That really wasn't well handled was it MNHQ?

I think that it was basically handled ok but quicker reassurance on whether our passwords were compromised would have been nicer.

I just want to say I have read the gpg man page mentioned in that tweet. (I even got paid for it, as I was at work.)

And although it's not relevant - with encryption programs like pgp and gpg (they're basically different versions of the same thing) - a user creates a pair of keys. There's the private one, which you never share with anyone else ever, and the public one. You can give other people your public key. They can give you their public key. You can encrypt a file with your own and other people's keys. They can then unlock the file, because the pgp program will be able to match it to your private key, to know it's you. If the file hasn't been encrypted for your key, you can't unlock it and read it.

There is obviously a lot more to it than this, and as mentioned, it's not relevant to this anyway.

Hash functions are basically a way of indexing data, so it speeds up look up times. They can also be used as a way of encrypting stuff, because although it makes it quicker to look things up in one direction, it's a lot harder to work backwards.

I have colleagues who go to security conferences for fun... I don't. So if this isn't making sense - well, it's not really important for this anyway, and it's Friday night, and I'm not at work, nor on-call, and I don't have to be feeling more coherent just now.

afaik mine was the first account to be hacked, after I said on the other thread that I didn't believe they had any details given the way they were crowing about having "so much data,"

tbh I think that mn hq were going to be damned if they did, damned if they didn't, in terms of details they provided. Also I think that the way people essentially just used it as entertainment was far more amusing and gained a far better result than if this had been turned into some kind of panic over the site having been hacked.

Ultimately though, if people don't want their details compromised then it is probably best not to put those details on to websites that realistically don't need them, because most sites will be subject to a breach at some point. Carphone warehouse for instance was breached only a couple of weeks ago and hackers have obtained credit card and other personal details. So by comparison access to a few usernames is really not that impressive if you're going to hack a website....

Oh good. Ignore my posts then! Thanks A&B.

It's not PGP, it would be a hash function FlightAttendant.

I'm not trying to accuse that particular guy of anything - sorry not being clear - I mean if the weirdo who hacked us has the 'key' this guy mentions then maybe he can access stuff.

No idea what all the dadsec stuff is all about though.

We all paid for CAT. That's not the same thing.

Thanks very much for explaining Sarah. May I ask if you use PGP?

If so have you seen this - this is the guy who mentions dadsec in previous tweets and afaik he is pretty good at that sort of stuff.

I have no fucking idea what a 'secret key' might be but if he's got one then getting stuff in plain text won't have fazed him.

Like making them cutting heads off a Hydra?

My observation on how MNHQ handled The Jeffrey Incident is that there's no point having an alternative info source through the Twitter feed, pointing users towards it in the OP about the outage and then not using it. I know not everyone uses or likes Twitter, but if there are problems with the main site - including Jeffrey editing posts willy nilly - then it's time to make best use of the other channels for information.

I agree. This kind of grandstanding is kind of embarrassing.

It'S a fakey vibe.

It's You as in You Who Buy Shizzle Through Clicks On MN.

Tbf fair there is constructive feed back and spitting your dummy out.

I am under no illusion that MNHQ give a shit about what I or anyone else thinks about the site.

But they do give off the 'we are interested in your thoughts vibe'

It's a bit of a throwback to when MN was a brand that had something to say about women and society imo. When it was a front runner in the field.

Back in the day lots of us paid voluntarily toward the site.

If it meant it were less shit I'd be happy to do so.

Justine has, often admitted, she's pretty much winged it in terms of developing this site.

I'm never going to fawn and be grateful for Mnet .... No users no revenue. The benefits are mutual.

And yes there are other parenting chat sites, they don't seem to be as attractive to or targeted as much by unpleasant anti women agenda driven trolls though. Is that because of Mnet users, or Mnets attitude to its users? Who knows?

usual I agree. But not every body can be pleased and nobody is forced to stay.

Stamping your foot never changed anything.

I think Talk is a teeny tiny bit of the whole enterprise and they couldn't give a stuff about individual members acting like their opinion matters.

Which isn't even a criticism really. Just a reflection on how big the site is, the advertising it generates and the perfectly polite but resolutely corporate replies to hackers, trolls and whingers.

I should think that MNHQ would like as many people to stay as possible.

I think ASorcererIsAWizardSquared you need to get a life. It's an on line parenting forum not the UN. Nothing you post on line is safe, it's the risk you take when you join anything.

I think it was handled ok. No one was killed, no one lost their home, lost their job. If it pisses you off so much your free to leave. No one forces anyone to stay.

MN is a business. That business needs customers.

No point advertising on the site if every fucker posts elsewhere.

You can't run a massive website like this by committee...