[Alex Pepple]

Dear Eratosphereans,

Some of you who were around the Sphere would have noticed that about five to six hours earlier, Eratosphere seems to have gone haywire, or rather, missing all the posts and threads from just about every forum! This was a new one for me as it's never happened before. Of course, the bad bad hackers have been at it again!

Anyhow, this was a tricky and perplexing one--and is still is--because I can't figure out, at least not yet, how they did it. In this case, there's no log of the activity to analyze--or maybe, this is a most clever hacker who's found a way to cover their tracks so it's impossible to trace. I'm thinking also that it could be a hack of an Admin's password, in which case all of them need to be changed pronto, and into something very strong and near hack-proof.

Anyhow, that was the bad news. The good news is that I've been able to restore the Sphere to its near belly-full state. I say "near" because it's not 100% good news as some thread--any posts from about two hours before the hack attack to the time of the attack--cannot be recovered. I apologize to anyone who lost any important post in that unrecoverable two hours or so window.

Cheers,
...Alex

[John Isbell]

Alex, could they have put some sort of time bomb on the prune? The two occurred pretty close together in time.


John

[Alex Pepple]

Hi John--That's a good question, and one I thought of and dismissed because the pruning can only be done from the Admin console. But then again, if they hacked an Admin's password ... who knows! Which is why I've just changed my password to something twice as strong as the one I was using (which was already quite strong!), and I've also PM'd Jayne to urgently change hers likewise. That way, at least, we can rule out one possible way this type of hack could happen.

Cheers,
...Alex

[John Isbell]

We are all lucky to have you. Thanks again for all the work you do.

Cheers,
John

[Andrew Frisardi]

Thanks, Alex. What do hackers get out of hacking a poetry site? Cheap thrills? I don't get it.

[Jayne Osborn]

I've just changed my password to a very strong one too.

John,
I also suggested to Alex that my ''prune woe'' might have been connected to what happened today; it seems such a coincidence that I don't think we can entirely rule out the possibility.

Andrew,
Yes, indeed. WHY???
"Because they can" appears to be the main reason... what sad individuals they must be. They deserve our pity (nay, our contempt!) if they've nothing more productive to do than to attempt to wreck a poetry site.

Well done once again, Alex!

Jayne

[John Isbell]

Hi Jayne,

I like the idea that if the prune had any connection to the hack, your new passwords will stop them dead in their tracks.
I do think hacking a poetry website involves more than "because they can" as motivation. It is malicious and nihilist, more perhaps even than defacing a painting. I guess that motivates some folks. I am quietly reminded of Mephistopheles in Faust: "Ich bin der Geist der stets verneint," I am the spirit who always says no.
And they failed once again. Eppur si muove.

Cheers,
John