Ping! Zine Issue 75 - Profits Struggling? Here's why... by Ping! Zine Web Hosting Magazine

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IN THIS ISSUE... eighteen

HOW TLDS IMPACT YOUR BRAND AND ONLINE PRESENCE twenty

A LOOK BACK AT CPANEL CONFERENCE 2014 twenty two

LIZARD SQUAD WAGES WAR AGAINST GAMING NETWORKS? twenty four

SERVERHUB RANKS ON INC. 500|5000 LIST twenty six

ACCESS: AMAZON FIRE TV twenty nine

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EXECUTIVE STAFF Publisher Keith Duncan Managing Editor/Art Director Derek Morris Senior Editor Dave Young Senior Online Editor Brandie Richardson Executive Editor David Dunlap

EDITORIAL STAFF Technical Editor John Burmeister Commentary Editor Gary Cross Marketing Editor Frank Feingold Headlines Editor Derek Vaughan

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Garen Arnold Cody McLain Elizabeth Victor

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KAJE PICTURE PASSWORDS Ping! Zine Web Tech Magazine ÂŠ October 2014, Ping! Zine Web Tech Magazine, Published and Copyrighted 2014 by PINGZINE, LLC, P.O. Box 516, Denham Springs, LA 70726. All rights reserved.

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CHINESE GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF HACKING ICLOUD ACCOUNTS The Chinese government is facing allegations that they are responsible for hacking their own citizens Apple iCloud accounts.Non-profit organization Great Fire claims that Chinese authorities used a man-in-the-middle attack to gain valuable information such as usernames, passwords, and data from users iMessages, photos, and contacts, reports TechCrunch. “If users ignored the security warning and clicked through eh Apple site and entered

their username and password this information has now been compromised by the Chinese authorities,” stated a report from Great Fire. According to the BBC, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying stated that the allegations were false and that the government is “resolutely opposed” to hacking. Great Fire noted that the Chinese government has previously attacked Google and Yahoo users with similar tactics.

MICROSOFT UNVEILS NEW SMARTWATCH, MICROSOFT BAND

IPHONE 6 PLUS USERS COMPLAIN OF CONTINUOUS CRASH ISSUES

AMAZON TO OPEN SECOND EUROPEAN CLOUD DATA CENTER IN GERMANY

Microsoft recently announced that it to would be entering into the smart watch market with its new watch, the Microsoft Band.This new device features 10 sensors that act as a fitness tracker, GPS, and heart rate monitor. Notifications, payments, and touchscreen are also available on the watch. Users can sync the Band with their smartphones such as Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. According to PCWorld, the device can last around 2 days on one charge, which takes less than two hours to fully charge. Though it is not waterproof, it can “repel splashes.” Additional features include a 3-axis gyrometer, ambient light sensor, skin temperature sensor, ultraviolet light sensors, capcitive sensor, and a galvanic skin sensor.

Apple products continue to increase, as many iPhone 6 Plus users are now complaining of crashing problems.In a Apple support forum thread, dozens of comments stated that the 6 Plus either continues to crash or enters a loop where the device reboots continuously. According to AppleInsider, users claim that the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus seems to be the most affected model, while other attribute the crash issues to the device’s hardware. It has been noted that Apple is exchanging some faulty devices, though many are given a repair ticket and told to wait until it has gone through “the tech support chain of command.” Other issues Apple users have been experiencing include Wi-Fi, poor battery, and crashes with iOS 8 and problems with Bluetooth, black screens, crashes, and Wi-Fi with OS X Yosemite.

Amazon will begin offering its cloud services to users in Germany, resulting in its second location in Europe.Amazon Web Services EMEA chief Steve Midgley stated that the reason Frankfurt was chosen as the location for the data center wads due to it being “one of the largest internet exchanges globally.” “We know that data sovereignty is important to our customers in Germany,” added Midgley. “A number have told us that they’re running the workload that they’re allowed to run on us, by virtue of policy, but they’re not permitted to run other workloads. It tends to differ from company to company, but some examples might be customer data, personal data.” According to the New York Times, the new center will also reach to customers in Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, serving users faster performance speeds. Amazon Web Services is in 11 different regions world

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SPAM

RUSSIAN HACKERS EXPLOIT MICROSOFT WINDOWS FLAW Russian hackers have reportedly exploited a flaw in Microsoft’s Windows operating system, allowing them to spy on NATO and the Ukraine government.The groups operation, known as Sandstorm, was first dissevered by cyber security firm iSight Partners in August, through the firm believes the operation has been active since 2009 by the Moscow government, Fox News reports. The hackers were able to gain information about the targeted groups through a process known as “spearphising,” in which emails with

infected attachments were sent to targeted computers where the group was able to gain access to the systems through the Windows exploit. iSight added that they believe the group to be Russian due to their targets and Russian found on computer files uploaded by the hackers. Microsoft systems affected by the exploit include all versions of Windows except XP. In a statement to Reuters, a Microsoft spokesperson stated that an automatic update will be released sometime today.

