SkySilk Cloud Services

Last updated

SkySilk Cloud Services is an American web infrastructure company based in Los Angeles. [1] [2] [3] According to Data Center Dynamics, SkySilk has points of presence in both Los Angeles and New York. [1] SkySilk appears to be hosted by a facility in Los Angeles operated by data-center provider QuadraNet. [1]

In February 2021, they took over the hosting of the controversial social media network Parler. In relation to their hosting of Parler, SkySilk representatives said that "Skysilk does not advocate nor condone hate, rather, it advocates the right to private judgment and rejects the role of being the judge, jury, and executioner." [4] [5] According to Ars Technica , Parler's traffic from SkySilk passes through an ISP based in Ohio called CloudRoute. Ars Technica reported that "CloudRoute and SkySilk seem to be connected in some way and may ultimately be part of the same company", though they noted the CEO of CloudRoute denied such a connection. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sky Dayton</span> American entrepreneur and investor

Sky Dylan Dayton is an American entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder of Internet service provider EarthLink, co-founder of eCompanies, the founder of Boingo, and co-founder of City Storage Systems and CloudKitchens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parler</span> American alt-tech social networking service

Parler is an inactive American alt-tech social networking service associated with conservatives. Launched in August 2018, Parler marketed itself as a free speech-focused and unbiased alternative to mainstream social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Journalists have described Parler as an alt-tech alternative to Twitter, with its users including those banned from mainstream social networks or who oppose their moderation policies.

HavenCo Limited was a data haven, data hosting services company, founded in 2000 to operate from Sealand, a self-declared unrecognized principality that occupied Roughs Tower.

Dynamic Infrastructure is an information technology concept related to the design of data centers, whereby the underlying hardware and software can respond dynamically and more efficiently to changing levels of demand. In other words, data center assets such as storage and processing power can be provisioned to meet surges in user's needs. The concept has also been referred to as Infrastructure 2.0 and Next Generation Data Center.

CacheFly is a content delivery network (CDN) provider based in Chicago, Illinois with a 100% remote team. In 1999 CacheFly started as Downloadhosting.com for file distribution for small software developers, by CTO, Matt Levine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OVHcloud</span> French web hosting and cloud computing company

OVH, legally OVH Groupe SAS, is a French cloud computing company which offers VPS, dedicated servers and other web services. As of 2016 OVH owned the world's largest data center in surface area. As of 2019, it was the largest hosting provider in Europe, and the third largest in the world based on physical servers. The company was founded in 1999 by the Klaba family and is headquartered in Roubaix, France. OVH is incorporated as a simplified joint-stock company under French law. In 2019 OVH adopted OVHcloud as its public brand name.

HBGary is a subsidiary company of ManTech International, focused on technology security. In the past, two distinct but affiliated firms had carried the HBGary name: HBGary Federal, which sold its products to the US Government, and HBGary, Inc. Its other clients included information assurance companies, computer emergency response teams, and computer forensic investigators. On 29 February 2012, HBGary, Inc. announced it had been acquired by IT services firm ManTech International. At the same time, HBGary Federal was reported to be closed.

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deft (company)</span> US-based IT services company

Deft is an IT infrastructure provider of colocation, cloud infrastructure, IaaS, DRaaS, network connectivity, managed storage, and managed services in data centers across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Some of the company's customers include CDW, Outbrain, New Relic, Ars Technica, Cars.com, and Shopify. In 2018, ServerCentral was named one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States by Inc. Magazine for the eighth consecutive year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soylent (meal replacement)</span> American brand of meal replacement products

Soylent, produced by Soylent Nutrition, Inc., is an American company that produces meal replacement products in powder, shake, and bar forms. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OS X Mavericks</span> Tenth major release of OS X

OS X Mavericks is the 10th major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mavericks was announced on June 10, 2013, at WWDC 2013, and was released on October 22, 2013, worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">8chan</span> Imageboard website

8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan, is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site has been linked to white supremacism, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, racism and antisemitism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings. The site has been known to host child pornography; as a result, it was filtered out from Google Search in 2015. Several of the site's boards played an active role in the Gamergate harassment campaign, encouraging Gamergate affiliates to frequent 8chan after 4chan banned the topic. 8chan is the home of the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Docs</span> Cloud-based word processing software

Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Docs is accessible via an internet browser as a web-based application and is also available as a mobile app on Android and iOS and as a desktop application on Google's ChromeOS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3CX</span> Cyprus software company

3CX is an international VoIP IPBX software developer. Its 3CX Phone System, an open-standards, software-based PBX deployable on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and cloud computing platforms. 3CX can be integrated with multiple CRM systems.

Epik is an American domain registrar and web hosting company known for providing services to alt-tech websites that host far-right, neo-Nazi, and other extremist materials. It has been described as a "safehaven for the extreme right" because of its willingness to provide services to far-right websites that have been denied service by other Internet service providers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Monster</span> American technology executive

Robert W. Monster is a Dutch-American technology executive and the founder, former chief executive officer, and current chairman of Epik, a domain registrar and web host known for providing services to websites that host far-right, neo-Nazi, and extremist content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft 365</span> Subscription services offered by Microsoft

Microsoft 365 is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs formerly marketed under the name Microsoft Office, enterprise products and services associated with these products such as Exchange Server, SharePoint, and Yammer. It also covers subscription plans encompassing these products, including those that include subscription-based licenses to desktop and mobile software, and hosted email and intranet services.

Alt-tech are social media platforms and Internet service providers that have become popular among the alt-right, far-right, and others who espouse extremism or fringe theories, often because they employ less stringent content moderation than mainstream platforms. The term "alt-tech" is a portmanteau of "alt-right" and "Big Tech". In the 2010s, some prominent conservatives and their supporters began to use alt-tech platforms because they had been banned from other social media platforms. Alt-tech platforms describe themselves as protectors of free speech and individual liberty, which researchers and journalists have alleged may be a cover for antisemitism and terrorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Epik data breach</span> 2021 cybersecurity incident

On September and October 2021, a data breach targeted on the American domain registrar and web hosting company Epik, was exposed a wide range of information including personal information of customers, domain history and purchase records, credit card information, internal company emails, and records from the company's WHOIS privacy service. More than 15 million unique email addresses were exposed, belonging to customers and to non-customers whose information had been scraped. The attackers responsible for the breach identified themselves as members of the hacktivist collective Anonymous. The attackers released an initial 180 gigabyte dataset on September 13, 2021, though the data appeared to have been exfiltrated in late February of the same year. A second release, this time containing bootable disk images, was made on September 29. A third release on October 4 reportedly contained more bootable disk images and documents belonging to the Texas Republican Party, a customer of Epik's.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Moss, Sebastian (2021-02-16). "Parler returns, hosted by SkySilk in an LA data center". Data Center Dynamics. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  2. Grothaus, Michael (2021-02-16). "Here's the rationale for SkySilk enabling Parler to get back online". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  3. Allyn, Bobby; Treisman, Rachel (2021-02-15). "After Weeks Of Being Offline, Parler Finds A New Web Host". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  4. Grothaus, Michael (2021-02-16). "Here's the rationale for SkySilk enabling Parler to get back online". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  5. Allyn, Bobby; Treisman, Rachel (2021-02-15). "After Weeks Of Being Offline, Parler Finds A New Web Host". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  6. Brodkin, Jon (2021-02-15). "Parler says it's back without "Big Tech" after being kicked off Amazon". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2021-02-17.