Democratic Underground Take-Down, 11/8/2016

[JackRiddler]

.

Joao, Drew: How's the RI site-sucking project coming along?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/503.php

UPDATE 11/9/2016 1:00PM ET

We have now come to believe it is possible that the hacker may have been able to gain access to certain member information on our server, including: Usernames, email addresses, and IP addresses. Passwords were not as easily accessible, and at this point we do not know if it was possible for the hacker to access them. (Further note that passwords on DU are "hashed" and saved in a cryptographically scrambled format rather than as plain text, so if the hacker could access a member's password information they would not have direct access to the password itself -- only to the hash.)

We can say for certain that donor data, such as credit card numbers or addresses, were not compromised because that information is handled by PayPal and never passes through to our servers.

We are not going to bring our website back online until we believe that we are no longer vulnerable to attack and our members' user information is secure. Unfortunately we do not know how long this process will take, and it could possibly take days.

We will be posting updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding.


11/8/2016 (EDITED)

Around 4:30pm on Tuesday November 8, Democratic Underground was hacked, apparently by a supporter of Donald Trump. This person clearly knew what they were doing, and despite our best efforts we have not yet been able to resolve the issues caused by the hack.

We are confident that donor data has not been compromised because that information is handled by PayPal and never passes through to our servers. But at this time we are unable to bring our discussion forum online.

The hack was clearly aimed to cause maximum disruption on our busiest night of the year, and we deeply regret that we won't be able to spend election night with our great community of members. We ask for your patience while we continue to work to fix this problem, and while we do not have a time frame we will do our best to get DU back online as soon as possible.

If anyone has any information about the hack, or has knowledge that might help us to fix it, please feel free to contact us: admin@democraticunderground.com

We will be posting updates on Facebook and Twitter.

We are deeply disappointed that this has happened. But we'll be back.

Skinner, EarlG, and Elad
DU Administrators

[brekin]

I think RI will be fine. Trump was the conspiracy candidate. He needs us for content and context.

[PufPuf93]

Skinner and his merry band of Clintonite losers.

Skinner does not deserve trust so the insistence that financial/payment data is safe is as much a red flag by prominent mention rather than a reassurance of no need for concern.

The gloating the morning of the election as to the zero tolerance at DU post election regards criticism of Hillary Clinton et al works out so well now.

I still have active account at DU and have had one for many years.

There are posters I like but most of my favorites are gone by their own choice or one of a number of purges.

I would be entertained today by the gnashing of the neoliberal Clintonite teeth at Democratic Underground after the November 8, 2016 election massacre.

That does not mean that I want Trump and his crew for POTUS.

Long live Rigorous Intuition.

Trump will be ripe fodder!

At least Hillary Clinton will not be POTUS and the neoliberals and neoconservatives and transnationals may (note I say may) have suffered a setback.

[Wombaticus Rex]

I think RI will be fine. Trump was the conspiracy candidate. He needs us for content and context.

Wholly agreed.

Also, we are not exactly running a pro-Hillary operation for MoveOn here.

Being contrarian has fringe benefits, being left alone is certainly one of 'em.

[JackRiddler]

Yeah yeah, I don't see a high risk either. Nor would I dream of suggesting RI is like DU. But a) it was mildly newsworthy and b) the predators be out there, of various stripes.

So that's another reason to see about the site-sucking project, yeah? No?

And schadenfreude over this is seriously misplaced.

.

[stickdog99]

Yeah yeah, I don't see a high risk either. Nor would I dream of suggesting RI is like DU. But a) it was mildly newsworthy and b) the predators be out there, of various stripes.

So that's another reason to see about the site-sucking project, yeah? No?

And schadenfreude over this is seriously misplaced.

.

schadenfreude? more like hackingfraude. What makes you dismiss the idea that those ratfucking Skinnerian cat herders simply did not want to face the music?

You have to admit that the timing of this "hack" is a little convenient, and the response to it a more than a little puzzling. I doubt I am the only Sanders supporter who was motivated to visit DU for the first time since primary season last night.

[2012 Countdown]

Yeah yeah, I don't see a high risk either. Nor would I dream of suggesting RI is like DU. But a) it was mildly newsworthy and b) the predators be out there, of various stripes.

So that's another reason to see about the site-sucking project, yeah? No?

And schadenfreude over this is seriously misplaced.

.

schadenfreude? more like hackingfraude. What makes you dismiss the idea that those ratfucking Skinnerian cat herders simply did not want to face the music?

You have to admit that the timing of this "hack" is a little convenient, and the response to it a more than a little puzzling. I doubt I am the only Sanders supporter who was motivated to visit DU for the first time since primary season last night.

Wrong tree, no cigar. No love lost for that site but it was a legit hack. Check out the election thread. Someone posted a youtube capture.
I was actually lurking when it went down over there. i can personally confirm everything they say is true.

[stickdog99]

Yeah yeah, I don't see a high risk either. Nor would I dream of suggesting RI is like DU. But a) it was mildly newsworthy and b) the predators be out there, of various stripes.

So that's another reason to see about the site-sucking project, yeah? No?

And schadenfreude over this is seriously misplaced.

.

schadenfreude? more like hackingfraude. What makes you dismiss the idea that those ratfucking Skinnerian cat herders simply did not want to face the music?

You have to admit that the timing of this "hack" is a little convenient, and the response to it a more than a little puzzling. I doubt I am the only Sanders supporter who was motivated to visit DU for the first time since primary season last night.

Wrong tree, no cigar. No love lost for that site but it was a legit hack. Check out the election thread. Someone posted a youtube capture.
I was actually lurking when it went down over there. i can personally confirm everything they say is true.