BUG ISSUES PLAGUE APPLE’S OS X YOSEMITE OPERATING SYSTEM

ROCKSTAR SAYS GTA V BETA IS A SCAM THAT INSTALLS MALWARE ON YOUR DEVICE

GOOGLE FIBER MAKES ITS WAY TO AUSTIN THIS DECEMBER

Apple users may want to consider waiting to download OS X Yosemite until all of the bugs are worked out, as many users are complaining of many issues with the new operating system. According to PCWorld, there have been complaints concerning Wi-Fi, black screens, problems creating folders, issues with the spotlight not working properly, not all widgets supported in the notification center, lagging, Bluetooth not connecting properly, and even poor battery life. OS X Yosemite was released on October 16th, adding many new features such as redesigned interface, making and receiving calls on your mac from your iPhone, instant hotspot, notification center, screen sharing, messages, and many more.

Rockstar is warning users that if you have received aGTA V beta for the Xbox One, PS4, or PC then ignore it because it is a scam.“Please note: There is no pre-release ‘beta’ test for Grand Theft Auto V. If you see ads or solicitations to join a beta program, beware as this is likely some type of online phishing scam,” says the developer on its website. According to the Inquisitr, there have been reports that some PC users who downloaded the beta received 19 gigabytes of viruses and malware on their computers from sites such as grandtheftauto5beta, gta5betacode, getgtavbeta, and betagtav. Take-Two is actively working on shutting down the sites that claim they have the beta. GTA V will launch on November 18th for the new consoles, followed by a 2015 release for the PC.

Google will be bringing its high-speed Internet service, Google Fiber, to Austin, Texas this December, announced a Google spokeswoman. The spokeswoman did not give pricing details, though she did say the plans would mirror those in Google’s two other Fiber cities, Kansas City and Provo, the Wall Street Journalreports. Google currently offers three different plans to its Fiber cities, a $120 a month TV and Internet package, a $70 a month Internet only plan, and a slower Internet plan that is free for seven years after the initial $300 instillation fee is paid. The tech giant first announced that it would be bringing its service to Austin in 2013, slating a mid-2014 release.

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PROFITS DROWNING? BY CODY MCLAIN

HERE’S WHY...

Remember BHI? They were a small little company nobody heard of back in 1995. Shortly after founding though, they changed their name into the familiar Geocities we all knew and well sort of loved. While there were other online service providers at the time, this was arguably the first company that brought web hosting to the mainstream audience. For the first time, people could express themselves and share whatever was on their minds - unfiltered. Of course though, it wasn’t always pretty. In an era that preceded any knowledge of how colors go together, there was an expansive array of pages with clipart, automatic music and the ability to tile cat pictures as backgrounds. Most Geocities websites didn’t even get that far. No, they were left in the “Under Construction” part. It seems that the thrill of setting up a website didn’t translate into the thrill of maintaining one. However for most, what was the point really? Many only signed up because their friends had, and it was the cool, hip thing to have at the time. There wasn’t much point for most, as they realized it wasn’t the path to riches, fame or happiness. Despite that, Geocities still encountered great success. By early 1999, Yahoo bought GeoCities for a cool $3.6 billion in stock options. Even after one of the Internet’s worst merger’s in history, Yahoo kept Geocities alive. The problem though is they didn’t really do anything

with it. They just left it sitting there. They never evolved the company any further. Many started abandoning their Geocities accounts with the negative views and thoughts expressed from others and in the media. It was no longer the cool, hip thing to do or have. What once meant you were an early tech savvy adapter was now an embarrassing confession. This was the tipping point in which the mainstream audience no longer saw web hosting itself as a platform relevant to their interests. In late 2003, MySpace popped into the picture. People started jumping ship and started sharing content they were previously sharing on their Geocities page. While I wouldn’t say that MySpace was necessarily a re-invention of Geocities, it was similar in the respect that people were using it to share their ideas and express themselves. Only MySpace allowed that “tribe” effect where we receive immediate feedback from people that matter to us.

