Feeling Free continued

Thanks Jane! I'm outta here until anything new turns up. I hope other people are able to understand/appreciate my wagon analogy. It's based on a quote about humour- one of the biggest, wisest and most powerful blessings humans have, especially in the face of much more serious or "tragic" scenarios than this.

Adieu!

Amanda, I assure you both Abby and I are aware of how serious the situation is and how it could escalate. Please don't make brash assumptions.

Anything can be a life threatening situation if escalated to an extreme, but this isn't there yet and until it is, it doesn't need to be treated as such.

Yes change your passwords and be on the look out everyone. Bring anything suspicious to a mod's attention. It's good to be cautious.

Amanda,

You know computers and coding... can you explain to me how a person would use a bot to hack? My son tried to tell me a few years ago, but I had no interest LOL.... Now he is out in field training for another week so I can not reach him.

EDIT: I believe that Jane knows this is serious; however, she is stumped like the rest of us and we all need to release some tension right now.

I had my release earlier about the love affair LOL.

Private means please.....

Also,

what are the chances of someone just hacking into a PM between me and you as well as a separate pm between me and Joe without actually getting into my account?

Since I sent my OLD password to Joe via PM over a year ago is it safe to assume the hacker had full access to my account or am I over reacting?

No, Bob.... you already spoiled it by saying something LOL....

Anyways, I am off for the night. My honey is home and I want to spend the evening with him.

I'm not an expert, but I don't really think it's possible to simply view your PMs by hacking. So if anything, somebody most likely found your password (or was given) and used it to simply log in. It seems a bit unlikely that there is any IP hacking going on and rather the person just used social cues to find out your password and your username. Although...I guess it is possible that you left yourself open to being traced through packet files and whatnot, because I doubt this site is overly secure.

Dunno if this helps...

My apologies. I mean I do know a bit about it. Who IS the expert then? Furthermore, what is with everyone here being so condescending?

I get that it's a "serious" issue, but there's no need to be so hostile. Especial considering it's the first time I've been to this thread.

Actually, if you track the IP of someone posting on a website, it goes back to the server first.

My guess is that nobody cares enough to do any real work to hurt someone on this website. Hence why I'd veer toward social cues. It IS a valuable way to hack.

Fair enough, I did say that I wasn't an expert. :P

You know, a good thing to come out of this, and i'm really surprised by this. The response to this situation from the current MOd team has been really mature and open for the most part.

Trust me when I say this was not always the case.

Bad situation, but at least we're in this together, kinda!

It's actually turning into an interesting learning experience for me. Hahaha.

Author: AJ, status: member, date: 2011.04.14 14:36:
"That's the jist of it yeah, the email I received included 3 screenshots of messages between sher and joe, amanda and joe, and amanda and sher. The ones with amanda infolved I didn't like but they were pretty much pointless so I ignored them. But the sher-joe one proved that he was in her account and she knew.. and then warned him that we had checked his ip (that should have stayed in the mod forum).
"I don't like how this information was found and I didn't want to be in the middle of this but somebody had to say something..
"The pm hacking was very wrong but I do not know who did it."

author: AJ, status: member, date: 2011.04.14 14:47:
"It was sent via a yahoo account, buy it was a shotty email address so it went into my spam folder which deletes every 24 hours.. so I don't have the email anymore."

author: AJ, status: member, date: 2011.04.14 15:13:
"I should have moved it to my inbox, which is dumb on my part..
I think we have gotten to a point where everything is out there, and that makes me happier.. I don't like pm hacking and I don't like drama.. my information has now been addressed, time to figure out what's next."

^
AJ, I'm not clear on something, if you could just bear with me. How did you first discover this email? Had you gone looking in your spam folder, and it had a sender name that struck you, or perhaps a subject line that called your attention? And of course you stumbled on it in the first 24 hours, is it not possible that prior messages had been sent to you and deleted before you saw them? The sender name & subject line could be clues, since they were significant enough to have you open up spam mail attachments

Yep, great questions, I hope AJ can answer them for us.

AJ, I'm not clear on something, if you could just bear with me. How did you first discover this email? Had you gone looking in your spam folder, and it had a sender name that struck you, or perhaps a subject line that called your attention? And of course you stumbled on it in the first 24 hours, is it not possible that prior messages had been sent to you and deleted before you saw them? The sender name & subject line could be clues, since they were significant enough to have you open up spam mail attachments

^^

I actually don't use that email very often anymore because its so old and has accumulated spam over the years but I am selling stuff on craigslist and I used that email. I went into the spam folder to see if anyone who messaged me about my ads had gone in there because it happens. When I did this I saw a message with the subject "PnQ info", or something of the sort... Just stuck out...

I'm very cautious about what I click on and such so I downloaded the attachments to a folder and scanned it for viruses, so it was clean and then I checked them out.

It's very possible that I've missed previous message because I don't use the account much...

