much prefer to have the opportunity to develop and design our platform without someone nitpicking at still developing details. At the same time, if the information on our work were released to the public, It would not bother me except that I would have to worry about someone claiming credit for our ideas or stealing ones from our business and research partners. This is one of the many reasons for IDEAToken, by the way, but that is for another conversation.
James Drake, [14.11.17 05:16]
But enough of the stumping for privacy and decentralization, we have plenty of time for that later. Now that all this has happened, and we have control over "our" servers once again, where do we go from here to get back on track? We would love nothing more than to move forward as if none of this has happened and pick up where we left off, but we do not have that luxury any more. Due to the design of these systems and the stage of business we are at currently, completely leaving GoDaddy's environment is a huge delay for us. And an unacceptable one at this point. But we cannot stay on the original managed server as well. That one is being quarantined and saved for investigation. A brand new server is being given to us, with completely new IP addresses, SSL certificates, and the such. Despite taking us a few days to finish all of these steps, it also affords us an opportunity we did not really have before. The ability to completely divorce ourselves from some of our earlier website development solutions. But this does mean that there is going to be some disruption with our web and email services for a couple of days as we rebuild all of our systems to accomodate this move.
The one site that is not completely being destroyed before being rebuilt is TokenVerse. It was already operating seperately from Embermine in terms of its function and access, and always had the most stable development and access, it is also "boring" and filled with public information. All of the logs indicate that there was no access or intrusion into it. After we conduct a security audit on the site, it will be the first one that is copied and moved to the the new server when it is complete. Then the rest of the server will be quarantined and all domains and services transferred or recreated on the new server.
This process will take at least two full days to complete, and then we will begin again with the process of getting our new sites up and running, Trello updated and shared publicly, and finally the release of our Platform and Techne Blockchain white papers. We are aware that all of you are anxious, we are too! But we are going to do this right, and make sure we hit our mark.
So we are setting a date of Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017 as the target date by which all will be complete and active. Yes, the day before Thanksgiving. I figure that will give, at least in the United States, the holiday weekend to digest the information along with their turkey and stuffing.
We will be setting up a more detailed list of expectations and timing of releases once we have completed the process of setting up the new server. Thank you all for your patience and support of Embermine. It has been fun, despite the issues, to get to see the phenomenal response to our partners at Autonio, and the wonderful implications of their technology on the world of crypto. I will, as always, try to keep everyone informed of our progress and give everyone an update by the end of the day today.
