TDPRI has been hacked....

[Wally]

I know a lot of TDPRI members are members here as well. It was up and running fine this morning (Italian time) but a few hours ago I noticed a lot of strange stuff happening and it became obvious that it had been hacked. Proceed with caution until the problem is fixed - whoever hacked it has replaced forum descriptions with vulgarities, changed member names, etc. I have also recieved one e-mail supposedly from the webmaster that was actually from the hacker (contained vulgarities as well). Hopefully Paul will be able to regain control of the site and restore the threads.

[mattd]

i was just about to start a topic about that. i haven't visited there in awhile, but i got an email this morning, subject "webmaster in the house". :roll: hope they get that fixed soon.

[ptrallan01]

And pray for Paul and Chris S as they work through this. Also keep a prayer for God's protection of this site.

Peter

[Barry]

And pray for Paul and Chris S as they work through this. Also keep a prayer for God's protection of this site.

Amen. And for the protection of all decent forums.

I also got that "webmaster in the house" email. As I type this, you'll only see a page that says:

"Disabled by Timehost - Sorry for the inconvenience."

if you try to access the site.

Hopefully they have a recent backup and there's something they can use to trace whoever did this before they can reek havoc on another good forum. A serious hacker can usually cover their tracks pretty well.

[refin]

And pray for Paul and Chris S as they work through this. Also keep a prayer for God's protection of this site.

Amen. And for the protection of all decent forums.

I also got that "webmaster in the house" email. As I type this, you'll only see a page that says:

"Disabled by Timehost - Sorry for the inconvenience."

if you try to access the site.

Hopefully they have a recent backup and there's something they can use to trace whoever did this before they can reek havoc on another good forum. A serious hacker can usually cover their tracks pretty well.


I think we all got that email----mine said something about my mom that the guilty vermin would not have said to my face.

[SAguitar]

I'm not a member there, and I think I'll just stay here where it feels safe. That's really sick when some idiot goes to that much work to spread filth. May he get infected with the Holy Spirit!

[rkymtnhi]

ok, I feel really dumb... I just responded to that email by forwarding it to webmaster~AT~tdpri~DOT~com. I sure hope the REAL webmaster has the problem under control by the time my message hits the servers.

I'm already having enough issues with spam in my email accounts. How in the world do they get my email addresses? I'm SUPER careful never to use my personal addresses--I always use "generic" email accounts for that type of stuff. I run ad-aware, Norton, and spybot, but I still get a lot of spam. I'm using the filters on Outlook regularly, and have my spam filter turned up to maximum on the ISP side. This stuff is frustrating. My computer seems slower than usual, crashes at times, and has other weirdness that makes me think I've got something in spite of all the anti-virus/spyware/firewall programs I use. This stuff is ridiculous--and expensive to fix--and time consuming....

Edited by reverbbb:
I changed the email listing so that it cannot be found automatically. Gotta be careful with email addresses in a thread listing.

[SAguitar]

Freedom isn't free. :dunno

[rkymtnhi]

I wouldn't want to be the source of any other problems for the webmaster there.... :banghead

[Pearly Gator]

I think the best thing to do is to pray for webmaster Paul, Chris S. and that the TDPRI will be back online soon.

PG

[ptrallan01]

I feel ya bro! Had a really bad time of it with my wife's pc and spy/ad ware. You clean it up it comes back. Here are a few suggestions some of which you may be doing but its a good reminder for all of us:

1 Use an antivirus program. Nortons or some other manufacturer but make sure you manually run and review your scans once a week. Don't rely on automatic scanning exclusively in case you get hacked and its the automatic feature gets turned off.

2 Use at least two spyware searches. The people who create spyware design it to avoid detection but using multiple programs which look at it differently usually helps to catch things. Currently I use ad-aware SE(freeware) and Spy hunter ($20). Between the two I get almost everything.

3 Use a minimum of two, prefereably three popup blockers. Again those who create malicious code will be watching for various things.

4 Use an email program where the email resides on somebody elses server!!! Programs that run on your desktop require you to download/open files that can contain malicious code.

5 From the internet explorer tools menu select internet options, select security and turn off all of the options related to downloading programs, fonts, running unsigned scripts, etc. This will require you to manually toggle the download option when you want to download something but it will help to stop SOME of the auto installers.

6 From the internet explorer tools menu select internet options, select privacy and block as many websites as you don't want to see. You can also specify options about the policies a site has to have in order for it to put cookies on your machine. With this set to the high you will quickly see which sites are sending you things you may not want. If you want the site to be able to give you cookies you will have to specificly instruct your pc to let it through.

7 Set the space that your cookies can take at 1 MB. This is the lowest setting possible but I have never run into anyone who had a problem by reducing this. Your machine will write over existing cookies to add new ones if necessary.

8 Clean your cookies out once a week, or use a program like norton clean sweep that automatically cleans your machine at start up or a specified time to remove cookies.

9 Beware of tab sites. They seem to be a haven for links to spy ware types of programs.

10 If you have a high speed internet connection make sure you turn off your computer when not in use. If you have a cable/isdn modem your machine is connected to the internet if its on.

11 Defrag your computer monthly. This process should be done over night using the windows defragmenter or one by another vendor. Again if you have a high speed internet connection remove the network cable from your router/modem or computer.

12 If you have a wireless connection enable the WEP security protocols. This may require a call to your wireless router support team for assistance but it will stop people from using your connection to the internet for their nefarious purposes.
Sorry if some of this seems redundant, basic, tedious or annoying but if you do this you will help defeat the scammers out there.

