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Ongoing Denial Of Service - Various Issues

PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 12:21 am
by Kelley Graham
I have turned off new user registrations. Our old code cannot be secured without an upgrade and the bots are getting smarter. In fact, some of the bots are people. I'm sure you've heard them. RSF is swamped with fake accounts. The easiest workaround is to use the old 'Send an email request to [email protected]'. Admin attention is required anyway to activate the account.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:43 am
by Kelley Graham
i'll be doing maintenance today to the rsf backend. interruptions will be minimal. some of you may have login problems due to the recent denial of service attack. just pm me your username on facebook, i'll reset your account. if you're not on facebook, txt me using the number on http://urbanretreat.center to contact me.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:56 pm
by I-mon
Interruptions!?! This is terrible! BURN THE FORUM THIS WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED ON THE OLD EMPTYFLOWER ALSO WHY DOESN"T ANYONE RESPOND TO MY POSTS.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:02 pm
by Dmitri
-lol-

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:37 pm
by I-mon
Joking, joking! I know it's frustrating when your favourite websites don't work.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:08 pm
by Kelley Graham
server maintenance complete

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:28 pm
by Kelley Graham
Currently testing some behind the scenes registration protections. I have reenabled user registrations with approval. Admins let me know if you see creation of spam accounts.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2021 4:38 pm
by Kelley Graham
User registration and registered user password changes verification emails now activated. I will watch for heavy load for a week or so. If the load from spambots rises, i will disable feature. (again)

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Temp user registration fix

PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2022 9:53 pm
by Kelley Graham
Public search features are getting botted. I've changed the flood settings to slow down search requests for guests. I've sped up requests for logged in users. so login if you want to see active topics, your own posts listings and other various pages based on search queries.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Various Issues

PostPosted: Sun Jan 07, 2024 11:43 pm
by Kelley Graham
another bout with the bots. i've added a cloudflare feature to help stop bots. we'll see how it goes. you might see a javascript security check the first time you visit. as long as you don't delete the cookie it sets, you should not see it again.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Various Issues

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2024 3:51 am
by nicklinjm
Ahh, so it was a DDOS attack - must be an absolute pain to deal with, thanks for your efforts to get the board online and running again Kelley!

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Various Issues

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2024 7:45 am
by Doc Stier
Thanks, Kelley! What a pain to deal with. I have never really understood why the hacker types will devote so much time and energy to creating bots and malware for sites like RSF solely for the warped pleasure of disrupting something they probably don't even have any interest in. Go figure! ::)

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Various Issues

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:36 am
by everything
Don’t understand it either, but Wired recently ran this story about three teens who brought down most of the US East Coast Internet

https://www.wired.com/story/mirai-untol ... g-monster/

Maybe it starts with curiosity then an adolescent power trip then who knows.

Thanks for keeping the site going, Kelley! Nice to be back and chat with everyone.

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Various Issues

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:29 am
by Dmitri
Thanks, Kelley!

Re: Ongoing Denial Of Service - Various Issues

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:19 pm
by Kelley Graham
They do it ‘cause they can. Who know’s. We probably got caught up with a bunch of other sites. The session table was going mad. 1/2G of growth a day. Brute force most likely script kiddies.