Distribute.IT data unrecoverable post-hack

Wholesale registrar Distribute.IT, which suffered a targeted attack last week, today admitted that any customer data, sites and emails hosted on four of its servers is considered to be unrecoverable.

"While every effort will be made to continue to gain access to the lost information from those hosting servers, it seems unlikely that any usable data ... can be salvaged from these platforms," the company said.

"In assessing the situation, our greatest fears have been confirmed that not only was the production data erased during the attack, but also key backups, snapshots and other information that would allow us to reconstruct these servers from the remaining data."

The company said that it had been advised that it doesn't have sufficient resources to transfer the 4800 domains and accounts affected to other parts of the platforms and that it couldn't undertake further provisioning of services and accounts on the current infrastructure.

"This leaves us little choice but to assist you in any way possible to transfer your hosting and email needs to other hosting providers. We would like to thank those loyal customers who have stuck by us during this difficult time and elected to have their hosting remain on our servers."

Distribute.IT said that it would continue to try and recover the information from affected servers, but added that it believed it was a slim chance of recovering beyond what had already been salvaged.

The company's problems started with an attack on Saturday, 11 June, which Distribute.IT said was a deliberate attempt to take down the business by destroying drive header files and not an act aimed at stealing client data.

"The overall magnitude of the tragedy and the loss of our information and yours is simply incalculable; and we are distressed by the actions of the parties responsible for this reprehensible act," the company said.