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MySpace, while initially successful in its own respect, came to rise by having a heavy focus on the music industry. Unknown record labels could launch unknown talent into fame. However, that opportunity was never fully explored as Newscorp changed the direction of MySpace once acquired. They stopped listening to their users and instead of owning the music industry, decided to appeal to the mainstream audience with a social-networking platform. As we all know, the strategy wasn’t as successful as they had hoped with the advent of Facebook. To fix all the problems MySpace had would have meant reversing decisions that were made when the company was first founded. At the time it was easier and safer to maintain the status quo and simply try to hang on to an existing user base. Today, they still maintain that relatively small user base who continue to update their profiles. I wouldn’t call that innovation or success any more than I’d call it hospice care. So this raises the fundamental question, why are most hosting companies today still appealing to this mainstream customer base? Sure, the mainstream audience doesn't use web hosting to begin with. However, that is because in the early days we didn’t know exactly what it was or even what its purpose would be. Now most internet users have come to understand that making a website, dealing with code, updating it etc.. isn’t easy or fun. This effectively changed the history of web hosting as we know it. Hosting branched off from the mainstream audience to people who either wanted to create stuff, or sell something. The problem lies in the fact that nearly 2 decades later we’re trying to appeal to that same customer base in the exact same ways, just with differences in features, resource allotments, and oh yes - reseller hosting. While reseller hosting has been around for as long as I can remember, it wasn’t readily available in the earlier part of the decade. Somebody thought it would be a great idea to allow others to resell their services so that they could get more sales. While this strategy does effectively work quite well at increasing revenue, it also causes a much bigger problem in the long-term. A reseller account allows nearly anybody to start a business. That itself is not a bad thing, in fact my first hosting company resided on a reseller account. Reseller Hosting lowers the barrier to entry, quite dramatically in fact. This created all those fly-by-night hosts we’re all familiar with. Those cheaper hosts have always been around, but they flourished with the introduction of reseller hosting. Essentially it opened the gates to many more all trying to grab a piece of the same pie. Here is one way of looking at reseller hosting. Say you’re in a tribe of people living together. Then because the group runs out of food they decided to become cannibals and eat the only doctor in the group to solve their hunger pains. Maybe everybody will get to stuff their bellies full of money, or food in this case, but the long term damage it does to the groups ability to survive as a whole is insurmountable.

For the past many years there has been a growing number of companies competing by having cheaper price points. Where we see in the broadest sense, companies unknowingly selling themselves short of long-term growth for short-term sales. At the same time though, it isn’t their fault since the technology allowed for it to happen. So over some time, say a decade, we now have a large amount of small companies, a fair amount of medium companies, and a very few large companies at the top. Each company is trying to maintain the status quo while competing in market conditions that have changed quite dramatically in that same time period. Why is this happening? Lower Barrier to Entry + Saturation of the Market = Lower Value Per Customer / Higher Cost per Acquisition Companies that have been established for a long time are now using the same tactics that were once used by the small fly-by-night hosts. In other-words, unlimited hosting and steep discounts have become commonplace. We’re seeing discounts that were once reserved for the holidays now being used on a daily occurrence by small, medium and big hosts alike. All it takes is a quick peek at the WebHostingTalk shared offers section where the majority of services are offered with 50% discounts. This not only causes damage to the brands of these companies, but also is causing a domino effect of price competition. The amount of companies that seem to vanish every year is startling, and the amount of bad customer experiences that come out of these is even worse. This has created an environment where there have been significant distortions in operating budgets for direct competitors. Somebody on a $20 reseller account could in theory compete directly against the company he buys the resources from. This has allowed many companies, including my own (Thanks HostGator!), to leech off the product offering of another company. In effect allowing the ones who were passionate and hard-working enough to create a completely separate entity that competes with the company that once supported it. Entrepreneurism for the win, but at the same time it’s a cycle that is self-defeating. This has created an influx of hosting companies operating on a 10th of the budget of the larger companies. This has brought the cost index down dramatically and caused many companies to go out of business due to sinking profit margins. One of the biggest reasons for this is the lack of direct costs associated with shared customers. If I buy something from a store, that store knows exactly the cost they bought it for and can create an appropriate markup for the item. With hosting, there is no direct or immediate cost associated with that $5 hosting customer. In fact he may never submit a ticket or even setup his website, happily paying his bill every month. Alternatively he could become a huge headache submitting tickets daily. With a wide array of variables to consider here most simply

