hacked....

[catchat]

this is toughCookie, I can't get on this site under that name when I am on aol, only when I am on internet explorer...anyway I posted this to ask if anyone else has had trouble getting on this site, I think it has been hacked...look at the pic below.. it is what popped up on my screen, 3 times! and on both computers. has anyone else seen this?
what is this crap?

[Kittensaremylife]

NEVER SEEN THE PIC BEFORE SORRY

[FloppsyLadySally54]

YES!! Finally!! Notice my user name?? I had to change it because I couldn't get on my old one :( . Oh my God, you are scaring me, I have seen that too! This is weird...it might have been hacked! OMG what if it is?? This is freaking me out..come on!! Anybody else get this thing tell me!!

[catchat]

heres the rest of the screen, on the bottom.

[catchat]

it needs to be reported, but to who? Karen your site has been hacked, who do you tell?

[Kittensaremylife]

OH MY GOSH WHAT IF IT WAS HACKED. THATS FREAKY!

[zippy-kat]

i got the same msg toughcookie/catchat. potd still works tho.

[catchat]

those freaks that hacked into it...:mad: :mad:

[Cookiebaker]

Yea Catoftheday.com and Dogoftheday.com both come up with that message.

We didn't do ANYTHING to hurt anybody's feelings, so why are they doing this to us???? It's sooo stupid!! :mad:

[zippy-kat]

pretty sad they chose a PET board to make a political statement....

where's sara our political queen? :cool:

[catchat]

when did you first notice it? today, just now was the first time I saw it. and it is probably not just this site...and even if it is a joke, they should still get the same punishment for hacking.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I couldn't believe it either. I have catoftheday on my favorites list and when I went to use it the page was like the one that Mary has shown us. I then tried petoftheday and was able to get on the site. Dogoftheday is also the same way. I can't even read about todays cat. :mad: I sure hope that Karen and Paul can fix this problem soon.

[FloppsyLadySally54]

OK, wanna know when I saw it?? Well I have seen it numerous times, but the first time I saw it was 2:00AM while the whole house was pitch black and everyone was alsleep. Scary...
I tried to get on FLS89, and it came up, and on DOTD and COTD. Maybe they traced my PMs back to when I gave my password to Wolf_Q and got on my screen name and then hacked it...Okay, I'm over reacting, but it could happen! Karen, we need ya here!

[Freckles]

I was here earlier today with no problems. When I came back on about 6:15pm PDT, I had the same problems others describe. Fortunately can still get on board thru POTD.

[FloppsyLadySally54]

I get to POTD DOTD and COTD through the links at the bottom of Pet Talk. For those of you who have AOL, I have Pet Talk on my toolbar, and I just click on it to get here, and then to P,C, and DOTD. But if I try to go the other way, the picture comes up. I'm glad that I can still get on the site, but if it is being hacked then we only have a certain amount of time to get them out... I'm gunna sign on FLS89 and see if I can do it. This is freaky. By the way, where is Karen anyway? I haven't seen her on all day! Did I miss her or something?:eek:

[Rottieluver45]

That`s the screen I`m getting! How long has it been up?

[Cinder & Smoke]

Hey Gang ~

Here's a *DIRECT* link to get you to the Pet Talk BULLETIN BOARD pages - by-passing the Pet / Cat / Dog of the Day photo pages...

http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/ (http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/)

Might want to copy this down and/or click on it and
then BookMark this BBS page ~

As for the Hack - I did send Karen & Paul a PM to alert them.

[Kfamr]

Herm... how come i haven't seen this?

