Hacking And Malware Attempt Caused Sites To Go Down

[Elmira Telegram 285]

At sometime around 3am today, there was a hack into the server that hosts this and other sites associated with Elmira Telegram. An attempt was made to upload malware, however server security measures caught and quarantined the attempt. However, the only way to bring everything back online was to restore everything on the server to the last back up, which was Aug. 11 at around noon. 

Thankfully this didn't cause too much disruption to most of the other sites. However here, it did result in a loss of some conversation, particularly on this topic as well as the one about the fairgrounds.

You may also notice a repeat of PM's in your inbox as well as missing replies. 

I apologize for this, and it irks me, but overall it could have been a lot worse. Feel free to pick up the conversations where they were left off, or continue them in any way you see fit. 

 

[Elmira Telegram 285]

Update: A short time later, the forums went down for reasons still not understood. However as you can see, they're back now. 

[Chris 1,895]

I've taken a few heightened security measures in the hopes this doesn't happen again. This includes blocking IP addresses that more often than not resolve to countries that have no need to be here such as Russia and Malaysia. when blocking an entire swath of IP addresses one runs the risk of losing legitimate users, so I've never done it in the past. However in this case, the IP beginning with 114. has always resolved to a location in Malaysia. Collateral damage could happen I suppose, but not likely. 

[MsKreed 1,045]

5 hours ago, Chris said:

when blocking an entire swath of IP addresses one runs the risk of losing legitimate users, so I've never done it in the past. However in this case, the IP beginning with 114. has always resolved to a location in Malaysia. Collateral damage could happen I suppose, but not likely. 

My VPN allows me to select a region for my IP to appear from....neither Malaysia or Russia are choices. But I do have options for Denmark, Singapore, Israel, Turkey, Romania. UK and many others. 

Not sure how it looks on your end....but when I search Google for Coffee Shop or gas stations "near me"....the results are for wherever my VPN is set for. 

[Chris 1,895]

58 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

Not sure how it looks on your end..

I’ll have to see where it’s showing as. Of course it changes 🙂

Down at the bottom of the screen where the “who’s online” thing is, I can look and see who is here and I’m able to see their IP address. A LOT of them have been from  an IP starting with 114. So screw it, I just banned the whole IP