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  • We've Been Hacked

    Hiya folks. Very bad news today. The title is not a joke, we have been hacked. Initial research shows that this is a new exploit, not yet known to the Ubuntu and Debian security teams, so they are being notified.

    In the meantime, we have to prepare for a reformat of the server. We're going to keep problems as minimized as possible, but when this does happen, we're going to be offline during the process. I don't have time estimates right now, as we haven't planned out the when, or the how. There's too many variables to give anything more than "we're going to have some downtime".

    Between now and then, we're stepping up backups of the databases that hold all of the forum data. We're going to do everything we can to ensure that the data is safe, and nothing gets lost throughout this transition.

    You might want to consider changing your passwords, though it is not actually required. Your passwords are stored using what's known as an MD5Sum. This is extremely difficult to reverse. Even still, if you share this password with other sites, it could be well worth changing on those other sites.

    Watch this thread for any updates related to this.

    EDIT: Please PM Pedersen, Raps, or any of the mod team for any questions related to this.
    Last edited by Pedersen; 12-20-2010, 03:04 PM.

  • #2
    Details: The mail server program was found to have a vulnerability back on December 7. Unfortunately, the fix was implemented without notifying the Ubuntu and Debian teams that this was a security related fix. Since they didn't know, they didn't port it into their systems.

    Impact: We're still going to have to reformat, but no data appears to have been lost. Right now, the email service has been completely disabled. Once the patch has been applied, we will re-enable it. Until that time, no notifications will be sent of any kind.

    We are getting things fixed and prepared as rapidly as possible.

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    • #3
      While we were getting the updated version of the email service, email notifications were completely down.

      This has now been fixed, and email notifications will work again.

      Backups of the databases are being sent offsite at frequent intervals throughout the day as of now.

      This means we can begin planning the rebuild process in proper detail finally, and that planning will commence within the next two hours.

      EDIT: For those who might be interested/worried about their own servers, the specific exploit used was this one: http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename...=CVE-2010-4344

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      • #4
        Now that we have an alternate means of communication fully open, we're going to finish a server migration. The work is underway right now, and everything looks good to be making the switch by the end of next week (by Jan 16, 2010).

        Please take some time to get familiar with CS Chat. While the actual server migration is happening, there will be some downtime. We will be available on CS Chat, and communicating the status during the downtime.

        Once we complete all of the preparations, we will post more information here with dates and times.

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        • #5
          Apologies for the issues tonight, everybody. Part of the prep for the move went a different way than I expected it to, resulting in my triggering problems. That time is past, though, and things have returned to the way they were.

          Hopefully tomorrow will see the completion of the last of the prep work.

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          • #6
            After our server migration, the hack was removed. We're okay on that front again, and we thank you for your patience while we were getting moved and getting rid of the problem.

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