With one exception, Mutant is spot-on. I've been training / working as a Defensive Cyber Ops technician for the past four years. It is a scary world out there. I refuse to do on-line banking and refuse to allow auto-pay to pull straight out of my checking account.

Quote: I think it is possible to access this site mostly via HTTPS and hence without sending your password in the clear.

Nope. Sadly, the DISCUS software is hard-coded to use HTTP only, and because you send the username/password only when posting, for every post, there's no way to get around that vulnerability. It's just something we have to be willing to live with, if we want to communicate with the ADB crew.

So, we're back to the highly recommended suggestion of "Don't use this password anywhere else."


Garth L. Getgen

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, December 29, 2024 - 07:06 pm: Edit

You should always use different passwords at each site you visit. You should also not use a recognizable pattern to your passwords. If you use a simple pattern for each site, once one site is compromised someone can guess your password via the pattern.

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Monday, December 30, 2024 - 07:49 am: Edit

Unfortunately, there are a couple problems in the modern world with not doing auto-payment or online banking.

1. Show me a bank anymore that is open after normal business hours or on Saturdays. No online banking = no depositing checks or else taking time off work to do so.
2. If you pay bills by check, you should only be putting them in the mail at a post office. Theft of checks out of mail boxes with subsequent alteration is a rapidly increasing crime.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, December 30, 2024 - 01:24 pm: Edit

I do have auto-pay, but not straight out of my account. Everything is charged to one credit card that is never used for anything else. I pay it off every month. And bonus -- it's a cash-back card.


Garth L. Getgen

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Monday, December 30, 2024 - 01:44 pm: Edit

>> Theft of checks out of mail boxes

This happened to me one time, in our quiet little neighborhood. 8 outgoing envelopes stolen, and a nice big mess to unravel. I've dropped everything directly in a USPS mailbox or at the post office since.

--Mike

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 30, 2024 - 02:26 pm: Edit

A friend of mine saw someone messing with his mailbox, and ran outside waving his pistol to make a citizens arrest. Turned out to be a lady leaving a flyer about her lost dog, and the sheriff was very upset with the whole mess. My friend ended up with a weapons conviction.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Monday, December 30, 2024 - 02:43 pm: Edit

Keep a notebook (Dead Tree) with passwords?

Personal Emergency Non-Computerized Information Lifesaver and Personal Emergency Protector of Emergency Records...

(Can't go wrong with P.E.N.C.I.L. and P.A.P.E.R. )

By Stephen G. Parry (Mutant) on Monday, December 30, 2024 - 07:40 pm: Edit

There are of course weaknesses in the P.E.N.C.I.L. and P.A.P.E.R. approach. The most troublesome is actually generating unique passwords for each and every site, that are easy to write down, without making a discernable pattern. I access a bazillion sites (+-a shed load). However, there is an approach, with two variations, which I have used successfully at times:
1. Create a simple program, in an easy programming language that can interface with an Open source dictionary API like WordNet. Get it to pick three random words totalling at least 12 characters. Capitalise at least one of the words, then add one random punctuation character, avoiding spaces and percent signs (these upset some systems), at the end or between two of the words.
Write it in your little black book.
2. Do the same, but using only paper. Use some percentile dice, a paper dictionary and a table of symbols with a d6, d10 or d12. Pick the page number in the dictionary using the percentile dice. Roll again for the word on the page. Or just pick. Write it in your little black book.
Either approach will give you a password you might even remember in a pinch (black books get lost or stolen), which will be secure and satisfy the pickiest of sites. I have even used (2) with our students - although I do pick the words from my head, which is risky. The system I created for my last industry employer used (1) although only generating two words. The amusing thing was how often it picked a remarkably crude, insulting and totally appropriate combination of words for the person intended to use it.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Wednesday, January 01, 2025 - 01:49 pm: Edit

Passwords? Here is one easy way https://xkcd.com/936/

I usually use an expletive however...

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 - 02:52 pm: Edit

Spambot: Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Proposals Board: New Ships: R04: ROMULAN PROPOSALS: "Dove" class diplomatic vessel

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 - 11:52 am: Edit

Jean and Albert,

Congrats on selling a pilot script to Paramount!

By Jean Sexton Beddow (Jsexton) on Monday, January 27, 2025 - 04:20 pm: Edit

Don't I wish! The real story is that I was really, really sick and didn't want to share my germs with others in the office.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, January 27, 2025 - 11:37 pm: Edit

Oh, so it's your fault that nobody was watching over and keeping SVC's so-called sense of "humor" in check. Got it.

Hope you feel better soon.


Garth L. Getgen

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Thursday, February 27, 2025 - 10:03 am: Edit

Jean, the FC Forum seems to be down ...

Also, the servers seem to be exceptionally slow. At first I thought it was just on my end, but it has been consistent for the ADB sites and nothing else. They were both slow yesterday, and the BBS is still slow and the FC Forum is now down.

By Jean Sexton Beddow (Jsexton) on Thursday, February 27, 2025 - 12:13 pm: Edit

I think it must have been an issue with the host. It seems to be working now.

By Nick Blank (Nickgb) on Thursday, February 27, 2025 - 12:42 pm: Edit

I noticed the slowdown yesterday on this forum. Seems fine now.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 12:17 am: Edit

I wasn't terribly worried until it got worse. Probably just an ISP hiccup that they fixed on their own. I just wanted to mention it in case it didn't get healed quickly.

Thanks!

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 09:04 am: Edit

I noticed a similar slowdown. The BBS seems to be back to the regular fast speed now.

--Mike

By Michael Bennett (Mike) on Saturday, March 01, 2025 - 08:50 pm: Edit

There is a lot of spam on the FC site.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Sunday, March 02, 2025 - 02:36 am: Edit

First, please note the presence of spam in the subtopic "below" this one so Jean isn't overtly distracted by it, and so you can get proper credit for the notice.

Second, I was really distracted Friday and Saturday. I apologize for being a bit slow in it. It's all gone for now, until they inevitably come back.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, March 10, 2025 - 05:18 pm: Edit

ATTENTION ALL
There have been some unusual issues on the BBS in the last week. For example, my office PC and Mac both talk to the BBS just fine but my home PC and Mac cannot reach the BBS and just get a blank screen. Emails from users have noted timeout issues. If you have issues, say so here and we'll assemble the clues until we know what's what.

By Stephen G. Parry (Mutant) on Monday, March 10, 2025 - 06:38 pm: Edit

I don't know if it is the same issue, but I get a blank screen if I accidentally call up the site via https instead of http...

By Alan W Kerr (Awkerr) on Monday, March 10, 2025 - 07:36 pm: Edit

"unusual issues on the BBS"...

I had something similar happen, and I believe it was due to a Browser Update.

Firefox, by default, tries to use "https:" and if that fails, checks for "http:". In the last week, I did have the BBS stop/hang on a blank page. I noticed it was trying to use https: when it hung on that blank page. I deleted the "s", hit return, and the BBS appeared like normal. Since then, it hasn't happened again. Don't know if a later update fixed this or if deleting the "s" made firefox "remember" that the BBS does NOT use https:...

consider this an "assembled clue"... and I hope this helps.

By Michael F Guntly (Ares) on Monday, March 10, 2025 - 09:15 pm: Edit

I had a near identical experience, and resolution, as described by Alan Kerr. Has worked fine since then

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 - 12:33 pm: Edit

I have the same issue on my Mac if I use the bookmark. Safari changes it to https. But when I click on the address bar and remove the s in https it works fine after that.

Also, if I click a link to go to a post that was posted in the last day (after click "Last Day"). I need to scroll the window a little for the page to show the contents.