Site outage, Login Issues

[Janet H]

Recently the server that houses this site has been slowed down as the result of a DDoS attack and we are still under attack. A Distributed Denial of Service attack is deliberately malicious and caused when a lot of computers try to access the site at the same time - they place too much demand on the server and it locks up.

The computers are usually virus infected machines in third world countries and they are being controlled remotely by the attacker or his hired service (more often). They are turned into an army of bots. Often the owner of the botified computer may never know it's being used this way. These attacks are often instigated by a disgruntled individual and we believe this is the case here as well.

To defend from continuing DDoS attacks we are using a service to block malicious inquiries (from individual, mostly overseas computers) from getting to the web servers. The screen and posting delays are because we have added this extra layer of security, verifying viewing to remove/stop malicious activity. This extra check is especially tough on those with slow connections and some mobile users but it cannot be avoided. Your individual computers and devices are not at risk and the site hasn't actually been hacked - just slowed down. You may see the browser check screen from time to time as your IP is verified.

An attack of this nature is a crime and we take this very seriously, for this reason we are also not going to disclose much about the details but you can read more about this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack

if you are having trouble staying logged in please tick the 'remember me' box on the login screen, Mobile users may need to clear their devices cache (usually cycle off and then on).

It's sad when one angry person decides to muck up the works for everyone and we appreciate your understanding as we get work through this.

[PaulnGina]

Thank you for your help!

[nvestysly]

Hi Janet,

Thanks for keeping us informed. I've noticed similar issues with other SocialKnowledge Communities (forums). Are the attacks affecting other sites too? Or is it just a coincidence that I see a page indicating my computer is being verified when I access iRV2 and other sites?

Good luck with solving the problems. We appreciate everything you do to keep us running smoothly.

Lucius

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by nvestysly

Hi Janet,

Thanks for keeping us informed. I've noticed similar issues with other SocialKnowledge Communities (forums). Are the attacks affecting other sites too? Or is it just a coincidence that I see a page indicating my computer is being verified when I access iRV2 and other sites?

Good luck with solving the problems. We appreciate everything you do to keep us running smoothly.

Lucius

Several sites were affected, yes.

[Jim & Susan]

Whoa! That was weird. Looks like i was locked out from about 00:00 UTC until just a few minutes ago. About three hours, if any of that helps. I logged in around 00:00 UTC when I came home from work and was seeing the Cloudfare DDoS banner message. Just cleared. Threads on the screen were showing times around 1900 hrs EST.

Good job, and many thanks the folks in the back room.

Jim

[damonbeals]

Long lasting DDos attacks cost money, you can't do them for free. So someone is very mad with a site or a user to spend money to annoy the user of this and other sites. It usually easy to narrow down who it might be.

Damon
#4827

[BoldAdventure]

The irony here:

[bbdo]

I have quite a bit of experience with CloudFlare and their competitors. This sort of thing is a big part of what I do for a living. Your current setting is a bit overkill I think. The cure is nearly as bad as the cause, as they say. Feel free to PM me if you'd like help, I get a lot of value out of this site so it is of course gratis.

-brad

[Janet H]

Thanks for the good thoughts. For now the draconian login checks are needed as we work through this.

[SteveSueMac]

Just getting back in after last post around lunch. Working on web version on safari/iPhone. App still not connecting. Thanks for working through this.

[Janet H]

If you are on a mobile device you may need to clear your cache, power down and then try again.

[Ag&Au]

I would recommend anyone making a post, first compose it on a word processor and paste it to airforums. I just had a rather lengthy (and of course valuable) post lost to the frisking at the door. Another option would be to copy it to your clipboard before hitting the post button.

Ken

[Lily&Me]

Thanks, Mods, for being on this and resolving it.

Glad to see the site has returned to normal this morning.


Maggie

[paiceman]

Janet and Mods - Thank You

Bud

[PaulnGina]

When I logged on this morning via my iPhone, after entering my userid and password I got a message: "System Message - The forum failed to connect to Tapatalk servers and some features might not work properly. Please contact your site admin to resolve this issue."

I seem to get logged in OK, haven't noticed anything missing.

(Laptop login works good. No extraneous messages or issues.)

[Wingeezer]

Thanks for the explanation.

When I tried logging on yesterday evening I got that strange screen telling me to wait a few minutes while things were being checked!

Not being very familiar with these things, and being of a cautious nature, I immediately shut down the laptop in case I had been diverted to some other website that was about to mess with my computer!

Didn't get the screen this am when logging on, but if I do get it again, now I will know it is ok!

Brian.

[Lily&Me]

Couldn't get in yesterday, with various messages and reports that the website was offline, but when I went on my IPad to AirForums thru Safari this morning, it let me right in, already logged in and all.

Just letting folks know what is working.


Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

Thank you all for your hard work in keeping this site safe and functioning.

Hard to believe how much I missed you/this site.

[IanPoulin]

As someone with twenty years of technical information security experience for a major US financial, and whose seen such threats in the past, I want to commend the moderator and site technical teams for their efforts and applaud the success on handling the issue.

While I understand you have a full technical resource team within the forums base application environment to help, I do also want to offer any open/free advice or review; if you would care for it. Feel free to PM me for personal contact information if so.

[batman]

Janet,

I was wondering what was going on.
Thank You for the update.
You all are awesome and we appreciate your efforts to mitigate these issues.
Keep up the great work!

Thanks again!!
-Dennis