My forum was hacked.

by JAD2350 March 14th 2015, 2:02 pm

Hi, I currently am an administrator on a forum. However, the owner has recently informed me that it was hacked. His email was changed, as well as his password, so he can't access the forum. We are doing everything in our power to save the forum, but we are unsure about what to do. Can you help us, please?

The forum address is http://believeinwinx.forum-motion.com/

Thank you,
JAD2350

by **brandon_g** March 14th 2015, 2:05 pm

Hello,

You must ask the founder of your forum to come on here himself, forumotion provides support for hacked forums to the Founder. If you ask hi to come on here then the staff will be able to assist him in recovering his account details.

-Brandon

EDIT: In the meantime ask your forum founder if he can get into his forum utilites which can be found here: https://www.forumotion.com/utils

It has a means of direct acp access, stright shot, if he can get in he can reset his password and e-mail and all will again be under control.

by **SLGray** March 14th 2015, 4:17 pm

Only the founder can ask for help as he/she has the required information.

by winxlewanty March 16th 2015, 12:13 am

brandon_g wrote:Hello,

You must ask the founder of your forum to come on here himself, forumotion provides support for hacked forums to the Founder. If you ask hi to come on here then the staff will be able to assist him in recovering his account details.

-Brandon

EDIT: In the meantime ask your forum founder if he can get into his forum utilites which can be found here: https://www.forumotion.com/utils

It has a means of direct acp access, stright shot, if he can get in he can reset his password and e-mail and all will again be under control.

I've tried this method already but the hacker has changed my password and email address.

SLGray wrote:Only the founder can ask for help as he/she has the required information.

I'm here what can I do to bring the forum back?
I also have a question, they've all our CSS edit, is there anyway we can restore the forum back to where it was a few days back?
Thank you.

by **brandon_g** March 16th 2015, 12:27 am

Hello,

If he reset your password and stuff you can have it reset for you by following the steps in this tutorial: https://help.forumotion.com/t127211-password-problems-or-lost-your-founder-s-password

Then you will be able to get into your forum utilies.

Also, yes you can restore it back to a few days ago but this also requires the forum utilities. So you must first get your password reset and access regained before anything else. Very Happy

Hope this helps,
-Brandon

by winxlewanty March 16th 2015, 12:38 am

brandon_g wrote:Hello,

If he reset your password and stuff you can have it reset for you by following the steps in this tutorial: https://help.forumotion.com/t127211-password-problems-or-lost-your-founder-s-password

Then you will be able to get into your forum utilies.

Also, yes you can restore it back to a few days ago but this also requires the forum utilities. So you must first get your password reset and access regained before anything else.

Hope this helps,
-Brandon

Hi Brandon, Thank you so much for your help.
I've picked Case 5 as my solution and I'm trying to contact Buttercup on private message to solve the issue but it keeps telling me " Sorry, but the following user(s) can't receive PMs : Buttercup " .
How do I fix this?

by Ange Tuteur March 16th 2015, 12:47 am

Hi @winxlewanty,

Buttercup is currently absent, so her inbox is closed until she returns, which will be some time during the work week.

by winxlewanty March 16th 2015, 12:53 am

Ange Tuteur wrote:Hi @winxlewanty,

Buttercup is currently absent, so her inbox is closed until she returns, which will be some time during the work week.

Hi Ange,
Ok that's fine, What about my forum?
According to Brandon I can only restore my forum back a few days.
Will I still be able to get it restored after Buttercup returns from her absence?
Thanks.

by Ange Tuteur March 16th 2015, 1:04 am

There's a series of backups available over a past few months. It depends on the type of backup you're looking for.. Wink

If it's a few months or days ago, you'll be able to restore it back to one of the dates available in the outils. If it's a few years back that you're looking for, then you'll need to contact Buttercup. Backups years back aren't accessible to us, but they're accessible to an official.

by Beyonder March 17th 2015, 7:08 pm

Should have recorded the IP Address so you could have reported it.

by Flame Melody March 18th 2015, 12:49 am

We want to restore the forum for, roughly, March 10th. That's when everything was normal. The hacker is entering the forum with a series of IPs; obviously showing he's using proxies. No matter how much we manage to block his IPs, he always manages to come in another one. As of now, the hacked account is the founder's, which means that we cannot edit or do any alterations to the founder username through any means. Because as you know, only the founder can edit his or her own account.

Our forum founder can't seemingly use the utilities because his password was changed. We never attempted to try using it for that sole reason. Hope this had clarified some thoughts.

by **SLGray** March 18th 2015, 3:21 am

So you are not the founder? The founder needs to ask for help.

by **brandon_g** March 18th 2015, 3:34 am

winxlewanty wrote:
Ange Tuteur wrote:Hi @winxlewanty,

Buttercup is currently absent, so her inbox is closed until she returns, which will be some time during the work week.
Hi Ange,
Ok that's fine, What about my forum?
According to Brandon I can only restore my forum back a few days.
Will I still be able to get it restored after Buttercup returns from her absence?
Thanks.

Is the founder @SLGray . By the way, the password on your founder account on the forum believe it or not is seperate fro the utlities. The password for the utlities must be changed manually from the utlities. It is another security thing. So if the hacker changed you forum password, but did not know about the utl... the you should be able to log in. I recommend giving it a try

by Babblu March 25th 2015, 7:26 am

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by **Shadow** March 25th 2015, 10:30 am

Hello

When I look at the user n°1 (=founder), I can see it has been connected few hours ago. I need more proof you are the founder.
Thanks for providing:

- Url of the forum
- Foundation email
- A screenshot of the first email you receive when you created the forum (this last point is essential to show you're the founder)