warning vatsim hacker

david balmer · Post by **david balmer** » 23 May 2006, 21:38

today it has been reported by another va that vatsim has a resident hacker, vatsim are trying to get him or her off the system, so be warned if you are using vatsim at the moment. run your anti virus and do a system check after. just in case, we don't want our fun to be destroyed by that sort. i thought you all might be interested in this.

DispatchDragon · Post by **DispatchDragon** » 24 May 2006, 00:51

I'd say that was reason enough NOT to use vatsim until the situation is rectified and then with a jaundiced eye

Leif

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 24 May 2006, 01:15

Has there been any confirmation of this from VATSIM or the VATSIM forums? Sadly, I do not trust what most VA's say unless it has been cooberated by more than 1 additional source. VATSIM has been very good about ensuring that its users know when things happen and they let them know in a very short order. I have not received a NOTAM in my e-mail box (now 4 hours after the post by David) so I have my doubts as to how truthful the report in this VA's forum is.

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 24 May 2006, 01:22

From one of the ZLA controllers on their forum -

"I had a little conversation with one of the VATUSA guys yesterday.
There is no virus, it's some retard connected with a bot/script that's snagging callsigns and repeating the retarded "You are infected..." message. As always, a virus scan could never hurt, but in doing so, you will see... there is no W32.VATSIM.VIRUS. "

david balmer · Post by **david balmer** » 24 May 2006, 02:34

the va in question was DC3 Airways, all i was doing to forwarding the info on for the general interest of the group. as i've only recently come to internet connected flying, these's bit's of info ring loud bells as i don't want things popping on my machine as it's a family unit.

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 24 May 2006, 02:53

Understand that David, but there's a bad habit of people ringing the alarm at the first sign of smoke without taking a few more seconds to determine where it's coming from in this community. If you could see the number of "virus warnings" I get from across the Flight Sim community on a monthly basis, you'd be very skeptical as well I'd hope. VATSIM has proven in its 10+ years of existance (first as SATCO now as VATSIM) that they will let everyone know when something happens that affects them and it will be done by an all-member NOTAM. Having someone over at DC-3 Airways sound the alarm and then not get a NOTAM in a short order was my first clue that it was probably not a virus but an idiot spammer logging into the server. Needless to say, they'll quickly determine how he's getting on and close that hole.

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 24 May 2006, 02:59

David, just for everyone's convenience, I'm going to link to the post that Charles put up. Please read it carefully, it explains very well that it is not a virus nor a serious security risk.

http://www.dcascreenshots.net/dcaforum/ ... php?t=4623

Your summation of what he said can cause a lot of problems for people becuase it suggests that there was a threat of a virus. As his post points out, there is nothing ever put on your machine and that the messages you get are simply text messages that do nothing more than cause you an annoyance. It also gives a potential solution to the problem until VATSIM can make a permenant fix.

david balmer · Post by **david balmer** » 24 May 2006, 03:30

thanks chris, that makes me feel much better. this info was not on the dc3 site this morning and so all i got was the HACKER. with what you have now said i'll wait and read what comes from this forum if there is any kind of attack. as you have your finger on the pulse of what happening on the online flying. Also at this time i don't fly multiplayer, i'll wait until i can fly aircraft with much more ease. to many things to think about, don't need someone talking to me aswell. or my small degrading brain cell will explode.