Terrapin Station

What Happens When You Don’t Upgrade February 4, 2006

Mail I recieved recently from my host:

We have disabled your user from sending out email through software installed under your website on the hosting machine [server name]. We did this because we noticed that you sent over 200 emails within a 60 minute period of time on 3 occasions. We do this in an effort to reduce spam originating from our network due to hacked websites and fraudulent accounts.

They didn’t really give me any specifics but I think the problem stems from an outdated WordPress plugin. More specifically, the WP-contact form. I originally decided to take the form down but after viewing the changelog I’ve discovered that the form was vulnerable to spam and has been corrected so I’ve decided to upgrade to the latest version and keep it up. I’ll be monitoring this issue over the next couple of days to see if the spam is reduced.

UPDATE (2/28/06): the upgrade did not help so I’ve decided to take the form down until I can come up with a better solution.