[SWLUG] Have I been hacked?

[Neil Jones]

My on-line webserver
 is behaving oddly. I cannot access root. The password fails. both as su 
and logging in directly.

I have not changed it and I have used it umpteen times over the last few 
days and it worked.

The date on the /etcpasswd file is several years old. Is there any 
advice anyone can give me on checking
the box. I can log into it via another ID but it doesn't give me root 
access.

Neil