Homepage Visited by Indonesians

Came here to check on the status of the merger discussion, hit https://theflatearthsociety.org/home/ first and noticed that it looked somewhat different.

That's the Indonesian branch of the Flat Earth Society.   

Monday, I will be hiring a consultant from Sword and Shield to look over our security and analyze this attack. You can look them over here, and see what you think: http://www.swordshield.com

Are you really sure it takes the expertise of a third party enterprise infosec company to secure a forum homepage? Sure, they'll help you as long as you give them money, but I can't help wondering if this is a little excessive.

I'm sure it is excessive. They have worked well for me in the past, and I'd like to see what kind of trail exists if any. I know several folks there on a personal level.  This is clearly one person who is repeatedly performing the attack. There is certainly a pattern on when it happens; I'll leave it up to our users to think about this.

If the issue is we'll have too much security, then so be it.

There is certainly a pattern on when it happens; I'll leave it up to our users to think about this.

What is the pattern? I mean, I understand that you are implicitly blaming SexWarrior (or maybe tfes.org as a whole), but is there actually a pattern to these issues which indicates any particular person is to blame?

I'm seeing a lot of 502: Bad Gateway errors when trying to load any page on the domain, probably once every 5 page updates or so.

If the issue is we'll have too much security, then so be it.

I don't know what you've done, but I think you've just reached the point of too much security. Apparently my "password security has been upgraded" so hard that my usual password is no longer valid, just moments after I last posted.




When the site is not throwing incomprehensible errors at me, it simply asserts that my password is incorrect. Can I have my account back, or should I get used to being Pete?

As an aside, now that the implication has been made: I welcome the idea of getting someone who actually knows what they're doing involved. I look forward to your acknowledgement that I had nothing to do with this, or your desperate attempt at denying there was any implication in the first place!

Quote from: John Davis on October 28, 2017, 10:48:37 AM

There is certainly a pattern on when it happens; I'll leave it up to our users to think about this.

What is the pattern? I mean, I understand that you are implicitly blaming SexWarrior (or maybe tfes.org as a whole), but is there actually a pattern to these issues which indicates any particular person is to blame?

I am doing no such thing. Please don't put words in my mouth.

Quote from: John Davis on October 28, 2017, 10:48:37 AM

If the issue is we'll have too much security, then so be it.

I don't know what you've done, but I think you've just reached the point of too much security. Apparently my "password security has been upgraded" so hard that my usual password is no longer valid, just moments after I last posted.




When the site is not throwing incomprehensible errors at me, it simply asserts that my password is incorrect. Can I have my account back, or should I get used to being Pete?

As an aside, now that the implication has been made: I welcome the idea of getting someone who actually knows what they're doing involved. I look forward to your acknowledgement that I had nothing to do with this, or your desperate attempt at denying there was any implication in the first place!

I don't know man. Have you tried resetting your password?

I don't know man. Have you tried resetting your password?

Yes. It was rather fruitless.

So, simple question, simple answer: will you give me my account back, or is it permanently "upgraded"? No need for idle chit-chat, we both know you don't like it.

Why was it fruitless? I can reset your password for you to your registered email, if you'd like.

Are any other users experiencing this '2 secure 2 login' issue?

Why was it fruitless? I can reset your password for you to your registered email, if you'd like.

I received no e-mail, which leads me to suspect that the address may have also been upgraded.

Quote from: Particle Person on October 28, 2017, 11:05:35 AM

Quote from: John Davis on October 28, 2017, 10:48:37 AM

There is certainly a pattern on when it happens; I'll leave it up to our users to think about this.

What is the pattern? I mean, I understand that you are implicitly blaming SexWarrior (or maybe tfes.org as a whole), but is there actually a pattern to these issues which indicates any particular person is to blame?

I am doing no such thing. Please don't put words in my mouth.

Apologies if I misinterpreted your meaning. Can you tell us about the pattern you mentioned?

Quote from: John Davis on October 28, 2017, 11:50:11 AM

Why was it fruitless? I can reset your password for you to your registered email, if you'd like.

I received no e-mail, which leads me to suspect that the address may have also been upgraded.

If it was, it surely wasn't by me. It looks like PP account has his email set to e@e.com. Does this ring any bells?

If it was, it surely wasn't by me. It looks like PP account has his email set to e@e.com. Does this ring any bells?

It does not. My account was linked to a largely unused, but still active address just a few days before it got "upgraded".

Odd, I seem to remember that being your address when I looked at your profile last week.

Odd, I seem to remember that being your address when I looked at your profile last week.

That would be consistent with me changing it a few days ago.

Are you suggesting that the hackers attacked specifically your account and nobody else to revert your email to the same address it was a few days ago?

I don't know man. Seems oddly specific.

Are you suggesting that the hackers attacked specifically your account and nobody else to revert your email to the same address it was a few days ago?

No. To quote myself: "I don't know what you've done".

But we also know that "the hackers" mysteriously reverted some other things, the version of the software of this forum being one that you've named. So, even if this is "the hackers" and not you, your question seems spurious.

So, what will it be, John? Am I settling in as Pete, or will you bring my account back from the dead?

I'm happy to help you regain access to your account. I didn't touch anything, and your attitude in this matter when it seems you just forgot your password is puzzling.

I'm going to set the email to your account to an email of Parisfals. This way I know you aren't just some random person trying to gain access to PPs account. Is this acceptable to you?

I'm happy to help you regain access to your account.

Awesome stuff.

I didn't touch anything, and your attitude in this matter when it seems you just forgot your password is puzzling.

There are a few reasons why I doubt that it was a simple case of a forgotten password:

• I was already logged in when I lost access. My login cookies got invalidated on all browsers. My memory can be funky, but not funky enough to log me out of a powered-off laptop.
• As you might have noticed in one of my screenshots, I let Chrome manage my passwords.
• If it was a simple case of me forgetting my password, what does the "password security upgraded" message mean? Surely it would just be a case of the password being incorrect.

Regarding your involvement, the only reason I suspected you was your cryptic message regarding degraded performance and yourself dealing with "issues". It seemed reasonable that you did, in fact, touch something since you announced you would be touching things.

I'm going to set the email to your account to an email of Parisfals. This way I know you aren't just some random person trying to gain access to PPs account. Is this acceptable to you?

Fine by me. I'll just run it by Parsifal before confirming.

Fine by me. I'll just run it by Parsifal before confirming.

Confirmed.

I'd have to look at the source to see what that message refers to. At any rate, I certainly didn't change your email address. As far as it not being a lost password, I believe you, and I'll add this to the list of things I'll discuss Monday.

I'll update your email in a few minutes. I'm currently in the middle of something else.

Is there anybody else who has had their email reverted to one from a week ago?

Whenever Parisfal gets a chance, tell him to drop by and give me an email he hasn't used for an account here.

I believe he's PM'd you now

It looks like somebody already changed the email to sw@tfes.org

Does this make any sense to you?

It looks like somebody already changed the email to sw@tfes.org

Does this make any sense to you?

That's the e-mail for the account I'm posting from right now, and the e-mail I was expecting to be set for PizzaPlanet to begin with. Unless you accidentally looked at the wrong account, this is very strange.