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From: Joe McGonagle <joe.mcgonagle.nul> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:35:18 +0000 Fwd Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:24:21 -0500 Subject: Ufologyinuk Mail List Crash [Was: Major Server Meltdowns] I think that I can explain the ufologyinuk situation. At 18:51 on 10th February, I removed two attempted registrants from the List as they appeared to be spammers attempting to gain access to either harvest email addresses or send spam to the List. I emailed both addresses directing them to an FAQ setting out several reasons why spammers were wasting their time on the ufologyinuk List. Shortly before 05:00 on the 11th February, I was working on the site when it suddenly crashed. Initially I thought it was just a software or hardware glitch, but on further investigation, it is clear that it was a malicious hacker. No doubt one of the spamming swine decided to take the site down in a fit of spite because I wouldn't let them get their way. Due to the nature of the attack, there was a possibility that a trojan had been embedded on the server. This meant that we had to migrate to another server and carry out a total rebuild of the List software in order to ensure that any trojan would not remain on the system and present a risk to List-member confidentiality. The List software is a blending of two popular packages, a mail- List, and a forum to enable on-line posting and reading of messages. Although these are standard packages, there is a large amount of customisation required to integrate the features and improve user security. An additional complication is that the new server is running a later version of the operating system, and we are coming across some issues related to that. I estimate that Dan Bright (my volunteer IT guru) has spent in the order of 40 hours on this already, and I have contributed over 10 hours just trying to identify the attacker with only limited success. The attack has resulted in over 200 emails between me, Dan, the ISP, and ISPs hosting the possible attacker. We seem to be taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back, having been on the threshold of opening the List only to uncover another technical problem and having to start again. There is a backup service at: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ufologyinuk/ and a few members have found their way there. The current expectation is that it will be at least another week before service is restored on the main List, but that will depend on a resolution to a current problem and the non-occurrence of any further problems. Cheers, Joe
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