Voted "Most Likely to Be Hacked" 2005

[digitalpress]

OK, this was the worst and hopefully last hacking of the Digital Press site.

On Tuesday, sometime around 1pm, our server was compromised, and some lame script kiddie installed something that was causing an outbound direct denial of service (DDoS). Per our contract with our ISP, this means the site is shut down. Getting the site back up requires a completely clean server so it's taken us a few days to get all of the stuff we've built here over 14 years back in place. We still have some work to do as the online guide and knowledge base are presently under construction.

I have now hired a security expert to examine our setup and lock this place down for good. As many of you know, I'm about to change careers - when I open my game store there will not be the free time to reinstall software, upload gigs of data, or investigate the issues that follow a hacking attempt. This guy is the real deal, and hopefully he's reading this because he's already been a tremendous help in pointing out and correcting some serious issues we've had on the server to date.

Know that I'll do everything I can to maintain this growing community.

My apologies for the downtime! We'll have a bulletproof site soon enough.

[Flack]

The Zotob virus, Hurricane Katrina, and DP's biggest crash all in one week. I'm going to wear a bicycle helmet around the house this weekend just in case.

[smokehouse]

I just want to say thanks for such a great please to call my online home. I know it must consume a HUGE amount of your time and I can say that I for one appreciate it. Having DP down felt like I was missing something and that really proved how much I like coming here and chatting with a bunch of like minded gamers.

Thanks for all your work, it doesn’t go unnoticed!




I just don’t understand why someone would want to attack this place…must be some antisocial ass hole or something.

[SoulBlazer]

Tell me about it, Flack -- what a week. PLUS my car window being smashed and gas prices going crazy. It's getting to where I'm afraid to get out of bed. :eek 2:

Joe, thanks again for all the hard work you and the others have put into restoring the site and please let us know if we can do anything to help. :)

[The Plucky Little Ninja]

I was getting so used to identifying everyone by their avatars.

Now I'm hopping around trying to put names to pictures so I can figure out who everyone is again.

It's still good seeing everything starting to fall back into place.

[Blitzwing256]

glad to see things are back online, and good luck with the new store :-)

[buttasuperb]

I didn't know you were opening up a game store.

Cool. I'll have to steal from it sometime. Or at least drink some beer there.

[Jasoco]

Phew! Glad to see it's back though! I really wanna talk about Namco Museum Battle Collection. [Goes off to find the thread]

Script Kiddies suck. Lame asses. They need to get a new job.

[chicnstu]

Wait.......are you leaving us Joe? Is someone else taking over the site?

[ubikuberalles]

The Zotob virus, Hurricane Katrina, and DP's biggest crash all in one week. I'm going to wear a bicycle helmet around the house this weekend just in case.

Pictures please! :D

[Blue60]

i would just like to thank everyone at DP even though i have not been a member for long i still feel like this place is my digital home..

[DonMarco]

I just got back from work and noticed this. Sorry to hear about the hacking.

When you get a free minute, could you raise the allowed signature characters? I went to upload my avatar and was sternly scolded.

[OLDERGAMESDOTCOM]

As someone who runs another high profile online
game site :cough: :cough: I know how it feels
to have some asswipe hack and destroy the
content you work so hard on making available
to your visitors.

Good to hear this place will become fort knox
soon. Wannabe hackers piss me off more
than just about anything and should be
flogged and slapped until they... heck...
indefinately. :evil:


http://www.oldergames.com/adverts/amcrelief.gif (https://secure2.convio.net/arc/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=1161)

[Lothars]

Thanks Joe,

Yeah it's been a strange week especially without DP it's like my digital home was gone,

but im glad to have it back and I really appreciate all the work you did getting it back up and running :D

You Rock Joe.

[Trebuken]

I was afraid the server was underwater or something...
Glad it's coming back, I imagine you don't have to worry about those hackers for awhie, at least not until they are done looting in New Orleans.

Trebuken

P.S. - Goo luck to any suffering down south...

[Wavelflack]

"We'll have a bulletproof site soon enough."

If the forum starts flashing, that means it's about to wear off. Beware!

WELLCOME TO GASROOM

[kainemaxwell]

Nice to see DP is back and good luck on the security upgrades.

[Mayhem]

Nuke-proof router and firewall me thinks may be in order... expensive possibly but I'm sure the guy you've got in Joe will do it right :)

[THATinkjar]

Joe: I just want to say thank you for continuing to look after us all and these forums during the hard times. I know, sometimes, you probably feel fed up... but I for one appreciate all your efforts! Thanks, Joe!

