Wed Jan 23 08:43:17 PST 2002 — Shell access now requires verification of customer identity by technical support before initial use. This one-time verification is designed to prevent late night sign-ups by individuals using stolen credit cards who then use shell.sonic.net as a platform for hacking, launching denial of service (DOS) attacks, IRC proxies and bots and other annoying behaviors. These actions cause problems with IRC servers who may blacklist us, and the impact a DOS attack from our dual T3 links can have on a smaller remote site can be crippling for them.
Any customers who have used the shell server in the past month and a half have been tagged as verified and have access currently. Customers who have not recently used the shell or who are new customers and need access to the shell server should contact support via email or phone for a brief call-back verification of contact information and identity.
This additional one-time security measure benefits all of our customers, as the impact of these behaviors, particularly the DOS attacks, can impact dialup, hosting and all other access. -Dane, Eli, Kelsey, Russ, ScottR