Forum Hacked, assistance appreciated

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  • Bane
    Senior Member
    • Jul 2000
    • 515

    Forum Hacked, assistance appreciated

    So a friends forum was hacked up and we are sorting through it now, it seems the person got access to the admin cp and manually deleted all the forums and styles.

    Were I able to replace the forum table and style table, will this correct the problem?
  • Steve Machol
    Former Customer Support Manager
    • Jul 2000
    • 154488

    #2
    Not really. If the forums were deleted then very likely the threads and posts went with it. Recreating these tables does not restore the data that was in them.

    Why isn't the forum owner asking for help?
    Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
    Change CKEditor Colors to Match Style (for 4.1.4 and above)

    Steve Machol Photography


    Mankind is the only creature smart enough to know its own history, and dumb enough to ignore it.


    Comment

    • mholtum
      Senior Member
      • May 2004
      • 298
      • 3.5.x

      #3
      Do you have a DB backup? If not, you are pretty much SOL.
      Home of the free, Because of the brave.

      Comment

      • Bane
        Senior Member
        • Jul 2000
        • 515

        #4
        I believe she is somewhat busy with the pms and IMs from her users, and I am attempting to help her with the forum restoration, so I thought I would ask since I'm the one doing it.

        There is a db backup from a couple months ago.. but it would be nice to not have to go that far back.

        It does seem as though the posts still exist, there are 500,000+ entries in the post table. Is it possible that a partial restoration could work?

        Comment

        • Steve Machol
          Former Customer Support Manager
          • Jul 2000
          • 154488

          #5
          All you can do is try and hope. I have a feeling that it won't be that easy though.

          Also you should recommend to her to make daily or weekly backups.
          Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
          Change CKEditor Colors to Match Style (for 4.1.4 and above)

          Steve Machol Photography


          Mankind is the only creature smart enough to know its own history, and dumb enough to ignore it.


          Comment

          • Bane
            Senior Member
            • Jul 2000
            • 515

            #6
            Thanks for the replies. I have already written her a rotating backup cronscript for use in the future. Hopefully this works out so she has something to use it on.

            Comment

            • Bane
              Senior Member
              • Jul 2000
              • 515

              #7
              The recovery was successful Thanks guys.

              Comment

              • ImageConstrux
                Senior Member
                • Feb 2002
                • 188

                #8
                Bane - Can I hire you? My site was also hacked, by some Arab person or group, I imagine it's the same person that's hacking all of the forums lately.


                In any case, I'm in the process of taking a couple steps to rectify the problem (leaving the details out in case the scumbag surfs these pages), but if they don't work, I'll be interested in hiring someone to fix the problem.

                Then later, I'll be interested in hiring a hacker for a few nefarious tasks.....

                Comment

                • Viper220
                  New Member
                  • Nov 2001
                  • 23

                  #9
                  I just got hacked by Arabs. They wrote "F*** USA and Israel" with a bunch of other crap. I'm waiting for my server host to get online so I can figure out how to fix this. They also changed the admin pass so I can't log in.

                  Comment

                  • Bane
                    Senior Member
                    • Jul 2000
                    • 515

                    #10
                    I fixed the forum that I was working with by going into the database itself and fixing things. Keep in mind however as soon as I was done (the next day) they were back trying to hack into the forum again.

                    Feel free to PM me on here if there is some way I can help ImageConstrux.

                    Comment

                    • ImageConstrux
                      Senior Member
                      • Feb 2002
                      • 188

                      #11
                      Bane - thank you very much for the offer. Steve M was able to give me enough hints in his posts for me to figure out how to reclaim control of the site. From there I just uploaded a backup of the DB and reverted the affected templates.

                      Always good to hace backups.

                      I'm hesitant to say much more, because the hackers also use vB (3.0) and undoubtedly cruise this board. (www.xp10.com/vb)

                      Comment

                      • Zeffer
                        New Member
                        • Jan 2003
                        • 10

                        #12
                        I might need your help, sir...

                        Originally posted by Bane
                        I fixed the forum that I was working with by going into the database itself and fixing things. Keep in mind however as soon as I was done (the next day) they were back trying to hack into the forum again.

                        Feel free to PM me on here if there is some way I can help ImageConstrux.
                        I was hacked today as well, not by the Arabs, but by someone calling himself "x-MaN". Now, I'm not a programmer, just a 51 year-old Canadian ex-soldier trying to do a bit for our WW2 military history; why he hit on me I can't imagine... all I have now is my "forum down for maintenance" page. BTW, I have 2.2.9, and yes, I know I have to update, but this caught me too soon.

                        I can't get into my Admin CP anymore, and while I can FTP, I know little else. My newest backup is from April, before I went over to England and Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Basically, I'm screwed, given the number of posts and new members since.

                        I HAVE put in a ticket with the vB folks, but if they can't solve it, perhaps you can lend me your ear a bit. This forum is the focal point of my 7-year efforts and has a world-wide audience, with 500 registered members and 15,000 posts. I'm really at a loss here, though, not knowing what to do. If necessary, I can PM you all applicable information.

                        Thanks for listening. Gawd, if I could catch one of these buggers in the act, I'd skewer him with a rusty bayonet!

                        Cheers,

                        Geoff

                        Comment

                        • Steve Machol
                          Former Customer Support Manager
                          • Jul 2000
                          • 154488

                          #13
                          Zeffer, can you please resend your support ticket? I don't see it in the system and I have a bad feeling it may have been accidentally deleted as spam.
                          Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
                          Change CKEditor Colors to Match Style (for 4.1.4 and above)

                          Steve Machol Photography


                          Mankind is the only creature smart enough to know its own history, and dumb enough to ignore it.


                          Comment

                          • Zeffer
                            New Member
                            • Jan 2003
                            • 10

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Steve Machol
                            Zeffer, can you please resend your support ticket? I don't see it in the system and I have a bad feeling it may have been accidentally deleted as spam.
                            Done, Steve, thanks. PULL-EASE don't zap this one!

                            G.

                            Comment

                            • Zeffer
                              New Member
                              • Jan 2003
                              • 10

                              #15
                              Ok, status report. Steve got me my admin access back, but the hacker deleted about 2/3 or my threads and posts, along with all my parent and sub forum identifiers. The good news is my hosting service has a backup copy of the entire database dating back only three days. Once they FTP me the SQL file, I should be able to work from there...

                              But a question for you esteemed gentlemen: the backup is in the form of a .sql file; just what the hell do I do with it once I have it in my possession? I really have no idea, and it shames me to have to admit that, so I cast myself in your experienced and capable hands.

                              All suggestions received humbly and with great gratitude.

                              Geoff

                              Comment

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