Has this site ever been "Hacked"?

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Has this site ever been "Hacked"?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Davis-SE Georgia on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 01:18 pm:

Yeah, I know we have the scammers and the spammers and our share of misfortune with our host, but has the site ever really been "Hacked", or is that all in the mind of the paranoid?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 01:22 pm:

I believe the respective answers are No and Yes.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Craig Anderson, central Wisconsin on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 01:45 pm:

EVery site gets hacked to various degrees.
There are hacker websites where hackers BRAG about which sites they have hacked!
"Dirty Rotten Bastards"........ GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 02:29 pm:

Not to scare you, but...

from the Huffington Post

Internet Access May be Lost by 100's of Thousands in July

"For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.

Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.

The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org , that will inform them whether they're infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won't be able to connect to the Internet.

Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.

Last November, the FBI and other authorities were preparing to take down a hacker ring that had been running an Internet ad scam on a massive network of infected computers.

"We started to realize that we might have a little bit of a problem on our hands because ... if we just pulled the plug on their criminal infrastructure and threw everybody in jail, the victims of this were going to be without Internet service," said Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent. "The average user would open up Internet Explorer and get 'page not found' and think the Internet is broken."

On the night of the arrests, the agency brought in Paul Vixie, chairman and founder of Internet Systems Consortium, to install two Internet servers to take the place of the truckload of impounded rogue servers that infected computers were using. Federal officials planned to keep their servers online until March, giving everyone opportunity to clean their computers. But it wasn't enough time. A federal judge in New York extended the deadline until July.

Now, said Grasso, "the full court press is on to get people to address this problem." And it's up to computer users to check their PCs.

This is what happened:

Hackers infected a network of probably more than 570,000 computers worldwide. They took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system to install malicious software on the victim computers. This turned off antivirus updates and changed the way the computers reconcile website addresses behind the scenes on the Internet's domain name system.

The DNS system is a network of servers that translates a web address — such as www.ap.org — into the numerical addresses that computers use. Victim computers were reprogrammed to use rogue DNS servers owned by the attackers. This allowed the attackers to redirect computers to fraudulent versions of any website.

The hackers earned profits from advertisements that appeared on websites that victims were tricked into visiting. The scam netted the hackers at least $14 million, according to the FBI. It also made thousands of computers reliant on the rogue servers for their Internet browsing.

When the FBI and others arrested six Estonians last November, the agency replaced the rogue servers with Vixie's clean ones. Installing and running the two substitute servers for eight months is costing the federal government about $87,000.

The number of victims is hard to pinpoint, but the FBI believes that on the day of the arrests, at least 568,000 unique Internet addresses were using the rogue servers. Five months later, FBI estimates that the number is down to at least 360,000. The U.S. has the most, about 85,000, federal authorities said. Other countries with more than 20,000 each include Italy, India, England and Germany. Smaller numbers are online in Spain, France, Canada, China and Mexico.

Vixie said most of the victims are probably individual home users, rather than corporations that have technology staffs who routinely check the computers.

FBI officials said they organized an unusual system to avoid any appearance of government intrusion into the Internet or private computers. And while this is the first time the FBI used it, it won't be the last.

"This is the future of what we will be doing," said Eric Strom, a unit chief in the FBI's Cyber Division. "Until there is a change in legal system, both inside and outside the United States, to get up to speed with the cyber problem, we will have to go down these paths, trail-blazing if you will, on these types of investigations."

Now, he said, every time the agency gets near the end of a cyber case, "we get to the point where we say, how are we going to do this, how are we going to clean the system" without creating a bigger mess than before."

Read more: http://unlawflcombatnt.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=computertech&action=display &thread=10612#ixzz1t4u6FhIP
---------
Trying to report news, not make it...
rdr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 03:13 pm:

The problem is growing on a daily basis. 2010 saw more hack attacks than the previous 10 years added together, acording to one source.

I got this note yesterday that may be of interest to you. I subscribe to PC World.

I had heard of this possibility and it took about 2 seconds to check it out so don’t be shy. Click this link: DNS Changer Check-Up site Better safe than sorry later on!

When I put my mouse on those links, I get blocked and the link address, but they work.

When I do a search for the article, I get the same page offered here. You just can’t be too careful now and it is difficult to know who to believe.

Here is another link to the story for verification:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/04/23/how-to-avoid-july-internet-doomsday-fi x-dnschanger-malware/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/254279/fbi_steps_up_internet_doomsday_awareness_m alware_campaign.html

Today @ PCWorld

FBI Steps Up 'Internet Doomsday' Awareness Malware Campaign

By Jared Newman, PCWorld Apr 23, 2012 9:07 AM

PC users infected with a strain of malware called DNS Changer will face their own personal Internet doomsday in July unless they disinfect their computers, the FBI warns.

Users have until July 9 to rid themselves of the DNS Changer malware, which can infect Windows PCs and Macs alike. After that, the FBI will throw a switch that prevents infected computers from accessing the Internet.

It's not as Big Brother as it sounds. DNS Changer is a Trojan that surfaced in 2007 and infected millions of machines. The malware would redirect computers to hacker-created Websites, where cyber-criminals sold at least $14 million in advertisements. DNS Changer also prevented computers from updating or using anti-virus software, leaving them vulnerable to even more malicious software.

Last November, in one of the biggest cybersecurity takedowns ever, the FBI arrested six Estonian nationals that allegedly ran the clickjacking fraud, and seized the rogue DNS servers where infected users were being redirected. The FBI has put up surrogate servers in place of the malicious ones, but only temporarily.

Now, the FBI wants to shut down those servers. Doing so would prevent infected PCs from reaching the Web, because they'll be trying to redirect through servers that no longer exist. Although the Feds aren't shutting down the Internet, they will be severing the link on which infected users have relied.

The FBI originally planned to shut down the malicious servers in March, but last month a federal judge ordered an extension to July to give users, businesses and governments more time to deal with DNS Changer. As of February, half of all Fortune 500 companies owned computers infected with DNS Changer, according security firm Tacoma. The DNS Changer Working Group estimates that more than 350,000 devices are still infected.

If users don't rid themselves of DNS Changer before the July 9 server shut down, they'll have to load anti-virus software on their computers by disc or USB drive. That could be a major headache for users who don't have access to a second PC for downloading anti-virus software.

To find out if you're infected, visit the DNS Changer Check-Up site, which checks the DNS resolution of your PC without installing any additional software. For infected users, the DNS Changer Working Group has a list of anti-virus software that can fix the problem, and Avira offers a repair tool specifically for DNS Changer.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Battell (south of Fond du Lac, Wis) on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 05:49 pm:

I did go to the F.B.I.'s web site and checked this out. It is for real (unless the F.B.I. has been hacked!). The web address to use to check your computer for this problem is: www.dns-ok.us

When you go to this web site it will give you a green response if your computer checks out OK. It only takes a moment.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 05:52 pm:

I read about it in the St Louis Post-Dispatch and I did the test several days ago. I got a green response.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 06:43 pm:

It was on our local news last night. I'm green!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 07:24 pm:

Mike, according to the forum, you're Black.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By A. Gustaf Bryngelson on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 08:25 pm:

Hey Dick, I checked Mike's profile photo, and Black is white!
Best
Gus
Reminds me of when Yellow Freight Lines used White Trucks and painted them orange


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kep NZ on Thursday, April 26, 2012 - 04:18 am:

This site was hacked once but that was ages ago.


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