Peter

[Crunchyriff]

rkymtnhi- check your pm's.

Ptrall left ya a bunch of good info, too.

Defragging? Get "Disckeeper". Windows defrag is pretty puny, albeit a good place to start. I can't praise Disckeeper enough. It's fast, thorough, and if you get the pro edition (which I'd suggest) it also allows you a boot-time defrag of your mft before windows loads, and basically defrags everything on the HD, including your O/S. It really kicks butt. You can also schedule a roster to regularly defrag in the early AM hrs (or whatever you specify) during no-use periods.

[seagullplayer]

These hackers have no life. I would hope I could fine something better to do with my time.
I tend to agree with people that think most of the ones creating new viruses are also the one's selling the cure. :banghead

[Barry]

These hackers have no life. I would hope I could fine something better to do with my time.
I tend to agree with people that think most of the ones creating new viruses are also the one's selling the cure. :banghead

Actually, years ago, back when I ran a DOS-based company BBS (the owner was also pastor of a local church), there was a teenager in the same town who ran a BBS that offered downloads of pirated commercial software. He had people logging in from all over. After the authorities caught up with him and confiscated his equipment, he came to the store and confessed to me that he also had written a couple of viruses that were out there. This was about 15 years ago. He'd be about 30 now and is working in PC security (if he took my advice). I'd say that a lot of hackers and virus writers even today are probably either very smart but misguided kids looking to challenge authority or adults with serious attitude issues. Doing what they do probably gives them a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in their minds. :dunno

The best things the average person can do is: First, pray for them. Second, if you have a computer, get a reputable piece of software to protect your system. It's still possible to get a virus just by moving data between machines on a floppy... well, on a USB flash drive now, too... if the source machine is infected with something. You don't even have to be on the Internet.

I doubt Symantec, McAfee, etc are secretly writing viruses to sell products. That would be along the same lines as the conspiracy theory that goes something like 'Microsoft could release a flawless Windows, but they don't so they can release updates and "fixes" and charge more'. I also worked tech support for a major software company in the BBS market a while back. Knew all the programmers. No software is totally flawless. In fact, fixing one thing can and does sometimes break something else. :hissyfit :banghead :screen:

[stephen]

Well it looks like the tdpri is down for right now. All I get when I go there is : Disabled by Timehost - Sorry for the inconvenience

It just so happens that this hackin happened around the same time I changed my email in my tdpri profile, ansd I havent been able to log back on their. At first I thought I did some big mistake when I made the change in my profile, but now I can see that outside mischievious forces were at work.

Lord, help Paul and Chris! In Jesus name, Amen.

[reverbbb]

Hee, hee, hee. PC, you MUST be the cause of this whole crash thingy.

I got a call from Brutablues in New Jersy. He and I met when he came to Dallas this past summer for the Crossroads Festival. He (and I assume many other TDPRI members) is clueless about what happened. It seems that Wally is the most informed on what happened (since he was there during the time it happened). I think that this forum is the most informed group of what happened to TDPRI.

Brutablues started a thread on the GDPRI forum (Paul's Gibson forum). But it seems that not many folks know to go and look in that forum or this forum to see what is up. The lights are out, and perhaps 5000 TDPRI members are in the dark and don't know why.

TDPRI must have been hacked really bad since they got a hold of all the email accounts and had the authorization to edit all the posts. I have a suspicion that this hacking was by someone that Paul has had a falling out with. Some of you guys may know who I am eluding to. I don't want to open that as a discussion. But, it is my opinion that for someone take the time to edit posts, they seem to have a vandetta.

[Pearly Gator]

Even Sunday Morning Superstars had profanity in it. You can still "back door" into TDPRI if you have any links to posts or forums.

Gary

[stephen]

I agree with Roger, musta been a vendetta by someon holding a grudge. They deffinitely put the pedal to the metal in my opinion!

The thing that hurt the tdpri was not having the phpbb forum upgraded to then latest and greatest version. The version that was running has two major securitry holes in it, that allow a hacker to come in and take over. Were running the latest and greatest, so nothing identified as of yet that could be a threat.

[reverbbb]

As Gary has pointed out, there are a few folks still browsing and posting. You just cannot get in on front page. That means, that you cannot access your profile for editing.

You can use this link to get in, and then use the "Jump To" pulldown menu.

http://www.tdpri.com/viewforum.php?f=1

I would caution about saying too much or being very stand-offish. The hacker may still be lurking and decide to turn his efforts towards you.

[stephen]

http://www.webervst.com/tdpri.htm

You can use this one too to get in the tdpri.

The bad thing for Paul and Co: the changes in the phpbb format just took place, and he just didnt get it updated in time. Not that he left it hangin for days, they had just made the updates within hours of it happening!

Paul will get it sorted out.

[seagullplayer]

I'll just stay right here thanks. I don't even own a Tele, yet. :cool:

[stephen]

I'll just stay right here thanks. I don't even own a Tele, yet. :cool:

:shock :yikes Well, I guess I have to pray for ya: Lord please forgive this heathen for not having a Tele! :angel


:ROFL :lol: :rofl:

[kewlpack]

I'll just stay right here thanks. I don't even own a Tele, yet. :cool:

:shock :yikes Well, I guess I have to pray for ya: Lord please forgive this heathen for not having a Tele! :angel
Oh??? I thought God was into Acoustic instruments and was "solid state"! :shock After all, HE is - unlike tubey gear - unchanging and always consistently marvelous! :angel


Hehehe - eh... I digress. \:D/