FBI shut down Web Host

FBI shutting down Web Host

If FBI agents showed up at your data center bearing a warrant, would
you be able to provide them prompt access to customer data? How long
would it take?

That's an important question in the wake of an FBI raid of Columbus,
Ohio hosting company CIT Hosting last Saturday. Federal agents wound
up shutting down the entire operation, seizing all the company's web
servers and all customer data as part of its investigation of a
hacking incident.

CIT Hosting, also known as FooNet, markets itself as "the leader in
the IRC and DDoS protection business for the last 5 years." The
company posted a web page informing customers that its data center was
shut down, and instructing customers to contact the FBI if they needed
access to their files.

"The FBI executed a search warrant issued by the United States
District Court for the Southern District of Ohio regarding the IRC
network that we host," the company said in its statement.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a live chat system that allows users to
create private discussion rooms. While IRC has a lengthy history of
legitimate use, it is also a medium for discreet communication between
hackers. CIT said the FBI was "investigating whether someone hosted on
our network hacked and attacked someone else."

"After several hours of attempting to track down, inspect and audit
the terabytes of data that we host, the FBI determined that it was
more efficient (from their point of view) to remove all of our servers
and transport them to the FBI local laboratories for inspection," the
statement continued. "The FBI has assured us that as soon as the data
has been safely copied and inspected, the equipment will be promptly
returned. Unfortunately, the FBI has not been able to tell us when
they will be completed with their inspection."

The seizure isn't standard procedure, and there's no way to know
exactly what prompted it. CIT's account suggests the FBI may have lost
patience with the process. The IRC-focused nature of CIT's business
may also have been a factor.

But if you're a data center operator, you want to avoid any scenario
in which the FBI gets impatient and starts hauling away your servers.
Just one more item on the contingency planning checklist for the times
in which we live.