Site Security ?

I have just received an e'mail regarding my recent thread " Job Opportunities" I asked the guy where he'd got the information regarding the job & my details from, I also asked him if he was a friend of Parrots. Parrot had mentioned that a friend of his may contact me. This was the answer he gave me......

."sorry lol, ment dont know that guy, but yes saw the link on the rwf forum, but when you google openrach jobs, in the end is how i found the forum post as can view it without being a member, ah long winded".

I thought you had to be a member to access the threads ?? I'm not overly concerned but I will certainly not put my e'mail address on show in the future, I'll follow what I usually do & that's PM it on request.

Richie.
just a thought. 2 or 3 times fairly recently there have been Scam Posts via the A.O.L site. was this also via this provider, if so does this need possible investigation.


ivor

AOL is unsafe I warned about it a year ago swap providers...........you have only yourselves to blame
and get a good virus checker

It's not spam but a genuine guy who was looking for work

richie.
i am not suggesting that the guy was not genuine.but it appears that non members are able to access parts of the forum which should be restricted. My only concern was with the security of AOL.


ivor

Richie264, did your spam rate go up when you posted your e-mail addy on here ? dont forget there are thousands of spam bots lurking on the net on the look out for valid e-mail addys to target mate. These little horrors can see e-mails addy even when the section where it is posted is hidden from general view (dont ask me how but they can) . Also there are bots on the look out specifically for personal details and we all know why dont we, i know of people who have posted there home adresses, phone numbers as well as E-Mail addys and other personal details on forums which in my view is asking to be scammed or have your identity nicked. The only protection from this sort of thing is not to post personal details of any sort on a forum, stick to pm,s if you need to give someone that sort of info.

mornin' all

I am not sure that spam is the issue here. Spammers are like an Electronic equivalent of ''Bedbugs'' you know they are there, you can do sod all about them, and you hope you don't get bit.
I have used the the same ISP for about 15 yrs, from Freeserve to Wanadoo to Orange, and the same Email provider throughout with, luckily, no problems. My Email filter is set very high so that even things like car hire bookings, flight confirmations etc go into 'junk' until i move them.
But i believe this is not about spam.
I believe that due to the nature of this site, and i am Not inferring any criticism, if we supply personal info it should be at a level of Restricted/ Confidential access.
However, we all know that, if determined enough hackers will get in.
There are 2 issues here that concern me.
First, as i have said the security of AOL, which is somewhat suspect.
Second the direct link to Facebook.
I use AVG(free) 2013. as my virus checker.some time ago it picked up a Trojan Horse from a game on Fb. I will not use the link as i do not trust Fb.
Maybe if there are security issues then 'Th'management' could look at it.


ivor

Agreed Ivor i have never trusted Facebook, indeed our security officers dont really like us useing it (which i dont) if for no other reason than if you post photos your local area, house, possestions the photos locations can apparently be tracked which can be used by the less honest for nasty reasons. I only posted the stuff about bots as a general warning to people that may not know about the things you would be surprised at the number who do not.

According to the news this morning Facebook has admitted they have been hacked recently though they say no personal details have been compromised.

Cheers

Dave

I agree with you all i would never trust facebook either.

Depending on the forum's settings, users can be anonymous or have to register with the forum and then subsequently log in in order to read or post messages. In line with most other forums, Unregistered/Not logged in users do not currently have to register/log in to read existing messages.

I can change this so members of this group will not be able to view the content of threads. They will be limited to only ever seeing the titles of threads. However, this will prevent the spiders and bots from indexing various directories and discovering new and updated pages, which are added to their search engines.

If you would like to restrict the display of some of the blocks on your profile page, select a minimum relationship that other users must meet to see the blocks through your Settings options

Note: Guests and users on your Ignore List will only be able to view the blocks on your page where you have selected 'Everyone'.

I don't have any major issues with the site, I should have just stated that if anyone needed my details I'd PM them. It's a good reminder to all just to be aware.

Bob.
Thanks for the info.
You may recall a previous thread when the subject of 'invisibles' was raised. i am not in favour of anyone Anonymous or Invisible on the Forum. I am not sure that this Forum is like others. We have Active members of the Forces and occasionally info comes down from above, therefore any compromise of identity should be avoided.
I do not think it either desirable or practical to have everything locked away but maybe blocks like Sound Off, research etc should be members/ logged on only. a decision like this must be up to all members, but this does not really solve the underlying problem of secure internet access.

ivor

Richie.
Like you i have no problems with the site, in fact i believe the moderators do an extremely good job.
However i think you were right to bring this up. During my searches relating to the St Venant thread i came upon numerous links to the forum. also i found links to WW2 Talk a MilHis web site. That allowed me to access that particular thread only, no attachments etc. If i wished to view photo's or attachments i was required to register and log in which seems quite reasonable.
Be assured, as i said before, i have NO criticism of the forum, my only concern is regarding links to external sites that May be a source of problems.


ivor