Animation Source Forums

Yes i totally agree, i don't see why people must say they have been hacked. I have 1s but that was my brother trying to get my account banned, because i broke his College model, HeHe. But anyway, i totally agree with you.

Completely agree with this. Doesn't help the moderators either, when a member says 'they've been hacked'. Best thing is, that's all they tend to say.

And it does make other members feel less secure, and in the worst case scenario, believe it or not, make someone leave the site.

What I have also noticed, that members caught with double accounts provide that excuse, or 'they forgot their password'. Well, not excuse enough - if they really did, they should PM a moderator. Would really give more time to actual problems and incidents, rather than the solving of false and non-existing alarms.

When they say they've been hacked, you should ask what precisely they've seen that make them think they've been hacked.
I think there are several bugs I need to correct in the profiles, but it's hard to detect them. When a bug happens to a visitor, the first idea seems to be "OMG, I've been hacked!!"

Asking what makes them think so is the first obvious question to ask, yet, sometimes they just cannot answer, or better yet, they do not answer at all. Besides, tends to be that this 'hacking incident' is told all over the shoutboxes or all their friends before it can even be tended to. By that time, the damage has already been done.
And usually, it seems, the member doesn't contact a moderator in a direct fashion but it is done the other way around. Which slightly indicates how 'sure' some are of such an incident... Yet, of course, those who listen think otherwise. Naturally, some cases are very serious from the complainer's side, but the explanations have nothing to do with hacking.

Probably the only way to solve this is to keep seeking out such incidents and clarifying them in the 'public' places where they are encountered, if the circumstances are obvious.

Making such a topic is obviously very good, but in the best case scenario only a few of the people who consider 'bugs' or 'forgotten passwords' 'hacking' will read this, if any at all. Perhaps it should be posted in the shoutbox topic line some time.

I actually have seen cases where I'm convinced there was hacking afoot in the SB. One account would be talking, but you could tell there was more than one person on the account. I don't have a copy of the conversation, but one post would be nonstop swearing and the next would be profuse apologies and an entreaty to block the account until it could be resolved. Either someone was hacking, or this person was a real-life Dr. Henry Jekyll.

True, and such occasions were solved by a simple change of the password. One must make sure that one reports such cases however (because many times the people involved don't think of changing their password or what not) so that a moderator can help.

True. My main point, though, was that on occasion hacking does occur.

It's not hacking if the other person know the password. (and did not enter the site database to find it, or anything like this)
It can also happen if someone (sibling for example) has access the same computer, and so, the same account.

So it's a question of how they got the password. But suppose they did get it by hacking?

If they get it by hacking, then it's......hacking.

Exactly my point.

The only way to enter another person's account is to lure them to download malicious software (malware) that records someone's keystrokes (commonly known as keyloggers), or the owner of the account gives them the password.

It's not possible to hack someone (like what people here define as 'hacking') without luring them to a website that forcefully downloads malware onto their computer so they can access it.

Thank you for the warning. I'll have to remember that.

Indeed. If you get an e-mail from someone entirely unknown that has a file attached (often .exe or .jpeg), do NOT OPEN THE FILE!
Report the e-mail to your e-mail account host and save the e-mail for a day or two as it might be required to forward it to the proper authorities (you will get contacted regarding this in a span of five days), forward it then delete it. Everything will be handled by an outside party, and you won't have to worry about a thing.

I should get to work on a comprehensive guide to spot - and deal with - hacking attempts soon =S