[FloppsyLadySally54]

For you guys that missed it today, here are the winners today!

http://catoftheday.com/archive/2002/October/05.jpg
Name: Congo
Age: Four years old

Gender: Male
Kind: Cat

Home: Isle of Wight, UK


Congo is about four years old, he is a beautiful boy. We found him at our local cat rescue, he was treated very poorly at his previous home, and it took us weeks to gain his trust. Gradually Congo came around to us and now he is the most loving cat you could ever see. Everybody laughs at his expression. Most people say that he looks like he is wearing a suit and tie. Every night around 9 pm he comes over and nudges me to say "Hey, it's time for my brush," that is after Congo has sat on my wife Pauline's lap for about three hours. Congo may not be a pure breed, but he is our "King Cong."

http://www.dogoftheday.com/archive/2002/October/05.jpg
Name: Toby
Age: Seven months old

Gender: Male Breed: Black Lab, Golden Retriever mix
Home: Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA

I'd like to tell you a little about my Toby...I adopted him from a rescue foundation in October when he was eight weeks old. He is a mix of Black Lab and Golden Retriever. I had a calico kitty for seventeen years and she passed away. I always promised my husband that he would have another fishing buddy when my kitty was gone. My husband had a black Lab for fifteen years and he passed away about five years ago. Toby has become the center of my life. Every November we take a trip to the Florida Keys and last time we got to take Toby. He enjoyed learning to swim, play with coconuts and ride in our boat at twelve weeks old. When we came home from our vacation, my husband got transferred to San Juan Puerto Rico for several months... Needless to say his "fishing buddy" is my shadow! He comes to work with me every day and everyone loves him! I'm very lucky to have found him when I did and he has become my best buddy! My husband comes home about every six weeks, and then Toby is his best buddy! We do have to make adjustments in the bed and couch... You know the rules of no dogs on the bed and the couch were broken the first day he came home with me! I just love him and wanted to share him with you!

[Kfamr]

Nevermind... i only see it when i go to DOTD.

[FloppsyLadySally54]

While posting those, I went to DOTD, and it came up again. This is freaky.... I got around it, and eventually got to DOTD, but I added that site to my favorites..

[Kfamr]

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone....... but notice where today's cat is from...hmmm

[FloppsyLadySally54]

Originally posted by Kfamr
Nevermind... i only see it when i go to DOTD.

Oh, same here! Thank god we can see the kitties! But what about the puppies? I'm gunna post a link to that site, but first..tell me if I should..I could risk it...but...

[FloppsyLadySally54]

Originally posted by Kfamr
I'm not pointing fingers at anyone....... but notice where today's cat is from...hmmm

Oh, that's right!! Oh my God!

[Cinder & Smoke]

Just got a PM from Karen saying that
Chief Master Puter Wizz Mister Paul
was hard at work looking into the Hack that seems
to have happened :( this evening.

Let's all wish Paul some Good Luck in repairing the damage...
And hope that a way can be found to prevent future :eek: hacks.

Good Luck, Paul!!

[Kfamr]

I'd like to find the moron[s] who messed with POTD. Maybe we should give them a link to download a free life.

[FloppsyLadySally54]

Good luck Paul! Want me to post the link?? I have the actual link to the actual site not DOTD so if anybody wants to look at it again...like anyone would...

[Rottieluver45]

Good luck Paul!
If you save it,You`ll be a hero to us all! ;) :D


I did notice but I thought,no it couldn`t be so I didn`t say anything! Wow that`s wierd isn`t it?

[todd]

yes i got that to.

[sammi]

I also got that very strange message about a hour ago when I tried to get to DOTD! Nasty looken message.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Just had a quick note from Paul...

"I've got a lot of work to do..." :(

Reading between the lines - It's going to take some Time & Effort on his part to repair things and try to prevent future hacks to the Pet Talk site...

Paul might have to shut the site (or parts & features of the site) down to repair things...

*IF* you notice the site goes down, or gets slow to respond, or anything else *strange* happens... PLEASE do NOT bombard Karen or Paul with e-mails or PM's...

Paul *IS WORKING* On the Hacking Problem... and
He'll fix things as Soon as he possibly can!!

Let's all *Cut Him a Break* and not bug him... OK?

Thanks for your concern and co-operation!! :D

And another "Good Luck" to Paul!! ;)

[FloppsyLadySally54]

I am not posting the link for they might be tracing this conversation at this second. I gave the link to Ash, and she said that all that came up was DOTD, and I tried it, and it went up to the hacking site again. Nobody e-mailed that adress on the bottom, right? Why is it not working for some people?? This is a big mystery. But detective Paul is on it!!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Good Luck Paul!!! I sure hope that you'll be able to fix the problem and hopefully it won't happen again.