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assume that since their competitor lowered their cost that means they can afford to lower theirs too. It’s easy to look at the cost of a server and know when you have enough customers on that box to cover costs of that server. However there are other cost factors at play that many don’t consider. Costs associated with general business expenses from software licenses to support costs aren’t typically tied to a model that differentiates customers and the price they’re paying. Let me put this into perspective, say I have 1000 customers paying me $5/month and 50 customers paying me $100/ month. Each customer base brings me $5,000 every month for a total of $10,000/month. Then I have to go out and hire 3 staff members at $2,000/month each who spend the majority of the time supporting the 1,000 customers. So in effect, those 1,000 customers are actually causing a negative return, which is made up by the other customer base. This combined with the stress of supporting a larger, more demanding customer base begs the question…. Is it really worth it? Now sure, one could argue that the 1,000 customers will refer more customers and so forth. In fact the majority of hosting companies today get their customers through word of mouth. So it makes sense you grow larger with the higher customer base. That doesn’t do anything to solve the problems associated with supporting more customers at a more competitive price point. The possibility still exists where you could have a negative ROI due to immeasurable cost factors. How do the big companies of today get around this? They stuff as many customers as they possibly can on as little boxes as possible. This is also partly why many hosting companies either outsource their support to India, or maintain a virtual support staff - all just to keep costs as low as possible. Who suffers though? It’s the customers paying you $100/month who are worth an infinitely more amount of money. In an attempt to appeal to the masses, many companies lose the opportunity to be successful by appealing to a more targeted audience. We have created a system that is turning in on itself. It has become a world where you can now get quality hosting for just a few dollars a month. This combined with companies who are consistently coming out with cheaper offers and steeper discounts don’t seem to realize the greater impact it has for their brand and for the industry as a whole. Competing on price will prevent smaller companies from flourishing and existing companies from growing. I know it’s a tough pill to swallow but what if there was a better way of hosting? What if you could charge prices that well exceeded the minimum cost per customer? Where you could lower operating costs dramatically and provide an overall better service? Many companies focus on building their customer base while ignoring their brand. Whereas most companies compete solely on price and fail to appeal to a better or more specific target audience. Hosting has become an industry filled with generalists, targeting customers who want specialists.

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More and more companies are basing their revenue models on quantity over quality. This undeterred focus towards acquiring a larger mass of customers effectively increases support and other costs. This is all at the peril of establishing a genuine relationship with the customer. A better solution is by establishing a market for your company and owning that market. Then charging a premium price to provide a better level of service for customers of that platform. How many customers do you have? More importantly how much is each customer worth to you? If you’re hosting big brands, are they paying you a fair amount for the commitment of service you’re providing? Web Hosting is one of the few service industries where your client can be a multi-million dollar company and still only be paying you $10/month for hosting their website. A hosting company used to be about establishing relationships with its customers. Many owners knew all their customers by names and charged a reasonable rate for their service, as it was back then - a service. Today, hosting has turned into a commodity, where anybody can start a company for less than the monthly cost of Netflix. It has become an industry of generalists bidding with each other for customers that will ultimately cause them to lose more money in the long run. Instead of competing on price and trying to differentiate by reputation or quality, we need to find our market and own it. Let’s look at doctors for a minute. We all go to see our General Practitioner for any ailments or problems we might encounter. A General physician though, as the name implies are the jack of all maladies, master of none. An average General doctor generates $189,000/yr in annual income while an Orthopedic Surgeon generates $519,000/yr. Sure the number of Orthopedic patients is significantly less, but he makes up for that with a significantly higher rate. So how does this translate into the hosting world? If you’re selling Joomla hosting, only offer Joomla hosting and turn away any other customers. Raise your prices and stop trying to compete with the next hosting company over. Become an expert in Joomla hosting and offer support for all related extensions or plugins. Offer a free customer consultation and help them setup their site and personalized calls to see how they’re doing. Geocities failed to evolve, and MySpace failed to own its market. Many new companies have sprung up in recent years with the addition of WPEngine, DigitalOcean and others. The two things they all have in common are in their ability to own their market exceptionally well and listen to what their customers want. So perhaps its time to ask, what are you selling? A commodity, or a service?

