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Periodic FT issues (crash, Cloudflare, database errors) - DDoS attack, cf wiki

Old Jul 26, 2018, 11:26 am
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Last edit by: JDiver
FlyerTalk Up, Down, Crash, DDoS, Database Error, etc.

Thursday July 26, 2018, FlyerTalk was under a DDoS / Distributed Denial of Service attack; it seems to be persisting since then. Cloudflare services are keeping the site up, but you may see errors, page call intercepts and delays while the attack is ongoing.

If you are posting content, select all and copy prior to saving or posting to prevent losing your work. Then you can still post it after overcoming the redirect.

For further information on Cloudflare and its workings, see Post #82 by plunet.

FlyerTalk up or down troubles? Check by using: http://isup.me- or http://www.isitdown.us, http://www.doj.me.

Or use this direct link - http://downorisitjustme.com/res.php?url=flyertalk.com

If it is just you, try: reloading the page; emptying your cache; deleting one or more cookies; quitting and restarting your browser or trying an alternate or shutting down and rebooting your device.



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Periodic FT issues (crash, Cloudflare, database errors) - DDoS attack, cf wiki

Old Jul 26, 2018, 4:31 pm
  #46  
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Originally Posted by Deltus
Does DDOS threaten any passwords or personal data? I thought it just takes websites down (although I'm definitely no expert).

In any case, if you *are* an expert, you'll surely have different passwords on every single website account you access, so nothing to worry about...
THat's correct. Who knows why someone would want to knock the site offline.

Even non-experts can use a password manager to generate and store unique passwords for every site. I use LastPass.
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 4:48 pm
  #47  
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The CloudFlare thing doesn't bug me as much as every image and CSS being broken when the page finally does load. Weirdly, however, the breakage only happens on my phone and not on my PC.
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 5:49 pm
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
THat's correct. Who knows why someone would want to knock the site offline.

Even non-experts can use a password manager to generate and store unique passwords for every site. I use LastPass.
You're certainly right about passwords. Password manager is helpful. I would still like to know if this is only a DDOS attack or something more.
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 6:18 pm
  #49  
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at least we are viewed by someone as important enough to get attacked LOL

DL/AA/UA/WN/AS/AF/BA/etc, take notice!
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 6:27 pm
  #50  
 
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Originally Posted by PV_Premier
at least we are viewed by someone as important enough to get attacked LOL

DL/AA/UA/WN/AS/AF/BA/etc, take notice!
I'm not really worried. I changed my password to my$password. No one will guess that!
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 6:51 pm
  #51  
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Originally Posted by IBobi
Just FYI, we pay Cloudflare a lot of $ to keep the site up during these attacks. They're our protector.
Originally Posted by COSPILOT
Maybe a horribly stupid question from me, but what would be beneficial of a hacker doing something with FT?
Perhaps I'm a cynic, but the DDoS attack certainly appears to be beneficial to Cloudflare. It's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that the "hacker" is a stakeholder.

Meanwhile, I am now unable to connect to Flyertalk at all on my older iPad Mini.

Last edited by kale73; Jul 26, 2018 at 8:19 pm Reason: sp
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 7:13 pm
  #52  
 
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Originally Posted by kale73
Perhaps I'm a cynic, but the DDoS attack certainly appears to be beneficial to Cloudfare. It's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that the "hacker" is a stakeholder.

Meanwhile, I am now unable to connect to Flyertalk at all on my older iPad Mini.
It's like the whole snopes thing...



But the DDoS note explains the Cloudflare message before getting onto FT this morning. Thanks for the update, mods.
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 7:47 pm
  #53  
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Originally Posted by kale73
Perhaps I'm a cynic, but the DDoS attack certainly appears to be beneficial to Cloudfare. It's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that the "hacker" is a stakeholder.
That's also the conspiracy theory behind anti-virus vendors.

DDos attacks have been used to extort money from sites. After the attack is started the attackers then send the admins an email offering to stop for a certain number of bitcoins.
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Old Jul 27, 2018, 4:05 am
  #54  
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The Wikipedia page of Cloudfare makes for interesting reading. Seems this company is very far from being clean and ethical.
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Old Jul 27, 2018, 4:47 am
  #55  
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I'm still receiving the CloudFlare message today.
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Old Jul 27, 2018, 5:09 am
  #56  
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Originally Posted by kipper
I'm still receiving the CloudFlare message today.
If the DDoS attacks are continuing, CloudFlare will keep activating. I guess we just have to accept this is what can happen on the www.
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Old Jul 27, 2018, 6:39 am
  #57  
 
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How long does a DDoS attack go on for? Over 24hrs now that I've been getting the cloudflare pop up every time I do anything. Wish i'd thought to come look for this before losing substantial reply posts to it. Hope the IT bods can get it sorted sooner rather than later.
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Old Jul 27, 2018, 7:53 am
  #58  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Twice today I got a page I've never seen before:

"Checking your browser before accessing flyertalk.com"

"This process may take...."

I've never seen this before and I was using my usual iPadPro with Safari. It happened once on a wifi network that's been giving me trouble today (but which I have used in the past) and now again using my iPhone as a personal hotspot.

What does it mean and what is FT doing to "check" my browser?
A lot of people are getting this today, more so if using shared networks of some sort.
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Old Jul 27, 2018, 8:57 am
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by GUWonder

A lot of people are getting this today, more so if using shared networks of some sort.
I see it on PC and mobile. Google chrome.
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Old Jul 27, 2018, 9:01 am
  #60  
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Originally Posted by TWCLAM
How long does a DDoS attack go on for? Over 24hrs now that I've been getting the cloudflare pop up every time I do anything. Wish i'd thought to come look for this before losing substantial reply posts to it. Hope the IT bods can get it sorted sooner rather than later.
As IBobi has said up thread, there really is nothing the IT bods can do other than sit the attack out. At some point it'll stop, and the message won't appear. As might have been gathered from other posts, no-one is immune from having to be filtered through the protection 'gate' - including all the moderators.

The alternative to having to wait a few seconds to get in is that the site is taken down completely for an unspecified and unknown period of time - that's a much bigger disaster. On balance, I would say this is the right and practical approach.
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