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Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43909		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  softwerkslex [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:31 am ]
Post subject:  Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
There appears to be some kind of bot attack on our site.

Something that caught my eye: Steven is my name, and "Candace" is my wife's name.

I have nothing at all to do with this "Faye" account.
Author:  PMC [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
According to Google translate the first was in Swedish and was a recap of a soccer match between Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
Author:  hullmat991 [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
I thought the mods had to approve all new users to the site. At least I seem to remember it being that way.
Author:  70000 [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
Seems to be appearing in different languages as well, which is a bit odd.

..........plus, the Chelsea v Bayern Munich fixture that appeared first of all would appear to be from 2012 (the last time they played in that competition), so they aren't exactly up to date foootball reports either!

I await a report on the Ipswich Town UEFA cup win from 1981 with interest........
Author:  xboxtravis7992 [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
Image

Looks like Swedish Chef joined the forums.
Author:  Randy Hees [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
The offending messages are gone (for now)

These are typically used to build the search rankings for web sites. The Google algorithm looks at who you link to (and their status) and who links to you.

If they reappear, ignore them, and we will delete them, and possibly repeat, repeat...

Randy
Author:  softwerkslex [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
PMC wrote:
According to Google translate the first was in Swedish and was a recap of a soccer match between Chelsea and Bayern Munich.


The text was just random word associations. It was definitely not Swedish. I would recognize that immediately.
Author:  EDM [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
Maybe the moderators haven't had time yet to deal with this, but there is more 'Bot' stuff in the Railfanning and Classified sections. Sad that this forum got attacked-
Author:  Chris Webster [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
softwerkslex wrote:
There appears to be some kind of bot attack on our site.


Next time report the post as spam by clicking the red exclamation mark (under every post.)
Author:  jayrod [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
Should go without saying, don’t get curious and click on any links in those posts.
Author:  jayrod [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
Might I add... delete the user account. I did a quick check and it’s still there.

Also, if this version of phpBB runs on PHP version 5.x, it is advisable to upgrade to the latest version of phpBB, 3.2 I think, and enable PHP 7.2. The older versions of PHP have security vulnerabilities.
Author:  Rick Rowlands [ Mon Nov 11, 2019 8:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Bot attack on Interchange RYPN
I just deleted that account and the offending threads.

We get several new user registration requests every day. Most are blatant bots with nonsensical user names. I don't approve any of them. I leave that up to Randy and Doug but I do get the emails too.
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