A guest spotted in a hidden group forum

by melodiccolor Thu Jun 13 2013, 08:34

One of our members, an experienced admin and moderator of many boards herself, spotted a guest in one of our closed group forums.Â This should not be possible.Â Have we been hacked and if so, how do we find out and protect ourselves?

The forum contains original and copyrighted works of our members.

by RedMomma5 Thu Jun 13 2013, 08:42

melodiccolor wrote:One of our members, an experienced admin and moderator of many boards herself, spotted a guest in one of our closed group forums. This should not be possible. Have we been hacked and if so, how do we find out and protect ourselves?

The forum contains original and copyrighted works of our members.

Maybe it was a member who logged out of the forum but didn't leave the page after logging out and so appeared as "guest" in the hidden group.

by Kryn Cluskio Thu Jun 13 2013, 08:47

Or a deleted account.

by melodiccolor Thu Jun 13 2013, 08:50

RedMomma5 wrote:
melodiccolor wrote:One of our members, an experienced admin and moderator of many boards herself, spotted a guest in one of our closed group forums. This should not be possible. Have we been hacked and if so, how do we find out and protect ourselves?

The forum contains original and copyrighted works of our members.

Maybe it was a member who logged out of the forum but didn't leave the page after logging out and so appeared as "guest" in the hidden group.

Oh that could well be the case. Thanks so much.

Kryn Cluskio, someone who's account had been deleted would no longer be able to log in and thus would not have access to those areas. Thanks anyway.

by Kryn Cluskio Thu Jun 13 2013, 08:54

melodiccolor wrote:
RedMomma5 wrote:
melodiccolor wrote:One of our members, an experienced admin and moderator of many boards herself, spotted a guest in one of our closed group forums. This should not be possible. Have we been hacked and if so, how do we find out and protect ourselves?

The forum contains original and copyrighted works of our members.

Maybe it was a member who logged out of the forum but didn't leave the page after logging out and so appeared as "guest" in the hidden group.

Oh that could well be the case. Thanks so much.

Kryn Cluskio, someone who's account had been deleted would no longer be able to log in and thus would not have access to those areas. Thanks anyway.

I meant that if someone had posted there and then their account was deleted, the post would be there and would appear as a guest account.

by mangaka Thu Jun 13 2013, 10:25

Hello,

Are this solved now?At least,mark your thread to "Solved" if your problem has solved Very Happy

Thank you

by Base Thu Jun 13 2013, 12:49

@mangaka: There is no need to tell the user of this, thank you.

As for the question at hand, it is possible that the system MAY display this. However, do not worry. As long as the permissions are set correctly, anyone who cannot view the forum WILL NOT be able to view it. Most likely they will be presented with a log in screen.

by melodiccolor Fri Jun 14 2013, 03:14

I have not marked this as solved as I am not sure this is the case yet. A few more days will let me know if someone has hacked in or not.

by Jophy Fri Jun 14 2013, 05:22

It can be just a glitch or bug on the forums, this happens usually on some forums, but there's no need to worry if the permissions are set correctly as Base mentioned.

Just update us here whenever there's an update to the problem. Wink

by **SLGray** Fri Jun 14 2013, 05:39

If you have it set up where guests can not see a certain section, they will only see the log in boxes not the page.

by Guest Fri Jun 14 2013, 21:15

melodiccolor wrote:One of our members, an experienced admin and moderator of many boards herself, spotted a guest in one of our closed group forums.Â This should not be possible.Â Have we been hacked and if so, how do we find out and protect ourselves?

The forum contains original and copyrighted works of our members.

No it shouldn't be. If a section of your forum is set so it is not visible to guests,then guests shouldn't be able to read it. Are you sure you have set the forum, you want to be hidden from guests up correctly so that it is hidden?

by melodiccolor Sat Jun 15 2013, 05:29

Andrea Borman wrote:
melodiccolor wrote:One of our members, an experienced admin and moderator of many boards herself, spotted a guest in one of our closed group forums.Â This should not be possible.Â Have we been hacked and if so, how do we find out and protect ourselves?

The forum contains original and copyrighted works of our members.
No it shouldn't be. If a section of your forum is set so it is not visible to guests,then guests shouldn't be able to read it. Are you sure you have set the forum, you want to be hidden from guests up correctly so that it is hidden?

Of course. I double checked that before starting the thread. But Jophy's suggestion of a glitch also makes sense. So far, I see no further signs of anything like this. My member who is hypervigilent about checking such things has been knocked offline by a violent storm so it may be a few days before she can get back online. But I've been checking too.

by sfoop Sat Jun 15 2013, 11:56

I've seen this on my forum, where it said there was a guest browsing the forum but I know that it was actually one of my members, because they downloaded some files off of my server while browsing and I was able to verify the IP Rolling Eyes

It just seems that its way of detecting a 'guest' isn't 100% reliable.

by Captain Hunk Sat Jun 15 2013, 18:55

Have you checked their IP? Usually I see Guest(s) at my forum. I use DSL for my net service and those IPs belong to server farms--not Members. If any of your Members are using DSL and/or a mobile device, you will see Guest server farms listed.

by melodiccolor Sat Jun 15 2013, 21:03

I wasn't on at the time, so no, I didn't. My member didn't have a way to. It does sound like a glitch as I've seen no further guest browsing where they are not allowed.

Thnaks Sfoop for letting know your experience; it's just further reassurance.