What's the problem with Cloudfire

[Velcroman]

For the last few days I have been kicked out of the forum by this software "cloudfire". What's wrong??

[bignlow]

Think some strange things have been going on with the site since last week. i couldn't get in one day and was being re-routed to the site for a couple of days by some google thing. Think maybe the site was under attack from some set of morons with nothing better to do.

Bignlow

[bignlow]

And it seems they could be at it again....

[Velcroman]

Each time I have logged in for the last several days, I have been getting a message page claiming to check my browser. I panicked and cut the connection but I realised that it was only the NEWART sites that had it. I would like to know more about it BEFORE I do anything about it.

[SFBallpumper]

Here's what I know: When you log on these days, you get a message saying that Cloudflare is checking your browser. The message also mentions “DDoS.”

1. DDoS: A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack happens when a group of computers or devices are hacked and are then programmed to target a single system. In this case, that‘s Newart. The malicious computers create literally billions of fake network requests or log-ins every few seconds. The targeted site can’t handle the traffic and effectively is shut down. Real visitors may get messages that say that the site has exceeded the number of visitors that it can handle at one time, or real visitors may not be able to reach the site at all. Besides computers, hackers have even used other devices connected to the Internet like cameras, smart TVs, DVR players, radios, printers, baby monitors, etc. to create this fake traffic.*

Hackers may demand ransom money before they’ll stop harassing a targeted site. Or they may effectively shut down sites that they don’t like. Because the fake traffic comes from a large group of coordinated computers or devices, a site administrator can’t just block a single Internet address. And as far as I know, there’s no way to block things like baby monitors.

2. Cloudflare: Cloudflare is a reputable company. I’ve used their services before on a website I built. When you protect a website against DDoS attacks, it checks that your browser isn’t compromised.

My only concern is that the Admin here hasn’t explained what’s going on, but he’s probably overwhelmed trying to keep the site up and running.


SFB



*“Hackers Used New Weapons to Disrupt Major Websites Across U.S.” –The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/business/internet-problems-attack.html

“Did Baby Monitors Really Cause The Internet To Go Down?”—The Huffington Post
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/did-baby-monitors-really-cause-the-internet-to-go-down_b_580d6f5ee4b0b1bd89fdb4e1

"DDoS attack that disrupted internet was largest of its kind in history, experts say"--The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/26/ddos-attack-dyn-mirai-botnet

"The DDoS Attack Against Dyn One Year Later"--Forbes magazine
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davelewis/2017/10/23/the-ddos-attack-against-dyn-one-year-later/#64ddaf591ae9

[TinyMe]

Here's what I know: When you log on these days, you get a message saying that Cloudflare is checking your browser. The message also mentions “DDoS.”

1. DDoS: A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack happens when a group of computers or devices are hacked and are then programmed to target a single system. In this case, that‘s Newart. The malicious computers create literally billions of fake network requests or log-ins every few seconds. The targeted site can’t handle the traffic and effectively is shut down. Real visitors may get messages that say that the site has exceeded the number of visitors that it can handle at one time, or real visitors may not be able to reach the site at all. Besides computers, hackers have even used other devices connected to the Internet like cameras, smart TVs, DVR players, radios, printers, baby monitors, etc. to create this fake traffic.*

Hackers may demand ransom money before they’ll stop harassing a targeted site. Or they may effectively shut down sites that they don’t like. Because the fake traffic comes from a large group of coordinated computers or devices, a site administrator can’t just block a single Internet address. And as far as I know, there’s no way to block things like baby monitors.

2. Cloudflare: Cloudflare is a reputable company. I’ve used their services before on a website I built. When you protect a website against DDoS attacks, it checks that your browser isn’t compromised.

My only concern is that the Admin here hasn’t explained what’s going on, but he’s probably overwhelmed trying to keep the site up and running.


SFB



**“Hackers Used New Weapons to Disrupt Major Websites Across U.S.” –The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/business/internet-problems-attack.html

“Did Baby Monitors Really Cause The Internet To Go Down?”—The Huffington Post
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/did-baby-monitors-really-cause-the-internet-to-go-down_b_580d6f5ee4b0b1bd89fdb4e1

"DDoS attack that disrupted internet was largest of its kind in history, experts say"--The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/26/ddos-attack-dyn-mirai-botnet

"The DDoS Attack Against Dyn One Year Later"--Forbes magazine
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davelewis/2017/10/23/the-ddos-attack-against-dyn-one-year-later/#64ddaf591ae9

Thanks for sharing your knowledge

[SFBallpumper]

If you log on and get the message that there are too many users, refresh the page and it usually goes away. The message says:

"User forums_phpbb3 already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connections"

Those bogus connections to the site are causing it to overload (see my previous message in this thread). Whoever it is who's attacking the site has caused a major pain in butt!

[admin]

We have posted an explanation of Cloudflare at the top of each of the forums under Announcements section.

[SFBallpumper]

Thanks for posting the messages, and thanks for your Herculean efforts to deal with the problem!!!

[Velcroman]

If you log on and get the message that there are too many users, refresh the page and it usually goes away. The message says:

"User forums_phpbb3 already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connections"

Those bogus connections to the site are causing it to overload (see my previous message in this thread). Whoever it is who's attacking the site has caused a major pain in butt!

No, it doesn't. "Genral Error, refresh", "Genral Error, refresh", "Genral Error, refresh", "Genral Error, refresh" --- "Submit; General Error, refresh", "Submit; General Error refresh", "Submit; General Error refresh". Grrrrrrrrr

Cloudflare has not been installed correctly. Cloudflare is letting the hackers to get too far into the system. Either the software is no good or the installation was flawed. Check the O/S buffer levels.

[Velcroman]

Just a thought, my O/S is Windows 10. If you are not having a problem with "Forbidden 400" or this bloody "General Error" message, what O/S are you using. If ADMIN know which operating systems are not being affected it may help them to resolve the problem/s for every one. The time I log on seems to make no difference with the above problems. Help them to help us .

[SFBallpumper]

I use a Mac, with the High Sierra version of the OS with Safari. The only errors I’ve seen are the ones I posted. I’ll try a different browser. If I’m not mistaken, I also tried Firefox and got exactly the same messages. What browser are you using?

[hptrdsguy50]

I had the same problem. Try this browser https://duckduckgo.com/

[Velcroman]

Well, It's Friday 18th October and I haven't had a problem since Monday??? It is so good not to have to log back on each time I did something, posting is great; again. Changing from post to post and thread to thread is great. Kudos to the Sysadmin for fixing(?) the problem/s.
Me happy poster