hacked....

[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!