[FloppsyLadySally54]

Hey I went back to check, and it went to DOTD this time!! I'm not going back until later..let Paul finish out the details. Oooh, it must be fun to own a website! :p

[AmberLee]

It seems to be fixed now. What a pain for Paul and Karen.

What a doofus to hack a pet site, too ... **sigh**

[FloppsyLadySally54]

I know!! I've still got the site minimized...I keep reading it over. But that was odd how the cat was from the place in the message (being careful not to reveal anything..always take precautions...). Wow, look at all the posts I got from posting about this!!

[sammi]

You think maybe Floppsy your calling is in the line of DETECTIVE!! Never know it might be. I'd hire ya.

[FloppsyLadySally54]

It would be nice if they had website detectives, I'd love that job!! Anyway, glad everything is taken care of and we can all go on with our lives. I'm gunna take one last look at that message and then delete it. It was odd, I might print it out first..for future reference.. Anyway, Oh gee, it's already 11:45PM here! Gotta go watch my TV shows, I've been on here since 5:00PM!!

[popcornbird]

:eek: :eek: :eek: OMG! I had been out all day, so I never saw the problem. I just came home and found this thread, and OMG! It was fine in the morning and its fine now! But why did they choose Pet Talk to do this????? What does Pet Talk, a pet website, have ANYTHING to do with Israel and their changing of the capital city from Tela viv to the Holy city? What does a pet site have to do with any of this??? Sheesh, some people these days really have stupid targets for their objectives. I don't understand why anyone would do this to a pet site because of something that has absolutely nothing to do with anything on this site. I'm glad the site's back to normal now. Poor Paul and Karen had to go through this for nothing. Hacking is such a stupid way to show one's emotions especially when its done to a site that has nothing to do with what they are mad about. :mad:

[toughCookie]

I got to this site ok now...I had emailed Karen earlier, but haven't checked yet to see if she answered.

I don't think this site itself would be a target of a hacker, unless it was some smart a-- kid with too much time on his hands... maybe it had something to do with internet explorer that got hacked into? I don't know...anyway I hope Karen or Paul can find out what happend.
I don't think it was the person from the UK though...
I can't remember who, but in one of the posts someone mentioned giving someone else their password.... you should not ever do that, even if you can trust the person you gave it to, it can possibly be seen by others, if they can hack into email... you should change that password.

sad what people can and will do these days:( :(

[Kirsten]

Geez, that is scaring stuff! :( Missed it because it was night over here in Europe when it happened, but from reading your posts, I see these have been scary hours for everyone here. Glad that Paul was obviously able to fix it! :)

Kirsten

I did not get that message !!
It is scary , isn' it !!!

[Karen]

We cannot track "who" did it, and I think they didn't care whose site, or what kind of site, it was. I bet they did it to as many machines as they could, and our just happened to be one of them.

As Paul mentioned, this is only the second time in the years we've being doing Pet of the Day that it has happened, and, well, of someone hacked the State Department, too, I guess we shouldn't feel too bad.

Ejoy the day, and today's pets! ;)

[FloppsyLadySally54]

I was the one who mentioned giving out my password, and that idea has been floating around in my head. I cannot get back onto my old name, obviously meaning something is wrong with server, comuter, or even the site (which I seriously doubt). I also think that maybe somebody has gotten onto that name after tracing that private message I sent out and well, sometimes I see my name and FLS89 on at the same time--do any of you?? I know it is a stupid idea but it all lines up... Popcornbird, not to be ordering people around but I suggest you remove the things in your post about the problem and locations of places. It does have nothing to do with Pet Talk, but stating negative opinions and specific places could result in problems. Remember, guests can acess this site AND people can go into invisible mode, so anybody could be reading this as we speak without us knowing. Just taking more precautions...

[FloppsyLadySally54]

I just remembered while looking back on this thread that CatChat posted the pic of what she saw. Well, that is very good, because now we have the pic of that site. That pic cannot be deleted from the thread by anybody but CatChat (sorry, don't know many names around here), so no hacker or messed up person can delete it. I still have the picture of that site in my mind, clear, and I remember every word of it. It sure was odd. I see my little friend has signed on my name again. Hmm, Im gunna see what the deal is...

