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IP Addresses and Hackers
This is just to inform all our members that we recently started capturing the IP addresses of folks who register for Prevost Community. Since we started our process for registering new members has changed behind the scenes.
Initially all who registered were automatically sent their password to the email address provided. The site is free and open to all Prevost enthusiasts so we did not want to delay or impede those who wanted to become members. We realized however there are those who take advantage of that to get into the site for reasons other than an interest in coaches. When we had someone post adult toys for sale (which we quickly deleted) it made it necessary for us to be less open. So as a precaution against hackers now Tom or I review each registration and delete those who appear to have other interests.
We delete those we think or know to be other than Prevost enthusiasts, while personally sending an email with the password to those who seem real. So far only a few slipped past our screening and when they made an inappropriate post we deleted them. In case it seems like this is a minor problem, as of today legitimate Prevost enthusiasts comprise about 25% to 30% of those who register, so we delete 2 or 3 for every member we welcome.
A while back the number of bogus registrants reached about 30 in a single day so in an effort to see if it was a single person or unrelated whackos we added a column of IP addresses which are collected automatically and the means to look them up. We never want to knowingly allow this site to be used for purposes other than to share information about Prevost Coaches among our members. We don’t want anyone that doesn’t belong to have the potential to mess with the site so in collecting the IP addresses I found some interesting information. More than 1/2 of the bogus registrants are from Chinese IP addresses. Other countries are also represented, such as France, Poland, and a handful of other countries. So it is comforting in the respect it is not coming from a single source, but whackos around the world. Only a few had US IP addresses, with a couple from Virginia and one each from NYC, LA, and Chicago.
I won’t reveal how we are able to sort the phonies from the legitimate, but our methods are almost always 100% accurate. If we are slow in providing a password, I hope you will understand. If we do not respond with a password to a legitimate registration email us via admin@prevostcommunity.com. Remember, we need a good email address in order to send your password and we will not share the email with anyone.
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6 Replies
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Jon,
Do not assume that Chinese IP’s are wacko’s. China has a very active state sponsered hacking community. They are always looking for any information that will give them an edge.
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Andre,
We understand they are crawling all over the web to gather information, but on our site it makes no sense. The only thing a member can do that a non-member cannot do it post to the forum and do a search. As an open free site anybody on the planet can see what every member sees which is why we think they are Whackos.
Of the rare few that managed to obtain a password they have posted apparently to sell adult toys, furniture and ladies fashions.
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Our local amateur radio club website has been hacked several times recently too. Makes no sense as there is nothing on it but announcements as to repeater frequencies, club meeting dates and such.
Their last foray into our site resulted in their changing the password making it temporarily impossible for our administrator to fix it
Seems they “tinkered” with our site simply because they could…..
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Our web guru has advised us we have the latest in safety features. We are still deleting these folks daily. Apparently one of their objectives is to access the admin side of the site to play hell behind the scenes as you mention Paul so our web guru backs us up daily and can access and restore our data with a minimum of disruption should the Whackos succeed.
BTW, Whackos is not what we usually call them. My term is scumbags.
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On a related note, for whatever it’s worth~~
I’ve just “read” Factory Girls, an audiobook by a Chinese American:
“Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
Unabridged (Audiobook)
Summary:
Chang, a Chinese American, writes about women who’ve “gone out,” migrated from their rural homes to work in a factory or office. She became a trusted friend of two of these migrant workers. She shared their everyday experiences and went home to the country with one.
An important subplot is her family’s experiences during the Cultural Revolution. She visited an uncle who remembers it all.
I got some good laughs from the Making Friends Dating Club..
Though I am no more tolerant of Chinese corruption, I am less exasperated by it as a result of reading this book…
But wait…*that many* bogus Prevost Community registrations?!?!? Oh my gosh. How exasperating.Susan
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Susan,
Now that I am tracking bogus registrants China clearly leads the list of folks who want to get access to our site. I would say that 9 out of every 10 bogus registrations are Chinese in origin.
And what is worse, more than 2 bogus registrations appear for every legitimate one this month. So far they are all blocked with the safeguards in place but it is incredible someone or some company or some government would be wasting their time trying to falsely register.
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