AlexToolStudio 2023-12-29 18:18:11

One of the hackers threatened @NeonKarrot22

AlexToolStudio 2023-12-29 18:23:14

@Tankcraft why did it get deleted

AlexToolStudio 2023-12-29 18:24:53

@Tankcraft GAHH WHY DIDNT I DO THAT THANKS LAZYNESS

Yatsufusa 2023-12-29 18:58:51

Concerning the hackers/crackers... I mean... (Dammit, I knew I should have written down what I wrote in chat the other day...)

To explain what 'I' think is most likely going on: Back in the distant past, people used the same usernames and passwords in all the places they had a login for and didn't change their passwords once a year. Back then, more than today, even some sh*tty little sites required the creation of an account for laughable services or a forum you wanted to ask one question at and never deleted your account... NG has all kinds of modern security measures, but 'those sites' will not have had good security and/or never received any updates to their software. One of them probably got hacked by "actual" hackers or simply sold their database to shady characters.

Users who had an account on "that site" _and_ used the same password-username-combination as on NG _and_ 'have never changed their password for NG' will likely lose their accounts eventually. Probably not just on NG.

On the flipside, this would mean that everyone who either only uses their name on NG or has changed their NG-specific password in the last decade is in the clear for this stuff.

If somebody used the same password for NG and their email... They should probably update that as well!

Back to "that group", that some of you might have noticed if you hang around in the 'Under Judgment' section: This is 'again' pure speculation on my part, but maybe an 'actual hacker' group got their hands on another site's list of users and passwords and shared the data around to some dumb idiots to muddle their own tracks/give themselves more time until they are tracked down. The original hacker group is probably trying to milk actual money from their haul: Unpaid ad-money, services that use Bitcoins, services that might be connected to a less save PayPal-knockoff...
Because what I've seen so far doesn't really match somebody who is clever enough to even figure out how to even 'access' an SQL-database if it was already sitting on their hard drive. ;)

And that is the reason I'm not panicked. At all. We will lose some great works of art which might never come back - and that is very sad. But the vast majority of users won't be affected. If you see stuff that should be flagged, _by all means flag it_, just like you would in any other case. But please don't lose any sleep over what isn't more than a nuisance.

I'd expect this to go on for at most another 40 or so hours.