Buraucracy in action

[Lannis]

The problems the website is having right now are due to hack attacks.  The hackers set up machines to constantly ping the server in an attempt to breach it and take it down or overload and stall it so nobody can use it.  Certainly keywords, like the list you just seeded the site with, are noticed.  You see the targeted ads on this site.  The same sort of sniffers are used by countless other entities -- tin-foil-hat and others -- to identify sites that might have target content.

The hackers don't have to be actively present and working to sustain an attack.  They just point an array of zombie computers at it and have them all continuously attempt logins -- thousands of zombie computers pinging a site many times a second, 24/7.  They don't need to succeed in breaching security, and in fact a lot of these attacks are not intended to actually break in.  While the zombie army is attacking, the server and security equipment is so busy responding to the attackers that they don't have time to do WG business like refreshing, logging you in, sending messages, etc.  The server is set up with a 'tipover' switch that shuts it down when the activity hits an overload threshold.  This is a "denial of service" (DOS) attack.  No members involved.

Oh.  Well, in that case I'll pull the seeds back up .... !

Learn something new every day around here ....

Lannis

[canuguzzi]

Oh.  Well, in that case I'll pull the seeds back up .... !

Learn something new every day around here ....

Lannis

What I was trying to get at.

The days of the lone hacker sitting at a computer trying to breach the security of a system are long gone, except when the target is very specific and so is the reason. Most security systems can detect the attempt, rapidly isolate the source and initiate protocols in defense. Sometimes it is automatic but oftentimes it is an admin peep that sees the traffic, for those single individuals.

What happens now though is quite different. It doesn't matter if the target is an isolated computer, a single or small server shop or an enterprise class data center for a large corporation or government entity, automated system scour for keywords and that information is correlated to usernames, ip address ranges and frequency of occurrence. From there, targets are selected for attack, beit it denial of service or otherwise. Denial of service is generally ineffective against enterprise systems and has been since about 2007 or so because these systems have become globally distributed and shutting them down via denial of service is now very difficult to do.

However, for many sites that don't have the resources to distribute their services, denial of service isn't all that hard to do and bringing the site to its knees is rather easy. It doesn't even require someone to do much, a lot of these attacks are automated, not just how they are implemented by why they are implemented. It could be something as simple as relevance and frequency of keywords. It can take as little as a few matches to a pre-defined criteria and the attack is initiated, no one even has to stop drinking their coffee.

Enterprise systems shunt operations to other locations and then use dedicated networks to keep systems sync'd but for smaller operations that isn't practical, from a financial standpoint.

It isn't that someone really wants to go after WG, it's just some site that got flagged and then hit. The resources need to implement the attack are relatively few, change frequently and usually stop when someone goes over resource allocation and notices that WG is really innocuous and not worth the trouble.

The "tip-over" approach is typically used in those classes where protection of the system is more important than service delivery. Usually, when the denial of service initiates a system suspension of service, someone on the other side will take notice and see what happens. It is then that they might realize the insignificance of the target and redirect the resources to another target. However, if the content is enough to bother someone, could be any reason, they just wait, the attack resumes when then system recovers. Since the attack is distributed (think rocks being thrown from all directions, just where do you go?) it starts all over again.

There might or might not be an IP address range  change for the domain but that is a temporary solution because small shops simply can't change them often or fast enough to avoid the attack. If someone takes an interest, the service ends up ceasing operations because the clients go elsewhere, not having the patience to wait more than a week or so before they pull up anchor and move on.

Lucky for WG that  most of us are too old not to have some patience and owning Moto Guzzis the idea of looking for greener pastures came and went long ago.

In the end, it might seem like political and other such threads don't mean much but they do. That isn't to imply that censuring ourselves to correctness is needed but like anything, if we stand on the street corner and put it out for public review, then we can also expect the guy throwing rocks out the car window to take potshots at us too.

I sure hope the attacks aren't too widely distributed because that would mean someone other than peeon rank has decided to make WG a project.

[atavar]

I don't understand what is the big deal with giving an immigrant a license??!!?! Would you prefer them to drive illegally with no road test, no vision test, no insurance???

I just want them to have to pass the same bar that everyone else does..  if I have to provide a birth certificate and a social security card and an insurance card (that I paid for myself)and submit proof of legitimate residence then they should have to do the same. 

[atavar]

Ok folks, recently this site has become the victim of rather nefarious act ivies from outside, while sites go down they don't usually have continuing problems unless something/someone is actively engaged in trying to disrupt it.

Here is the thing, the more threads we get about political and other sensitive topics, the more trash gets attracted and then the fight is on. Its one thing to chide BMWs or Harelys or whatever, in good nature quite another to go down the road of race and immigration and related. When that happens, some very nasty people will take an interest in this site and I'll tell you now, there won't be anything anyone can do to keep it running with the resources that are available to do so.

Like many others, I contribute what I can when I can as a donor but all that won't matter if a few decide to jump on the soapbox and start making this more than a moto guzzi forum.

If the idea is to have a campfire type forum to come and talk, then lets not throw the forum into the fire to burn.

Thanks for indulging me on this.

We shouldn't need moderators to tell us to clean up.

So you are saying that we should all kowtow to bullies because they might be mean to us?  Does that mean that the way to get what you want is to be violent?  hmm.....

[atavar]

I understand that the FEDGOV presently has a vested interest in getting as many illegal aliens here as they can; that's sort of a broader, political issue.

What I'm trying to figure out is what does Jose or M'fume actually DO at the DMV counter?    I mean, I've had a DOD Top Secret clearance, I've got a current passport (just renewed), I have an original copy of my B/C, I've lived in the same place for 35 years, I have a current D/L, a current CCW, I've been elected to public office and all my financial details are public ....

.... and when I go to a DMV or Post Office or Passport office or go to buy a handgun, I'm STILL afraid that I won't have enough identification, or the specific right format, to satisfy the clerk behind the counter.   

What does a person do who snuck over the border in the middle of the night, is living in an apartment with 15 relatives in violation of every rule there is ... what are THEY asked for by the $10.35/hour clerk at the government office?   

Lannis

Lannis

Lannis,
My understanding is that when an illegal is dealing with immigration they are given an interview, during which the interviewer speaks with them in their native language.  The interviewer fills in all the forms and gets the illegal the things needed as "basic" necessities of life, such as Drivers License, identification card, medical insurance, housing/heating assistance, food allotment, telephone card with cell phone, spending money and employment assistance, and the alien only has to sign where indicated. 

this could easily be a fable or a fantasy, but it is what was told to me by a Mexican national working as a migrant in North Dakota.  He may have just been trying to get my goat.

[atavar]

BTW, I was able to prevail and I am now a fully licensed South Dakota driver. 
Of course now I have to go dig through the storage shed to find my vehicle titles to get license plates because the DMV did not have any forms for registering a vehicle from out of state that did not have a lien on it.  They told me that it was no problem if the vehicles are financed but all of the forms they have to use to transfer registration without a lien require a physical paper title. 
This is a sad statement about American lifestyles when it is assumed people do not own their own vehicles.