# Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt or "Martial Arts Forum Viruses And Security Issues"



## Bob Hubbard (Nov 24, 2006)

*Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt or "Martial Arts Forum Viruses And Security Issues"*

The following email seems to be making the rounds. I'm not certain of the source, but the points it brings up need to be cleared up.



> Martial Arts Forum Viruses And Security Issues
> 
> If you participate in on-line forums such as martialtalk.com and e-budo.com, the security of your computer and personal data may have been seriously
> compromised.
> ...


I'd like to take this line by line.

"If you participate in on-line forums such as martialtalk.com and e-budo.com, the security of your computer and personal data may have been seriously
 compromised."

While I cannot speak for the good folks at e-budo, I can speak for MartialTalk and it's "relations". MartialTalk uses the industry leading vBulletin software, a well and regularly maintained commercial discussion forum software. It is not a free program. MartialTalk and it's sister forums are regularly upgraded and patched against the latest threats. In addition, the servers our sites are on are regularly upgraded, and actively monitored against intrusion and other problems.

"Like most of these types of forums, they use cookies to track your movement and record you Internet Protocol (IP) Address to identify your computer.
This information gets recorded in thier data base along with your user name. So they know who you are, where you are and where you go on the internet.
They will run scripts that can gather other personal information off of your computer. If you use things like Quicken and Microsoft Money, they know what bank you use, what credit cards you use and other vital personal data."

This is not accurate, and in some ways is in fact libelous.

MartialTalk does use cookies, however you can disable and block them at your end.
Your IP address is recorded, in both the forum database and the servers web logs. Any site you visit will record your IP address in it's logs.
The rest is fantasy.
We can't follow you around the internet.
We can't run scripts on your system, snoop through your computer or steal your private data.
Those actions are illegal, unethical and against everything we stand for.
Anyone who does do those actions should be procecuted to the full extent of the law.

"This information then can be sold to marketing companies and spammers and can also be used for identity theft."
True, to an extent.
Your information can be sold to marketers, however to do so is against our posted privacy policy.
It could be sold to spammers, but the small number of addresses in our databases are of no interest to them as they deal in the hundreds of thousands of addresses, usually sniffed from public postings, or peoples own websites.
Identity theft is also hard to do when one is missing vital information such as phone numbers, street addresses or most importantly, social security numbers. We collect none of these, and in fact are not allowed by law to ask or use the later.

"This is also now a popular way to spread viruses. If you use the Private Message feature to read notes from someone, you may very well find that your computer has unwanted and perhaps even harmful programming installed."

I am unable to find a single verifiable case of a virus being transmitted through a forums Private Message system. If anyone can point me at this information, I would greatly appreciate it. Viruses are executable programs. PM's are plain text. It just doesn't work that way.

"If you are concerned about the integrity of your personal information and the security of your computer, you should stay away from these types of forums."

If you are concerned about the integrity of your personal information, install a good anti-virus program and keep it updated daily, a solid firewall also kept up to date and more importantly properly configured, and an anti-spyware package again kept up to date and properly configured. Also, disable the HTML feature in your email program, and take the time to read up on how to make that program secure against threats. Make sure that you install all security updates to your operating system. That is the only way to be safe. Not listening to some crackpot who doesn't know what he or she is really talking about.

If you are really concerned, then keep your personal data on a PC that is not connected in any way to the internet. 

Most forums are safe, as long as they are run by ethical people and properly maintained.
Be safe, and educate yourself on how to properly safeguard your system.


----------



## MA-Caver (Nov 24, 2006)

:asian: Thank you Bob! 


You're still a site/sight!


----------



## Drac (Nov 25, 2006)

Let me join Caver and also say "Thanks Bob"...


----------



## ajs1976 (Nov 25, 2006)

I wonder who is starting this FUD campaign?


----------



## Kacey (Nov 25, 2006)

Thanks, Bob!  That's what I figured, but I also figured I wasn't the only one getting this particular email, and it looked a little too well aimed, which is what made me wonder.


----------



## MSTCNC (Nov 25, 2006)

Bob Hubbard said:


> That is the only way to be safe. Not listening to some crackpot who doesn't know what he or she is really talking about.



EXACTLY!

That's why I prefer to listen to a crackpot that KNOWS what he's talking about... BOB! :ultracool 

Just kidding, Brother! 

As of yet... no email... so, thanks for the 4-1-1 on all of this...

Your Brother in the arts,

Andrew


----------



## Cruentus (Nov 25, 2006)

And I'll say that I have happily been a member of MT since 2002, and I have never had any problems. I trust the software here...

Paul


----------



## Rich Parsons (Nov 25, 2006)

Bob Hubbard said:


> *Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt or "Martial Arts Forum Viruses And Security Issues"*
> 
> The following email seems to be making the rounds. I'm not certain of the source, but the points it brings up need to be cleared up.
> 
> ...




Thank you Bob for this follow-up.

You mentioned libelous actions, if you find the source could we not file a class action suit against them?

Could we call the Homeland Security and turn it over to them as an act of terrorism? The act of trying to instill terror or fear into someone. 

Is it possible that there are some people who are no longer members on e-Budo and Martial Talk that might have an axe to grind?

With the mention of just two forums specifically, and ones that are pretty large, but may not be the largest, it might be interesting to look into who might gain from the loss of these two forums. 

As Paul has stated, I have had no issues with this sites software.


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Nov 25, 2006)

The email looks to come from France.

Filing suit is easy. Collecting damages, thats hard. From what several people have said, it looks like its someone who has received less than stellar reviews on their stuff. So, sour grapes n all that.  Like it's been said before, it says alot about their true character.

MT ain't going anywhere.


----------



## Rich Parsons (Nov 26, 2006)

Bob Hubbard said:


> The email looks to come from France.
> 
> Filing suit is easy. Collecting damages, thats hard. From what several people have said, it looks like its someone who has received less than stellar reviews on their stuff. So, sour grapes n all that. Like it's been said before, it says alot about their true character.
> 
> MT ain't going anywhere.




I still would like to see the Home Land Security get involved and go after these guys in France. That is international Terrorism.


----------



## arnisador (Nov 26, 2006)

Bob Hubbard said:


> *Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt or "Martial Arts Forum Viruses And Security Issues"*
> 
> The following email seems to be making the rounds.



Looks to me like this is 100% nonsense. I think that several of the things described are technically impossible. How could you send a virus via PM, for example?


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Nov 26, 2006)

You can't.  Text files can't transmit a virus.


----------



## Bob Hubbard (Nov 26, 2006)

Robert Carver, Admin of Budoseek gave me the ok to repost his response to this email. He hit on some of the technical aspects that I missed.

====



			
				 Robert Carver said:
			
		

> Some of you in the past couple of hours may have received the following email (maybe several times).
> 
> Anyway, although BudoSeek was not mentioned in the above email, I still feel compelled to respond to this nonsense since we use the same forum software as E-Budo and MartialTalk.
> 
> ...


----------

