Apologies to everybody for forum corruption problems in the last 24 hours.
I was having problems with the server and decided to revert to the backup server. All seemed to be OK as I casually checked the frontpage. It wasn't until I came to post an apology that I realised the SQL database was corrupt.
As you can imagine with nearly 20,000 postings - its quite a big beasty. Anyway I have now recopied and restred it and all seems OK.
So now STF and the rest of Sydenham is residing in California rather than Texas ....
Admin
Forum Inacessible
It is embarrassing to have to apologise twice in a fortnight about service problems with STF.
STF, see above, is running on our Californian backup server. Yesterday that was hit by a spamflood using one of our clients as the spoof sender. This happens a lot and the systems can normally cope with it.
However yesterday was a double whammy. The original spam had a 57Kb attachment which several thousand misconfigured mailservers bombarded our server. Worse was that the client's mail is forwarded to BT who could not cope and started returning stuff. So we got squashed in the middle.
The problem peaked around 7pm yesterday when the system was so busy it could not handle the SQL engine that drives the Forum. The last time we had something like this was 3 to 4 years ago so I'm in two minds what to do. Transfer STF back to the main server (which in itself requires a short downtime to re-synchronise) or to trust it may be some years before we get a repeat.
Answers please in a PM ...
Admin
STF, see above, is running on our Californian backup server. Yesterday that was hit by a spamflood using one of our clients as the spoof sender. This happens a lot and the systems can normally cope with it.
However yesterday was a double whammy. The original spam had a 57Kb attachment which several thousand misconfigured mailservers bombarded our server. Worse was that the client's mail is forwarded to BT who could not cope and started returning stuff. So we got squashed in the middle.
The problem peaked around 7pm yesterday when the system was so busy it could not handle the SQL engine that drives the Forum. The last time we had something like this was 3 to 4 years ago so I'm in two minds what to do. Transfer STF back to the main server (which in itself requires a short downtime to re-synchronise) or to trust it may be some years before we get a repeat.
Answers please in a PM ...
Admin
The target was not us. We were merely collateral damage. I will assume millions of emails were sent. A good many of these were returned to the 'sender' as undeliverable or refused because they are suspected spam. The sender's name is always 'spoofed'.
The payload was a file masquerading as a 'eGreeting Card'. I didn't open it (for obvious reasons) but I think we can safely assume it would place a 'bot' on a susceptible computer. These typically either collect keystrokes and post them off so donating useful usernames/passwords to the bot controller, or turn your PC into a zombie under the control of a bot controller that may spam on further mails on the member enlargement variety (and we ain't talking forums).
So the objective is simply to make money and bu**er the chaos and loss to others. A problem is that in the old days the 'sender' could be any old fake so it was unlikely that all the undelivered mails (actually most) would end up anywhere hurtful. But now most anti-spam systems now check mail comes from a genuine user. Spammers adjusted their strategy so genuine users get hit along with their providers.
A problem is say peadophile or terrorist and the police/GCHQ computer squads are very interested. Say spamming and they have no interest. Yet arguably the latter does more harm and damage to society and the economy. Its just not so visible.
Admin
The payload was a file masquerading as a 'eGreeting Card'. I didn't open it (for obvious reasons) but I think we can safely assume it would place a 'bot' on a susceptible computer. These typically either collect keystrokes and post them off so donating useful usernames/passwords to the bot controller, or turn your PC into a zombie under the control of a bot controller that may spam on further mails on the member enlargement variety (and we ain't talking forums).
So the objective is simply to make money and bu**er the chaos and loss to others. A problem is that in the old days the 'sender' could be any old fake so it was unlikely that all the undelivered mails (actually most) would end up anywhere hurtful. But now most anti-spam systems now check mail comes from a genuine user. Spammers adjusted their strategy so genuine users get hit along with their providers.
A problem is say peadophile or terrorist and the police/GCHQ computer squads are very interested. Say spamming and they have no interest. Yet arguably the latter does more harm and damage to society and the economy. Its just not so visible.
Admin