So because it looked like a what a DUer would imagine a Repuke hack job to look like, you can personally confirm "everything they say is true"?

Remember the Maine. Remember the Lusitania. Remember the Alamo. Remember Pearl Harbor. Remember the Gulf of Tonkin. Remember 9/11.

I am not saying that this was necessarily a self-inflicted wound. However, DU's administrators have not exactly responded to this hack in a manner that suggests any of them are in any hurry to restore functionality to their website. And who had better means, motive and opportunity to bring down DU right after collecting a bunch of money in exchange for promises to provide preferential traffic to donors on election night and right before they knew an angry mob of "I told you so-ers" were about to rightfully bemoan their small but undeniable facilitation of Trump's victory?

"Woe are us. Meanie Trumpians exploited our insecure code. We have no timetable whatsoever about when we might return because, you know, the security of your private information comes first. So be so kind to vent your frustrations elsewhere while we count your recent donations."

[JackRiddler]

Yeah, but there are whole (even more minor) right-wing sites dedicated to hating on DU. And the eternal feud with Freepers. So it's not just plausible but likely they got hit. And the timing doesn't say anything either. It's the perfect time to bring them down.

[2012 Countdown]

Stick, you are free to believe what you want. I just thought I'd confirm the site was attacked.
I know, I know rube DUer is naive about all the false flag routine. You know, when you claim everything a 'false flag' its looks foolish.

I really don't see why the suspicion, it happened pretty straightforward as attacks go. You somehow think they wanted this to happen.
They'll be up in a few days. This is so silly, but whatever. Why would they cut off their own site right at a time they were set to get massive clicks?
Of course you are free to think I am a liar. Up to you.

I just thought since I happened to be there when it happened, I'd post or those who know me here.
Oh, yeah, I was a DUer long ago. Its where I first followed Jeff before here.
I was banned from DU long ago. Maybe a few times, but who can remember. Now I just peek in..

[stickdog99]

Yeah, but there are whole (even more minor) right-wing sites dedicated to hating on DU. And the eternal feud with Freepers. So it's not just plausible but likely they got hit. And the timing doesn't say anything either. It's the perfect time to bring them down.

Sure. Could be. All I am I saying is I would not put a self-inflicted "hack" past those party hacks. And there is no way a freeper attack could have taken my website down for 24+ hours, even if I had to personally reformat/replace the servers, fix the exploit, and restore from backup all by myself. When was the last time one of the top 2,500 most trafficked websites in the USA went down more than 24 hours because of a hack?

[stickdog99]

They'll be up in a few days. This is so silly, but whatever. Why would they cut off their own site right at a time they were set to get massive clicks?

Of course you are free to think I am a liar. Up to you..

I appreciate your info, and I don't think you are a liar. I just think DU's admins may be liars. In fact, the more I think about it. the more obvious their motive for lying becomes. Of course, the reason they would lie is that it is in their interests to lie. Had they stayed online, they would have had to suddenly change their restrictive rules to allow a complete shitstorm of irrefutable, angry recriminations or else lose nearly half of their rapidly dwindling active user accounts. In either case, they would have had to face an incendiarily angry community that had been promised victory in exchange for towing the line against most of its members' better political judgment. Had they taken the purge route in response to this uprising, they would have lost a quarter of their dwindling membership to this purge and potentially another quarter of their dwindling membership in reaction to this purge.

And once again I must ask, when was the last time that one of the top 2.500 most trafficked websites in the USA was rendered 100% inoperative for "a few days" because of a hack? I guess those Russian hackers are really something!

[PufPuf93]

The Russians took down Democratic Underground!

[MacCruiskeen]

^^What stickdog said. This is not just one of the most astoundingly effective hacks in history, but one of the most remarkably conveeenient.

Re-post, from the Election Night thread:

"We are deeply disappointed that this has happened. But we'll be back."

I mean, does that sound like an actual response to an unexpected website hack?

No. It sounds typically spooky.

ON EDIT: Their Twitter & Facespook pages (where "Skinner" and his two sidekicks promised to post regular updates about the "hack") have also been completely silent for at least the last seven hours. From the comments at Facespook:

Ben Ogden My DU handle is Truebrit71. I joined DU in 2002, but i was sent to Skinner purgatory four months ago. My crime? I said that Hillary was a deeply flawed candidate. Turns out i was right, and all you centrist DNC'ers were wrong.

I wish i could find some small token of comfort in that, but i can't. Why? Because this country in on the verge of electing an unstable, racist, misogynistic carnival barker to the highest office in the land.

Donald fucking Trump gets to pick the next two or three Supreme Court justices.

So, congratulations to you, the DNC and DWS for forcing a candidate on us that couldn't beat a man as despicable as Trump.

Great job assholes.

37 Likes· 4 hours ago.

23 replies

https://www.facebook.com/democraticunderground

The Skinner Box, aka Operant Conditioning Chamber, has fulfilled its function.

Application to social media

Social networking services such as Google, Facebook and Twitter have been identified as using the techniques, critics use terms such as Skinnerian Marketing[7] for the way the companies use the ideas to keep users engaged and using the service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_c ... ng_chamber

[2012 Countdown]

Okay folks. You have your reasons, and maybe I have it wrong. We'll know in a few days in any event.
But I was looking around over there when all of a sudden that video the PufPuf posted in the Election thread began taking up the browser window.

I don't know if it was Trumpets, vandals, or Russian trolls.
The video did have lots of Putin in it. Best I could tell, it was making some sort of connection to UKIP and other nationalists in Europe, and Putin..
There was also that Trump photoshop "Get In Faggot, We're Making America Great Again" w/trump holding a gun from a limo.

Oh, and some sort of 'glorious' music playing too.

Very weird.