[Randi]

According to our local newspaper, a security company called mi2g states that there have been 9.011 websites vandalised or hacked in September this year alone! (That's approx. 300 a day!) Apparently about half of these are American sites.
We all have to remember when we're chatting and innocently enjoying ourselves, that we are not alone at home in a private place, we're in Cyberspace, and there are some pretty weird people out there!

john

[gini]

Originally posted by Randi
we are not alone at home in a private place, we're in Cyberspace, and there are some pretty weird people out there!

john

Gosh - you got that right! Mmmmm, if we could catch them the punishments that come to mind!!

[lynnestankard]

Kfmar and FLS54 - Why on earth do you want to blame this hacker on the United Kingdom? If you don't mind my saying this seems a rather infantile thing to do.

Lynne

[FloppsyLadySally54]

I have nothing against the United Kingdom, but if you had seen the message it said things about UK being the prisoner of USA. That COTD yesterday was from there, it just was suspicious. I cannot speak for Kayann, but I do not think that she, nor I meant to insult anybody from the UK. When figuring out a mystery, you have to figure out the clues, and that message had a lot of them. Sorry if we made you upset. OK?? :)

[Former User]

Karen and Paul, what a awful thng this is to happen! And to a friendly pet site like this is. But I guess some people don't have better things to do than ruin other peoples fun and cause pain.
I hope you get things up and running soon (here everything works fine), and no more hacking!

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Originally posted by FloppsyLadySally54
I have nothing against the United Kingdom, but if you had seen the message it said things about UK being the prisoner of USA. That COTD yesterday was from there, it just was suspicious. I cannot speak for Kayann, but I do not think that she, nor I meant to insult anybody from the UK. When figuring out a mystery, you have to figure out the clues, and that message had a lot of them. Sorry if we made you upset. OK?? :)
COTD, DOTD, AND POTD pictures are sent in months in advance, sometimes as long as a year before they are picked. I'd really hate to think someone planned to hack our site a year in advance. That's really frightening. I think it was just someone (the hacker) trying to be smart and ended up being dumb. I doubt if it had anything to do with our COTD yesterday.

[Former User]

Originally posted by momoffuzzyfaces

I think it was just someone (the hacker) trying to be smart and ended up being dumb. I doubt if it had anything to do with our COTD yesterday.

Yup. And it's not our business to start pointing out from which country that hacker was. Let's just continue to babble about our pets and not give another thought for that moron, he/she doesn't deserve it!

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Originally posted by Casper & Kitty


Yup. And it's not our business to start pointing out from which country that hacker was. Let's just continue to babble about our pets and not give another thought for that moron, he/she doesn't deserve it!
A big AMEN! to that Niina. I couldn't agree more.

[NoahsMommy]

How stange...my hubby told me that Friday, IE was down in a lot of locations...we were OK at work and at home, but at his work (in Los Angeles) they were all down. Interesting...

[anna_66]

Seems like I miss it all (which was a good thing this time?!).
I'm glad everything is ok with Pet of the Day. Thanks Karen & Paul for taking care of everything!

[toughCookie]

I think what the message said was, the uk was a slave of the us, meaning that they go along with us? and karen of course no one blames your site, it happens to business' all the time. no one would be interested in hacking this site, so it must of been a test or part of something bigger, like hacking internet explorer.


We all have to remember when we're chatting and innocently enjoying ourselves, that we are not alone at home in a private place, we're in Cyberspace, and there are some pretty weird people out there!

that is for sure, the sad truth! have to be careful what we tell others, personal info etc. same for cordless and cell phones!

[moosmom]

Here's something I found on CNN.com regarding another virus.

'Bugbear' worms in, opens doors to hackers
By Jeordan Legon (CNN)
Friday, October 4, 2002 Posted: 5:40 PM EDT (2140 GMT)



(CNN) -- The stealthy "Bugbear" worm continued on a ravenous digital path this week, prompting anti-virus firms to escalate warnings from moderate to high and leaving thousands of computers worldwide at the mercy of hackers.

