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Forums are back

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:03 pm
by socheat
Forums are back up, and secured better than before, so this shouldn't happen again. Knock on wood.

Answers to common comments we've received:
Yes, we know it was a phpBB hack.
Yes, I know it was my user account that was used to blast out the emails.
Yes, we know the IP of the hacker.
No, we don't want you to sign up for a free <insert crap here> to support our site.

Also, please note, we have never, ever sent out a mass email to our forum users so if you ever receive one, especially one that reeks of spam, know that it wasn't us, and it never will be. As such, the admin page that does the mass emailing has been deleted from our install of phpBB.

Sorry for the inconvenience. To make it up to you, we've finally installed the file attachment mod. Registered users can now upload up to 20MB of files, plus 2MB in their private messages.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:04 pm
by socheat
I know, smilies are missing. Installing them in a few.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:08 pm
by Ian
I should also add that:

a) CDRLabs does not need new hardware to test Blu-ray drives (if we did, we'd buy it damnit!)
b) Contrary to what that email said, you will not be getting a free Blu-ray disc from us

Thanks though to everyone that offered hardware. It's good to see that we're appreciated.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:26 pm
by MediumRare
Great to see the forum back :D - I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms :-? . I'm happy with just the forum too- can't play a lousy BluRay anyway. :wink:

I think the attachments will be a very welcome addition. Will they be visible to logged-on members only? I managed to activate some webspace with my provider, so I haven't missed this as much as others have.

G

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:45 pm
by Dartman
The minute I got that mail I knew what had happened :evil: Too many misspellings and syntax errors, funny links, a free Blue Ray 65 gig disk, ya right, not today.
I guess they didn't get all of our info and passwords anyways, no extra spam then normal. Those Nigerians must do this as a living.
And thanks for the attachments upgrade, that really comes in handy.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:52 pm
by Ian
I think we were targeted for that spam message. It was just a little too focused towards optical storage and reviews for it to be a random script kiddie and/or bot.

We have the IP of where the guy came from. Unfortunately, it looks like a compromised website (cobaltmexico.com).

I'm trying to get the person's Freedesktoppc account disabled, but getting ahold of anyone over there is impossible.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 8:24 pm
by aviationwiz
A couple things,

1. I too was suffering withdrawl symptoms, glad it's back!
2. Where's my BluRay disc? :P
3. I didn't get this mass email or the one that happened a while back.
4.
Nigerians must do this as a living.


WTF are you talking about? Show me proof that this attack, or that the last one, originated from Nigeria. Yes, I know about the Nigeria scam letters, but this is not even remotely related.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 8:37 pm
by Dartman
Well whatever, it sounds like the kind of thing those guys send out, bad spelling and all. I guess they don't have the market cornered but whenever I get these things that's who comes to mind first. I don't care who sent it, they are low life scum trying to take advantage of people and mess up our forum.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:47 pm
by socheat
FYI, smilies and avatars are back. :o 8) =D> \:D/ :robot:

See? :wink:

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 10:30 pm
by dodecahedron
MediumRare wrote:Great to see the forum back :D - I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms :-? .

aaaarrrrgghhhh....that was a difficult weekend! #-o

good to be back! :P

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 10:47 pm
by Spazmogen
dodecahedron wrote:aaaarrrrgghhhh....that was a difficult weekend! #-o

good to be back! :P

Tell me about it.

I suddenly had time to get my taxes done and restore a clients computer.
Oh, yeah...I worked 3 day shifts in there too.

I really missed the forums, as I do most of my posts/surfing while @ work.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:55 am
by dimitri
Welcome back 8)

PostPosted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:57 am
by RJW
Welcome back. It would be really a shame if the best english cd/dvd related board would no longer be there.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:14 am
by Bhairav
Good to be back, guys. That was a LOONG weekend!
Thanks for getting the file-attachment features set up!

PostPosted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:20 am
by overclockxp
I was so sad when you said that the forums were offline indefinitely. Glad to see you got it worked out. As long as there is the Internet there will be hackers. Good job getting them back up! =D>

PostPosted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:18 pm
by Alejandra
Seconds after I hit the link in the email I figured out, yeah sure, CDRLabs never do that if they need something they post in the news page.

As others I'm glad forums are back :D