I meant to update this item to say that this all appeared to be resolved within a couple of days, and you should be able to access the CafePress site again now.
Just to re-iterate, the CafePress stuff is excellent quality and everyone I've ever heard from has commented that their service is first-rate. A small profit from each item sold comes back to the AOA and helps support our effort to keep the website and forum completely free to members.
Keith
Any of you who have tried to visit the Cafepress website (where you can buy Aloha OA personalized goods) in the last few days may have been unable to get access - apparently they are the victims of a persistent DDoS attack which is frequently blocking access to the site, as explained in their email which I have attached below. Any of you who have dealt with Cafepress please see their assurance that while this attack makes getting into their site difficult, it cannot compromise the security of your personal data.
In every experience I have had with Cafepress I have found their products and service to be excellent, and I hope they are able to resolve this soon.
Keith
-----Original Message-----
From: CafePress.com [mailto:xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxxxxxxxx.com]
Sent: December 21, 2006 3:02 PM
To: alohaoa@alohaowners.com
Subject: CafePress service interruptions
Hello Shopkeepers,
As you may have read on the CafePress Community Forum, we're experiencing a targeted Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, which is causing significant service interruptions. As of right now some customers have access that appears normal, some have intermittent access, and some have no access at all. We will continue to update the CafePress Community Forum (http://forums.cafepress.com/eve) as we have more to share, and we urge you to check there for the most recent information.
A DDoS attack prevents access to a web site by its users. You can compare this to 500 people trying to enter a retail store through the same door at the exact same moment. This congestion prevents consistent and easy flow of traffic to the site. There has not been a breach of information.
A DDoS attack is a computer crime and violates Internet proper use policy as dictated by the Internet Architecture Board, and we are now working with the proper authorities. For this reason we are not able to share any additional details at this time.
More information about DDoS attacks can be found easily online with a quick Google or Wikipedia search.
We do consider this an attack on CafePress, but we're most disturbed at how this victimizes our community of Shopkeepers. If you have specific questions please contact xxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.com and we will get back to you as quickly as possible.
Thank you for your continued understanding,
Jill Ambrose
Chief Marketing Officer
CafePress.com
