Recent homepage hacking attempt

Post by **WQ Coordinator** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:36 am

Hi, all. While the issue is no longer an issue, I felt it might be helpful to post an announcement in light of Sunday's hacking attempt.

First and foremost, no viruses were added to the WolfQuest pages. If you found a virus on your computer after the hacking attempt, we aren't aware of any way it could be from the WolfQuest website, based on what we know was and was not changed by the hacker. The person who changed the homepage and deleted other WolfQuest pages did not edit any files (and therefore did not add any viruses). PhpBB, our forum software, is fairly secure, and has very strong anti-virus features. So other than a few pages and pictures being deleted, nothing else has been changed and you should not need to worry. We have also made more complex passwords to better avoid this type of situation in the future. And as a side note, WolfQuest's online store is a completely separate website (run by the Minnesota Zoo) and uses different programs than the rest of the website (Raiser's Edge and Paypal), so even if a hacker somehow managed to completely destroy the phpBB forum, he/she would not have any way to access the store or any data from previous store purchases.

The WolfQuest moderators and some other helpful members did a great job of informing the community and attempting to keep everyone calm, and the problem has now been completely resolved. So thank you to the moderators and those other helpful members; we really appreciate your help! (And if this ever happens again, I hope I'm able to log in on the same day to help reassure everyone! Sorry for being MIA yesterday!)

Edit: We're still making changes and upgrading security, so if you see any more error messages, just assume it's us working on the site. We also are looking into the issue with not being able to upload images... on the user artwork site, avatars, etc. So please wait patiently and calmly- we're doing our best to make sure the site and forums are in tip-top shape.

Jetness · Post by **Jetness** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:57 am

Thanks for posting this Cana. Lets hope no one tries it again, and if they do, they will most likely fail.

-Twix- · Post by **-Twix-** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:57 am

Oh thankyou for clearing this up Cana, Im so pleased everythign was sorted out and i hope no perminant harm has been done to the site.

Well done to all the moderators for keeping everything calm and organized and to you cana and dave (loboloco)

Sarine · Post by **Sarine** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:09 am

Thanks for posting, Cana! =) Hehe, it seemed more like yesterday everyone was upset, but I suppose now everything is calm. I didn't notice anything else except the front page changes and the 'About Wolves' page deleted, so I suppose the hacker rather failed to hack this website! xP A BIG thanks to the WQ moderators for solving the problem very fast, I'm happy that everything is alright again! :)

Zuzanna · Post by **Zuzanna** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:44 am

Thank you for posting this Cana

, he/she that tried to hack this site named her/him self "Splendid" aka "W0lf" if the WQ team now a user with that name maybe they/you should delete or make her/him banned or something from this site?, Anyways im happy evrything is ok

shadowwolf2234 · Post by **shadowwolf2234** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:54 am

Seems like the hacker added another message

lol, you do not shut down the root cause! Admin, If you need I can help fixed and find other bugs on this site :) by Splendid aka w01f

Just thought I'd point that out, but thanks for keeping us posted, Cana.

Post by **WQ Coordinator** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:56 am

Thanks for the message, shadow and others- I've passed it on to loboLoco.

Zuzanna · Post by **Zuzanna** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:58 am

shadowwolf2234 wrote:Seems like the hacker added another message
lol, you do not shut down the root cause! Admin, If you need I can help fixed and find other bugs on this site by Splendid aka w01f
Just thought I'd point that out, but thanks for keeping us posted, Cana.

I would'nt expect the hacker leaving a message... that he/she can help us... that's strange

Gloria Crystal · Post by **Gloria Crystal** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:01 am

Thx for post that cana! I'm very happy that everything is okay!

Sarine · Post by **Sarine** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:06 am

Darkness, is this message on the front page? Because I don't see anything! ^.^

Zuzanna · Post by **Zuzanna** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:07 am

WindSpringWolf wrote:Darkness, is this message on the front page? Because I don't see anything! ^.^

Me neither!

-Sheeba · Post by **-Sheeba** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:40 am

Yes, the message is on the WolfQuest's home page, I am seeing it too. When "www.wolfquest.org" is typed in, a pop up message comes up saying the same thing Darkness said and you click "Ok". Then the same message appears on the top of the home page. I can get a screenshot for those who aren't seeing it.

Sarine · Post by **Sarine** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:43 am

I get nothing, the screen brings me to the official front page, no changes, no popping up messages, anything.. o.O Could you take a screenshot, Sheeba?

-Sheeba · Post by **-Sheeba** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:47 am

I was just going to take the screenshot, and when I got onto the WolfQuest home page, nothing came up. Perhaps Dave has fixed it?

Zuzanna · Post by **Zuzanna** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:58 am

Perhaps he has, my PC is always blocking pop-up's so i dont see them

Recent homepage hacking attempt

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