Equestrian Fanfiction

by Lise

Site Exploit

@all: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

An exploit has been discovered in the login system we've been using. At this point there's no indication that anything has been tampered with, but we strongly recommend that you change your pass codes.

We'll be looking into this further to determine if there has been any breach.

It's also a good idea to check your accounts on any other sites in case they have been compromised. In case of doubt get in touch! Send me or any of the mods a PM. I strongly recommend if you have real life access to any of them to talk directly. I'm in touch with Candle in Manehattan, and there are mods in Canterlot, Ponyville, the Crystal Empire, Trottingham, and Cloudsdale, so all regulars and close friends, please get in contact if there's anything suspicious.

Submissions will be closed until we get a lid on this.

The TechNightling

The exploit has been confirmed to be pass only, so don't worry about them getting your aether signature. They could potentially brute force into your accounts, though, so change your pass quick! Also, follow Tech's suggestions.

A personal request, warn as many other sites as you could. I've already PMed a few ponies from old sites I used to visit.

LyraHands

How the heck did they manage to crack the login? I thought it was secure? :/

LightSparkle

@LightSparkle: time stamp fluctuation. That's why time spells are so well guarded. From what I read they exploited the time handling protocols, reverting to the exact time of a successful login and did a pass change request.

Just to be clear, it looks like no actually passcodes were taken, just ponies were locked out of their accounts.

TrueSparkle

@TrueSparkle: What?!? They still haven't fixed that exception? Wow! :/ it's been known for years!

LightSparkle

@LightSparkle: The question is if that's the full exploit of it lead to an even greater vulnerability. Mighty and I patched that particular issue a while back, but it's never been tested for more than a single attack. From what it looks like a whole team of hackers did it at once overloading the system.

We're checking our honeypots for viruses.

CodeFilly

I'll be on to lend a hoof in 10 minutes.

DarkSparkle

Wow. Full panic mode.

My site tech told me that my site was taken down. Not that I bother reading the stupid thing. I hope you guys have a clean backup. Seems that's the way to go. Just pass the fics through a pure-text convertor and reupload them on the new copy.

RRBB

Omg! They actually put porn on my site?!? This is hilarious! Now I want to see what they put, but the techs (and my parents) are still going insane. Seems they tried to take my father's site down as well.

GG no re.

RRBB

It's just a prank attack, girls. Reverting to 47 hours ago will get rid of the issue. It's so precious they did it. This way ponies will finally see that they need to take better care of the core elements.

I'm thinking, would a human be able to hack in the aethernet? And if so what will she see? It's like us hacking their system and getting a ton of humie pics.

Twist

Eww! Twist, you made me lose my lunch :(

SweetStuff

@Twist: I'm not so sure. From what I read, this is part of a multi stage attack. The exploit was more sophisticated than a simple timestamp duplication. Speculation is they tried to get one of the princesses passes.

MightyDragon

As if the princesses browse the aethernet. :/ I've heard the Luna rumors, but so far they're just that.

Best we can do is stop speculating, patch things up, and change the pass codes. Cool idea about a human hacking in, though. They'll probably get horse pics and run away screaming. Oh, @SweetStuff, did you start your human rock band love story? :)

MixaMax

You can relax, girls. It was just a prank, as Twist said. The only thing done was some porn appearing in places it shouldn't. Still, best safe than sorry.

Oh, and the culprits have been identified. ;)

Bob

@Bob: It's always difficult to know what's going on and who's involved with these things. Until there's an official statement be vigilant.

The TechNightling

The excitement never ends. Looks like the attack originated in Canterlot. Fun.

@Luna: you good?

InItForTheShipping

@InItForTheShipping: I think everything's okay. I'll talk with Blueblood about getting a backup server for the site. There's already so much fics there it would be a tragedy if all of them go missing.

Luna

Did you know that humans often access the aethernet through their own virtual network? At present there are at least two members of the writing team that are in the human world, keeping in touch with their editors through the aethernet.

More news later.

