2012-02-11: Hacking attack on WipEoutZone

[infoxicated]

Due to the recent hacking attack it was necessary to roll back the site to a time before the intrusion took place.

I had intended on cleaning up and re-instating the most recent version of the site, but it became clear that too much damage had been done to the database to make that a safe option.

Although I believe the site is now secure and the point of entry has been closed, due to the fact that it was Dreamhost (where WipEoutZone lives) that got hacked originally it is still possible that another intrusion might occur.

So I'd like you all to be vigilant and look out for anything suspicious going on. If you do see unusual activity then please do notify me either on twitter @infoxicated or via email at robert.foxx@yahoo.co.uk

Also, please do change your forum account password (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/profile.php?do=editpassword) and the password of any other service where you might have used the same password. The same goes for the main site if you have an account there, too.

[Mad-Ice]

Thanks Rob for being so fast with getting the zone back online! :clap

If anything suspicious is going on, I will report immediately. I will be on stake out 8) eating :donut and drinking my black :coffee

Peace out Mad-Ice

[abukii]

Agreed. Thanks :)

Just out of curiosity, did you report the attack to the authorities?? The jerk attacker plastered his name all over the "message".

[MetaKraken]

@abukii: The attacker's name was Tim Pernix, I found out his name two days ago after the attack of WOZone.

Thanks infoxicated (or Rob) for restoring the foums. I hope that the hacker Tim Pernix would learn his error of ways for attacking the forums for no reason.

[Amorbis]

You've done a good job getting the site back-up, I was a bit worried that the community and archives might have gone altogether!

I know it doesn't help much, but after Googling the hacker's name I found other websites he has defaced. He wasn't very good at covering his tracks, I right clicked on the images he posted and found his file host and file directory which leads to an Iranian hacking group's website. Sounds like the plot to a spy film but there isn't really that much there, I couldn't actually find his alias on the group's website or any meaningful details other than one of the group members apparently enjoys Skateboarding.

[amplificated]

Thanks for dealing with the issue quickly, I think you handled it well. It's a shame you had to roll back the forum a bit, but it's perfectly understandable, and not too much has been lost in the process.

Personally I think it would be wise to remove all mention of the responsible party; as its clear the only thing they wanted from the experience was attention. It's probably best to just move on and just try to ensure something similar can't happen again.

[Darkdrium777]

Iranian hacking groupWell they won't be hacking anything else anytime soon.

I know TOR exists, so in the off chance that he's still reading this somehow: look, I wish you the best of luck in your country. The current situation in Iran is horrible.
But you must understand that using these tactics to get your message out about the Israel/Palestine conflict is not the right way. I'm fairly certain everyone here wishes for a peaceful resolution to all the conflicts, so you are essentially preaching to the wrong people. Please don't do it again.

[SaturnReturn]

Good job Rob. Enjoy your time off.

[Hellfire_WZ]

One thing to keep an eye on is any new members joining. On the day the hack happened, Xavier spotted two new accounts that had administrator access. Unfortunately it was too late for me or Rob to do anything when we were alerted, but that was how the damage was done.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

@Hellfire:Have the accounts in question been banned? What has been done to them?

[blackwiggle]

Yes the accounts have been deleted from what I see.

Still major problems navigating the site for me, keep getting sent to Facebook [the one place you will never see me] , I sent you a email rob outlining them.
Anybody else using Firefox?

[MyNameIsBom]

Yeah, i use firefox. I keep getting re-directed to facebook, but on google chrome it doesnt.... how weird..

[Autechom]

Hm, i googled for wipeoutzone hacked and found this hacker forum. I registerend but well, there was only a thread named wipeoutzone.com hacked. He mentioned some other websites he hacked and that it was...I was about to ask why and if he was retarded but then, it wouldn´t make any sense. What bunch of a******. Happy to see the site back online!

[traksta1]

Good to see the site back. Many thanks to those involved in returning it, many curses on the petty pond life that vandalized it. I too have had the "Firefox" redirecting to Facebook at every opportunity thing (no problem on ie7) This was remedied by clearing Firefox's cache as suggested by Charlie Emery on Facebook's "zoners" group page.

