Has this site been hacked ?

[Lost property]

I will say at the onset, this is NOT a criticism and the reason for asking is simple.

I tend to go online when most of us are asleep in the small hours, my own being disturbed by her doggyship for reasons only madam knows.

For the last three days, some threads has been subjected to a series of posts with links that appear to be a combination of Chinese and random text with "University of Cape Wrath "... or wherever, in English.

Obviously, these get rapidly removed, and I don't click on any links, but it's been intriguing to see these appearing and, another obvious question is, why ?

 

[pdeaves]

I believe this happens with some regularity. It's 'normal' albeit very annoying and creates unwanted work for the admin folks.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Not hacked, but spammed. Looks like whomever behind this is simply creating various "new member" user names, and then posting multiple spam threads.

Not sure what the mods can do except play forum "Whack-a-mole" every night for the time being, but presume there must be a tech solution for this sort of thing.

 

[AlterEgo]

I believe this happens with some regularity. It's 'normal' albeit very annoying and creates unwanted work for the admin folks.

Yes this happens every now and again with internet forums and is nothing to be concerned about. Just spam that’s all.

 

[Bantamzen]

It probably goes without saying, but don't open those threads & follow any links!! If I see them landing I'll report one then chose to ignore that new account, this at least removes them from view so that I can see just the legit threads.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I was awakened by the need for a hot drink in the very early hours of this morning and having logged on, saw a veritable number of these appearing. I formally hit the "report" button on the first five that I came across, noting that they were appearing on different forums, so then notified the website staff on the "Contact Us" link of what was happening.

 

[ainsworth74]

As other members have noted the Forum is just getting heavily spammed at the moment. There has been no security issue with the site. Spam attacks happen from time to time. Just report any such posts (or just the "member") as the software had powerful tools for clearing up spam (one button can delete all a spammers posts and perma ban them) and don't follow any links. We've implemented some additional measures to try and combat this latest infestation.

Obviously the Forum Staff are all UK based and so we tend to be asleep when it happens so people who are awake overnight are more likely to see it.

 

[matt]

I was awakened by the need for a hot drink in the very early hours of this morning and having logged on, saw a veritable number of these appearing. I formally hit the "report" button on the first five that I came across, noting that they were appearing on different forums, so then notified the website staff on the "Contact Us" link of what was happening.

For this sort of thing please just use the report posy as that will get a quicker response than the contact form, thanks

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

For this sort of thing please just use the report posy as that will get a quicker response than the contact form, thanks

Firstly, I had to laugh at the horticultural mention above of a report posy.... I am sure that you meant report post.

If you saw what I said in my posting, I actually did do that on the first five of those that I came across, but as I had only just awoken to make myself a hot drink and wanted to return back to bed, it was only then that I used the "Contact Us" facility, as I did not want to stay awake any longer.

 

[Gloster]

Firstly, I had to laugh at the horticultural mention above of a report posy.... I am sure that you meant report post.

I just thought it was another of those computer terms that are completely new and baffling to me. I am glad to see there is a human explanation.

I have not noticed anything unusual, but I switch off after my last catch-up just after midnight and don’t look again until I am having my breakfast coffee at 09.30 (or usually later). I presume that by then the mods have done their good and much appreciated unsung work.

 

[Silver Cobra]

The same thing has been happening over at the Dovetail Games forum for the last 4-5 days as well. While it's almost certainly pure coincidence, it is weird how two forums relating to railways (one games and one actual railways) have been targeted by the same type of spam bots recently.

 

[Russel]

I finish work at 3am, so usually check the forum when I get home at about 3.45, over the last couple of days, a couple of other forums I use have also been hit by the same spam, Chinese writing followed by University of xxx, so it's not just here.

 

[Thirteen]

You'd think that spambots would be at least try and resemble a real poster rather than the usual rubbish that gets spewed out on forums.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What "product" or "service" is being spammed?

Fake university / college diplomas?

 

[Lost property]

Just to say thanks for the various informative replies.

To be honest, I never thought of spamming, hence the reason I used hacked.

 

[High Dyke]

You'd think that spambots would be at least try and resemble a real poster rather than the usual rubbish that gets spewed out on forums.

They're too busy over on twitter.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I was awake at 23.00 EDT so 03.00 GMT and saw all the Chinese characters. I just ignored because there was Nothing I could do anyway.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I was awake at 23.00 EDT so 03.00 GMT and saw all the Chinese characters. I just ignored because there was Nothing I could do anyway.

Guess you could always 'ignore' the supposed "poster".

 

[dk1]

Why do they do it? I’ve never understood.

 

[dosxuk]

Why do they do it? I’ve never understood.

Most of it is about getting search listings higher up - most of the search engines work on a reputation basis, a site with lots of links to it, with lots of links to other sites, ideally reciprocal links, will boost the reputation of a site that it links to. Forum sites like this, by their very nature, are linked to and linked from all the time, and are easily posted on.

If you're launching a scam website (that will only last a matter of days anyway in all likelihood), you need to get as many high-quality links to it as quickly as possible, so forums are a quick, easy and repeatable way of doing so. And it doesn't matter if the post is deleted, you're only wanting it to be present long enough that a search engine notices it.