But initially, at least, the virus was not causing major problems for computer users, because its purpose appeared to be to open communication ports on infected systems and to replicate itself, not to destroy files.

"It appears to be designed by someone who intended to steal credit card info or other data, not necessarily destroy files," said George Stagonis, a researcher for anti-virus company Central Command.

While experts hoped the bug would be contained at its source in Malaysia on Monday, the virus rapidly made its way around the world as users in Asia, Europe, Canada and the United States fired up their computers to check e-mail. At least 120,000 people reported infections to British anti-virus firm MessageLabs by Friday. Thousands more logged attacks in Ireland, Australia, Canada and the United States.

The number of new cases reported daily is rivaling, and even exceeding, that of the better-known Klez virus, a similar bug that hit millions of computers this year.

Central Command received 5221 reports of new infections Thursday -- evenly split between the United States and Europe. The company booked an average of 4,000 daily Klez infections when that virus was at its height, Stagonis said.

"We don't think it's peaked yet because it's staying way ahead of people updating their anti-virus software," said George Stagonis, a researcher for anti-virus company Central Command.

What makes the virus dangerous?
Bugbear, also known as Tanatos, doesn't destroy files like its viral cousins "Melissa," "Michelangelo" and "Iloveyou." Instead, it disables popular firewall and anti-virus protections and prepares a port that can receive instructions from remote users.

That is what makes the virus so dangerous, experts say. Hackers aware of this vulnerability will search for open ports on infected computers. Once found, attackers can access passwords, view or destroy data and get reports of keystrokes being entered – including credit card numbers and other sensitive information. All of this happens without the knowledge of the hacked computer owner or business.

Silent spread
When the virus first appeared, anti-virus gurus were unable to mirror the spread of the bug in their labs. Many thought Bugbear would remain a minor threat.

"We still haven't managed to replicate it in our labs, but obviously it's replicating," said Alex Shipp, a tech with MessageLabs. "One of the theories is that this requires an Internet connection in order to spread."

The virus spreads quickly by disguising infected messages as "replys" or "forwards" to an existing message. It targets known vulnerabilities in Windows systems and has no trouble moving through banks of networked office computers, said Vincent Weafer, of Symantec Security Response.

"Once it gets into a machine it will try to replicate itself from machine to machine," Weafer said.

Avoid infection
While the virus is difficult to spot, there are ways to avoid it.

The file can arrive in mails with varied subject headings, but almost always it has an attachment that is 50,668 bytes, Shipp said.

Also, computer owners should make certain that Internet Explorer's I-FRAME patch is installed, which prevents the bug from automatically downloading itself from an infected message. And they should update to new versions of Microsoft Outlook message program, which are less prone to infection.

The one bright spot in all of this, said Shipp, is that many people are updating their anti-virus software and making sure firewalls are up, which appears to be killing off the Klez virus.

The bad news is "this new one is just as bad, if not worse, than Klez," Shipp said.

[FloppsyLadySally54]

I know it had nothing to do with the COTD, millions of people live in UK. I was simply stating that it was a little odd, you have to consider lots of things. But that is taken care of, so why am I even talking about it! Thanks for the article, moosmom.

Yup. And it's not our business to start pointing out from which country that hacker was. Let's just continue to babble about our pets and not give another thought for that moron, he/she doesn't deserve it!
Yeah!!

[jackiesdaisy1935]

Karen, I just heard about this last night from Sammi, I couldn't believe it, there is always someone out there who can't stand a good, clean, happy, site and just have to do something to try to hurt it. This person can't hurt us, we are to strong and resolved in our caring for our pets and each other to let something like this get us down. Let's get back to the business of loving our pets and not blame anyone, it's not the country that's to blame it's the stupid person who could come from anywhere.
Jackie

[moosmom]

I totally agree!! No finger pointing allowed! ;)

[toughCookie]

another thing I have heard before, along with the cell & cordless phones I mentioned earlier, those that have the non-dial up internet connection, I have heard that if you leave it signed on, people can get info thru it, the more its left on the more likely the chance they have of doing that...I don't know if that is ture, or not...