Where everything gone.

[JB]

Feels like we have been robbed!!!

Is it just a glitch RET or has someone hacked us?

JB

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Some little smart-arse in Russia has hacked the forum adding his own little "anti-Bush" theme (which I have changed back to normal now).
Unfortunately they cleared out most of the forum while they were at it so we will need to restore from the latest backup, please be patient as we sort things out.

[RET]

Well I think I can be forgiven for the lapse in decorum when I say this has proven to be an utter f*king nightmare.

The hackers (there were two of them), somehow managed to get admin rights to the forum, and from there deleted all the proper content, and defaced the rest of the site with some sort of protest.

The last backup of the forum that I had was about a month old, and when I went to try and use it discovered it was corrupted. So was the one before that, and the one before that... The last good one I had was dated late March. At that point I thought we were seriously rooted.

So a very big thank-you to the support staff at AussieHQ (our hosts) who were able to restore the forum from a backup taken on the 30/07. From there, I was able to roll forward the newest threads (like this one), and the most recent PMs to bring the forum back up to something approaching normality.

I have made a number of changes to the internals of the forum software to try and neutralise the attack vectors that the hackers seem to have used. Unfortunately I've still yet to hear from the SMF security guys themselves, and I want to get this forum up and running again just as much as you want me to. So I've tightened up some permissions settings and most importantly, fixed the backups so they're now running twice a day. So if such an attack occurs again, I should be much better placed to fix it.

Along the way I have learnt a lot about MySQL, a bit of PHP and a fair bit about interpreting Apache access logs. So that's something I suppose

Now, there is a bit of weirdness regarding PMs from/to the handful of users who newly registered after 30/07 that I haven't been able to fix. Those guys are:
* Neil FE Van
* arpm
* reevers
Can those guys - or anyone PM-ing them - get in touch with me if you have continuing problems.

Please let me know if you discover any other issues.

cheers
RET

[JB]

Hey RET,

I have only a little bit of an idea what sort of time and effort you have put in over the last lot of days to get this going again. It really did feel like something was missing, so thanks RET and anyone else that may of helped.

There isn't anything else on the net that rivals this site in my books.

Cheers and thanks again
JB. 

[NosFEratu]

Hi all

Yes, something has definitely been missing from a lot of our lives! 

Very, very big thanks to RET and everyone else who helped in fixing the forum. 

I have no doubt that it was a mammoth effort on all of your parts.  I, along with many others can only imagine the stress you would have been through in the last week.

Your efforts are really appreciated!  Thanks again

Kathi 

[gp]

Yes Richard, A HUGE thanks for everything you do for this forum and members......not just this time, but also the ongoing work that we all take for granted.

Cheers,

Graham

[EffCee]

I can't begin to imagine how difficult this would have been to restore after being damaged in the manner that you have described. A huge WELL DONE to RET and all the others involved in restoring the site and to enable us to use it again.


Keith
F4+
 

[Ed]

thanks RET, STinky et al.

Cheers

Ed

[Johns]

Thanks RET, Stinky, Et, Al and anyone else involved

Cheers
John

[Wayne]

Great job RET and all those others involved. What would  we do with out them especially RET to keep this site the way it is
WAYNE

[graham_fuller]

Same goes for me Thanks Ret and all who keep our site so up to date.
Cheers,
Graham

[KFH]

I don't think we fully appreciate the efforts in keeping the forum running sweetly until something like this happens.  Very big thanks to RET Stinky and any others who who got the forum up and running again.

Keith

[zulu]

What they all said, well done.

[Sheriff]

Hear hear,  I think I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms......looking for sites to surf....went to FB EK forum....played Texas Holdem....went to bed.......     Mike

[greyone]

my wife thought we were on a second honeymoon 3days in a row and no computer

[TTV6FC]

he he he...mine too....

[FC0058]

I was away with no web access for 9 days, I returned home sunday night, kissed the wife and plugged in my laptop.

No forum, WTF, hyperventilated, passed out. Sonja dialed 000 

Sonja: "my husband has gone into shock, I think he is having a fit of some description, he is on the floor foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back wriggling and screaming like a 2 year old.

000: What triggered his tantram ?

Sonja: The FE FC Holden forum is off line.

000: Cover him with his club jacket and put him behind the steering wheel of his FC. He should be OK in an hour or two. Your husband has a severe OCD and needs counselling.

I have come good now thanks to RET, CO and some mild sedatives.

Cheers Jim

[collecta]

VERY funny Jim, LMAO ,
thanks to ALL  that had a hand in rectifying the forum
cheers
Scott

[Ed]

he he he...mine too....

way too much info fellas!

[GREGD]

AND SO SAY ALL OF US

I WASNT AS BAD AS SOME SEEM TO HAVE BEEN BUT THE BEST FOURM IS WORTH IT

GREG