Swords Honor: AE Information!

[Reijin]

Ok, due to the fact that someone has a wooden cock for a brain, Swords Honor is shut down until further notice. Apparently someone with access to the server was running an e-bay Phishing scam, which is obviously illegal. This is the very reason that we have so many problems getting things done here sometimes and are very strict about who has access. They are just as strict over there, so no matter the precautions, this shows how this thing can happen.

[Reijin]

Here's how "phishing" works. I've seen it done on a Magic: the Gathering forum I've been to. Here's basically the jist of it. On that site, here's what happened. Someone created an account. They sent a PM to one of the staff members that had a link in it going something like "Hey, I've got a question about something on THIS thread. Can that really happen?" Well, the staff member clicks the link, and they get a page that basically looks like what a member sees when they try to look at something they aren't supposed to. It basically has the normal "You are having a problem with your cookies, please relogin." deal.

You think "ok, no big deal, happens all the time." You put in your Username and then your password on the all too familiar screen, and hit "login." The next screen shows an error and acts like it couldn't log in. You sit back wondering what's wrong, and later realize you are logged back in again. You never know that what you really did was you put your information into a page that LOOKED like what it was and actually just sent a form that had your Username and Password on it to an unknown recipient. So now the guy had access to a staff member, and he logged in as that staff member locking him out by changing his pass. He sent everyone links going "Hey guys, I have managed to put together a full spoiler on the next set, but I can't publically show it yet due to possibly getting in legal trouble since my source had an NDA. You may have trouble with the link though and have to relogin." You go to see it, and repeat the same situation, never knowing anything. Presto, the man now has half the forums passes and names.

Now think of the Matrix. This guy can now jump into and out of people's bodies and make posts as them while leaving them to face the consequences. Noone knows what is going on, people are freaking out, and staff members don't even know if they can talk to each other over AIM out of fear that someone has their AIM accounts as well. It takes a while and a lot of work and bringing up old secrets to get trust back, while you fear that at any moment your friend can be replaced by an "Agent Smith", ala the guy phishing the pass logging on under his account.

Sad thing is, phishing is one of the simplest forms of hacking. All it requires is you to create a website that looks exactly like the login page of the site you are trying to phish from. Turn it into a form. Usually this is on something from the cgi bin or some other forum or database site, which means it has a really long URL with a series of numbers and other shit you probably won't pay attention to. So you won't notice when you see the exact same site that you are used to that the URL is very different. Because to you on a regular basis, its all a series of random stuff that you don't really pay attention to as long as it is doing what it is supposed to.

So with this situation, I'm assuming the more prominant members here got a link in their PM or email asking them to go to Ebay for some reason, but they'd have to relogin/edit their info. This would send a form to the person, who will now have your Ebay account and other information (credit card) along with hundreds of other people. And its very hard to prove that you with your 100% positive rating did not just bid 1,000$ on that comic book collection that the seller sent out and you payed for. Its hard to prove that to the seller, to ebay, to paypal, and to your bank when you overdraft.

So the sad thing is, its also one of the hardest things for you to be aware of as it is happening. I will probably be phished one day, and I have already seen it happen before and know about it. I'm not positive, but I don't believe an antivirus will catch it, as no information is being downloaded. However, I think, (stress on THINK though) that Zone-alarm will, as you are sending out a packet of information, however that doesn't get noticed unless you suddenly recieve a "confirm" box where you are used to not recieving it anymore (having told it to always be cool with logging on here.)

I'll post this here and on CDBZ though just to give you guys the heads up.

DISCLAIMER: I only know from experiencing on the recieving end as to how this works. I've never done anything from the "creator" end, as it can be pretty malicious, and therefore I may obviously have some of my "how it works" claims wrong, as I do not know all of the inner workings of it. I only know what I know of it from a complete outside point of view, so as always, do not take it as complete fact, only as "this is pretty much how things go". I'm sure a detailed hacker type will find some obscure yet important detail that I've botched, but the point is, I don't care.

[Burter]

You guys over at Europe have real strange last names.

=x