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Redemption® Collectible Trading Card Game HQ => Official Rules & Errata => Ruling Questions => Topic started by: CactusRob on March 15, 2010, 06:33:54 PM

Title: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: CactusRob on March 15, 2010, 06:33:54 PM
Well, we seem to be back "on the air" as it were.  Our site was attacked Friday.  Everything in our database was deleted.  We thought we got it back on Saturday but missed some nasty files and the databases were deleted again.  We may have some data loss here on the boards.  We restored a database backup from Saturday.  Our shopping cart was also down as was my abilitiy to upload files to the server.  Hopefully, we have it fixed.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Red on March 15, 2010, 06:35:48 PM
rtsmaniac was right. the boards were attacked.i'll pm you my prime suspect.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: lightningninja on March 15, 2010, 06:44:28 PM
rtsmaniac was right. the boards were attacked.i'll pm you my prime suspect.
I hope you're joking...
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Red on March 15, 2010, 06:47:35 PM
nope he had a suspect
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: lightningninja on March 15, 2010, 06:48:08 PM
nope he had a suspect
I bet he did...  ::)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: New Raven BR on March 15, 2010, 06:50:56 PM
THE MUSHROOMS ATTACKED THE BOARDS!!!
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: crustpope on March 15, 2010, 10:15:36 PM
Attacking hte boards is probably the dumbest thing someone could do.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: TheKarazyvicePresidentRR on March 15, 2010, 10:24:59 PM
nope he had a suspect
Lets NOT turn this into the Salem witch hunts.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: EmJayBee83 on March 15, 2010, 10:34:43 PM
nope he had a suspect
Lets NOT turn this into the Salem witch hunts.
I heard whoever did it left a note that said, "Make Moses a Priest or else!!!!!!!!!!"

That just what I heard.

(Oh yeah,  ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) for those suffering from a lack of joke-detection.)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: New Raven BR on March 15, 2010, 10:35:22 PM
nope he had a suspect
Lets NOT turn this into the Salem witch hunts.
good idea RR!!!!!
*brings torches and pitchforks*
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Master KChief on March 15, 2010, 10:36:03 PM
i heard whoever did it threw carrots at the server.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: RTSmaniac on March 15, 2010, 11:19:45 PM
umm...i was just kidding, maybe i shouldn't have said what I said RED!
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Crashfach2002 on March 15, 2010, 11:42:52 PM
umm...i was just kidding, maybe i shouldn't have said what I said RED!

Way to go dude!   :)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: STAMP on March 15, 2010, 11:44:22 PM
Looks like a few people are warming up for 4/1.   ::)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: RTSmaniac on March 15, 2010, 11:45:09 PM
I know, talk about sticking my foot in my mouth- jeez.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: EmJayBee83 on March 15, 2010, 11:50:03 PM
Looks like a few people are warming up for 4/1.   ::)
So says the man who is an expert on databases...

Duhn, duhn, duhn.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: metalpsalm on March 16, 2010, 04:43:55 AM
Who would want to attack a little Christian game company? odd.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Red on March 16, 2010, 08:18:33 AM
oops i kinda have a hard time deteming when someone is kidding so i'm sorry.(i still wonder who attacked us)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 16, 2010, 09:57:05 AM
Who would want to attack a little Christian game company? odd.
I"m blaming these guys (http://www.biblebattlestradingcardgame.com/index.htm). ;)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Bryon on March 16, 2010, 10:23:15 AM
*chuckles* Arphaxad and Abraham are Israelites?  I know it's just a game, but even Sunday School kids know that Israelites are descendants of Israel (Jacob)!
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: EmJayBee83 on March 16, 2010, 10:53:35 AM
Who would want to attack a little Christian game company? odd.
I"m blaming these guys (http://www.biblebattlestradingcardgame.com/index.htm). ;)
From Bryon's chuckle I believe we can rule out the Mossad or other Israeli intelligence operations.  That leaves these guys (http://www.losers.org/) in addition to possibly STAMP (http://www.cactusgamedesign.com/message_boards/index.php?topic=20164.msg315500#msg315500) and/or the MMEF (i.e., Militant Moses Empowerment Front) (http://www.cactusgamedesign.com/message_boards/index.php?topic=20164.msg315456#msg315456).
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: stefferweffer on March 16, 2010, 11:01:38 AM
nope he had a suspect
Lets NOT turn this into the Salem witch hunts.
I heard whoever did it left a note that said, "Make Moses a Priest or else!!!!!!!!!!"