I'm not saying this is not serious, and I'm not saying that everyone should breathe easy.
However, this is not by any means the work of a true hacker coming onto a site & exploiting security holes.
No outside hacker would specifically pinpoint that particular account.
No outside hacker would send an email to AJ, AT AN OLD EMAIL revealing inside issues.
No outside hacker would leave a penniless site unjacked.

It had to be:
Someone who knew the password,
who knew the operation of the mod system,
who knew the significance of the conversation with Joe,
who had some ax to grind with Amanda, and
who was not Britt (since she was cleared),
who knew AJ before he got his current email account.
Past or present mod.
And someone who wanted to shake the foundation of trust in the site.

BTW, AJ, you downloaded those attachments, do you still have the original downloads? If so, and if you have not already done so, you should send them to Sher. They may have tracers in their coding.

Yep, very logical thinking right there! I wish people would flat out stop hacking - for whatever purposes - because it DOES shake up the foundation of trust on PnQ. I hate all this crap.

Hey I'm pretty sure Britt said she was sent the same email or am I mistaken? I'll ask her on Facebook.

Also, here are some thoughts:

Whoever sent AJ/Britt this email, they didn't need to know Sher's password. Maybe they would need to know the operation of the mod system, but not necessarily from the inside. They would definitely need to know the significance of the conversation with Joe, and they would have to have some ax to grind with Amanda. Britt's IP was cleared for logging into the mod account after she was demoted, that doesn't rule her out as the hacker though of course I don't think it's her. They would have to know AJ's old email from knowing AJ, or is it your email address listed on PnQ, AJ?
It definitely had to be someone who wanted to shake the foundation of trust in the site.

I think it is the email I used.. back when I signed up here that was my main email.

Larry, they were just pictures that I clicked save.. unfortunately pictures don't hold much info. I checked the "Properties" and it just shows where it is stored on my computer..

Is anyone else thinking this looks like a giant site-wide game of Clue?

If they were screen shots, they will have codes embedded in them for various things such as time & date & very possibly the registration code of the program. These would not show up on 'properties'

Is there any reason not to have them checked out?

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address

Nice video on freedom (adult language..so watch it kids)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTOQhPd2Xh4

Simplistic version:

Each computer has its own IP, generally assigned by the ISP (your service provider - say AT&T). Anything you post will have been possible because you 'logged in' which is in the memory of the host computer of the site. There are often limits on how long the host computer keeps logs, but that's not important here.
If you use a different computer to log into your account, a different IP will show up. On the other hand, it is possible to determine if you're using a different computer in your own home, since it is using the same internet connection. It is also possible to determine if the IP is geographically close to your own computer.
If you go to another city, go to an internet cafe & log into your account, an IP will show up that has no connection to your own. In some cases, a security question is installed in your account to verify that this log-in is indeed you. If you do on-line banking you will have seen these security provisions.

Yes.... the computer I.D.s are different.

Each computer registered with a specific I.P address has a unique computer ID as well.

This helps us determine if it is a University or what not.

Does your daughter have an account on here?

If you go to the laptop on log on through your usual internet then they will have the same IP address, just a different computer I.D.

For example....

I have two computers in my house and my IP address is

124.69........

Both computers will share this address, but one computer will have the computer ID of

632907 and the laptop will show a computer ID under this IP address as 675481

Hold on Hellon, let me do my hair.

Ok, Hellon, I am not going to give specific information, just general....

It appears that you are on you main computer. You have accessed your account through it 28 times in about a week.

In the Country of Australia, the city of Perth.

Now, if there was something you had done and I needed to notify the authorities then I would also tell them more specific information including who your internet service provider is.

EDIT: Hey, I was fresh out of the shower LOL

Rules
We have broken rulers and broken rules
Using much repetition as our tools
The remedial results have been a lost cause
The universe is filled with natural laws

The truth is there is a strange paradox
In the mystic myth of Pandora's box
Our fantasy is a odd addiction
Blurring many lines between fact and fiction

I broke a rule and broke a trusting heart
I long relentlessly for a new start
There is no purification quite like sorrow
To heal the soul of yesterdays tomorrow

When will we get tired of dancing around the obvious and that is the MO of the alleged hacker is drama. A myth is just as true today as it was yesterday and if we not allowed to discuss the past we must let nature take its course and let this cyberspace die a peaceful death

It starts,"acceptance is the answer to all my problems..when I am disturbed it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation some fact of my life unacceptable to me". Shakespeare said, " the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."He forgot to mention that I was the chief critic. I was always able to see the flaw in every person, every situation. And I was glad to point it out'......PG 417 AA Revised third edition

So good luck with banning all drama from the message boards. If our leaders cannot handle drama we are doomed anyway

Sher, this IP thingy is very interesting, could you do a search on me as you did for Hellon?
Pretty Please

Ok

1. Start a new thread

2. I will try to do one for you when I get back home. I am about to leave. I have an appointment with my fibro. doctor this morning that I can not miss.

3. Put all request in the new thread.

4. I do not look up specific addresses, but, yes, it is possible.