[kwlug-disc] Free web storage for static HTML?

Sun Oct 19 16:26:12 EDT 2025

It looks like this got discarded by the mail filter. 

Jack: you will want to check which email address you used to subscribe
to the list.  Contact me offlist if you are not sure.

- Paul

On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 08:09:37PM +0000, Jack Baker wrote:
> Another option (cloud service) is Cloudflare pages (https://pages.cloudflare.com/) – you can integrate it with git process so a git repo can publish a website automatically. My understanding it is it free to a point – they handle all the dns and ssl as well (if they are the domains dns servers).
> 
> The IPFS and onion routes are fun ways too – depends on how hands on or off you want to be :)
> 
> - Jack
> 
> From: kwlug-disc <kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org> on behalf of Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>
> Date: Sunday, October 19, 2025 at 3:20 PM
> To: KWLUG discussion <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>
> Cc: Paul Nijjar <paul_nijjar at yahoo.ca>
> Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Free web storage for static HTML?
> I agree that you would have been safe from this particular attack. But
> self-hosting does not mean you are home free:
> 
> - You still have to worry about domain renewal and DNS squatting
> 
> - You have to make sure your DNS is updated when your IP address
>   changes (which is less issue if you are hosting in the cloud, but if
>   you are hosting in the cloud then your hosting is no longer free
>   (granted buying a domain name also makes your hosting not free)).
> 
> - If you are hosting from home, your ISP might block you arbitrarily for
>   hosting servers on the Internet connection you pay for. (Does Rogers
>   still do this?)
> 
> - You still have to deal with setting up and maintaining SSL certs.
>   With Let's Encrypt this is much easier than before but it still
>   takes some work.
> 
> - You had better keep up with security updates, and you probably want
>   to configure a strong firewall.
> 
> The only headache-free option is not to play. I don't know whether
> going with self-hosting or cloud hosting is less headache overall.
> 
> - Paul
> 
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 03:00:58PM -0400, Chris Frey wrote:
> > Some folks might read this and think "oh no! administration is a
> > headache and I can't cover all these bases!  I'd better not run my own
> > stuff."
> >
> > But this is a case where if you ran your own DNS, and your own webserver,
> > you'd have been protected from this, even with a wildcard CNAME.
> >
> > The key is by using the free github service, which is also used by
> > millions of other people, you need to be on your guard.  But there
> > is nobody setting up spammy-crap.rmoff.info in your own webserver,
> > so you'd have been safe by default.
> >
> > - Chris
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 02:39:08PM -0400, Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc wrote:
> > >
> > > This attack was sneaky. The gambling site was also hosted on github.io
> > > , and the attacker just pointed their CNAME for the site to
> > > waterlooregionvotes.org .
> > >
> > > The PSA here is that if you are hosting a custom domain on github
> > > pages then you should verify the domain with a TXT record: https://docs.github.com/en/pages/configuring-a-custom-domain-for-your-github-pages-site/verifying-your-custom-domain-for-github-pages
> > >
> > > If you do not verify your domain then people can snipe the CNAME from
> > > under you when you try to switch the domain to another project (which
> > > is what happened in this situation).
> > >
> > > Our site is not fixed yet but it will no longer promote indonesian
> > > gambling. The hard part is that I do not see a way to identify the
> > > account that stole our CNAME.
> > >
> > > You also need to be careful about being too generous with subdomains.
> > > See: https://rmoff.net/2024/01/16/hosting-on-github-pages-watch-out-for-subdomain-hijacking/
> > >
> > > - Paul
> > >
> > > On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 01:20:13PM -0400, Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc wrote:
> > > >
> > > > It looks like the waterlooregionvotes.org site has been taken over by
> > > > an Indonesian gambling site. I will ask the current maintainers of the
> > > > site to investigate. In the meantime you don't want to go there.
> > > >
> > > > - Paul
> > > >
> > > > On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 01:49:46AM -0400, Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Github pages should work? So should Gitlab pages.
> > > > > waterlooregionvotes.org is on github pages.
> > > > >
> > > > > If you want to go old school you could use neocities.org . I have my
> > > > > blog mirrored there for free.
> > > > >
> > > > > - Paul
> > > > >
> > > > > On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 01:28:48AM -0400, William Park via kwlug-disc wrote:
> > > > > > Trying to help out few non-techie people, but I'm also interested
> > > > > > personally...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > How do you make *static HTML* files available online for *free?*
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I looked at
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  * Google Site -- you can't upload html file
> > > > > >  * Dropbox -- it shows you the text content of HTML files.
> > > > > >  * GitHub -- same thing.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Failing that, I'm considering
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  * Put the files on USB stick, and plug it into router.� It has
> > > > > >    web/file server.� I would have to register DDNS, though.
> > > > > >  * Set up web server on a Linux computer.� But, I don't want to be
> > > > > >    "tech support".
> > > > >
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