forum protection?

[roofjumper]

Does this forum have any anti abusal system (from coding abusement from "hackers")

because my friend got his forum abused by a "rival" and needs some sort of forum protection.

[Gamerboy]

Forum software is in general secure when it is made by a fairly big company/organisation.

For example VBulletin and phpBB both have ample security for most hackers. The normal way to get into the forums is to guess or know the password due to some other device.

The only other thing that makes forum software vulnerable are dodgy mods, which may create weaknesses to be exploited.

[AkaBob22]

Forum software is in general secure when it is made by a fairly big company/organisation.

For example VBulletin and phpBB both have ample security for most hackers. The normal way to get into the forums is to guess or know the password due to some other device.

The only other thing that makes forum software vulnerable are dodgy mods, which may create weaknesses to be exploited.

You shouldn't have posted the weakness part...

[roofjumper]

what my friend has is "forumotion" host. Do you know any add ons for that?

[Dracophile]

Well, what did you have in mind?

Any tag that can be used to embed HTML or Flash into a post to redirect someone to a nasty site has been disabled (the HTML tag has since been disabled/watered down into just a code box where you can post code without the forum breaking it up into emotes or something).

As from programs that would attempt to auto spam the forums, the timer between posts would get in the way and either stop them or slow them down, plus dealing with them isn't too hard and clean up literally takes a few clicks.

If your friend has those HTML/Flash tags enabled then yeah that's a problem.

EDIT: Wow everyone posted while I was typing.

Free forum hosts are not known for their security at all, especially free phpBB and Invision Free forums since they are notorious for parting out old un-updated copies of their software for free because now they have bigger and better things they can charge money for. I wouldn't trust a free host with super tight security.

[roofjumper]

you see on th e itnernet there are people with the IQ of around 69 who find that using actionscript to abuse forums is a fun hobby.

personally I did not enjoy the result.

It isn't that type of abusal, but more of a "h4ckz0r failing" abusal

[Dracophile]

you see on th e itnernet there are people with the IQ of around 69 who find that using actionscript to abuse forums is a fun hobby.

personally I did not enjoy the result.

It isn't that type of abusal, but more of a "h4ckz0r failing" abusal

Script kiddies are not fun to deal with, the kids who think they're hot because they can run a gigaloader and operate on a proxy after googling for it.

But isn't actionscript a part of Flash? Flash cannot be posted here at ALL unless it's in a link.

[Gamerboy]

you see on th e itnernet there are people with the IQ of around 69 who find that using actionscript to abuse forums is a fun hobby.

personally I did not enjoy the result.

It isn't that type of abusal, but more of a "h4ckz0r failing" abusal

Actionscript, erm...:

1. Not hacking.
2. Actionscript is a language used in Adobe Flash player, not in page coding, like RFS said. Perhaps you mean Javascript.

My advice is that you disable HTML, there should be an option for that.

[roofjumper]

I am not saying its posted, I really don't know how it runs.

basically a the abuser finds a way to abuse it not even admin style, but is able to permanently change all tect.

For example the Admin group can be changed to anything.

such as the "losers group" (in our case it was a more "fancy" way)

Maybe it is javascript i really don't kn ow what happened, I jsut pick random forumer theories.

[Ninja1]

Script kiddies are not fun to deal with.
Whats a, "Script Kiddies"?

[roofjumper]

also known as hackers although they really aren't hacking but just are abusing the system

[Gamerboy]

Normally all these "hacking" instances are just crap passwords or telling people passwords. They activities you decsribed seem to come under this category as forum motion does have an option for that if I remember correctly.

[roofjumper]

well then if it doesn't do you know any other forum host that has more protection?

[Gamerboy]

Forumotion is phpBB 2/3. 3 doesn't let you post HTML at all, so that shouldn't be a problem. phpBB2 does have a disable HTML somewhere on the admin control panel, so just disable it there.

Making all the admins change their password is also a good idea.

[roofjumper]

I don't think it was an admin being hacked, because I researched and found a similar video on some blogs.

it looks more like a program that finds text's coding and changed the text through that

[Dracophile]

I am not saying its posted, I really don't know how it runs.

basically a the abuser finds a way to abuse it not even admin style, but is able to permanently change all tect.

For example the Admin group can be changed to anything.

such as the "losers group" (in our case it was a more "fancy" way)

Maybe it is javascript i really don't kn ow what happened, I jsut pick random forumer theories.

That really kind of sounds like an Admin had a bad password and it was either guessed or found out by means of a dictionary attack. All of the staff members here are urged to have letters of both cases, numbers, and symbols in their passwords. I have a combination of them all.

Whats a, "Script Kiddies"?

A derogatory term used to describe people who think they are "1337 h4x0rz" when they know how to operate very very simple IP masking or packet sniffing tools. They are laughed at and mocked by people who actually know what they are doing. (Not all hackers are bad people, some of them have nice paying jobs testing the security of things like Norton and McAffee software, even the government's computer systems.)

well then if it doesn't do you know any other forum host that has more protection?

Well, as far as free forums go there is not a lot you can do because it's really about the host, if they have crummy security then you're simply SOL. The best advice is to disable any kind of HTML, Flash, or Java script posting that you can do in the forums. If you want to buy your own forum, I really say that vBulletin is good because it has lots of room for expandability and lots of extra mods and plugins for security (and also cosmetic features as well).

[roofjumper]

buying Vbulletin, sounds like a real idea, but then again, is it a one time purchase or not? Because I doubt our forum will really want to spend money.

[Dracophile]

buying Vbulletin, sounds like a real idea, but then again, is it a one time purchase or not? Because I doubt our forum will really want to spend money.

You have two options, really. vBulletin is $85 per year, or you can purchase a license "for life" for $160 and pay a $25 annual fee for things like support and updates (I believe the support/updates are included with the $85/yr price.)

[roofjumper]

$160 dollars is not really light years away from me, but it will take a while.

as for the $25 dollar anuual fee, is it an optional addition or not?

[Dracophile]

$160 dollars is not really light years away from me, but it will take a while.

as for the $25 dollar anuual fee, is it an optional addition or not?

Actually it seems it is $30 now, here's the direct quote from their price page:
vBulletin (Owned License)
The owned vBulletin Forum license allows you to run the software on your site indefinitely. Along with this license, you will receive one year of free updates. Beyond the first year, you will have to pay a nominal fee, currently $30, to obtain updates for an additional year.
https://www.vbulletin.com/order/

[roofjumper]

I will think about it, but just so you don't roll my eyes at me and say "Liar"

yes I do think that my parents will be very against this, and I doubt that once I earn $160 I will not think of spending them on a nice dinner with a girl rather than a forum.

Maybe when I am 18. Four years will probably teach me something