Attempts continue daily trying to hack my web site. On multiple occasions I have approached IP address holder via the WHOIS service to complain and received bland reassurances. An example of the recent IP address is below the table. Once a host has been established from where the hacking attempt is coming from, you then have to fill in the contact form or abuse form for the host company. A few days later you’ll get a bland reassurance back and the hacks continue sometimes from the same IP address. In the table below, I have listed some of these hacking attempts over the last month. I get 50-100 every 24 hours. I’ll probably get more now.

UPDATE

Nothing back from web sites about IP addresses and in last 48 hours 1-3 Aug 2023 I’ve logged over 500 attempts. Waste of bandwidth….

Purpose of Trying To Hack My Web Site

It’s unclear why these bots or their instigators are trying to hack my site. The site has reputational value to me, but has no e-commerce element except links to book sites. It does not hold membership lists of thousands – in fact no members with no private data, except cookie lists – see privacy policy. It may be fun but it’s just a pain and so far unsuccessful. I’m not saying what my user account name is for admin access. Nor am I giving out a password/phrase but it’s strong and then there is 2FA, Two-Factor Authentication. That means these brute force attempts get nowhere even if they did get my username and password.

It’s all a colossal waste of time and resources for all parties. Having worked in the cyber security field, I know how much effort this costs for a company and what sort of reward these criminals are after. The databases or monetary ransom from encryption, but again why my site?

Dear hackers give it a rest. Why not use your skills for the betterment of human life? Mind you with the endless efforts of Government agencies some of which have leaked into the open this is an ongoing battle. Hadn’t realised this comes 10 years after Snowden’s revelations.

Table of IP Addresses

Date	IP Address	User Account attempted
June 22, 2023 07:24	152.32.189.117	admin (3 lockouts)
June 22, 2023 06:12	148.72.244.186	phenweb (1 lockouts)
June 21, 2023 20:14	45.120.69.121	admin (1 lockouts)
June 21, 2023 01:23	2a03:b0c0:1:d0::e6c:f001	phenweb (1 lockouts)
June 20, 2023 06:10	148.72.214.194	admin (2 lockouts)
June 19, 2023 15:32	66.94.96.129	admin (2 lockouts)
June 19, 2023 12:51	103.179.56.32	admin (2 lockouts)
June 19, 2023 06:15	35.187.58.136	admin (1 lockouts)
June 19, 2023 05:50	134.122.123.193	admin (1 lockouts)
June 18, 2023 03:50	2a03:b0c0:1:d0::ee2:c001	wwwadmin (1 lockouts)
June 13, 2023 00:03	2607:f298:5:6000::cb9:8de4	admin (1 lockouts)
June 09, 2023 13:22	2a03:b0c0:1:d0::ee2:c001	admin (1 lockouts)
June 09, 2023 07:18	167.99.86.104	admin (1 lockouts)
June 09, 2023 03:46	2a00:d680:20:50::4379	admin (3 lockouts)
June 07, 2023 00:40	5.188.62.21	pghadmin (9 lockouts)
June 05, 2023 22:35	150.109.148.216	admin (1 lockouts)
June 05, 2023 12:13	185.2.4.134	wadminw (1 lockouts)
June 04, 2023 09:13	46.105.29.21	admin (1 lockouts)
June 03, 2023 11:35	2001:41d0:403:1680::	admin (1 lockouts)
June 03, 2023 05:13	2a00:d680:20:50::f4dc	admin (2 lockouts)
June 02, 2023 00:58	195.154.184.235	admin (1 lockouts)
June 01, 2023 15:25	157.230.249.54	admin (1 lockouts)
May 25, 2023 20:51	47.111.116.44	admin (1 lockouts)
May 25, 2023 12:44	2607:f298:5:6000::d15:5580	admin (1 lockouts)
May 25, 2023 11:17	116.109.45.9	wwwadmin (1 lockouts)
May 25, 2023 05:14	2400:6180:0:d0::f6f:3001	admin (3 lockouts)
May 24, 2023 19:15	23.99.229.218	admin (1 lockouts)
May 24, 2023 18:32	24.199.86.99	admin (1 lockouts)
May 23, 2023 01:51	51.79.144.41	admin (2 lockouts)
May 22, 2023 12:22	2001:41d0:403:1680::	wadminw (1 lockouts)

WHOIS Trying to Hack My Web Site

Whois IP 152.32.189.117

The IP is registered to Hong Kong and UCloud. They have an abuse email hegui@ucloud.cn. I won’t hold out any hope of a response but I’ve tried.

% [whois.apnic.net]
% Whois data copyright terms    http://www.apnic.net/db/dbcopyright.html
% Information related to '152.32.128.0 - 152.32.255.255'
% Abuse contact for '152.32.128.0 - 152.32.255.255' is '@ucloud.cn'
inetnum:        152.32.128.0 - 152.32.255.255
netname:        UCLOUD-HK
descr:          UCLOUD INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED
country:        HK
org:            ORG-UITL1-AP
admin-c:        UITH2-AP
tech-c:         UITH2-AP
abuse-c:        AU164-AP
status:         ALLOCATED PORTABLE
remarks:        --------------------------------------------------------
remarks:        To report network abuse, please contact mnt-irt
remarks:        For troubleshooting, please contact tech-c and admin-c
remarks:        Report invalid contact via www.apnic.net/invalidcontact
remarks:        --------------------------------------------------------
mnt-by:         APNIC-HM
mnt-lower:      MAINT-UCLOUD-HK
mnt-routes:     MAINT-UCLOUD-HK
mnt-irt:        IRT-UCLOUD-HK
last-modified:  2022-05-16T03:40:43Z
source:         APNIC
irt:            IRT-UCLOUD-HK
address:        FLAT/RM 603 6/F, LAWS COMMERCIAL PLAZA, 788 CHEUNG SHA WAN ROAD, KL,, Hong Kong
e-mail:         @ucloud.cn
abuse-mailbox:  @ucloud.cn
admin-c:        UITH2-AP
tech-c:         UITH2-AP
auth:           # Filtered
remarks:        @ucloud.cn was validated on 2022-12-29
remarks:        @ucloud.cn was validated on 2022-12-30
mnt-by:         MAINT-UCLOUD-HK
last-modified:  2022-12-30T07:26:18Z
source:         APNIC
organisation:   ORG-UITL1-AP
org-name:       UCLOUD INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED
country:        HK
address:        FLAT/RM 603 6/F
address:        LAWS COMMERCIAL PLAZA
address:        788 CHEUNG SHA WAN ROAD, KL,
phone:          +86-18221224857
e-mail:         @ucloud.cn
mnt-ref:        APNIC-HM
mnt-by:         APNIC-HM
last-modified:  2019-12-10T12:58:29Z
source:         APNIC
role:           ABUSE UCLOUDHK
address:        FLAT/RM 603 6/F, LAWS COMMERCIAL PLAZA, 788 CHEUNG SHA WAN ROAD, KL,, Hong Kong
country:        ZZ
phone:          +000000000
e-mail:         @ucloud.cn
admin-c:        UITH2-AP
tech-c:         UITH2-AP
nic-hdl:        AU164-AP
remarks:        Generated from irt object IRT-UCLOUD-HK
remarks:        @ucloud.cn was validated on 2022-12-29
remarks:        @ucloud.cn was validated on 2022-12-30
abuse-mailbox:  @ucloud.cn
mnt-by:         APNIC-ABUSE