Steel Soldiers emails and site issues

[fusioncow]

Been lurking here for a while, and I'm proud to say this is my first post.
What this forum does is something to be proud of. It's not often that you can find a group so helpful to each other. IT work isn't easy; I know firsthand the problems that cam come up.

I was surprised when the site was down for cleanup... surprised at how much I missed being able to browse, learn, and giggle at Doghead telling someone use the search function (I might be next!)

This is indeed a privately run forum, and it's really not the place of the users (guests, as I consider myself) to decide on the limits of the content. There are plenty of forums out there for political discussion. Whether it's allowed or not, this is still by far one of the best forums out there.

I'm a vehicle noob, so to all those who contribute content, I may not post much, but the amount that I've learned here is fantastic, and it's very much appreciated.

To the mods and admins, just thank you for your work to keep this going. I'd be up mud creek without it.

God bless all here!

~fusioncow

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Could have been worse. We could have been Rick Rolled... lol

Good job Drew! I saw the coward email, thought it was funny. I called Clinto, and said, Hey Coward, grab your guns and lets go do some revolutiony stuff...

 

[Awesome Possum]

I think the Bad Guys zeroed in on the word "Soldier" in the site name.

 

[kastein]

another thing - I was happy to see the "we have been hacked, we are cleaning it up and will be back as soon as possible" message replace the previous one.

I value truthfulness and transparency over a well crafted politically safe message. Too many sites I am on would simply give some kind of "down for upgrades" or "down for maintenance" message instead of saying what happened and what was being done to fix it.

 

[trowel]

Been lurking here for a while, and I'm proud to say this is my first post.
What this forum does is something to be proud of. It's not often that you can find a group so helpful to each other. IT work isn't easy; I know firsthand the problems that cam come up.

I was surprised when the site was down for cleanup... surprised at how much I missed being able to browse, learn, and giggle at Doghead telling someone use the search function (I might be next!)

This is indeed a privately run forum, and it's really not the place of the users (guests, as I consider myself) to decide on the limits of the content. There are plenty of forums out there for political discussion. Whether it's allowed or not, this is still by far one of the best forums out there.

I'm a vehicle noob, so to all those who contribute content, I may not post much, but the amount that I've learned here is fantastic, and it's very much appreciated.

To the mods and admins, just thank you for your work to keep this going. I'd be up mud creek without it.

God bless all here!

~fusioncow

I don't post all that much eather, would hate to see this fourm go.

 

[AGE|kshaufl]

Just want to say thanks for taking care of the problem. It happens to everyone at one time or another. (Bad things that is).

I'm sure that everyone is appreciative of your efforts. It is not an easy thing to keep D|(|{ heads out when they want in so very badly.

 

[Heath_h49008]

And why would someone target SS anyways? Does olive drab = tyranny or oppression or something that I am not aware of? SS does oppress my wallet and time some but something has too. Thanks for letting us know and taking care of things!! These things happen.

If I had to guess why SS was targeted... the initials "SS."

There are a few golden tickets people love to brag about hacking... nailing Fred Phelps, Scientology, pedophiles, governments, banks, and white supremacists.

All in all, I don't have a problem with that.

I think the reality of what this site was became clear AFTER they got in. The notes they left were just a friendly "Hello!" If they didn't like us, it could have been quite nasty. Again, that is IF this was in any way associated with the "IRC ANON group" (Anonymous is a movement... not an organization per se)

I think we just got peeked by the little guys who thought we might be something nasty they could brag about pwning. When they realized SS/Steel Soldiers was old army trucks and not some Nazi fanboy page, they just left a calling card and bailed.

Just a theory...

 

[Jones]

Sounds like you got it straightened out. Emails were pretty easy to figure out; only took reading a line or two. More concerning was the site that members got directed to.
I for one tried to give mods a heads up but there's no sure and trusted way to email in when you're not sure where your message(s) are going to end up.
Glad we're back up and running.

 

[raeme]

You still got them Drew. You just have to put your hands in your pockets to check.
raeme

 

[Copybell]

No problem, thank you for the explanation.

 

[goldneagle]

The site was down? I guess I missed all the excitement! I feel left out....I never received any email!

 

[midcounty]

Hats off for the quick recovery. Like others have said, I was certain it was a hacker when I saw the message topics.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Thanks for getting the site back quickly. It's too bad the hackers resort to bothering innocent people just because they are too lazy to do things the legit way.

 

[patracy]

another thing - I was happy to see the "we have been hacked, we are cleaning it up and will be back as soon as possible" message replace the previous one.

I value truthfulness and transparency over a well crafted politically safe message. Too many sites I am on would simply give some kind of "down for upgrades" or "down for maintenance" message instead of saying what happened and what was being done to fix it.

I strive for transparency in my actions on the site since it became public I've been working on the site. (There was a time where I hid behind the "admin" account, but that was due to how the transition happened)

With that, I'll echo some of the other comments. When it comes to hacking, this was a very light attack. The main reason we were down so long was because I simply couldn't get on the board right away to clean things up. It could have been far worse than it was.

Also, could we please refrain from the political sidebars this topic keeps on touching upon? In light of things, I don't want to have someone's post edited/deleted over this. And given the subject around the hack, I know we're all on pins and needles.

 

[swbradley1]

Good job on bringing the site back up.

As I sit here watching our traffic I see just over 300,000 blocks per 15 minutes on the outside from all sorts of sources. Of those that do get through we have over 350 per 15 minutes we analyze further and block or drop. Do attacks get through? Yep, we just hope we can stop them with several other layers of protection on the inside.

We who protect networks have to be successful every time, the bad guys only have to be successful once.

 

[45FMJoe]

Frankly I'm disappointed to hear some amongst us were stupid enough to not realize the website was hacked and actually wrote the site staff multiple nasty e-mails. That's inexcusible behavior and you should be ashamed. If I flew off the handle without first collecting the facts in my career, not only would I be fired but I would probably be in jail for violating peoples' civil rights. Let's look at this objectionably. First of all, the e-mails Identified themselves as "Anonymous." If you don't know who they are, a quick Google search would have revealed they are a hacker group. Also, the e-mails never identified themselves as site staff, nor did they say they were official website e-mails. In law enforcement we call this a clue. Second, it's the internet. If anyone thinks anything is ever truly secure on the internet you need to just take your computer out back and shoot it - you cannot handle the real world.

Some of you apparently owe some serious apologies.

ETA - I understand this was worded harshly, but sometimes it's necessary to make people understand how their poor behavior is received.

 

[OL AG '89]

When I received the first email, I immediately closed all the shutters and began the process of loading most of the armament scattered throughout the property..... some you only load when REALLY needed.... I then redirected the satellite as needed to intercept certain non-public signals to hear any "special" traffic that might come through....
When I got the second email, I went back and sat in my Lazyboy......... Just Knowing that the site had been hacked and some Dumb*ss has now P*ssed off several THOUSAND O.D. brethren, there was no cause for alarm!!!
Thanks to ALL of the admins who came, saw and fixed the issue!!

 

[dozer1]

Hack is Whack. Good job on bringing the site back! I too was glad to see the "we were hacked" message instead of the "slow site problems" one.

 

[eagle4g63]

I guess I missed a lot of the excitement yesterday. I did get the "coward" email and thought....."what the???" having been told I was borderline argumentative in one of my posts not very long ago I thought "now what did I do".....boy what a relief when it was just a hack.

Great job with the recovery....even though I missed it

 

[DaleB]

Thanks for taking care of the problem. At first, I thought I was hacked and someone sent something to you! Then I realized it was the other way around. Sure wish idiots like that, when caught, would have their fingers broken, or worse.