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BFW Forum Compromised

Andy Frances

Andy Frances

Administrator
Staff member
Hi all,

As you may have noticed, the BFW forum was compromised with by a hacker late yesterday. We've just resolved the issue and taken out the malicious code.

As a precaution, I would advise everyone downloading and running the following free software to scan your computer for Malware:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

This should be done periodically anyway to keep your computer secure.

I hope to be switching to some new forum software in the near future in order to keep BFW secure so please be aware that things will start looking different.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Thanks,

Andy F
 
Can you not go encrypted Andy?

The pit has just gone secure, not sure of any (if) costs involved.
 
Once we're moved onto a new forum, we can do all sorts to improve security, including SSL, which I'll certainly do.

Andy
 
Derek Funcks said:
I wonder if thats why i can't access some of the other sites i normally visit ???
Click to expand...

I'd have thought it unlikely but one never knows. Take Andy's advice and check your computer for Malware.

It's a complicated business. Many seemed to have problems and maybe that was primarily MSWindows users (?). I don't use MSWindows and I had no problems at all on desktop (linux), laptop (linux), mobile (android), tablet (android), and my pal had no problems on iPhone (ios), iPad (ios)
 
All seems OK now - no reports from Malwarebytes whilst browsing this site or on the daily startup scan.
Malware is common and it can be quite difficult to remove traces at times, which can involve secondary software to remove all remnants of the malware or adware.
Plenty of help on the web.

Cheers
Bob
 
Bob Gill said:
Plenty of help on the web.
Click to expand...

Only if a user understands what the help is saying (badly phrased but you see what I mean) Bob.

My neighbour saw warnings flashed up on his screen (quite unconnected with BFW and current events), followed "advice", made a stupid decision to accept online help from what he thought was a bona-fide MS support team - ended up trashing his computer unless he paid £ lots-of :mad:
 
Paul Whiteing said:
Only if a user understands what the help is saying (badly phrased but you see what I mean) Bob.

My neighbour saw warnings flashed up on his screen (quite unconnected with BFW and current events), followed "advice", made a stupid decision to accept online help from what he thought was a bona-fide MS support team - ended up trashing his computer unless he paid £ lots-of :mad:
Click to expand...

Yes, there are some dubious sites and advice out there so beware folks.
 
I've got Kaspersky on my pc and it blocked the malaware . I get my Kaspersky free from Barclays online banking and I've now been told by Barclays they will not longer be given it free to customers . I've had it on my pc for years and never had a problem with it .......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42209489
 
Joe Fletcher said:
I've got Kaspersky on my pc and it blocked the malaware . I get my Kaspersky free from Barclays online banking and I've now been told by Barclays they will not longer be given it free to customers . I've had it on my pc for years and never had a problem with it .......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42209489
Click to expand...

Hi men ,

I have as well Joe , its does what it says , unless those pesky Russians are spying through it , well good luck hacking my bank account , be the worse days work they would do paying my excess overdraught :( :D . Search around , i got the full cover cheap , something like £11 , delivered to my local Teasos .

Hatter
 
Not sure if this is related to this incident but yesterday Santander called me and said my online banking has been compromised, someone had successfully logged in from a mobile device, fortunately the account/funds were not touched but my online banking has been suspended whilst they investigate further. I use an Apple Mac to access BFW and my bank accounts etc so how did someone get my details ? I have downloaded the software Andy suggested and scanned the Mac, scan said it was clean ?
 
Ditto Virginmedia. They blocked all our accounts because they were being used to spam everyone! No fishing pun intended and it may be a coincidence, but it's never happened before.
 
Cliff Turner said:
Not sure if this is related to this incident but yesterday Santander called me and said my online banking has been compromised, someone had successfully logged in from a mobile device, fortunately the account/funds were not touched but my online banking has been suspended whilst they investigate further. I use an Apple Mac to access BFW and my bank accounts etc so how did someone get my details ? I have downloaded the software Andy suggested and scanned the Mac, scan said it was clean ?
Click to expand...

Are you sure it was your bank on the phone? Fraudsters contacting victims by phone to try and obtain credentials, identity info, direct to malicious websites or facilitate payment to a mule account is quite a prolific technique. Macs aren't immune to malware, the evidence just suggests infection rates are lower than Windows / Android. There's also plenty of malicious software that installs by visiting a compromised/malicious web page (or even via streaming ad content) that executes in memory without writing to your disk (this makes it harder for antivirus software to detect. Most importantly:
1)keep your devices patched and up to date.
2)Don't share passwords across services (especially email accounts).
3)Use antivirus software
Value adds:
4) Avoid using an administrator account as your default browsing account (if you don't have privileges to install software, most malware can't install either).
5) If you're going to an online bank page (or similar higher risk site/function), restart your device first.
 
i wouldn,t dream of using a mobile phone to access bank account, i also never activate any quick scan payment on my card, only ever use pin number and also have a minimal payment allowed unless i contact my bank manager 1st, the last bit is infallible as they know both my voice and face
 
Mike, it was definitely the bank calling, they left me a message and I called them back. I worked in IT so am pretty well informed about IT security and take all the usual precautions but these cyber crooks are pretty clever as we all know. Anyway hope it was nothing to do with the compromise on this site.
 
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