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Sparklight Outage

July 13, 2021 – Sparklight is experiencing a major outage which started about 10:45 CDT.   It has been ongoing now for about 2 hours, so we assume this will be an extended outage.   The issue has taken down their call center as well as their website at https://www.sparklight.com.   Customers in the Gadsden area are also affected.  We have not been able to reach anyone for an ETR (Estimated Time to Repair) and currently are just following reports on Twitter.  We will post updates as we get them here.

Update 3:30pm – Their call center has had service restored.

Update 4:50pm – We are getting reports that Sparklight is beginning to come back online, but we definitely have customers still affected.  No additional information has been posted on their Facebook page.

 

Some articles related to the outage:
KTVB.COM
Valley News Live
Sparklight Facebook

 

 

2021-07-13T16:57:08-05:00July 13, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Sparklight Outage

Comcast Outage

  • June 28, 2021 4:00pm – Comcast seems to be experiencing an issue in south Gadsden.  We began receiving calls as early as 2:30pm, so this seems be an outage that is going to be lasting a bit.  Currently, the estimated time to repair (ETR) is 7:14pm central time.  That time is usually automatically generated for 4 hours from the time they declare that an area is having an outage, so we doubt it is accurate.   Unfortunately, that is all of the information that we currently have.   This outage seems to primarily be affecting the Country Club area.   We’ll post more information here as we get it.

Update 6:25pm – The ETR is still listed as 7:14 p.m. No additional updates are available.

Update 6:35pm – We are told that modems are beginning to come online right now.

Update 7:00pm – Confirmed that things are back online.

 

 

 

 

2021-06-28T19:28:35-05:00June 28, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Comcast Outage

Web Server Issue

May 29, 2021 2:55pm – One of our shared web servers is having some issues and sites it is hosting are currently unreachable.  We are investigating the problem to determine if it is a hardware failure, denial of service attack, or some other problem. Sites on that server will just not respond, so if you currently are having trouble accessing your web site, this is most likely the problem.   We will post updates here as we find out more information.

Update – 3:35pm – Services have been restored.  Unfortunately, we haven’t yet been able to tell exactly what the root cause of the issue was, but we are still investigating it.  If we find anything particularly interesting, we’ll post an update here.

 

If you have any further concerns regarding this outage or if your site has not yet come back online, please give us a call at 256-547-6817 or email support@internetpro.net.   It is a holiday weekend, but if you hit 8 for support, you will get a technician.

 

 

 

2021-05-29T15:42:44-05:00May 29, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Web Server Issue

Insecure PHP Notice

May 2021 – WordPress has a “Site Health” feature which makes recommendations about your host and site’s setup.   Recently, many users have been asking about a notice that they have seen in the dashboard starting that the server is running an insecure version of PHP and it should be upgraded.   This article addresses that notice.

The wording on those warnings is unfortunate. The servers displaying that are running Ubuntu 18.04 which is an LTS release (Long Term Support). The way Debian-based releases work (Ubuntu is Debian-based) is that they keep the versioning the same so as to guarantee compatibility throughout the life of the release, but they do patch the security issues. So, it is not actually an insecure release, but does behave has 7.2 PHP.  Most websites are currently on “shared servers” which are ones that house many sites. We run LTS releases because moving from PHP version to version frequently breaks *a lot*.  The newest sites being turned up have gone on 20.04 servers (and PHP 7.4 release), but there are currently issues with 7.4. For instance, email for forms, etc. does not support encryption like SSL or STARTTLS. We’re trying to get all of the bugs worked out of 7.4 before moving all of the servers up to the newest release and the usual schedule for doing that is in the 4th year of support – which in this case would be around April of 2022.

If you have any questions regarding this or if your site has a specific requirement for a PHP version greater than 7.2, please contact us at support@internetpro.net.

 

2021-05-19T06:59:37-05:00May 19, 2021|FAQ|Comments Off on Insecure PHP Notice

Trend Micro Hosted Email Security

May 10, 2021 – We have been receiving reports from customers using Trend Micro’s Hosted Email Security that are having delayed email.  The emails seem to be coming through, but they are very delayed. The issues started around 11:30am as that is the time of delivery for the last emails some customers are seeing.  Right now, we don’t have any news from Trend Micro regarding a time of resolution but we are working to find out.  Currently this issue is “up stream” of customer servers and is not a problem on their networks.

We will post updates here.

Update 2:24pm – They have posted this statement on their website:

–BEGIN
[ONGOING ISSUE] HES, TMES & PRE-FILTER | INBOUND MAIL LATENCY ISSUE
We had an issue in Hosted Email Security and Pre-filter earlier 2021-05-10 23:15 (UTC+8) where there’s a delay in delivery of emails affecting NABU, JP and EMEA region customer. We really apologize for the inconvenience it caused you but we are currently addressing the issue and will do our best to resolve it ASAP. Thank you for your understanding and patience on this matter.

–END

Update 4:26pm – We are starting to see pretty quick deliveries from Trend now.  According to them, no email was lost – just delayed.  It looks like this may now be resolved on their end, but it may take a bit for the email to be delivered.

