Free File Sharing Sites | 4Shared, The Ultra Hackable Paradise

I've recently, as in, in the last few months, found the need to host my files in an easy to access place. I could have, should have, and probably will in the future, hosted them on one of my own sites, but I thought I'd give one of the free file sharing sites a whirl. This is my story.

If you look for free file sharing, 4 Shared is the first site which will come to you on the Google. Beware, this thing gets hacked and hijacked so often that it's not even considered noteworthy anymore. One day, after a few weeks of service, I went to check my downloads and noticed that the page redirected to abcjardin/hacked.

4Shared had been hacked! Oh no! Surely the Internet would be in an uproar over one of the most prominent file sharing sites being compromised in this fashion. It's not just 'little people' like me who use the site, I've seen several significantly sized companies making downloads available there as well.

I went online and found reports of 4Shared being hijacked and hacked since 2007. A few dull notes existed about the current hack, but by and large, nobody seemed to be all that surprised, least of all 4shared, in spite of the fact that they had #fail attached to their brand and starting to trend on twitter.

This morning my 4shared account is back online. No email explaining what happened from the company, nothing. Apparently this is just another day in the life of 4Shared and users should just get used to it.

I'm afraid I disagree with 4shared's lackadaisical approach to protecting the data of their clients and the continuity of their service. Those who have files that they wish to 100% definitely be available for download day and night better steer clear of this site.

Once again, 4shared did not inform anyone that it had been hacked. There were no emails, there was no announcement, there was no explanation of any kind given. Yes, this is a free service, but if you're going to provide a broken service and fail to communicate with the clients who have elevated your service and revenues to the coveted top of Google's search results, (don't make the mistake of thinking 4Shared gets nothing out of this, they turn a tidy profit,) then don't bother providing it at all.

At first I was annoyed at the hackers, and yes, I still am, because that sort of thing is just like going around locking people out of their offices for fun. But now I'm much more irritated at 4shared for being the custodian sitting in the basement, scratching his posterior with his set of spare keys, belching his way through the third beer of the day, watching 'Oprah' while concerned workers pound on his door wanting to know how they are going to get their work done.

The moral of the story: Stay away from 4shared.