That just what I heard.

(Oh yeah,  ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) for those suffering from a lack of joke-detection.)

I heard the note said "We've captured your demons.  See if you can Redeem them now!"  :)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: TheKarazyvicePresidentRR on March 16, 2010, 11:21:11 AM
i heard whoever did it threw carrots at the server.
I heard whoever did it left an escalator at the scene of the crime.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: STAMP on March 16, 2010, 11:26:04 AM
i heard whoever did it threw carrots at the server.
I heard whoever did it left an escalator at the scene of the crime.

Well that rules out MKChief.  The escalator would have left him at the scene of the crime.   ;)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Carl deuty on March 16, 2010, 12:20:13 PM
I know who it was!! .... It was that mean ol' SASQUATCH!!! Just the other day, I heard him mentioning something about an imminent attack on the boards. This was after he ate 30 sac lunches from the elementary school kids who were on a field trip to the nature center.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Red Dragon Thorn on March 16, 2010, 12:53:00 PM
Hey Rob,

With the attack, was it simply a brute force attack to shut the boards down, or was there ulterior motive, I.E. gaining access to passwords and such? Just wondering if I should go and change some of my passwords for email accounts and such that used the same as the boards.

Thanks,

John.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 16, 2010, 02:21:15 PM
The odd thing about the attack was that it was not a DDOS, at least on the front end.  When we tried to get to the boards, we didn't get a 404, but a SMF error.  That means the website was up ut had a database error (files missing.)  That would suggest an ulterior motive like database access, not a brute force attack.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Red on March 16, 2010, 02:25:49 PM
guys fill me in:what is the diffence why would we be attacked? i'm ???
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Korunks on March 16, 2010, 02:41:40 PM
I think you guys might be right about the attack, I think changing all passwords that are the same as this one would be a wise precaution.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Red on March 16, 2010, 02:48:52 PM
good cuz my  password on the email is deffent.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 16, 2010, 02:50:14 PM
guys fill me in:what is the diffence why would we be attacked? i'm ???
A DDOS (brute force) attack is basically where a botnet (collection of virus controlled computers) all ping (visit) a website at the same time.  It overloads the server, causing a web site to go down.  When this happens, loading times will be either REALLY long or you will get a 404 (http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/sitemanagement/media/ie404error.png).  In another type, someone could try to guess the password or exploit a hole in the server, gain access to the root directory, and simply delete the files.  That would result (most often) in an error message similar to the one we saw in this case.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Red on March 16, 2010, 03:01:34 PM
i think we'v been DDOS'd before, like last week.(i think)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: TheKarazyvicePresidentRR on March 16, 2010, 03:04:18 PM
i think we'v been DDOS'd before, like last week.(i think)
The boards didn't crash last week did they?
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 16, 2010, 03:20:26 PM
They were experiencing some troubles, but I would not see that as a DDOS attack, but instead the hacker figuring out the way the boards work.


In an unofficial answer to RDT's question, it depends how the boards are set up.  Some systems allow admins to access passwords.  Some encrypt them so the admin cannot assess them (to prevent this problem.)  I don't know how SMF does it; you'll need an admin's knowledge on that.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: The Guardian on March 16, 2010, 03:46:45 PM
If I understand you correctly, as long as the password I use for this site is not used for anything else, I should be okay?

Should I change my password for this site?

Thanks for the advice Cam.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Professoralstad on March 16, 2010, 03:51:30 PM
If I understand you correctly, as long as the password I use for this site is not used for anything else, I should be okay?

