here in oz we just lost one of our best bowhunting forums. hackers apparently did something to the server. 100's of websites were lost or partly destroyed. the TBGA (the bowhunters group of australia) forum, it seems is gone forever. all the posts and pics...the lot.

if this happened to tradgang the bowhunting community would stand to lose trad bowhuntings best source of info and the internets best place to hang out.

curse you hackers!

That's some bad news about TBGA, have been trying to get on and couldn't, now I know why.

ah....that explains it !

Shame, but best of luck building it up again!  

I'm sure backups are being done so even if they do it wouldn't be a big deal to restore, just aggravating. Unfortunately with internet security there is no magic bullet, all you can do is raise the bar, if someone is smart and determined enough they can clear it. That being said, I'm sure our admins are capable and we should be in safe hands  

And all the best to TBGA, I'm sure they will rise back up again  

This is a bad news,but we as hunters are under pressure for sure expecially in Europe!

Bad news, but the Australian archery Ozbow site is still up. I was there about 15 minutes ago.

I hope TG doesn't get hacked. TG is my favorite archery site of them all and I visit 10 archery sites.

No worries......backed up.........and back ups are backed up.

As I understand it and I am no computer pro, With TBGA and hundreds of other sites here the company "distribute IT" was hacked but the hackers also got into their back up so ALL was corrupted and is lost.
Distribute IT did not back up the data elsewhere besides in their own system making it vulnerable.

Way to go Terry, thanks

sorry to hear about tbga's troubles.  bummers.

trad gang is backed up at least twice daily.  the really important thing is that we have our own, proprietary dedicated linux server - we share no other hard or soft resources with the rest of the world.  our mail is handled on a separate, dedicated linux mail server.  we have another "hot spare" linux server at our disposal, should we need it (we use it for the st judes auction).  

we were "penetrated" once, but not one member even felt a residual ripple, the bugs were swiftly disinfected, and the leaking software crack plugged up good.  not to say really bad things can still attempt to happen - one never knows, do one?

Much obliged Rob & Terry for your service & planning. Thanks.

Sorry about the Oz pencilneck PITA w/nothing better to do. Too bad but you'll recover w/so many great contributors there. Best luck.

"No worries. Backed up, and back ups are backed up."

Now that's my kind of backup!

As they say in the diving world 1 is none, 2 is 1, 3 is 2 well you catch my drift......Redundancy can be a life saver.

Doesn't it just kill you that people with obvious intelligence can't find anything more constructive to do with it than bring misery to others.

I recently got a damn virus or mal-ware that jumped me to odd sites whenever I clicked on an Internet search choice or sometimes even when moving within a site.  Snuck past my McAfee and was a pain to clean up.  I had to reinstall Explorer, uninstall some oddities and clear all my settings and cookies.

QuoteOriginally posted by Stumpkiller:
Doesn't it just kill you that people with obvious intelligence can't find anything more constructive to do with it than bring misery to others.

I recently got a damn virus or mal-ware that jumped me to odd sites whenever I clicked on an Internet search choice or sometimes even when moving within a site.  Snuck past my McAfee and was a pain to clean up.  I had to reinstall Explorer, uninstall some oddities and clear all my settings and cookies.

that's microsoft for ya, they're prime targets for hackers and zombies.  i highly recommend dual booting your microsoft machine with the free  www.linuxmint.com  operating system and use linux for all internet access (email, browser, ftp, etc.).  you still have your ms os and can access all your apps.

QuoteOriginally posted by Rob DiStefano:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by Stumpkiller:
Doesn't it just kill you that people with obvious intelligence can't find anything more constructive to do with it than bring misery to others.

I recently got a damn virus or mal-ware that jumped me to odd sites whenever I clicked on an Internet search choice or sometimes even when moving within a site.  Snuck past my McAfee and was a pain to clean up.  I had to reinstall Explorer, uninstall some oddities and clear all my settings and cookies.

that's microsoft for ya, they're prime targets for hackers and zombies.  i highly recommend dual booting your microsoft machine with the free  www.linuxmint.com  operating system and use linux for all internet access (email, browser, ftp, etc.).  you still have your ms os and can access all your apps. [/b]

Excellent advice, Rob!  

www.ubuntu.org  is another very dual boot friendly linux distribution.

Protection from hackers is just like protection from russian missiles.  It's an arms race.  What keeps 'em out today isn't anywhere near as effective tomorrow.  

Rob and Terry have got the solution squared.  Backup, backup, backup!  If you don't backup your home PC, go spend 100 bucks on a USB drive and get to it!

QuoteOriginally posted by Terry Green:
No worries......backed up.........and back ups are backed up.

LOL!  

Rob,

While I agree with your suggestion; most users of this site are probably not in to computers enough to make a dual booted machine. I work for an Internet Security Company technically helping companies purchase Firewalls, application gateways and Endpoint security. What folks here have to do is follow common sense.

1. Firewall at the internet with URL filtering
2. Anti Virus and Anti Malware software on the desktop
3. Do not open any attachment unless you know who it is from.
4. Do not blindly follow links in emails
5. Make sure your family follows the rules
6. Back up everything!!!
7. If you are using Windows7, create accounts for all users. Administrator is only for installing software or working on the system.

This will keep the honest people honest and eliminate 80% of issues. I use the 80/20 rule but it works out better then that.

Martin

For the record, I am writing this on RedHat linux Fedora box. Fred Bear would have wanted it this way.