server monitoring scripts for shared hosting?

[David Schwartz]

Does anybody know of any scripts like tripwire that are designed to be installed on shared hosting accounts to alert you to unexpected changes?

Tripwire works by taking an inventory of the folders and files you want to monitor. It then will do a scan periodically via a cron entry and compare the file signatures with those recorded previously, as well as the two sets of file lists. Any new, modified, or deleted files will be reported to you via email or something like that.

Somebody hacked into one of my websites through an exploit on an old WP plugin that I neglected to update. I have no idea when it happened, but just learned about it last week. I don’t pay a lot of attention to most of my sites, so I thought it would make sense to install something like tripwire to look for unexpected changes. (Tripwire itself needs to be installed in the root and needs root access, AFAIK. Maybe not. Suggestions welcome!)

-David