[DigitalSpace]

Joe, you're awesome.

My personal thanks to you and everybody else involved in keeping DP running.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I'm going to wear a bicycle helmet around the house this weekend just in case.
Or the inflatable Yoda balloon hat.

[evil_genius]

OK, this was the worst and hopefully last hacking of the Digital Press site.

On Tuesday, sometime around 1pm, our server was compromised, and some lame script kiddie installed something that was causing an outbound direct denial of service (DDoS). Per our contract with our ISP, this means the site is shut down. Getting the site back up requires a completely clean server so it's taken us a few days to get all of the stuff we've built here over 14 years back in place. We still have some work to do as the online guide and knowledge base are presently under construction.

I have now hired a security expert to examine our setup and lock this place down for good. As many of you know, I'm about to change careers - when I open my game store there will not be the free time to reinstall software, upload gigs of data, or investigate the issues that follow a hacking attempt. This guy is the real deal, and hopefully he's reading this because he's already been a tremendous help in pointing out and correcting some serious issues we've had on the server to date.

Know that I'll do everything I can to maintain this growing community.

My apologies for the downtime! We'll have a bulletproof site soon enough.

I love you... :love:

[Cmosfm]

Glad to see that we're back up, yeah, this week's been insane! Even SomethingAwful had to shut down, with DP and SA gone, I was lost. LOST! :(

[tylerwillis]

DP's is getting its own security? That's awesome. What's he gonna be equipped with? Nukes? Lasers? Hordes of Orcs at his command?

"BEWARE EVIL-DOERS! I AM DP SECU-MAN!"

Make sure he drops in and introduces himself if he has an interest in vg.

On a serious note, glad to see we're back up. Thanks for the hard work Joe. You rock.

[MrSmiley381]

Damn, just when I needed info on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure the online guide goes down.

If you find out that the hacker is in the general Cleveland area, tell me so I can go kick his ass :angry:.

[Goodwill Hunter]

I know this outage made me appreciate how much I enjoy coming here, and how much I missed it when it was gone. Glad things will be okay, and thanks to Joe for working so hard to get things running again!

Rich

P.S. I need to spend some meseta and add to the entirely appropriate clutter here!

[TheSmirk]

Glad to see the situation is under control! I stopped by the other day since I've been way busy the last few weeks, trying to fix my DP jones, since I haven't been on much....and hacked! :/

Hope the guy you got locks down the ship good!

[Sailorneorune]

I was looking for info on XCom UFO Defense (a dirt cheap copy is rotting in Evansville, IN as I type to those in that area who want it), and the site is down.

It must be the Big Asshole Coming-Out Party in this country right now. Hurricane profiteers, virus writers, and some little punk ass hacking one of my new favorite sites. To top it off, my internet connection went down Wednesday to come back today.

Thanks for everything, Joe. I hope this hacking never happens again, and if it does, may the culprit be humiliated and subsequently shot.

All the best,
Sailorneorune

[lendelin]

I have now hired a security expert to examine our setup and lock this place down for good.

Good! I also hope there is a way to track down these hackers?? I think it is one of the most childish and worst forms of vandalism which has to be taken very seriously.

Sometimes I don't have a lot of time, but being on here once or twice a day became routine. Getting great information about systems and games old and new, reading informed posts and discussions about the industry and games keeps me updated and is a great learning source. I didn't realize how much of a routine visiting DP became until the outage occured.

Still for the normal user it is not a big thing -- but for you guys who have all this work getting the site up and running again it is a big deal. Lots of time, lots of work, and because of what? Some childish irresponsible hooligans.

Good to hear that the security of the site will be increased.

[SuperNES]

on one hand. that completely sucks that DP was down yet again. stupid hackers piss me off. by the way, if the security guy is reading this, you mi9ght want to install something that tracks down the hacer's home address, so we can send the sothy squad out to skin them.

On the other hand, i'm kinda releived to know that it was actually the whole server that was down and not just an error on my end. every day i came here it was agony just dreaming of the great topics i could be posting in, and all the fun everyone else was having. but it was not that way, thankfully.



oh yeah,


SPYKIDS
SPYKIDS
SPYKIDS!!!
:D

[badinsults]

Good to see that you were able to restore things so quickly. Hopefully this expert will prevent such things from happening again.

