Index.html disappeared but still send empty messages

[NTA]

Hi, all.

I am an occasional website developer for a very long time and now faced with a mysteriously strange situation below
There's a one-page website REDACTED in plain HTML with no sensitive data in it. The website's only page - index.html disappeared and left the famous "Index of /" list. I check every directory and show hidden files but could not find it anywhere. If I upload another one, it disappears after a few minutes as well. Yet, the contact form sends blank/empty messages periodically to the assigned email.

This is new to me. It may have been compromised. I can delete the whole account and create a new one that may resolve the problem, but I want to know why this is happening to learn a lesson or two.

Sorry for the long story. Cheers.

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! It's hard to say what may be removing that file, as that obviously isn't normal behavior. If you have root access to the server, it might be worth setting up an audit watch on the file to see what is removing it, but it does sound like a compromise of some sort on that user account. Details on setting up the audit tool can be found here:

Auditd - The Linux Auditing System

Introduction The auditd utility can be a valuable tool for monitoring what's happening on your Linux server. It integrates with the kernel to monitor system calls that the system makes. In this g...

support.cpanel.net

 

[NTA]

Thank you for the info. I'll try this and see what's causing the delete. I'll report back to share my experience.

Regards.