HDC Hacked - Unscheduled Downtime

[Scott]

The site is now back up in running. Apparently, we were hacked yesterday about 1 p.m. A Nigerian spammer group used a vBulletin exploit to send about 2,000 spam e-mails per minute. After five minutes, the server was overloaded and our host locked web services to our account. Searching through the logs, we were able to find where the exploit was and we patched it this morning.

We've been running along on VB 3.5.x for a couple of years with only minor incidents. Our lease for patches ran out 12 months after the original software was purchased. 3.5.x is now considered a "legacy" software and is no longer supported. The current version is 3.7.x and the cost is about $180 for an owned license.

I have been thinking of upgrading for some time, but did not want to ask the community for support. Well, now I'm reaching out to you guys to help us keep the forum going! If you guys would like to help out, please use the sponsor form below. I'm contributing $30 at the beginning, and after a week or so, will makeup any difference (if there is one :wish:). I'll keep a running total of all donations as well as contributors' names in this thread.

Thanks again, Scott

[Scott]

To make contributing a little easier...


<iframe src="http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/hdcac.html" scrolling="no" width="220" frameborder="0" height="163"></iframe>

vBulletin 3.7.x Upgrade Contributers List

Thanks guys!
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif mfletcher1
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif mikegodwin
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif zelig2
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif jpdublin
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif gsb
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif rossl
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif DublinDoodah
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif Captain_Rob
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif spudohio
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif Robbiee19
http://www.hdcolumbus.net/vb-hdtv/images/ah.gif snodgrass23Total So Far : $160

Goal: $150

[Scott]

Thanks for the support! Only $0 left to go! :rockon:

[Scott]

:woot: Woot bump... (community, please feel free to shamelessly increase your post count by bumping this thread to keep it at the top and testing out some of the new smileys)...

/that is all

[rossl]

:cheers:

OK. sent 10 bucks.

@#$% the hackers!

:D

[Scott]

:cheers:

OK. sent 10 bucks.

@#$% the hackers!

:D

Thanks rossl!:ecstatic:

[jpdublin]

Bump...

[Scott]

Bump... :explode:

FYP.... New smilies man!!!

[Captain_Rob]

If a personal chack or cash is good, count me in for $20.

PM me Scott on where to send it.

[Scott]

Thanks Captain! PM sent!

[Robbiee19]

If a personal chack or cash is good, count me in for $20.

PM me Scott on where to send it.Same for me Scott.:agree:

[Scott]

Same for me Scott.:agree:

PM sent! Thanks!

[snodgrass23]

Wow. The support here in such a short time period has been great!

[Scott]

Wow. The support here in such a short time period has been great!

It's awesome! We reached our goal in a little over a day! :woot:

I purchased the new owned license this afternoon... and guess what? We could have upgraded our previous owned license for like $60! :doh:

I opened a ticket with vB and within 15 minutes, they deleted the new one we purchased and gave us 2 years of updates!!!

You guys rock!

Thanks again!!! :cheers:

The overage amount of $10 went towards the upgrade of the theme ($30) to 3.7.2. Don't worry, we'll still look the same, just with new features. The current theme will not work with 3.7.2, so we had to purchase this as well.

[zelig2]

Excellent news. Glad to see everyone supporting the site.

[mikegodwin]

Glad I could help. I love to see the little guy win.