[Hellfire_WZ]

Nice to know someone reads my advice ;) Yes, clearing the cache should sort out any redirection problems

[onlykpop]

Thanks so much Rob! This means alot to all of us :)

[blackwiggle]

I worked it out anyway while updating Firefox.
There are several pilots, like me, that refuse to have anything to do with Facebook so maybe the "Clear Cache" advice could of been posted here.

Firefox uses that have yet to clear their cache can still access the site, it's just navigating it that's the pain.

[lanceurdehache]

also you should send an email to explain that the site got hacked and explaining if the password were crypted like Sony did with PSN and Epic Games with their forum

[MyNameIsBom]

--deleted--

[AspenExcel]

Thank you for your hard work, Rob!

[Darkdrium777]

Change your passwords. Don't even ask. Just do it for your own sake.

[Hellfire_WZ]

If ANY site has been the victim of a hack, then the possibility exists that passwords were compromised. Any password you use for a service that suffers an intrusion should be changed as a matter of course. Rob made that clear in the first post.

As for sending out mass emails, the difference between what happened with Sony and here is that the site was practically destroyed as a result of this intrusion. Despite the fact we're up and running again, there are still several basic functions that do not work. The best we could do was to keep you all informed via the Facebook group, and then via the announcements forum when we were back up.

[Rapier Racer]

Great to see the site back up and running, didnt know what had happened when I clicked my bookmark and it took me to facebook figured it out pretty quickly though even without access to the group. Aweseome to see the site back up and running nice work rob. All I seem to be seeing these days is news on sites being hacked, its usually gaming sites big money making or corporate sites for games or developers etc whats with all the attacks on the gaming community?

[lanceurdehache]

I am thinking for the inactive users on the forum that dont have facebook, they must know that the site got hacked and changed their password on other service/website if they are same

[Flint Fandango]

A big thanks to Rob for reactivating the forum and the advice regarding the password! :+

[infoxicated]

Yes.

Change passwords.

They're encrypted, but I imagine any hacker worth their salt can decrypt a password hash if they got their hands on one.

Interestingly, though, this guy created a couple of accounts and then got locked out of them by entering the password wrong five times. Happens to the best of us - even the l33t!

This is additional free advice, seeing as I'm on holiday! ;)

[MyNameIsBom]

I was too slow!! :(

one of my emails locked me out...... at least it wasnt my main email account :/
so thats a good thing :) im glad i ditched that email years ago, it had no info on it anyway so im not that bothered.

Facebook and everything else remains intact/password all changed.

[TarquinFarqhuar]

Good job in getting things sorted, well done you guys. :)

[Colonel]

Interestingly, though, this guy created a couple of accounts and then got locked out of them by entering the password wrong five times.

This really made me chuckle :lol

[AG-SYSTEMS]

I was gettin' worried there. Thanks for fixing the site.

[Archon]

Home sweet home. Hallelujah.

[trackripper]

Thank you Rob, great job getting the site back up intact :)

[infoxicated]

You're welcome. I was just a bit sad that I couldn't rescue the forum database and had to revert it, but I figured it was more important to get the site back online than to spend weeks picking through the debris.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Bad news... That guy defaced the main site...again.

[Darkdrium777]

Lol man.
Dude, whoever you are you know you can send him an e-mail instead of doing this. It's not exactly very hard to find it and I think he'd appreciate it more. He's on vacation at the moment, so it's not like he had the time to do much.
Please?

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

"Send an email instead of doing this"?

Ok,I'm very lost...

I can only presume it is for the hacker.

[Darkdrium777]

Yes, of course.

[jesse9705]

Someone should try to get his IP address and simply report him for hacking, vunerealbilitys or not.

[Hellfire_WZ]

Rob's been informed

[stin]

I wish this c*** would leave us alone.

stevie:mad:

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Went to the other areas of the site by other means. The other places work. Wait...If I don't enter a /index.php,I get the hacked page. If I go to the one with /index.php,I get an OK site. Must be the cache...

[Darkdrium777]

Is it just me or is there a redirect to Chuck Testa on Youtube five seconds after loading http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/index.php ?
I gotta admit, if it is the case this guy's pretty funny, if annoying.