 

2021-05-10T16:27:50-05:00May 10, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Trend Micro Hosted Email Security

Phishing Attempts

April 18, 2021 – It seems as though we have been the target of yet another phishing attempt.  Although we don’t post an article about every one (because it would be almost every day), this one seems to be affecting many of our users.  We thought it important to post a reminder that we will not ever send out emails asking you to “verify” your password or to check your online activity.  No legitimate request from any company will be similar to that.  Every one of these emails is an attempt to compromise your password.

And since we are on the subject, there are also *many* attempts coming through phone calls (and emails) telling you that charges have gone through for the purchase you made and to call a number if you didn’t make that purchase.  NEVER call any number about charges to your credit card except for the phone number printed on the back of your card.  And remember, there will NEVER be a reason that customer service needs to take control of your computer to “help” you reverse charges.

Here is a sample of the most recent phishing attempt going around to our customers:

–BEGIN

Internetpro
New device signed in to
support@internetpro.net
Your Internetpro Account was just signed in to from a new Windows device. You’re getting this email to make sure it was you.

You can also see security activity
You received this email to let you know about important changes to your Internetpro Account and services.
–END
If you have any questions or concerns about these attacks, please contact us at support@internetpro.net, chat using the box to your lower right, or call 256-547-6817.
2021-04-18T09:19:29-05:00April 18, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Phishing Attempts

Email Issue

April 16, 2021 11:00am – We have received some reports of email delivery not working.  We are currently investigating the issue, and it seems to be related to the quota system.   We will be posting more information here has we determine what is going on.  Currently, affected users are not receiving email and senders to those users are not receiving bounces.

Update 11:20am –  The issue has been resolved.  Apparently, a software update was pushed last night which caused the problem.  The update has been rolled back.  We believe email that encountered the issue was lost, but we are still investigating that.

Update 11:35am – It looks like email affected by this issue *was lost*.  The sender did NOT get a bounce indicating a problem had occurred and the recipient did not receive the message.  This is a worst-case scenario in email delivery, and we do apologize for the trouble.   Please contact anyone who may have sent you an email this morning.  We are looking into the exact time the issue started.

 

 

If you have any questions, please contact us via Chat (lower right of your screen) or email support@internetpro.net.

 

 

 

2021-04-16T11:41:54-05:00April 16, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Email Issue

Ongoing Scams

March 20, 2021 – Over the past few weeks, we’ve had many customers fall for scams involving credit card refunds.  People are allowing callers into their computers where the scammers have *full access* of the machines.  Most of these scammers lately have just been going for bank account and credit card information, but allowing the criminals into the computer also opens you up to ransomware attacks, identity theft, and theft of your employer’s information if you work using the computer they gain access to.

Mark Rober, an ex-Nasa engineer, who has become a fairly popular Youtuber has posted a video where they track and intercept some ongoing scams.   It is very entertaining, but also educational for those unfamiliar with these types of schemes.   We recommend watching his video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrKW58MS12g.

 

If you have any questions about any aspects of his video or are confused about what is going on in it, please give our technicians a call to answer questions for you.  It won’t cost you anything and we *really* want our customers to understand these types of scams so they can defend themselves.   The more that people fall for these, the more the criminals get paid, and the more it is going to happen.   We don’t want to see anyone get hurt by these criminal activities AND we don’t want the criminals to benefit.

 

2021-03-20T17:22:53-05:00March 20, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Ongoing Scams

Closing Early

March 17, 2021 – Network Solutions, Inc. will be closing at 2:00pm due to the inclement weather.  Phone and chat technical support will still be available, but our front office will be closed and we will not be dispatching technicians onsite for the rest of the day.

You can also reach support by email at support@internetpro.net.

 

 

2021-03-17T13:36:46-05:00March 17, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Closing Early

Hosted Exchange Problem

February 8, 2021 – We’ve identified an issue with our hosted Exchange platform which is causing delays in receiving email.  Email can be sent from customers without error, but that email is also not properly being delivered in a timely manner.  No email is being lost, but it is being queued for retry later.   This issue seems to have been happening a few hours as of 2:45pm.   We are investigating the cause and working on a resolution.  Updates will be posted here.

Update 3:10pm – We’ve identified the issue as a forced update by the antivirus/antispam software being used.  It is an “engine update” which requires a reboot/reload of services.  Those actions are being performed now, but due to the size/nature of the servers and services, it does take a bit of time to complete.  We do not currently have an estimated time, but the work is in progress.

Update 3:45pm – Services are beginning to come back online.  We expect full restoration shortly.

Update 3:52pm – Internal testing indicates everything is fully back online.  If you are a hosted Exchange customer, expect email to begin coming in now if  you haven’t already seen some.  It may take a little while for emails sent earlier in the day to reach your Inbox, but they should all arrive with no further issues.  If you have any questions or concerns about this, please contact us via support@internetpro.net, 256-547-6817, or utilize the chat window to the lower right of your screen.

 

 

 

2021-02-08T15:53:26-06:00February 8, 2021|News and Updates|Comments Off on Hosted Exchange Problem
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