Rackspace Email users using Exchange 2013 have been experiencing a loss of email since December 2nd.
Initially, the company described the issue as an outage. However, on December 3rd, they announced that this was a Security Incident and had shut down the environment.
On Friday, Dec 2, 2022, we became aware of an issue impacting our Hosted Exchange environment. We proactively powered down and disconnected the Hosted Exchange environment while we triaged to understand the extent and the severity of the impact. After further analysis, we have determined that this is a security incident.
Rackspace
Rackspace’s approach to offlining services is valid when a business encounters a security threat. The first protocol is to prevent further data compromises and restrict the Threat Actor’s ability to continue its activities. However, this has left thousands of customers without an email service, impacting individuals and businesses. There is currently no end in sight to the incident either.
Rackspace has offered an alternative solution for impacted customers. At no extra cost, they will assist in migrating Exchange 2013 mailboxes to Office 365. However, the process is not straightforward and, in many cases, requires the already stretched staff to support the activity.
We continue to help customers execute the immediate resolution path of leveraging Microsoft 365 and have helped thousands of customers move tens of thousands of users to this platform. We recognize that setting up and configuring Microsoft 365 can be challenging and we have added all available resources to help support customers.
Rackspace
Microsoft Exchange Server has seen several high-profile and critical vulnerabilities over the last two years. However, it remains unclear whether Rackspace has been a victim of the latest vulnerabilities like ProxyLogon or ProxyShell.
Rackspace continues to work on a resolution, but frustration continues to grow within its customer base. Many are questioning the company’s recent staff reduction and whether they should stay with the company. There is also a valid question on whether the Exchange 2013 product should have been retired long ago.
Regardless of where we are now, there is still a long path to restoring Rackspace’s email capabilities to thousands of customers. And many have already started to migrate away from the company.
If you are affected by this incident, SaneChoice can help you migrate to an alternative Email Solution.
The SaneChoice Team
https://www.sanechoice.cloud/SaneChoice started in 2004 when a customer was frustrated by their hosting provider at the time. Since that year, SaneChoice has been providing technology services to clients worldwide, with a strong focus on helping small businesses understand technology.