BRAND

As new TLD (Top Level Domains) are being continually rolled out by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) this year, it is important to look out for branding and other opportunities to protect and advance your company's online presence. Whether or not the new TLDs really take hold in e-commerce and online culture remains to be seen. In the meantime, you should still think about obtaining a TLD if it relates to your industry or location. TLDs can protect your brand while helping your online ranking and increasing your online presence at the same time. Â

How New TLDs Impact Your Brand and Your Online Presence By Elizabeth Victor

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There might very likely be more than one that would apply to your business. Unfortunately, even if you have no intention of scooping up a new specialized domain name, it might be necessary just to protect your brand from competition or would-be competitors that will try to capitalize on the brand name you have already established for yourself. This article will further discuss how search engine optimization, branding, and online strategies are impacted by this new and ongoing development affecting websites all over the world. Here is how to turn these new TLDs into an opportunity instead of a headache.

TLDs and Search Engine Optimization

Almost 2,000 new TLDs will be available over the next few years with several hundred already rolled out this year. Here are some examples: · .app · .attorney · .blog · .boston · .flowers · .marketing · .realtor · .store · .web · .wedding

It seems that every change and every aspect of web sites today seems to draw speculation about how it will affect search engine rankings and search engine optimization. All the new TLDs and their many keyword possibilities are no exception. However, Matt Cutts from Google’s Web Spam Team was quick to shoot down the idea that Google will be favoring any TLDs in the rankings. Of course, the speculation didn’t end there. Many believe, and it stands to reason that there can be some benefits from well-done new websites that promote your business, especially with a focus on certain aspects of your business. By well-done, we mean well put together websites with the content needed to gain visitors and attract the attention of your customers. The extra web presence and links certainly will not hurt your search ranking status. As with any search engine optimization tactic, if you try to take short cuts or get around Google’s rules and guidelines, you are going to get burned. Instead, follow best practices and you will be pleased with the advertising value and search ranking value you can enjoy as a result of your hard work.

TLDs and Branding

Branding with TLDs can be twofold. It can be about building your brand; but it can also be about protecting your brand from competition or those one or two disgruntled customers or employees that have it out for you. Of course, some TLDs can offer both. For example, .BOO is one TLD that is available. It could mean than someone is jeering your company name, but for a Halloween of costume brand, YourHalloweenDomain.BOO can be a lot of fun! Speaking about fun, .fun is another TLD available, so if your company is about fun, parties, cruise companies or vacations, that is a great way to stress the “fun” aspect of your business. Another TLD that can have dual meanings is the .SUCKS domain. You likely want to grab your brand and your domain in the .SUCKS TLD just to secure it and protect it from the haters out there. However, don’t just think of it as a negative. Consider how a domain name like SlipandFalls.SUCKS for a personal injury attorney or how BeingBrokenDown.SUCKS could help a tow truck company promote their services. These catchy domains can help advertising efforts, especially in highly competitive advertising markets. These examples should help you brain storm how these and the hundreds of other new domain extensions could help your branding efforts.

Takeaways for Your Business

For many companies, you have to ask yourself if you need a new domain name. Do you have a clear purpose for the domain name and can you invest enough time, effort, and money into the project to make it work? Of course, there is also the consideration of the cost of the domain name itself. Some of the new TLDs will be a considerable investment themselves, with some TLDs costing hundreds of thousands, or even in the millions for exclusive rights. If a new domain is not in your budget, instead think about how capturing a less expensive domain or building out a branding campaign for your company would benefit you better and be a wiser investment.

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t a k c a B k o A Lo

cPanel Conference 2014

ach year the team at cPanel puts their heads together to decide the direction of the next cPanel Conference. They consider past conference successes, inspiration from other trade shows, and most importantly, feedback from their dedicated community of partners. In doing so, it became clear that attendees overwhelmingly preferred opportunities where they could interact and share with one another while learning something new. So they took a fresh approach and declared cPanel Conference 2014 “Hands On Houston.” They also ensured that this year’s conference was overflowing with exclusive sessions, labs, and workshops. Attendees were immersed in rich content and left with valuable takeaways. Adam French, a cPanel product owner, encouraged “Customizing Paper Lantern” participants to bring their laptops and sent them home with functional styles and more to get the most out of this user interface theme. Another hands on highlight was “Apache and LiteSpeed Performance Comparison.” Led by Tristan Wallace, a technical analyst at cPanel, this session helped participants determine which server type works best for their environment. Whereas their sessions and labs catered to more technical attendees, the keynote speeches at cPanel Conference 2014 focused on how to effectively market one’s company and the services it offers. During Andrew Davis’s “The Loyalty Loop How the Small Things Add Up to Big Revenue,” the best-selling author and marketing guru walked the audience through “the new consumer journey” and explained how to better differentiate a brand or hosting solution. Most importantly, he encouraged conference attendees to leverage existing clients and customers to generate continuous business opportunities. WireFuseMedia Founder Cody McLain, in “Bootstrap Marketing for Web Hosting Companies,” shared some low-cost techniques that he used to build PacificHost, a leading provider of website development and e-commerce solutions. While acknowledging how difficult it can be to grow and compete in the web hosting industry, he urged the audience to push forward with strategic branding

