Account Security Heads Up

[ABX]

I'm not sure if everyone is aware, but DU was hacked a few days ago and it completely pulled their site down. Right now they just have a landing page and haven't been able to restore their site.

We have also had some very, very unusual activity which appears to be a DDOS attack in the very early morning hours (3AM to 7AM) with tens of thousands of extra, artificial hits per hour on the site. It isn't enough to hurt the site, bit it is a noticeable anomaly and something that we are watching carefully.

As a reminder, and this applies to not just here but any email you get, do not click any links in an email that asks anything about resetting your password, checking your account, etc. Do not give your password or account information to anyone. Do not click on any attachment that you are unsure of. No one here will ask you for your password or account information at all.

We don't think that type of attack happened here, but we all get those type of emails every day. Considering what just happened to DU and the unusual traffic spikes here, I thought it better safe than sorry and send a courtesy internet security reminder out.

[Lando Lincoln]

Thank you. 

[ABX]

@mystery-ak @R4 TrumPence

[musiclady]

Thanks for the heads up, @AbaraXas !

[INVAR]

Gotcha hoss.

Thanks for the six.

[XenaLee]

I'm not sure if everyone is aware, but DU was hacked a few days ago and it completely pulled their site down. Right now they just have a landing page and haven't been able to restore their site.

We have also had some very, very unusual activity which appears to be a DDOS attack in the very early morning hours (3AM to 7AM) with tens of thousands of extra, artificial hits per hour on the site. It isn't enough to hurt the site, bit it is a noticeable anomaly and something that we are watching carefully.

As a reminder, and this applies to not just here but any email you get, do not click any links in an email that asks anything about resetting your password, checking your account, etc. Do not give your password or account information to anyone. Do not click on any attachment that you are unsure of. No one here will ask you for your password or account information at all.

We don't think that type of attack happened here, but we all get those type of emails every day. Considering what just happened to DU and the unusual traffic spikes here, I thought it better safe than sorry and send a courtesy internet security reminder out.

As mad and rabid as the left is right about now....I wouldn't put it past them to be trying to round up IPs for a 'get even list' later on.  It is odd that DU would have been hacked though.  Unless it was a foreign hacker that didn't know better...lol.

[bigheadfred]

Thanx for the heads up.

[EC]

Bumping for visibility.

[Frank Cannon]

Now you tell me. I clicked on a link sent to my mail here and it was spam.....but the good news is that I got a great 45% interest student loan and super cheap Viagra from the Congo!

[Smokin Joe]

Thanks. It is always good to be aware of such goings on. Pity about DU, that kept them busy over there, which was a good place for that crowd.

[Sighlass]

I'm not sure if everyone is aware, but DU was hacked a few days ago and it completely pulled their site down.

I got a 10 year mole account over there that I wish I hadn't planted. Just a handful of posts, but I was proud I had it until this hack.

[Smokin Joe]

I got a 10 year mole account over there that I wish I hadn't planted. Just a handful of posts, but I was proud I had it until this hack.

I tried that back when, but they banned me in short order. I didn't go back to try again.

[Victoria33]

@AbaraXas
@mystery-ak
@CatherineofAragon

Strange regular emails (not associated with this site), have increased substantially in my inbox lately, started several weeks ago.  I don't open them, but block them from coming to inbox again, and delete that one without opening.

The normal inclination is to open an email to see what is there but I never do that with suspicious email.

Email is like snail mail (regular post office letters arriving at your physical address or in your post office box).  Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens - "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"), had the right idea about his mail:

He didn't open mail, period.  He said if it wasn't important, he didn't need to open it.  If it was important, and he didn't write an answer, the person would come see him, so he didn't need to open it.  Before he died, telephones were available but I don't know if he had one.  My guess is he didn't because he wouldn't see a need for one and it would disturb his peace at home.

I agree with Twain.  Regular mail takes too much of my time and most of it today is trying to sell you something.  I hate telephones because a phone call takes me away from what I am doing at the time.  Your peace is interrupted by phone calls and by regular mail.  I don't open mail during a weekend because if there is a problem in the mail, I can't do anything about it over a weekend, so I wait until Monday to open mail.

Today's electronic world can consume your life.  Where is peace of mind these days?
 

[Major Confusion]

Thank you. 

Of course they're blaming the attack on a Trump supporter.  Not sure how they came to that conclusion..

