Spam and Hacking
REGISTER
The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Content within the patient forum is user-generated and has not been reviewed by medical professionals. Other sections of the Melanoma Research Foundation website include information that has been reviewed by medical professionals as appropriate. All medical decisions should be made in consultation with your doctor or other qualified medical professional.

Spam and Hacking

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Spam and Hacking

  • Post
    • October 20, 2013 at 1:20 pm
    mrf
    Keymaster

    A number of us–including Charlie, me, and several others–received an email from a "Miss Ngone Hadiza" saying she likes our profile and wants to talk with us.  This raises concern that the site has been hacked.

    After speaking with some IT experts the situation is a bit different:  

    –Only someone who has registered with MPIP is allowed to send messages to others on the board.

    –At no time is anyone provided with the personal email address of another membler–all of these messages go through an anonymous server account.

    –In order to register you must physically enter certain information that includes some security procedures.

    –Once registered you can send email to other members of the board.  If, however, you abuse that privilege you can and will be blocked from the board.

    All of the above has been true for several years, and did not change with the new website.

    In this specific situation, "Miss Hadiza" has been blocked and we will watch for other suspicious activity.  This person apparent registered in a legitimate fashion, then went through the board selecting users one by one and sending out emails.  This is incredibly insensitive and malicious, and will not  be tolerated.

    Special thanks to Charlie and Jan for calling this to my attention.

    Tim–MRF

     

Viewing 5 reply threads
  • Replies
      • October 20, 2013 at 7:27 pm
      Phil S
      Participant

      Tim,   While I know you put a lot of time, effort, and resources in the new mpip format, I miss the old mpip!!  I use to post often, it was so easy!  Now, I can't post from my IPad2 anymore, so I have to track down my daugther's new mini IPad, even to write this entry!  I also notified mpip of several spam entries that appeared one weekend, and I too got an email from Ngone Hadiza this week.  Plus, this person put several entries on the site is response to others very legitimate questions/posts, please have them (Ngone111) deleted from these posts!!  It's Creepy!!   This site needs to be monitored by your staff daily, including weekends!! I have been posting  regularly for several years, and I never remember the spam and hacking troubles that we have had since the new format!  I get that I need to be open minded, and I will still read this Board everyday, but I really miss the old days!  Just needed to VENT my frustrations!!      Valerie (Phil 's wife)

      • October 20, 2013 at 7:27 pm
      Phil S
      Participant

      Tim,   While I know you put a lot of time, effort, and resources in the new mpip format, I miss the old mpip!!  I use to post often, it was so easy!  Now, I can't post from my IPad2 anymore, so I have to track down my daugther's new mini IPad, even to write this entry!  I also notified mpip of several spam entries that appeared one weekend, and I too got an email from Ngone Hadiza this week.  Plus, this person put several entries on the site is response to others very legitimate questions/posts, please have them (Ngone111) deleted from these posts!!  It's Creepy!!   This site needs to be monitored by your staff daily, including weekends!! I have been posting  regularly for several years, and I never remember the spam and hacking troubles that we have had since the new format!  I get that I need to be open minded, and I will still read this Board everyday, but I really miss the old days!  Just needed to VENT my frustrations!!      Valerie (Phil 's wife)

        • October 20, 2013 at 11:32 pm
        POW
        Participant

        I understand that some sleezy people actually register so they can post their spam and you can't do anything to prevent them. But can't we at least have a "Report inappropriate post" button (that somebody actually READS) so we can stop these idiots quickly? Some surgical company is posting now. YUCK!

        • October 20, 2013 at 11:32 pm
        POW
        Participant

        I understand that some sleezy people actually register so they can post their spam and you can't do anything to prevent them. But can't we at least have a "Report inappropriate post" button (that somebody actually READS) so we can stop these idiots quickly? Some surgical company is posting now. YUCK!