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efforts. Both keynote speakers inspired enthusiastic discussion and set the tone for the rest of cPanel Conference 2014. Continuing with tradition, each year a few lucky groups are chosen for an exclusive “Dinner with cPanel.” This year conference registrants received the option to sign up for a chance to have dinner with a cPanel team of their choice. These dinners were hosted by executives as well as members of the Marketing, Accounts & Development, Security, EasyApache, Customer Service & Development, Technical Support, and WHMCS teams. Dinner-goers enjoyed local fare and got to know cPanel insiders. As if the daily knowledge-exchanging bonanza wasn’t enough, cPanel also hosted nightly networking events at some of Houston’s hottest spots. On day one, EDM prodigy DJ Elle Morgan dropped beats while conference attendees danced and mingled at Red Door Midtown. Revelers could also create photo flip books with their colleagues and friends using hilarious props, such as cowboy hats and tiaras. These keepsakes were a huge hit. Rhymin’ N Stealin’ stole the show on day two. This Beastie Boys tribute band rocked the house at Numbers Nightclub, Houston’s oldest concert venue. The energy was electric as they performed a string of crowd-pleasing hits. A jaunt to Joystix rounded out day three of cPanel Conference 2014. At one of cPanel’s favorite haunts, attendees were treated to unlimited game play. With everything from pinball and air hockey to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter on classic uprights, it was an event that was both fun and nostalgia-inducing. All-in-all, cPanel Conference 2014 turned out to be a “hands on” home run. See what I did there?

Stay tuned to find out where cPanel is headed next for cPanel Conference 2015!

GAMER

HACKING GROUP LIZARD SQUAD WAGES WAR AGAINST GAMING NETWORKS

n light of the recent hacking attempts on retailers, banks, and major corporations, it was only a matter of time until gaming networks would fall victim cyber crimes as well. Hacking group Lizard Squad first made headlines in August where they took responsibility for bringing down multiple gaming networks such as PlayStation Now, Xbox Live, Battle.net, and League of Legends by using a large-scale denial of service (DDoS) attacks. According to a report from Deadline, the group launched the multiple attacks due to the U.S bombing of Islamic extremists in Iraq, stating that users would be able to get back onto their networks once the bombings stop.

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“Kuffar don’t get to play videogames until bombing of the ISIL stops. #ISIL #PSN #ISIS” said the group via Twitter. Lizard Squad sent out another message shortly after to American Air stating that they “have been receiving reports that @j_smedley’s plane #362 from DFW to SAN has explosives onboard, please look into this.” This tweet was in reference to Sony Online Entertainment’s President John Smedley who was traveling to San Francisco on the mentioned flight. The flight was diverted to Phoenix where all passengers and luggage were checked for explosives. Sony later issued a statement acknowledging the attack, but noting that no personal information had been accessed.

“Like other major networks around the world, the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network have been impacted by an attempt to overwhelm our network with artificially high traffic. Although this has impacted your ability to access our network and enjoy our services, no personal information has been accessed.”

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The group caused the multiple attacks because of the U.S. bombing of Islamic extremists in Iraq.

