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What just happened to the forum?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:55 pm
by Drew Durrnil
There was a spam attack, the forum was too busy, and then there was cleanup. I have been hearing that it was a DDOS attack, but what was it really?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:56 pm
by New Jacobland
Suspected DDOS due to massive spamming.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:57 pm
by Omaha-Kazimierz
I'm not sure, but i'm convinced it's a spam attack since I saw unviewable threads like "NARUTO RP" and "property of darkseid"

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:57 pm
by Atheris
Someone spammed for 20 minutes and instead of the mods doing their job by DEATing the spammer they decided to turn off the forums for 10 minutes because reasons.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:58 pm
by New Jacobland
Omaha-Kazimierz wrote:I'm not sure, but i'm convinced it's a span attack since I saw unviewable threads like "NARUTO RP" and "property of darkseid"

Same.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:58 pm
by Reploid Productions
Spam cleanup, that's all. If you spot any more ghost threads let us know. I think we got them all though.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:59 pm
by New Jacobland
Hey, did the admins add a slowmode to the forum in reaction to the spam? It just said I couldn't make another post so soon after my last, which I have never seen before.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:01 pm
by Drew Durrnil
Reploid Productions wrote:Spam cleanup, that's all. If you spot any more ghost threads let us know. I think we got them all though.

Other cleanups don't require the forum to be shut down. What's different about this attack, and why does it shut down the entire forum?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:02 pm
by Atheris
New Jacobland wrote:Hey, did the admins add a slowmode to the forum in reaction to the spam? It just said I couldn't make another post so soon after my last, which I have never seen before.

No, that's been a thing for a while.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:02 pm
by Reploid Productions
Drew Durrnil wrote:
Reploid Productions wrote:Spam cleanup, that's all. If you spot any more ghost threads let us know. I think we got them all though.

Other cleanups don't require the forum to be shut down. What's different about this attack, and why does it shut down the entire forum?

Disabling the forum makes it much easier to clean up the mess in certain situations. This was one of 'em.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:04 pm
by Swedish-Norwegian Kingdoms
Omaha-Kazimierz wrote:I'm not sure, but i'm convinced it's a spam attack since I saw unviewable threads like "NARUTO RP" and "property of darkseid"

It was porn spam too

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:36 pm
by Atheris
Reploid Productions wrote:Spam cleanup, that's all. If you spot any more ghost threads let us know. I think we got them all though.

The thread of a ghost.

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=502321

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:40 pm
by Reploid Productions
Atheris wrote:
Reploid Productions wrote:Spam cleanup, that's all. If you spot any more ghost threads let us know. I think we got them all though.

The thread of a ghost.

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=502321

Got it, thanks!

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:46 pm
by Indo States
Reploid, I have to Ask, did the IP Address of the Spammer Banned Permanently? And Second, are there any Data Breach Occurred in that Time? I am very concerned.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:48 pm
by Atheris
Indo States wrote:Reploid, I have to Ask, did the IP Address of the Spammer Banned Permanently? And Second, are there any Data Breach Occurred in that Time? I am very concerned.

Not Reppy, but I think I'm qualified to answer your second question.

According to some, it looks like it was DDOS (direct denial-of-service) attack. These type of attacks flood a website with multiple connections from multiple servers to slow down the website; a DDOS itself can't leak any data. DDOS attacks are sometimes accompanied with attacks that can cause data leaks, but I really doubt this was the case.

That being said, I really doubt it was a DDOS. It was probably just a patent case of "one guy spams a lot and the mods refuse to do anything for 20 minutes".

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:50 pm
by Indo States
Atheris wrote:It looks like it was DDOS (direct denial-of-service) attack. These type of attacks flood a website with multiple connections from multiple servers to slow down the website; a DDOS itself can't leak any data.


Yeah, I've Agree what you've said on my Second Question. They cannot get into the Servers where Private Data has been Stored, and because it was Protected by Cloudfare, making the whole Site Secure and Safe from Data Breaches.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:59 pm
by Reploid Productions
No data breaches, all that happened was the spammer hitting the forum so hard it was functionally a DDOS attack, hence the brief shutdown to clear the mess and get everything back in working order.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:03 pm
by Atheris
Reploid Productions wrote:No data breaches, all that happened was the spammer hitting the forum so hard it was functionally a DDOS attack, hence the brief shutdown to clear the mess and get everything back in working order.

Then why didn't the mods/forum admins ban him when his spamming was first reported? Why did it take 20+ minutes to respond?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:05 pm
by Reploid Productions
Atheris wrote:
Reploid Productions wrote:No data breaches, all that happened was the spammer hitting the forum so hard it was functionally a DDOS attack, hence the brief shutdown to clear the mess and get everything back in working order.

Then why didn't the mods/forum admins ban him when his spamming was first reported? Why did it take 20+ minutes to respond?

Unfortunately, we are an entirely volunteer staff, not paid 24/7 coverage so sometimes gaps can occur. Once we were aware of the situation everyone who was available was on deck as quickly as possible.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:25 pm
by EU Card Office
Reploid Productions wrote:
Atheris wrote:Then why didn't the mods/forum admins ban him when his spamming was first reported? Why did it take 20+ minutes to respond?

Unfortunately, we are an entirely volunteer staff, not paid 24/7 coverage so sometimes gaps can occur. Once we were aware of the situation everyone who was available was on deck as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the quick response
“ few, that one was quick “ I actually thought this was a massive attack that will take days and hours to fix. Looks like to mods and admins actually do their jobs and congratulations and thanks for fixing the well needed form.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:33 pm
by Outer Sparta
Reploid Productions wrote:
Atheris wrote:Then why didn't the mods/forum admins ban him when his spamming was first reported? Why did it take 20+ minutes to respond?

Unfortunately, we are an entirely volunteer staff, not paid 24/7 coverage so sometimes gaps can occur. Once we were aware of the situation everyone who was available was on deck as quickly as possible.

Will we still get some errors even after the spam attack on the forums or should this be all good and we can all get back to our normal browsing?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:33 pm
by Christian Confederation
Ngl for a second I thought the servers were destroyed

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:46 pm
by Ithalian Empire
I am still getting fuck ups.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:06 pm
by Reploid Productions
Server load is still a bit high, if you get one of those General SQL Errors, it'll probably say somewhere in the notice "too many connections", that will clear on its own in a couple of minutes.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:12 pm
by Goraria
For some reason it says it’s shutting down temporarily for some reason. Idk if that DDOS is still happening or not but either way it’s starting to annoy me with these things that let me have to wait for a few minutes and then the forums is back to normal and then it shut down again it’s just annoying, idk why it does this and idk why I’m complaining about this.