EDIT: Lol yep. Right at the top.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

That page was bloody unexpected. Especially when I'm on my phone...

[GalacticSpartan]

Yeah I'm getting that too. So annoying. You think it could be a glitch or...another hacker?

[Colonel]

Yep me too :(

[MyNameIsBom]

Same, i was wondering where the hell that video came from....

[leungbok]

hack, IMO ! :rolleyes:

[Hellfire_WZ]

Dealt with

[MetaKraken]

Good to be back here, what's left of it. Still, it's good to be back. :)

[stin]

Seriously, it`s good to be back. I was kinda missing it.

stevie:redface:

[Medusa]

I was sad to hear about this, qdmc was a sweetheart to let me know. Then I forgot until just recently when my email address (previously almost spam free) has been overloaded with spam. :?
So I clicked my way back here and changed my password. I assume the main site is down for now as I can't get to it?
I guess, because WipEout is so close to finally achieving its ideal of total world domination, this site is a hotspot for hacker attention...
I hope this is a one time idiocy. One of the best sites on the internet and it gets hacked. Pfft.

[infoxicated]

Hi Medusa - thanks for dropping back in. :)

I'm rebuilding the main site - should have it back online by the end of the month.

If getting hacked is an endorsement of quality then I'd rather stay average! ;)

[keg_11]

How's that going, BTW? I hope that the in-game fiction articles come back online soon (If not, I've got backups)

[infoxicated]

It's going okay.

Had to park it for a bit to get another site I run ready in time for the start of the IndyCar season, but now that's done I'm back fixing up the main WipEoutZone site.

There's lots of stuff that needs a bit of a rewrite, but I'm still shooting for the end of this month.

[q_dmc12]

I was sad to hear about this, qdmc was a sweetheart to let me know. Then I forgot until just recently when my email address (previously almost spam free) has been overloaded with spam. :?
So I clicked my way back here and changed my password. I assume the main site is down for now as I can't get to it?
I guess, because WipEout is so close to finally achieving its ideal of total world domination, this site is a hotspot for hacker attention...
I hope this is a one time idiocy. One of the best sites on the internet and it gets hacked. Pfft.

Aww shucks :redface:

:P

[vincoof]

There's lots of stuff that needs a bit of a rewrite, but I'm still shooting for the end of this month.
Roger. End of this month = End of April.

(j/k bro ofc !)

[infoxicated]

Yeah, I was meant to be finished at the weekend, but I got sick and was out of it for a few days.

Plus the more I looked at it the less I liked the code... might end up doing a bigger overhaul than first intended.

So it'll be ready when it's ready. :)

[UnleashSonic]

Sorry guys, a new member here, but the site got hacked? So, these forums are just a part of the WipeoutZone domain? Looks like I have discovered this community at the wrong time! :|

[keg_11]

Yeah, and the main site was quite good too. In particular, there was a 'Fiction' section which had articles relating to the Wipeout universe written by Damon Fairclough (the creator of the backstories to the games [or at least the original wipeout]).

The site got hacked a few times about February this year. Although the admins got it up and running again a few times, it eventually got downsized to just the forums. (Luckily I saved some of the fiction articles b4hand. Came quite in handy for editing the Wipeout wikia (http://wipeout.wikia.com)).

BTW: keep it up the good work, infoxicated. Can't wait for the site to be back up and running.

[UnleashSonic]

That's really awesome, hope it can be restored to its former glory! Great job everyone involved, keep up the good work. Thanks for filling me in keg_11, nice summary.

[Darkdrium777]

I am not sure anymore but I believe this contains the fiction section in it's entirety if you wish to read some of it. Download (http://www.mediafire.com/?l2tnzqwdmjd)

[Razgriz375]

Damn, I wondered why I was only getting the forums instead of the main site. So what are we doing for lap times and stuff now? As I remember it, this site had a few league tables for each game right?

[dreadofmondays]

Aww, bugger. Thankfully I have more than one password and I seperate email, facebook, etc from less important stuff. It's still a bother having to change my password though.