While the wall of keywords and multiple links style posts are easily spotted and removed, a growing style is to copy and paste other content, merging existing replies and inserting hidden links into the text - if they're added as a late reply to a thread that's been quiet for ages, or in the middle of one that's super busy, these posts can often go undetected. Those sorts of post tend to take more setting up, often by posting non-linked posts for a while then going silent, so the spam account doesn't even look like a new poster when it starts it's actual work.

We're also going to start seeing a massive rise in the number of AI generated posts, where the spam link looks like it should be there. Those are going to be very difficult to spot and remove.

It's all a game that has been going on since the very early days of user-generated content on the internet, and one that is unlikely to be going away any time soon.

 

[dk1]

Most of it is about getting search listings higher up - most of the search engines work on a reputation basis, a site with lots of links to it, with lots of links to other sites, ideally reciprocal links, will boost the reputation of a site that it links to. Forum sites like this, by their very nature, are linked to and linked from all the time, and are easily posted on.

If you're launching a scam website (that will only last a matter of days anyway in all likelihood), you need to get as many high-quality links to it as quickly as possible, so forums are a quick, easy and repeatable way of doing so. And it doesn't matter if the post is deleted, you're only wanting it to be present long enough that a search engine notices it.

While the wall of keywords and multiple links style posts are easily spotted and removed, a growing style is to copy and paste other content, merging existing replies and inserting hidden links into the text - if they're added as a late reply to a thread that's been quiet for ages, or in the middle of one that's super busy, these posts can often go undetected. Those sorts of post tend to take more setting up, often by posting non-linked posts for a while then going silent, so the spam account doesn't even look like a new poster when it starts it's actual work.

We're also going to start seeing a massive rise in the number of AI generated posts, where the spam link looks like it should be there. Those are going to be very difficult to spot and remove.

It's all a game that has been going on since the very early days of user-generated content on the internet, and one that is unlikely to be going away any time soon.

What a complete waste of their & everyone else’s time.

Thank you for explaining.

 

[dosxuk]

What a complete waste of their & everyone else’s time.

Unfortunately there is a huge amount of money to be made from unlucky people over the internet. And it doesn't take up much of their time - all the main forum software have readily available bots to automate adding users and content.

The thing to remember is that the posts aren't aimed at the users of the forum they're posted on. If they do happen to get a click from here, that's just a bonus. It's all about that reputation and trying to trick the search engines into thinking they're legitimate.

 

[ainsworth74]

We're also going to start seeing a massive rise in the number of AI generated posts, where the spam link looks like it should be there. Those are going to be very difficult to spot and remove.

Whilst I don't think we've seen anything AI generated yet, you're certainly right that we've had some spam which is quite cleverly concealed by looking like it could well be a legitimate post that actually addresses the topic in question. At the moment presumably crafted by humans but I'm sure AI generated versions will soon crop up. Fun!

 

[Sorcerer]

I've noticed that for the past three days on the run these sort of spam posts occur between the 02:00 and 03:00 hours when all the mods are going to be in bed, which somewhat surprises me because I never really took spammers to be that strategic.

 

[DelW]

Whilst I don't think we've seen anything AI generated yet, you're certainly right that we've had some spam which is quite cleverly concealed by looking like it could well be a legitimate post that actually addresses the topic in question. At the moment presumably crafted by humans but I'm sure AI generated versions will soon crop up. Fun!

There were a few posts that looked possibly AI generated that appeared one morning a week or so ago, though they were quickly removed.

The one that caught my attention was a reply to a post about SWR short-forming Alton trains. It offered the bizarre "information" that SWR operates "specialized cars for the carriage of freight" and even "specialized cars for the carriage of automobiles" (sic). Not something I've ever encountered at Waterloo!

The supposed poster produced an indignant response when it was suggested that it was AI generated, but to paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davies, it would, wouldn't it.

 

[Roger1973]

There were a few posts that looked possibly AI generated that appeared one morning a week or so ago, though they were quickly removed.

It can be hard to tell artificial intelligence from natural stupidity...

 

[ainsworth74]

I've noticed that for the past three days on the run these sort of spam posts occur between the 02:00 and 03:00 hours when all the mods are going to be in bed, which somewhat surprises me because I never really took spammers to be that strategic.

Less strategy and more the start of the working day in the far east...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Less strategy and more the start of the working day in the far east...

I awoke at 0240 on Thursday morning, having taken to my bed early on Wednesday evening, feeling unwell.

I logged on to find a series of these scam postings, so as advised by @matt , I hit the report button.

The Traction & Rolling Stock forum appears particularly targeted by these.

 

[Crossover]

We're also going to start seeing a massive rise in the number of AI generated posts, where the spam link looks like it should be there. Those are going to be very difficult to spot and remove.

Presumably the likes of ChatGPT will "help" in some of the spamming

 

[Intercity110]

Presumably the likes of ChatGPT will "help" in some of the spamming

to be fair, it has its own writing style- it's overly environmentally friendly which i don't think many authors on here are.