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Lizard Squad claimed that they issued the PlayStation attacks because Sony was charging users for the PlayStation Plus service but not using the money to improve its services. Days after the initial attacks, the cyber criminals once again attacked Riot’s League of Legends, causing issues with the login queue, loading the game, and its forums. “I think we broke something,” said their first tweet, followed by “Leagues’s NA forums are displaying “500 internal error” for me. Woops.” “Even EUW’s forums are lagging. The target was NA. lol’d,” taunted the group. Though there is not much known about the group, Cole Stryker, author of “Hacking the Future: Privacy, Identity, and Anonymity on the Web,” said the hackers style is similar to that of former group LulzSec, ABC News reports. “Very trollish, prankstery,” explained Stryker. “I don’t believe this person genuinely want to be involved in geopolitics. I think this person is just having a laugh.” In regards to how the DDoS attacks are being accomplished, Stryker added: “It can be a bunch of people getting on their computers and bombarding a website with dummy traffic in order to overload the servers or it could be a single actor who has access to a botnet, which is a network of compromised computers that have been taken over for the person conducting the attack. If it is one person, it is someone who has a wide network of computers under his control and the owners might now realize their machines are being compromised.” Lizard Squad’s most recent attacks occurred in late September where they took down Call of Duty: Ghosts, Destiny, and EA. Once again taking to Twitter, the group wrote, “Woah, I think there are some Ghosts haunting Destiny, followed by “Looks like our prediction was correct,” referring to a previous post claiming that there would be a lot of angry players. EA’s recently released FIFA 15 was among many of the game’s offline, which also included Madden 15 and The Sims 4. Authorities are still trying to determine the members of the group, though some think the group may be from outside of the United States due to their ISIS and 9/11 references, NewsFactor reports. Hacktivist group Anonymous recently posted data online suggesting they were the ones behind the PlayStation hack, leading many to believe what attacks Lizard Squad actually caused. Lizard Squad has not caused any more issues since then, and their Twitter account is currently suspended.

Pi n g Z i n e . c o m

TECHIE

ServerHub Ranks On Inc. 500|5000 List

By Brandie Richardson

eb hosting provider ServerHub has been added to Inc. magazine’s 2014 500|5000 list, ranking as number 426 as one of the nation’s fastest growing private companies. ServerHub is among many others to be featured in the September issue, which includes Acaia Communications, CPSG Partners, Netcom3 Global, Superfish, and Convene, among many others. “We are extremely pleased to have made the Inc500 list this year, it is a true acknowledgement of the accomplishments that our entire ServerHub team has worked for over the past few years. Each and every one of our team members are all about building something great,” stated ServerHub CEO John Brancela. Inc. President and Editor-In-Chief Eric Schurenberg pointed out that over the past several years the list’s featured companies have slowly become more social media based and less

computer hardware based, which adds even more prestige to ServerHub’s presence on the list. The trend to move into a cloud-based architecture can only improve ServerHub’s client base, as more and more average users are embracing this technology. In addition, many computing models are encouraging this type of storage. The market of smart phones and tablets are helping ServerHub to reach their future goals by offering the ability to allow devices to backup files with the promise of sharing this data among many devices. A prime example of this is the iPhone, wanting all its users to use the iCloud. This educates a new class of users and gives ServerHub a whole group of new potential clients from smartphone users to computer users. Serverhub's great customer service and great pricing from the low end customer to high end availability will continue to help them grown and stay in front of the competition.

"What surprises me, even though I know it's coming, is the sheer variety of the paths our entrepreneurs take to success, thematically reflecting how our economy has evolved," said Schurenberg. "This year there are far more social media and far fewer computer hardware businesses than there were, say, six years ago. But what doesn't change is the fearsome creativity unleashed by American entrepreneurship." On average, companies on this list have produced a threeyear growth of 516%, with ServerHub projected to have a growth of an astonishing 1,112%. Additionally, the Inc. 5000 list aggregate revenue is $211 billion, with more than 505,000 jobs created over the past three years. There are many benefits to being on either of Inc.’s lists. The company pointed out on its website that companies featured on the list gain plenty of media exposure with national, local, and industry recognition. In 2010 alone, profile pages of those on the 500|5000 list received around 200,000 visits during August and September, creating plenty of business opportunities through the high traffic received on their pages. Additionally, this exposure creates plenty of networking opportunities through Inc. event invitations, the annual Conference and Awards Ceremony, and private events with other local companies. Brancela noted that ServerHub’s business growth can be attributed to their astounding customer base. “We have built some tremendous relationships with some great people over the years. As time has gone on we have been able to make really substantial enhancements to help our customers and the Internet grow as a whole.” ServerHub is currently expanding into the International markets, with its merge into the European market expected to be fully functional by next year. The expansion into the International market is a great possibility for ServerHub. Entry into these markets may be difficulty, but with their offerings and great reputation, it has potential to be a great growth opportunity. Brancela adds that the company will continue to grow as they continue to make “significant investments in our IP transit, network, and peering, as well as our general offerings. We see no sign of a slowdown and we are really excited for the things ahead.”