[Jasoco]

Just stick one of these in the server and you should be all set..

http://www.cslab.ece.ntua.gr/~phib/images/doom/anim/pinv.gif

[SuperShark]

OH THANK GOD DPIGITAL PRESS IS FINALY BACK!!!!

I Was So Lost Without DP! It Seemed Like Months To Me Away From The Retrogamer Roundtable! I swear, as i got on here and DP would not load monday or tuesday, i degan to cry, no joking. I then, every chance i have while i am home (as i can not get on this site where i work due to how much troble i would get in and how the site is blocked using the filteration system we use and every time ive bypassed it in the past without geting caught they just silently patch their hole making it harder for me to access this site there) I was refresshing every 5 or 10 mins, and starting feeling more homesick by the minute. But somehow i knew that it was the evil work of some outside force that caused the sitee to crash and I knew that Joe and the rest of the DP staff were working as hard as they could to get this site back up and running again, and thank God i was right. WE LOVE YOU JOE AND OTHER DP STAFF!!! So much time you volentier to run this site and deal with so many problems. you guys could of just said, no this is to hard long tiring and anoying to fix, go find another site, but you guys didnt! I AM SO GLAD TO BE BACK AND TO HAVE THE ROUNTABLE BACK UP!!! I Am Crying All Over Again From Joy Right Now! THANK YOU GUYS!!! AND HELLO TO ALL ROUNTABLE MAMBERS THAT I HAVE NOT SEEN IN SO LONG!!!!

The SuperShark Posting and crying Again!

[Mattiekrome]

Yeah!

*applauds* :D

Back in business! Grrrr @ script kiddies

[DJ_DEEM]

SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB@!!!!



sorry couldnt resist, glad we are back online i was bored as hell hahahah

[MegaManFan]

Glad to see things are up and running. Weirdly enough when I go to the forums by going to DP first everything works fine, but when I try to type in the URL directly I get redirected to some weird drql website. Fortunately I use Mozilla so I don't think anything auto-loaded.

[InsaneDavid]

I just want to say thank you to Joe and everyone else behind the scenes here at DP for getting the massive site back online so quickly!

As many others posted, I was pretty much lost without the DP forums - in fact I tried that sleep thing and *gasp* spent some time with my girlfriend. LOL When I saw the index page come back online last night I knew everything would be okay.

Thanks again and good luck with opening your store!

[Raedon]

MY ICONS WERE LOOTED!!! WHY DIDN'T THE GOVERNMENT DO ANYTHING??!!


:image:

[Fuyukaze]

Yet another hack on DP. It figures it would happen while I'm away. When the spykids or what ever did their hack on DP, I wasnt able to log on for it either. I will say this much though, dont apologize Joe, you've done nothing to apologize for. Those lil pricks will find any reason to do what they want. Thanks for all the hard work. BTW, now that i'm out of my internet depravation chamber, just when did you decide to fully switch jobs? Last I knew, you were still only playing with the idea.

[Tron 2.0]

I'm starting to wounder if this site has a, bulls eye painted on it X_x

Any best luck to you at your new job.

Btw i hope this site will be... more secure in the future.

[kainemaxwell]

Just stick one of these in the server and you should be all set..

http://www.cslab.ece.ntua.gr/~phib/images/doom/anim/pinv.gif
Wouldn't digitizing Sothy and putting him in be easier?

[skoldpadda]

Glad to see things are getting back to normal here. I have definitely missed coming here the past few days. Good luck with the new security guru.

And, where exactly is this store opening? :-P

[Antimind]

Might wanna consider NOT using php. While you can do some nifty things with php apps, any 5 year old with half a brain can breach it (seriously). There are 5 new weaknesses for every new security patch on average. If DP got the loot hire a programmer to go with the security dude to make it really tight. Go with somethin else even if it doesn't look as pretty.

Not tryin to bust your balls or nothin Joe. Just sayin that php really sucks for security no matter what measures you take. Even if you had a babysitter 24/7 there's always potential for disaster and always assholes looking to mess it up for everyone. I was totally boned without DP and I don't want it to ever happen again. Gook luck with the store! :)

[Pick]

Might wanna consider NOT using php. While you can do some nifty things with php apps, any 5 year old with half a brain can breach it (seriously). There are 5 new weaknesses for every new security patch on average. If DP got the loot hire a programmer to go with the security dude to make it really tight. Go with somethin else even if it doesn't look as pretty.