        • October 20, 2013 at 11:32 pm
        POW
        Participant

        I understand that some sleezy people actually register so they can post their spam and you can't do anything to prevent them. But can't we at least have a "Report inappropriate post" button (that somebody actually READS) so we can stop these idiots quickly? Some surgical company is posting now. YUCK!

      • October 20, 2013 at 7:27 pm
      Phil S
      Participant

      Tim,   While I know you put a lot of time, effort, and resources in the new mpip format, I miss the old mpip!!  I use to post often, it was so easy!  Now, I can't post from my IPad2 anymore, so I have to track down my daugther's new mini IPad, even to write this entry!  I also notified mpip of several spam entries that appeared one weekend, and I too got an email from Ngone Hadiza this week.  Plus, this person put several entries on the site is response to others very legitimate questions/posts, please have them (Ngone111) deleted from these posts!!  It's Creepy!!   This site needs to be monitored by your staff daily, including weekends!! I have been posting  regularly for several years, and I never remember the spam and hacking troubles that we have had since the new format!  I get that I need to be open minded, and I will still read this Board everyday, but I really miss the old days!  Just needed to VENT my frustrations!!      Valerie (Phil 's wife)

      • October 21, 2013 at 1:12 am
      Charlie S
      Participant

      Sigh. I do NOT want to distract from the mission of MPIP; however, there is one absolute:  Knowledge Is Power.

      With that in mind, this website HAS been hacked.  Registration is easy to bypass via open ports in the server that allow SQL (structured query language) exploits and therefor expose user registration data.

      Case in point: My e-mail address is not listed in my public profile here or patnet, ONLY listed in the registration database, yet my e-mail address has been accessed.  Why is this?  Because the registration database has been exploited.

      Honestly,your system administrator should do a security audit by doing some packet sniffing and closing ports.

      You MUST get it that this site has been hacked and user registration data HAS been exploited; regardless oif how impossible your IT advisors say this is, it is.

      Charlie S

       

      • October 21, 2013 at 1:12 am
      Charlie S
      Participant

      Sigh. I do NOT want to distract from the mission of MPIP; however, there is one absolute:  Knowledge Is Power.

      With that in mind, this website HAS been hacked.  Registration is easy to bypass via open ports in the server that allow SQL (structured query language) exploits and therefor expose user registration data.

      Case in point: My e-mail address is not listed in my public profile here or patnet, ONLY listed in the registration database, yet my e-mail address has been accessed.  Why is this?  Because the registration database has been exploited.

      Honestly,your system administrator should do a security audit by doing some packet sniffing and closing ports.

      You MUST get it that this site has been hacked and user registration data HAS been exploited; regardless oif how impossible your IT advisors say this is, it is.

      Charlie S

       

      • October 21, 2013 at 1:12 am
      Charlie S
      Participant

      Sigh. I do NOT want to distract from the mission of MPIP; however, there is one absolute:  Knowledge Is Power.

      With that in mind, this website HAS been hacked.  Registration is easy to bypass via open ports in the server that allow SQL (structured query language) exploits and therefor expose user registration data.

      Case in point: My e-mail address is not listed in my public profile here or patnet, ONLY listed in the registration database, yet my e-mail address has been accessed.  Why is this?  Because the registration database has been exploited.

      Honestly,your system administrator should do a security audit by doing some packet sniffing and closing ports.

      You MUST get it that this site has been hacked and user registration data HAS been exploited; regardless oif how impossible your IT advisors say this is, it is.

      Charlie S

       

Viewing 5 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
About the MRF Patient Forum

The MRF Patient Forum is the oldest and largest online community of people affected by melanoma. It is designed to provide peer support and information to caregivers, patients, family and friends. There is no better place to discuss different parts of your journey with this cancer and find the friends and support resources to make that journey more bearable.

The information on the forum is open and accessible to everyone. To add a new topic or to post a reply, you must be a registered user. Please note that you will be able to post both topics and replies anonymously even though you are logged in. All posts must abide by MRF posting policies.

Popular Topics