Inc.’s 33rd annual 5000 event was held in Phoenix, AZ, at the JW Marriott on October 15-17 where all companies who were featured on the list were honored for their achievements. Attendees spent three days attending networking events, ceremonies, conference sessions, book signings, and keynote presentations. Guest speakers who attended this year’s Conference & Awards Ceremony included Michael Dell, Martha Stewart, CNBC show “The Profit” host Marcus Lemonis, The Container Store CEO Kip Tindell, GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons, Lolly Wolly Doodle founder and CEO Brandi Temple, and CEO and Founder of Chobani Hamdi Ulukaya. Inc. magazine was founded in 1979 in Boston, MA. Well renowned companies such as Apple, Yelp, Pandora, Timberland, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, LinkedIn, Zillow, and many others have had the honor of being listed in this monthly publication. This magazine has seen tremendous audience growth in the last several years; with an audience reach of 2 million in 2010 to 6 million in 2014. Companies on the Inc. 5000 list are ranked by their percentage revenue growth over a three-year period, as well as by industry, metro area, revenue, and number of employees. In order to qualify, privately held companies must be based in the U.S., generated at least $100,000 in revenue in 2010, $2 million in revenue in 2013, and be an independent company, not subsidiary or division of another firm, though there are a few exceptions to the requirements. ServerHub was first launched in June 2001 under the name of Infinite Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eonix Corporation. In September 2012, the company went through a complete rebranding and changed their name to what it is now. This private infrastructure-as-a-Service provider is based in the South-western U.S., providing services to customers in over 120 countries, with more to be added in the European market. The hosting provider offers an array of services such as cloud hosting, dedicated servers, bandwidth options, IP addresses, and port access. ServerHub has data centers in Phoenix and Dallas for companies ranging from start ups to enterprises. A full list of companies on Inc.’s magazine can be found online at Inc.com or on newsstands from August 20th to November 30th. Pi n g Z i n e . c o m

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AMAZON FIRE TV

mazonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital media player allows users to watch movies, play games, and access multiple apps on a television. The device was unveiled and made available on April 2nd, 2014. It can be purchased from various retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and Staples. THE GOOD Amazonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s media streaming box allows instant access to thousands of movies and television shows along with hundreds of popular video games. The device supports many third-party apps such as Netflix, Pandora, Hulu Plus, YouTube, and ESPN. Setup is very easy, along with the convenient voice search feature. THE BAD Though voice search is an incredible feature, it does not work well within non-Amazon apps. The gaming experience is not as good as other media devices. THE VERDICT Amazon Fire TV is an impressive media-streaming device with a decent price tag. The Fire TV is incredibly fast and performs very well compared to other competitors on the market. It is well worth the $99 to spend on this device. SPECS Price: $99 Memory: 2GB Processor: Quad-Core Features: voice search, HDMI video out, optical audio out, Ethernet

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APPLE PAY

pple’s newest contactless payment system, Apple Pay, made its way to iPhone 6, 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and iPad Mini 3 users on October 20th via free iOS 8.1 update. In order to access the new feature, users must download the free iOS 8.1 update, which can be accessed in the Settings menu. After downloading the update, users must open “Passbook & Apple Pay” and set up your credit/ debit card information by either using the camera or manually inputting it in. THE GOOD Apple has aimed to please users with its new contactless payment system, making it easy for users to set it up and use it. Now you don’t have to worry about every bringing your wallet as the system allows for up to eight credit/ debit cards to be stored. THE BAD The major downfall to this system is that it is only available in the U.S. and from select retailers and banks. Only Apple’s newest products, iPhone 6/ 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and iPad Mini 3 can use this feature. THE VERDICT This secure system is perfect for those on the go. Once more retailers and banks sign on for the system it will be even more convenient. Apple has assured that over 500 banks have signed on to offer Pay, as well as thousands more retailers, which are expected to be available by the end of the year. REQUIREMENTS iOS 8.1 iPhone 6/ 6Plus, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3

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GALAXY NOTE 4

amsung’s latest Android tablet, the Galaxy Note 4, was unveiled at IFA Berlin on September 3rd and released in the U.S. October 23rd. The Note 4 comes with many features such as a Stylus pen, split-screen mode, and a heart-rate monitor among many others. THE GOOD Samsung newest “phablet” packs powerful performance and amazing high-resolution to its 5.7inch screen. The battery charges very fast and the battery lasts longer than other devices on the market. THE BAD Hefty price tag. THE VERDICT If you’re willing to pay the hefty price, and love big smartphones, then the Galaxy Note 4 is for you. SPECS Dimension: 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5mm Display: 5.7” Quad HD Super AMOLED Memory: 3GB RAM + 32GB Internal memor OS: Android 4.4 KitKat Colors: Frost White, Blossom Pink, Charcoal Black, Bronze Brown

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