Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:23 am
I assumed Zip had not used my login to make that false post, because no login information was included in the post. However, it seems that Zip disabled the showing of login information as well as the displaying of email addresses. Zip had previously disabled the showing of IP addresses.
Since neither my correct password nor my correct email address will gain access to my network54 account, I am now quite convinced that Zip compromised it. I do not think Zip could so easily compromise my account here (or my gmail account). Just before I tried changing my network54.com password, I changed my password here, my gmail password, and my myspace password.
To all who read this: I strongly recommend changing your passwords. Make them long strings of random (to the extent possible) mixed case alphanumeric characters. Doing so limits the successfulness of brute force and dictionary attacks. However, I repeat that Zip probably did not use brute force or dictionary means to gain the network54 passwords, as network54 uses an automatic lockout. Also, I recommend that you all verify the security of your firewalls and operating systems, just in case Zip intends to hack individual PCs (to search for stored passwords).
What could Zip hope to gain from this? Obviously he/she is trying to retaliate for being banned. The disruption that has resulted must be gratifying to her. The fear she believes she causes in others must boost her ego. (This is a terrorist action.) Also, she gains a lot of attention doing this. (and threads like this, I believe, work in her favor, in that regard. (yeah I know...)).
However, she has also alienated the entire QBASIC Forum community. Any friends she had will now distance themselves from her. She made a lot of enemies in the last few days, besides the ones she had already made by her racist statements (she believes non-whites are subhuman). In the long run, Zip will lose. At best, total alienation from the entire community, at worst, criminal conviction (or even vigilante retaliation from angry forum members, especially if the deleted posts/forums cannot be recovered). It sucks to be Zip. What a pathetic loser.
Since neither my correct password nor my correct email address will gain access to my network54 account, I am now quite convinced that Zip compromised it. I do not think Zip could so easily compromise my account here (or my gmail account). Just before I tried changing my network54.com password, I changed my password here, my gmail password, and my myspace password.
To all who read this: I strongly recommend changing your passwords. Make them long strings of random (to the extent possible) mixed case alphanumeric characters. Doing so limits the successfulness of brute force and dictionary attacks. However, I repeat that Zip probably did not use brute force or dictionary means to gain the network54 passwords, as network54 uses an automatic lockout. Also, I recommend that you all verify the security of your firewalls and operating systems, just in case Zip intends to hack individual PCs (to search for stored passwords).
What could Zip hope to gain from this? Obviously he/she is trying to retaliate for being banned. The disruption that has resulted must be gratifying to her. The fear she believes she causes in others must boost her ego. (This is a terrorist action.) Also, she gains a lot of attention doing this. (and threads like this, I believe, work in her favor, in that regard. (yeah I know...)).
However, she has also alienated the entire QBASIC Forum community. Any friends she had will now distance themselves from her. She made a lot of enemies in the last few days, besides the ones she had already made by her racist statements (she believes non-whites are subhuman). In the long run, Zip will lose. At best, total alienation from the entire community, at worst, criminal conviction (or even vigilante retaliation from angry forum members, especially if the deleted posts/forums cannot be recovered). It sucks to be Zip. What a pathetic loser.