[Silver Pines]

I'm not sure if everyone is aware, but DU was hacked a few days ago and it completely pulled their site down. Right now they just have a landing page and haven't been able to restore their site.

We have also had some very, very unusual activity which appears to be a DDOS attack in the very early morning hours (3AM to 7AM) with tens of thousands of extra, artificial hits per hour on the site. It isn't enough to hurt the site, bit it is a noticeable anomaly and something that we are watching carefully.

As a reminder, and this applies to not just here but any email you get, do not click any links in an email that asks anything about resetting your password, checking your account, etc. Do not give your password or account information to anyone. Do not click on any attachment that you are unsure of. No one here will ask you for your password or account information at all.

We don't think that type of attack happened here, but we all get those type of emails every day. Considering what just happened to DU and the unusual traffic spikes here, I thought it better safe than sorry and send a courtesy internet security reminder out.

Thanks, @AbaraXas.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Thanks, @AbaraXas.

Ditto!

[ABX]

To keep everyone in the loop, we determined we were getting a pretty major hack attempt the past few days. Luckily we have pretty good security with our host and the forum itself has some safeguards to prevent or at least deter intrusion. It appears to have stopped now without their getting access.

[Lando Lincoln]

Of course they're blaming the attack on a Trump supporter.  Not sure how they came to that conclusion..

I think it left a calling card that said, "we've got a country to save".  So, there's that.

[Smokin Joe]

I think it left a calling card that said, "we've got a country to save".  So, there's that.

Maybe that was a GOTV effort to get them off line that bombed.

[bigheadfred]

@AbaraXas
@mystery-ak
@CatherineofAragon

Strange regular emails (not associated with this site), have increased substantially in my inbox lately, started several weeks ago.  I don't open them, but block them from coming to inbox again, and delete that one without opening.

The normal inclination is to open an email to see what is there but I never do that with suspicious email.

Email is like snail mail (regular post office letters arriving at your physical address or in your post office box).  Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens - "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"), had the right idea about his mail:

He didn't open mail, period.  He said if it wasn't important, he didn't need to open it.  If it was important, and he didn't write an answer, the person would come see him, so he didn't need to open it.  Before he died, telephones were available but I don't know if he had one.  My guess is he didn't because he wouldn't see a need for one and it would disturb his peace at home.

I agree with Twain.  Regular mail takes too much of my time and most of it today is trying to sell you something.  I hate telephones because a phone call takes me away from what I am doing at the time.  Your peace is interrupted by phone calls and by regular mail.  I don't open mail during a weekend because if there is a problem in the mail, I can't do anything about it over a weekend, so I wait until Monday to open mail.

Today's electronic world can consume your life.  Where is peace of mind these days?
 

I don't have a cell phone. We have a landline with an answering machine. My e-mail accounts I use for some notifications for payments. That is about it. I'm pretty anti-social.

[Gefn]

Thank you @AbaraXas

[Idaho_Cowboy]

I got a 10 year mole account over there that I wish I hadn't planted. Just a handful of posts, but I was proud I had it until this hack.

I had one just to tie up my screen name, posted a couple of times on a couple of non political threads. They still banned me. Mission accomplished as far as tying up the screen name.

Betting the DU hack was Bernie supporters, the goon squad purged them back in the primaries.

[Mod2]

Bumping for visibility and further information.

It is still ongoing. There are two important things to remember at the moment:

1/ If you get logged out between one page and the next, please log back in and report it to any Mod (Don't report it to mystery_ak please, she's dealing with other things). Include the approximate time you were logged out. While you may not get an immediate acknowledgement, it will be appreciated and will help the technowizards perform their spells.

2/ If you get logged out and can't log in again, please contact myst by email. Include your user name! While myst is truly amazing, she doesn't have all 1600 members email addresses memorised.

[Mom MD]

Bumping for visibility and further information.

It is still ongoing. There are two important things to remember at the moment:

1/ If you get logged out between one page and the next, please log back in and report it to any Mod (Don't report it to mystery_ak please, she's dealing with other things). Include the approximate time you were logged out. While you may not get an immediate acknowledgement, it will be appreciated and will help the technowizards perform their spells.

2/ If you get logged out and can't log in again, please contact myst by email. Include your user name! While myst is truly amazing, she doesn't have all 1600 members email addresses memorised.

@Mod2

Have things settled down yet?

[Mod2]

@Mod2

Have things settled down yet?

Things seem to have been taken care of for the moment. Still, if people can keep an eye on those two points, it will help for future problems.