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[Tug Fanatic]

I note that Martin has locked forum registration due to Spammers.

Out of interest how many are there? Is it to stop DOS attacks / unacceptable post content or are there lots of them out there?

[Martin (Admin)]

Hundreds of applications every week!   

[Colin Bishop]

On the Model Boats website I have deleted around 40 false registrations since last night. The IP and email addresses are all artificial but most of them clearly emanate from Russia. There used to be around five or so a day at most, but since the invasion of Ukraine they have been averaging between 10 and 20. They appear to be being made by net bots which either evade the Capcha check or are injecting the data directly into the databases.

Occasionally they try to makes posts of a page or so of gibberish.

Colin

[Tug Fanatic]

That is a lot. 
I realize that is is very annoying but it does leave the question as to why? The effort put in to only post a page of gibberish seems unlikely and it is a sure way to highlight themselves.

[Colin Bishop]

I think they were originally trying to harvest confirmation emails for some reason but now I think there is a deliberate intention  to try and gum up the system.

Colin

[tigertiger]

The effort put in is negligable. The spammer is often something called a 'bot'. A bot is a bit of malicious programming that, once released, has a life of its own on the internet. So beyond the initial work coding, there is no effort.
As for the gibberish, I can only guess at corrupted files, or a file that has been put into a computer, got itself encrypted and then pushed onwards.
With aritificial intelligence (AI) these things can recognise it is being asked a question, and attempt to answer it; often succesfully.

[Colin Bishop]

The spammer is often something called a 'bot'.

As I said but, there is evidence that they are not entirely automated but subject to some direction and the gibberish looks like someone just did some cut and pasting.

Colin

[Martin (Admin)]

 
"a page or so of gibberish" - I watched Channel 4's 'The Undeclared War', a page of gibberish can really be a danger thing!

 https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-undeclared-war

[jaymac]

I used to clean the IT dept in an ''HQ'' used to be impressed watching us being continuously pinged from all over
the world the States were as bad as the rest. All of us need to remember every post you make on any forum is out there just right click and google this      spammer model boats

[roycv]

Hi Martin I watched The Unceclared War to the end of episode 6 and they seemed to be in a hurry to finish.  Did she get the kudos for stopping the upload of data?  Also the ending of her old gentleman was skipped over,  Did I fall asleep?  Why did she have the affair with the American girl?
i like a bit of having to work to get into the plot so the first few episodes were good then the Russian fake news team seemed a bit OTT.  There CCTV is an open invitation to bug into and I could not work out why they had it in the first place, was it just for the plot? 

Srangely enough the lad from the maths dept came across OK as I know someone like that.
On a factual note maybe a year ago there was a TV programme where an English guy bugged into a criminal CCTV system where the guys used cold calling pretending you owed money for a service only they could provde. 

He tied it up with finding the guy in the UK being scammed at the time and even linked the CCTV picture to the recorded sound of the telephone call.  In retrospect I think maybe he started with the recorded telephone call. This was used for the UK police to prosecute the scammers and they won the case.
Regards
Roy

[dougal99]

Thanks for that I was patiently waiting for the next episode like we all used to 

[roycv]

I do apologise Dougal99 Most of these serials are available to watch on the web site, in this case All 4. 

For me i watchd the first episode and then my TV told me it was all available to watch on-line and I did it all in 2 sessions.  At least you can keep up with the plot that way.  I thought Mark Rylance did a great job, he is one of the few actors where I believe his character.
In 'The Bridge of Spies'  true story excellent film, he stole the film from Tom  Hanks, well I thought so.
What did you think of the way they portrayed her progress through the Internet by using an alegory of her actions?
regards
Roy

[Martin (Admin)]

More Spoiler Alerts!


'The Undeclared War'  I actually binged watched it, 8/10 from me!

Even at my low level of I T security, there were huge plot holes.....
 they knew there was a 3rd malware payload coming but didn't seem to do anything about it....
 let a top Russian hacker out for a day trip to England unsupervised!
 no monitoring the security of the CCTV system ( all big companies have cctv these days ...  )
 obligatory Channel 4 LGBT scenes ... 
 government ministers ( any manager ) understanding anything I T ...!
 when the databases were hacked, no one knew how to pull plugs or how to use OFF switches ...
 
Simon Pegg was very credible, as was Mark Rylance, Adrian Lester & Gavi Singh Chera

[jaymac]

Warning    Spoilers      would not go amiss Roy

[dougal99]

I binge watch some stuff. usually self contained episodes amd no more than 3 at a time.
I am watching TUW with my wife. She can't sit for much more than a hour before she has to move, so no binging with her.
No worries Roy I'm just a fully paid up member of the Grumpy Old men's club 

[RST]

....Pfffffffffff I'm strugging to see catch-up on the first one recorded on the digital video yet.!  I imagined it was all TV hype but was hoping for something refreshing but it's pretty much ruined reading this thread now!  I thought it wasn't finished broadcasting yet?

....as you all say it's guff up to the end it will not be on my watch list to watch and catch-up on now thanks.

PS:  I notice spammers on my E-Mails are hitting hard this month, normally it's only every 6 weeks but this month or so it's relentless.  Thing that gets me is you used to get an "acknowledgement" from UK government for reporting phishing/scammers -absolutely nothing the last 12 months which makes me fully believe it's just a waste of time reporting all along though I still keep reporting every single thing.

[roycv]

Hi RST I hardly watch any fiction on TV now I get too much into what their characters are and most times I see them being themselves or failing to convince me of their part in the proceedings.
I am happier re-waching old movies and the like.  Mind you there are few documentaries that actually fill their time slot with info and I have gone off a few presenters.  I will forgive presentation for information.  On another note I organize the subject matter for our monthly club evenings, that I like!
regards
Roy