FitGirl Repacks is currently one of the most popular torrent sites on the internet, but its operator is warning that turbulent times are ahead. Site operator FitGirl says that due to a serious domain issue, the site's primary domain could go offline temporarily or even forever.
In hacking circles, 'FitGirl' is a well-known brand, especially for gamers looking for the latest titles without the usual price tag.
Operating from the fitgirl-repacks.site domain, the FitGirl platform operator is perhaps the best-known 'repacker' online today due to its ability to compress full-size games into more manageable packages.
The resulting smaller file sizes are useful for people who want to download pirated games but don't have (or don't want to use) a lot of bandwidth. And according to the traffic data, that's a lot of people.
After FitGirl Repacks became one of the most visited torrent sites last year, TorrentFreak was able FitGirl interview who was happy to explain how the site started and more details about his rise to fame. Now, however, the site may be facing a more stormy period with its main domain under threat.
"Prepare for an accident"
In an announcement posted on Sunday, FitGirl warned that the site could face some downtime or might even have to change domain entirely.
"Due to some issues with my domain name, this site may soon stop working for an unknown period of time or forever," explains FitGirl.
โIn the latter case, the new domain (whose name I didn't think of) will emerge and the information about it will be published on the sites you upload to. Fingers crossed, none of the above events will happen, but fasten your seat belts and prepare for a crash. "
FitGirl is a popular uploader on the 1337x.to torrent site, so whatever happens to FitGirl's main domain, in theory at least, uploads should continue unhindered. However, the FitGirl torrent site itself is extremely popular, so fixing the issues will be a priority in the days to come.
So what are the problems exactly?
Fitgirl-repacks.site accused of having a spam problem
In an advertisement in a unofficial discord channelHermietkreeft, the sysadmin for the FitGirl site, puts a little more meat on the bones. (Correction: an earlier version of this article attributed the quotes to FitGirl)
"Our domain registrar took the domain fitgirl-repacks-site hostage, which means that we cannot modify or change anything," Hermietkreeft writes.
โThe registrar has decided that we are spamming, which is funny for a domain without MX records or email servers. Transferring the domain to another registrar is also impossible due to the limits imposed by the registrar. "
Public DNS records support the site's claims of not having MX (mail exchange) records that can direct email to a mail server. However, checks at Spamhaus, an organization that tracks email spammers and spam-related activity, reveal that the group has blacklisted FitGirl's domain.
The inclusion of the block list could have been caused by a third party
Spamhaus warns that the domain Fitgirl-repacks.site may have been added to the block list due to a โbad shipping reputationโ, but there are other factors as well. The organization notes that anonymous Whois records should be avoided (FitGirl has them) and warns that the bad reputation of the IP address can also play a role. This can be an important factor.
The IP address used by Fitgirl-repacks.site belongs to the Russian DDoS mitigation company DDoS-Guard. While serving many "ordinary" customers, the company also serves the most questionable. FitGirl shares an IP address with over 6,000 other domains, any one (or more) of which could have been responsible for sending spam.
FitGirl must exhaust an appeals process
To be removed from the Spamhaus list, these issues and more will need to be addressed before filing an appeal with the spam mitigation organization. And then assuming the issues are linked, FitGirl will also need to convince your PDR Ltd domain registrar that there is nothing else to worry about.
If this process fails, a new domain will be required. It is likely to be advertised on torrent site 1337x.to, but in the meantime, if the main site goes down, people need to be careful to avoid imposter sites that might try to infect users with malware.
To update: FitGirl's sysadmin informs TF that the domain is now moving to a new registrar
