Unfortunately, identity theft and
data mining is so prevalent on the Internet today, that even
we get hit with hacking attempts. Now imagine that.
Just think of it... a nice, friendly
association of old Army buddies like us... just plain old
guys... of no harm to anyone... just a bunch of old Signal
Officers... every one of which held a Top Secret Clearance at
one time or another in their lives... just trying to keep old
memories alive... not bothering anyone in the process... staying
under the radar, so to speak.
Now,
who would want to hack a site like ours? Why would anyone think
that our little website was worth hacking? Why would anyone
think... say... that by hacking our website they might find a
back door between our website and, well, who knows... the
Pentagon?
You would be amazed.
On average, we get 5 to 7 hacking
attempts each week. Up until we closed them down a few months
ago, most of the hacking attempts came through our Forums...
attempts by people around the world to find a way to access our
online SQL databases (ahhh... for those of you intent on gaining
access to our online databases, here's an update for you: we
don't have any... all of our data is kept offline, and
what is online is hard coded... what you see is what you get).
Why we get so many consistent
attempts to hack our site, we don't know. The only thing we can
think of is that being "Army" related, some foreign countries
must think that our site is tied into the
real U.S. Army inter- and intranet.
Well... as those of you who are part
of the Association know, we ain't.
But that doesn't seem to matter to
the foreign hackers that are focused on our site.
So where are these hackers from?
Interestingly, we know exactly where they come from... after
all, we are ex-Army Signal Officers. We are able to track their
IP addresses and MAC codes... and trace them back to the very
desk they are sitting at. Sure, they may be trying to hack us
via proxy servers and the like, but even so... at a minimum, we
know what gateways they are using to gain access to us.
Try:
Indonesia -
Malaysia -
Ukraine -
Uzbekistan -
Taiwan -
Pakistan -
The P.R. China -
and
Croatia.
Indonesia makes sense... a large
Moslem population, housing and hiding all sorts of anti-American
sentiment. But Malaysia makes no sense at all. Our guess: the
hackers are using proxy servers located in Malaysia to hide
their real location. As for the rest... likely as not, they are
all proxy server locations for efforts coming out of China. Why
China? Because the footprint they are leaving behind on our site
is the same every time.
At any rate... in the interim, if
you are looking to entertain yourself in our Forums... they're
closed until the world learns to behave. In the mean time, you are invited to
enjoy our Chat Rooms...
Thank you for your understanding.
