1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Cyber Attack

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by frodoz737, Mar 23, 2018.

  1. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2010
    4,297
    2,347
    33
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Last two days the bad boys have been trying to get a foot into PC. Suggest all users turn up the volume on their security and practices in case one gets past our Mods.
     
    #1 frodoz737, Mar 23, 2018
    RCO, pilotgrrl and jerrymildred like this.
  2. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2010
    4,297
    2,347
    33
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    By the way...Thank You Tideland Prius.
     
    #2 frodoz737, Mar 23, 2018
    RCO, fuzzy1, bwilson4web and 3 others like this.
  3. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 10, 2014
    647
    983
    0
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Just curious, how do we know this is happening?:eek:
     
    #3 Stevewoods, Mar 24, 2018
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,796
    48,995
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    besides all the spam?
     
    #4 bisco, Mar 24, 2018
  5. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 10, 2014
    647
    983
    0
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I assume you mean by spam that there has been inappropriate postings in threads.

    I really don't read that many threads when I visit, so I have either missed it or it has been cleaned up before I arrived. Probably true for a number of us, so I am sure I was not the only one wondering what was going on.

    At any rate, good job to the moderators if that is indeed what is happening.
     
    #5 Stevewoods, Mar 24, 2018
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,796
    48,995
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    yes, that was it. i saw them on the new posts forum, pages and pages for two days.
     
    #6 bisco, Mar 24, 2018
  7. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2010
    4,297
    2,347
    33
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I suggest it's time Tideland gets some help from the big dogs...like yesterday.
     
    #7 frodoz737, Mar 25, 2018
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,837
    16,073
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Oh you'll know.... when you see 150 new threads with mumbo jumbo (or in the case of the last two days, they were in mandarin, claiming to promote universities around the world)

    @frodoz737 , thanks for the shout out; just part of my duties here. The other mods have been helping out too (I've notified them).
     
    #8 Tideland Prius, Mar 25, 2018
    pilotgrrl and RCO like this.
  9. DavidA

    DavidA Prius owner since July 2009

    Joined:
    Jul 14, 2009
    2,325
    1,811
    18
    Location:
    Chicago western burbs
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    I might as well also throw my name out as a moderator candidate if the need arises. I've been doing that (as a mod. and an admin.) at a couple other forums running various forum softwares + spam fighting controls for, oh, some 14 years now. Hate to see the mess we have been in here the last few days.

    Sometimes it takes taking the forum registration off of auto and switch it to manual approval for a time until the storm runs its course. Time consuming and tedious for those running things, but if a forum is unusable because of an onslaught, well, that's what it takes sometimes.

    Every one of those spammers was already on SFS at the time. Any anti-spamming filtering being done in real time? Askimet maybe?
     
    #9 DavidA, Mar 25, 2018
    RCO and Raytheeagle like this.
  10. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,837
    16,073
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Thanks David!

    There are but I guess this is a new set. Some have been stopped (ended up in moderation instead of actually being posted) but usually it's just one or two at a time. It just looks massive because each of them post 136 messages. So two of them would make you guys see 274 messages and it seems like the world is ending.
     
    #10 Tideland Prius, Mar 25, 2018
    pilotgrrl and RCO like this.
  11. DavidA

    DavidA Prius owner since July 2009

    Joined:
    Jul 14, 2009
    2,325
    1,811
    18
    Location:
    Chicago western burbs
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Yup, been there and have stayed up all night many times actually needing to turn a forum OFF and scrubbing the crap out of a forum after a bad spam bot episode before carefully turning it back in manual approval mode and crossing my fingers. Luckily these kinda attacks seem to be infrequent, yet memorable. Automated spam fighting software and filters are far from complete. CAPTCHA, even the better newer versions of playing the match-up game, are all but worthless, but I sure wouldn't want to remove that layer!

    I frequently hit the New Posts link, just to keep an eye on the previous hour's activity, and looking up new usernames with google
    as " 'username' + forum posts" are enlightening. Always enjoyable to see the same weird post verbatim on 7 other forums in the previous day.

    Don't know if you have it here, but the checkbox in Admin tools for users, besides BAN, is the Remove all posts? Love that one when needed!
     
    #11 DavidA, Mar 25, 2018
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2018
    pilotgrrl, RCO and Tideland Prius like this.
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)