Why no MajesticSEO data?

I was asked several times why I removed the MajesticSEO methods.

Short answer: I removed it as of request per MajesticSEO's CEO. His Email with some more detailed reasons can be found below.

Cheers.

Hello,

I am writing to you because you are listed as author of software called SEOstats that we believe was used today to conduct a DDoS attack on our site majesticseo.com with millions of requests generated over very short period of time. This caused downtime on our end and our team was forced to work on weekend - and further work will be required in order to prevent this from happening again.

Due to this attack we have had to restrict access to our data from thousands of internet users who have come to appreciatte our site explorer tool.

We are currently taking steps to identify actual attackers who appear to have used your software and may take appropriate legal action, however given that they appear to have used your software it seemed logical to send you an email as well.

I'd like to inform you that in addition to your software apparently being used in large scale attack on our site, it also uses an unauthorised method to obtain data from our site that is expressly forbidden by our Terms and Conditions of service, specifically: "Users are not permitted to query the Majestic-12 database or servers using any automated tools without getting prior written permission from us to do so." Source: https://www.majesticseo.com/support/terms

The software that you have written violates our terms because it is not a recognised search engine and it does not use approved API and we have never given you written permission to obtain data the way you've implemented. The reason I mention it is because there is a possibility that attackers might claim that they have merely used your software assuming that you had permission to run such queries against our database. For the avoidance of any doubt I'd like to state categorically that you DID NOT and DO NOT have any such permission.

As we continue to investigate this attack we might be forced in near future to contact you again asking to provide all details (such as list of IP addresses) you may have on those who've downloaded your software in order to help us trace actual attackers.

I would appreciate if you could get back to us as soon as possible - we have suffered real losses today and we intend to take determined effort to ensure this does not happen again.

We do not know if other providers of SEO information have been affected by similar attacks over the weekend. You may consider, however, if it is appropriatte for software which enables unauthorised use of remote computer systems to continue to be freely available whilst you consider your reponse.

Best regards,

Alex Chudnovsky Managing Director

Email : [strip] Web : http://www.majesticseo.com

Majestic-12 Ltd (t/a Majestic-SEO) Faraday Wharf, Holt Street Birmingham Science Park, Aston Birmingham, B7 4BB