CFC site down?

[Michael Lo]

Is CFC site down?

[Bob Gillanders]

Thanks Michael. Looking into it.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

My anti-virus software caught some nasty here today and stopped it. I didn't note the name of the malware but I will note it if it comes up again. Be warned.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Could you implemented a better protection for the CFC website? Again it is infused with a nasty stuff.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Could you implemented a better protection for the CFC website? Again it is infused with a nasty stuff.

I'm not responsible for that sort of maintenance here but it might be helpful if you are able to identify: (a) the name of the malware if your anti-virus software was able to identify it; (b) when this happened, i.e., when you initially visited the website, or while you were logged on to the Discussion Board and/or the CFC site; (c) any other info that might be helpful.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

I'm not responsible for that sort of maintenance here but it might be helpful if you are able to identify: (a) the name of the malware if your anti-virus software was able to identify it; (b) when this happened, i.e., when you initially visited the website, or while you were logged on to the Discussion Board and/or the CFC site; (c) any other info that might be helpful.

Last night went to chess.ca and it started to spit out all kind of screams that I should contact M$ for help.

Preparing for the tournament requires quite often to visit chess.ca to check a players' status. Also we send players/parents to renew or get CFC memberships.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

My anti-virus software caught something again today. I googled the CFC and went to the link; one window opened this discussion board and I got a warning from my anti-virus about another window opening that was blocked. Didn't get the name of it - sorry.

I'm no expert but it seems like this site has been hacked. Or maybe I'm just on a deep state watch list.

[Vadim Tsypin]

Public Service Announcement:

ChessTalk appears to be infected by a new generation of cryptocurrency mining malware yet again. Same symptoms as on March 17: opening a browser tab on any page of that discussion board leads to a software thread being launched that would commence the mining and show an abnormally high CPU usage (see a screenshot). This continues even after user shifts the focus. The thread needs to be killed altogether in order to return the device to normal CPU utilization levels.

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[Aris Marghetis]

Public Service Announcement:

ChessTalk appears to be infected by a new generation of cryptocurrency mining malware yet again. Same symptoms as on March 17: opening a browser tab on any page of that discussion board leads to a software thread being launched that would commence the mining and show an abnormally high CPU usage (see a screenshot). This continues even after user shifts the focus. The thread needs to be killed altogether in order to return the device to normal CPU utilization levels.

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Thank you Vadim. I heavily defend my laptop, and I just don't go to that board anymore. I just don't need even the potential aggravation of being slowed down, infected, etc.

Anyway, thank you for your detailed post.

[Vadim Tsypin]

I wholly agree with you, Aris. There is no reason to go to ChessTalk when the site physically threatens our hardware and has a non-transparent ownership structure and user policies.

Yet another datapoint:
Between April 22 and 23, the new (old?) owner of the malfunctioning ChessTalk board removed several threads in the English and French sections that were entitled "CFC Tournaments", "The Canadian Youth Chess Championships 2018", "The Canadian Open 2018" and such. I happened to be the OP for one of them; others were started by people from Ontario (John Brown?).

[Kevin Pacey]

Did I happen to visit this CFC Discussion Board on a slow weekend, after not viewing it for many months? In spite of fresh potential posters possibly slowly migrating from chesstalk to here, this board still does not seem to be particularly teeming with lots of fresh posts (or alternatively, blog entries) to see every day.

Maybe collectively we need to branch out a little more into occasional non-chess stuff in this forum, or somehow create/condone more passion/debate.

[Bob Gillanders]

Sorry folks. The CFC website just went down.
Some regular maintenance went askew.
The computer guys are working on a solution.

[Bob Gillanders]

Sorry folks. The CFC website just went down.
Some regular maintenance went askew.
The computer guys are working on a solution.

We are back. All is good.