to let anyone know that the castlekeep Forum has been hacked,presumably by some enterprising and self empowered individual with the interests of the General public in mind. :wtf:
its a shame,as we were building up a nice little community there with a few interesting threads,i am still scratching my head to try and work out who wins here?

Good luck on the recovery, Rob. Or, at least, I presume that the forum can be recovered? I went to your site, and see that the website proper seems to be working ok, so that's good.

Rob Miller wrote:

...we were building up a nice little community there with a few interesting threads,i am still scratching my head to try and work out who wins here?

Looks like the person has some sort of message, but why send it to, as you pointed out, "a nice little community" that has nothing to do with his/her 'cause'. Seems just plain malicious, to me!

Thanks Steve,
i am non literate with software etc,so i am hoping that my webmaster or another may be able to help out.just getting back on form after we lost the forum for a while there.I will do what i can and get some extra Security this time around.its just amazing how people get their jollies,
:\ [/img]

Your Internet Service Provider should have backups that they can provide to you. If they do not, drop them and get another ISP that is more professional. Nearly all ISPs will have backups of one form or another. Some may charge you to restore a backup while others will do it for you as part of the service you already buy each month.

Regarding the hacking: all software, including forum software, must be kept up-to-date with updates and whatnot. This prevents any security holes that have been found from being exploited. Anybody who tells you running a site on the 'net is easy and brainless hasn't run a successful site or has a big budget for somebody else to worry about the issues that may arise. :)

We here at myArmoury.com get about 1,700 hack attempts each 24-hour period. Yes, that's not a typo: seventeen-hundred. There are times I've spent several hours plugging up a part of the software that somebody is trying to exploit. There are other times I've spent hours updating software to keep ahead. And there are also many instances where I've purchased software to avoid such things.

It is unlikely that the hack was done by any of your members or anyone in the greater community of sword enthusiests. Forum software is continually hacked on the 'net by automatic bots sprawling the net with the intention of exploitings security holes and taking sites down.

I'm hoping that your data isn't gone. Backups are a crucial part in any application that generates data, such as a forum. Discuss with your ISP what their backup facilities and policies are. This is a critical conversation to have with them. Invest time into learning or hiring a person to take care of this stuff on your end as well. There are many ways for the person running the site to backup and restore data. That same person needs to keep the software updated to the most recent version and ensure that all security patches are installed when they become available.

I suppose this is not much more than a wake-up call, but I hope it helps a little.

Looking at your site right now, I see that you're using version 2.0.11 of your forum software. This is very, very old and is full of security holes. Since your site is not modified from the standard install, it's a very, very easy thing to update to the newest software. Slay your Webmaster...

much appreciated Nathan,
I will see what can be done,the Hacker is promoting some kind of Turkish anti-Terrorist cause,obviously Castle Keep is a great place to get his ideals across to like minded individuals.........

I'm happy somebody figured out what he was on about, I spent a good 10 mins reading the crawl going "Hu?" :\

Nathan,

Not sure where this replies, but it fits the theme of this post.

Thanks for all of your hard work. Most of us had no idea how many "free hours" you donated, way beyond other $ measurable contributions. This is one of the better forums of any type I have participated in. I have been an internet addict for around 10 years.

Even if your passion for collecting and dress reenactment has waned, having a moderator capable of sharing relatively accurate facts based on a lasting passion for history is a major plus at this forum.

Jared Smith

:cool:
Hi All,
New forum went up today, :D
http://www.castlekeep.co.uk/forums/index.php?&CODE=00