Not tryin to bust your balls or nothin Joe. Just sayin that php really sucks for security no matter what measures you take. Even if you had a babysitter 24/7 there's always potential for disaster and always assholes looking to mess it up for everyone. I was totally boned without DP and I don't want it to ever happen again. Gook luck with the store! :) My guess is it's not PHP, it's phpBB.
phpBB always gets hacked and updated.

"It's been brought to our attention over recent weeks that some hosts are banning or disuading the use of phpBB (sometimes involving fees for conversion to other boards). This is unfortunate for everyone and seems largely to be based on FUD.

While phpBB has and no doubt will continue to suffer from exploits (show me a piece of software that doesn't!) we have consistently addressed such issues very quickly. Equally some hosts are doubtles blaming phpBB for exploited systems when in fact the actual culprit is one of the many other apps which have suffered recent major or significant issues (vB, AWStats, etc.).

I would appreciate it if anyone affected by hosts taking such actions would contact me with relevant details and if possible a contact point." - http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=304052&sid=c24ec439bd99e4e5740166ae55933c0c

I have even hacked into my test server using phpBB. If anyone has a site using phpBB and is looking for an alternative, try SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/).

[SlayerOfFurbies]

Good Luck joe, and thank you :D

[Haoie]

It does seem to happen fairly often, but I suppose there are always going to be attempts even if DP is 'bulletproof'.

[calthaer]

Set up us the bomb, hehee

I also am in favor of digitizing Sothy a la Tron and having him patrol the computer machine. Put him in your base to kill those d00dz.

Thanks for being so diligent with restoring the site. Joe is opening up a game store? When it is open, let us know when and where so that we can patronize it.

If you sell modern games, too, let us know so that we can order from you online or something.

[punkoffgirl]

Glad to see things are up and running. Weirdly enough when I go to the forums by going to DP first everything works fine, but when I try to type in the URL directly I get redirected to some weird drql website. Fortunately I use Mozilla so I don't think anything auto-loaded.

I have that same problem and I'm using Mozilla, too. I also can't see my picture in my profile or my blog (not my avatar) with Mozilla, but I can with IE or Netscape. Odd.

[Jasoco]

SOMEONE SET US UP THE BOMB@!!!!
Sorry, but I must nit-pick. It's "Up us", not "Us up". Common mistake. But I have to point it out every time. :P


Set up us the bomb, hehee
Good. See? Cal gets it! ;)

Sothy is a good idea. But I still think we should use the Invulnerability Sphere as a backup. Can never have too much protection.

Just to be safe. Someone get a Cyberdemon as well. Put him by the front door.

[segarocks30]

First of all THOSE HACKERS ARE SO STUPID!!!!! If you need any help joe im a blackbelt in karate. It would not let me go on the forums a few days ago because of that.same thing with the knowledge base and rarity guide. You work so hard to keep this site maintained and im sorry that happened.Soon DP will be unbreachable!

[digitalpress]

Glad to see things are up and running. Weirdly enough when I go to the forums by going to DP first everything works fine, but when I try to type in the URL directly I get redirected to some weird drql website. Fortunately I use Mozilla so I don't think anything auto-loaded.

I have that same problem and I'm using Mozilla, too. I also can't see my picture in my profile or my blog (not my avatar) with Mozilla, but I can with IE or Netscape. Odd.

Working on this. Actually you can get to everything fine if you use a traliling slash (ie http://www.digitpress.com/forum/) but if you leave the slash off it's taking you to limbo. Should be back in order soon. Thanks for the heads up!

[albailey]

I was wondering what was going on.
And now I am informed :)

Al

[googlefest1]

are the new security measures going to siginificantly increase the cost of keeping this site alive?

i say this everytime it happends but i realy don't understand the thrill of attacking harmless and "good" places.

thanks for keeping this place alive - not knowing the location, i too was worried that you guys were under water.

[SegaAges]

I am probably like the rest of the guys here when I say that I had no idea you were opening up a game store. What city do you live in, I will buy something in there sometime.

[rbudrick]

Tell me about it, Flack -- what a week. PLUS my car window being smashed and gas prices going crazy. It's getting to where I'm afraid to get out of bed.

Damn, SB, you really do have some shitty-ass luck sometimes. :( Hope you find the bastid who broke your window!

And Joe, if you died, I'd regret not telling you how much I love you often enough. LOL Seriously, DP is the best...dunno where I'd be without it. Probably in a dimly lit room masturbating to porn and smoking crack, but that's the status quo anyway. :D

-Rob