Should I change my password for this site?

Thanks for the advice Cam.

It's probably never a bad idea to change your password for everything once in awhile, as long as you don't forget it. Fortunately, my password for my University account was just changed recently from the one I have on here.

And since the only thing that could be done with the password for this site is posting/changing your account, I'm not sure if I'd worry too much. But it still couldn't hurt.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 16, 2010, 04:13:26 PM
If I understand you correctly, as long as the password I use for this site is not used for anything else, I should be okay?

Should I change my password for this site?

Thanks for the advice Cam.
Well, I don't know if there was a security breach as I don't know what was compromised/how SMF works.

I would probably recommend changing your password anyway, but it isn't a big deal if that password is unique to these forums.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Kor on March 16, 2010, 04:23:47 PM
Personally, I would be more worried for people that Cactus had the credit card information of, as he said the shopping cart was down as well.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 16, 2010, 04:26:48 PM
That information is almost always encrypted, but hackers like this can often break it.  I would be worried about that too.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: The Schaef on March 16, 2010, 06:20:27 PM
SMF, the forum software for this website, converts passwords to an MD5 hash.  I can reset a user's password but I do not have the ability to read the information, because it is encrypted.

The shopping cart is probably more secure, as most programs worth their salt (pun to be intended momentarily) add a "salt" to the password, usually one or more numbers or characters, at some point in the password (usually the end), and then generate an MD5 hash of THAT.  So even if someone could hack the MD5, which is difficult but not impossible, the salted password adds an extra layer of protection for sensitive information.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: The Warrior on March 16, 2010, 06:33:19 PM
SMF, the forum software for this website, converts passwords to an MD5 hash.  I can reset a user's password but I do not have the ability to read the information, because it is encrypted.

The shopping cart is probably more secure, as most programs worth their salt (pun to be intended momentarily) add a "salt" to the password, usually one or more numbers or characters, at some point in the password (usually the end), and then generate an MD5 hash of THAT.  So even if someone could hack the MD5, which is difficult but not impossible, the salted password adds an extra layer of protection for sensitive information.
so thats a yes or a no to ppl stealing info?
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 16, 2010, 06:35:29 PM
That's a no.  I'd say that's safe enough.  Not impossible to hack like Schaef said, but very difficult and time consuming. 
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Master KChief on March 16, 2010, 07:50:43 PM
and who has more time...than a hacker. :)

better safe than sorry, i say.
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: BubbleBoy on March 16, 2010, 08:09:48 PM
Well, I don't even use this password for anything else anyway.

(Pssst, everyone say this so that the hacker will leave us alone. ;))
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Warrior_Monk on March 17, 2010, 12:34:52 AM
possibly a follow  up to the xCaLeBx and Redemption Rulez deletings? and now Clarinet is gone... maybe the hacker is gonna hack and delete your account!  :o

anyway, I don't care if my account is hacked, the password I use on this is simple and only used for my internet gaming sites that I know I won't continue using...
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: RTSmaniac on March 17, 2010, 12:53:32 AM
Ive paid for tournaments with credit before. Do i need to be worried?
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Crashfach2002 on March 17, 2010, 10:16:27 AM
Ive paid for tournaments with credit before. Do i need to be worried?

Nope!  I'm only going to use your credit card number every once in a while!   ;) :P
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: lightningninja on March 17, 2010, 01:54:32 PM
I don't use this password for anything else, thankfully. However... almost everything else uses the same password.  ;D I also don't have a credit card or anything worth hacking. I think I'm safe.

...Unless it's me.  ;)
Title: Re: Cactus Website attacked
Post by: Cameron the Conqueror on March 17, 2010, 02:01:32 PM
(https://www.cactusforums.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fprotos.dk%2Fpublic%2Fpictures%2Fprotos05%2Fall_your_base.jpg&hash=e5db71bf1e00ba4a19f212c94436b774395c6d1a)
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