why I don't think we got hacked

[Rob]

first a little basic explanation about how forums work.

Whatever you type into the form and post, all that goes into a post table in a database. There are other tables that keep track of thread titles, users, templates, all the configurations settings, it's all in there in dozens of tables.

The only thing that lives in the web server as files is the site scripts and all the images. So when the forum server serves someone the logo, it's just a file, but the stuff I'm tping now gets strored into a database table, and then a page gets built on the fly by mixing together info from several tables.

Access to the files (scripts and images) and acces to the database tables are separate. Having one doesn't give you the other. They are truly searate worlds.

So far all the problems are the reult of database info being corrupted. I think that we may be running into a technical problem with the database, but it is not affecting files at all. Usually hackers will alter the files because it's easy and they typically deface a site--that hasn't happened here.

[Rob]

I'm getting your messages and I know strange stuff is going on. Let me look into the issues and don't hesitate to message me.

[Steve Olson]

All right. So I guess your never-seen-before spelling errors are just a COINCIDENCE, ehhh?

[Rob]

I'm trying to talk Floorguy off the ledge, cut me a break!

[TFP Admin]

Unfortunately, Rob was mistaken. He didn't see the logs that show we did, in fact, get hacked yesterday. The investigation is on-going. For now, we are back to normal, but we may decide to restore another backup, which will mean losing the messages posted since that point.

I am very sorry. We have taken every step we can to protect the site, but the hacker is persistent and discovered a hole - through another member who had the ability to make changes to the topics, messages and banning. We will sort it out, but unless we have proof of who the hacker was, we won't be mentioning any names. We all may have our suspicions, maybe even well founded, but so far, no concrete proof.

Let's close it on that point and try to get back to what and why we are here to begin with - something the hacker wants to see us fail at and has been unsuccesful in that desire.

Thank you for your patience and your loyalty.

TFP Admin