AVSIM hacked and destroyed???

[Tom Everitt AFG]

Someone at BBC news must be a FS fan:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8049780.stm

Tom.

[nigelb]

That BBC site has a link to a temporary forum for Avsim. From the first message it looks like they will be back as Tom states the support has been overwhelming. The link:

http://linux.myalbemarle.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=32

Nigel²

[Vulcan_to_the_Sky!]

Bad News, although hard to believe that they couldn't save any of the site,

I wish them every success in gettting the site back up and running, it had become one of my favourite sites for flightsim downloads (after the pond) and it would be a true shame to see it not come back, so heres hoping that it will do.

[steelsporran]

Perhaps as a result, Flightsim.com's new file list for FS9 took a while to check out. Maybe AI should have a category of its own as most of today's 250 files were timetables.

[DaveB]

That's nothing new at Allnodes mate though 'most of 250' could be considered a few more than usual

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Ben Hartmann]

Back in the news again:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8244028.stm

$50,000 to put a server back online??? Seriously?? I bet he's put a deposit down on a nice new BMW.

I'll hack him again

Ben

[Garry Russell]

Seems a bit OTT to me Ben

I would have done it for $49,000

Garry

[Ben Hartmann]

Under international law, the alleged hacker must be charged in the country were the physical server is located. Avsim servers to my knowledge are US and therefore subject to US law. Personally I think there is internal fraud going on at Avsim from the smell of things.
Why he insists on updating the public this way is almost laughable....its as if he is trying to maintain the pretence that they were actually hacked as opposed to screwed over by one of their own former employees (albeit a hired consultant or whatever)... maybe he feels the need to continually justify the thousands he has now got in his swiss bank account. The avsim hack was obviously an inside job,even Tom implied that himself in a roundabout way from day one!

The guy who was so trusted to 'Upgrade' his site somehow screwed it up with all the access passwords and other info he needed given to him by Mr Allensworth himself; sounds really weird!! It wouldn't surprise me if not one prosecution results after all this and in the end this was just a giant red herring, a smoking gun without a bullet!

Rgds

Ben

[Chris Sykes]

surely if bens information is correct then negligence will come to play?

[Ben Hartmann]

This is the way I see it:-

1. "Economic Downturn"/"Recession" hits Tom Allensworth hard.
2. Tom decides he's got the perfect platform to stage his own version of "SaveKaryn.com".
3. Tom manufactures the scenario by which he will scam his way out of debt.
4. The scam is launched.
5. The scam works. Active AVSIM forum members prove to be just as assenine as they make themselves out to be on the board.
6. The plot thickens as Tom continues to defraud his user base of thousands upon thousands of dollars by weaving an ever more intricate web of lies and deceit.
7. Ben Hartmann breaks his silence on the matter and publicly releases his findings of it's own independent investigation (???)
8. Tom Allensworth is indicted by a grand jury, is put on trial and found guilty on all counts (!!)
9. Tom is sentenced to 169 years in a federal penitentiary.

The Metropolitan Police could not confirm whether it had received the complaint

Of course it wouldn't, this is an American case

Rgds

Ben