Speculator7

@Speculator7: And I'm Discord's daughter :/ It's really not the time for that crap. Ponies are scared.

LightSparkle

Hey, we added our own layer of encryption. Everything should be okay, and I have backups of a large part of the stories. Don't panic. Stay calm and smell the roses.

MightyDragon

@MightyDragon: Oh, good! Your porn collection is safe! :P

RRBB

@RRBB: You're in a mood today. If you want to tell me something I can come after school.

MixaMax

@MixaMax: Please don't make that mistake. You've no idea how mad I am at you. The only reason I haven't done anything about it is because my stupid post started that mess!

You should thank Short for standing up for you! If it wasn't for her I'd be the one visiting you. At work!

RRBB

@RRBB: I know you hate it when ponies tell you this, but try to calm down. All you, Short, and Max gave been through a lot.

LyraHands

I'm out of here! Ciao and catch you later!

RRBB

@all: I'm shutting down the site to make some security updates. Should be back up in a few hours. Use the time to check your accounts on other sites!

The TechNightling

Comments

[redmar]

Fortunately there wasn't much damage done this time but it's scary if something like this happens.

[Canilive]

Your story is currently featured!!!

[Canilive]

Did you know that humans often access the aethernet through their own virtual network? At present there are at least two members of the writing team that are in the human world, keeping in touch with their editors through the aethernet.
More news later.
Speculator7

also Speculator7 = S Child or someone on the writing team?

[FanOfMostEverything]

Omg! They actually put port on my site?!?

So many smutty pictures of wine bottles...

I was surprised to see Twist speaking so knowledgeably on this subject. I suppose it's often the ones you least suspect. Not that I'm saying she helped execute the attack, mind you.

And I can't help but be amused by who shut down Speculator7. Technically speaking, that estimate's off...

[Lise]

8073787 No one knows how much damage was done :)

[Lise]

8073810 Thanks :D

That would be telling. It might be a clever spy... hmm? ;)

[Lise]

8073826 Well... the two are similar based on her age :P

Twist knows many things... many things... :P

Light, not so much :D

[The Great Derpsby]

I bet lots of colts browse RRBB's site and fantasise about dating her, not knowing she plays for the other time. Or hardly ever visits her own site.

As if the princesses browse the aethernet. :/ I've heard the Luna rumors, but so far they're just that.

Yeah, what a silly idea!
Ha! Ha!
/cough
Incidentally, I totally expect Twilight's palace to have a super-powerful aethernet connection. That thing looks like it's mainly made from fibreglass.

[Canilive]

odds of getting a straight answer out of Lise Eclaire 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%. Odds of something that makes you even more confused in the first place 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999%.

Great Story (seriously not many people can do something like this).

[R3D4K73D]

8073837

that it is.

to be honest, the prediction is largely based of of my speculation that lyra's site is much like fimfiction as well as similarly developing like fimfiction (i might be wrong, but such is insignificant here) and the fact that sgt pepper is pretty much synonymous with sgt sprinkles (who wrote the first story set in the cupcakes universe (in case nobody knew this already))(their names, that is)

[Rhulain]

8073819

It just screams oh god I'm so bored I'd rather be anywhere but here but I have to be here.

[Botched Lobotomy]

We're checking our honeypots for viruses.
CodeFilly

I can't tell if this is a typo or an in-universe aethernet term...

[Meta Four]

8074441
It's a real-life computing term.

[Alkarasu]

8073839 Wait, what about Pixel's shipping stories? Are they safe?

[howard035]

So it sounds like RRBB's site is just the equivalent of one of those old MySpace pages people who wanted to be celebrities made.

Also, methinks Speculator 7 was involved in the hack, and has use it to learn secrets about LightSparkle and others.

[Botched Lobotomy]

8074495 Huh. Interesting... Thanks.

[Nyperold]

It's so precious they did it.

"A VPN? How cute! And stop trying to SSH."

[EverfreeSparkle]

They'll probably get horse pics and run away screaming. 

How 'horse' are we talking here?