Roy 10,832 / 0 Report Post Posted June 4, 2016 We would firstly like to talk about the recent events that has affected the community as a whole. On May 20th, we received an email with ransom demands. We weren’t sure whether this was a bluff or real threat, but in the case it wasn’t bluff, we made an announcement warning all of our users we were at risk of a major security breach in our network. After giving this warning, we took steps we deemed necessary to secure our network. On May 21st, it was proven this wasn’t a bluff and the steps taken in security was not enough to stop these hackers. To sum up, a dump of our database was made public which included a table of our users on the forums. Emails and passwords (hashed) were also included in this MySQL dump. Obviously, this breach has hurt GFL in many ways (mostly trust that users had in us). We do apologize for letting it happen and we will do the best we can to ensure it never happens again. Security After the major security breach and the database information leaked, we removed access to the web server to have an internal investigation. We have a few theories about how it all happened and we’ve taken steps to mitigate it as best as we could. Since then, we have rebuilt the web server from scratch and started deploying the new version of IPS (version 4) in order to ensure that there were no back doors or other threats still remaining on the system which is why the website and forums have been offline since the event. We have not copied any data from the previous web server, although we still have in possession a copy of the database and website files. We strongly recommend to never use the same password for multiple websites. Using programs such as KeePass and LastPass will help secure yourself in general. We also recommend storing generated passwords in these specific programs, etc. In wake of recent events with even Teamviewer (Link) and past events with other websites and companies, added layers of security will only make it harder for a malicious user. New Forum/Website Before the breach, we used IPB 3.4.9 for our forum software. Since we were already planning on moving to IPS 4, we decided this would be the perfect time to execute the plan. We are now running on IPS 4. However, there are obviously some deviations from the plan. Although we had recent backups of our IPB 3.4.9 database, we still thought it would be best to do a fresh installation of IPS 4. Why? We thought it would keep us more secure and generally make moving to IPS 4 easier. In the end, we consider this a new start for GFL and having a fresh installation would be the best option. Like we said, we have a backup of the old database, if you had any important threads/posts on the old forum and want them back, this is possible. Please message @Roy. Once we finish the new back-end with Members, Supporters, and VIPs, you will need to reapply for Member. Please thank @denros for dedicating a lot of his time into making the new IPS 4 theme for GFL along with rebuilding our donation system. Also thank @Snoopy and @Shuruia (along with a few others) for helping set up the forums. SourceBans + Other Game Server Backends Firstly, we will be changing what we use SourceBans for. In the past, we have used SourceBans to handle Admins+, VIPs, Supporters, and Members. In the future, we will be using SourceBans only for Admins+ access and bans (as it should be). We will be developing our own plugin to manage our Members, Supporters, and VIPs. We also plan on merging both SourceBans (normal SourceBans and Garry’s Mod SourceBans) together again. This will generally make things easier to manage. Currently, our game servers are using the old SourceBans database (on the old SQL VPS). There is no web-interface for any of the old databases; there is therefore currently no way to see if you have been banned (or the reason you’ve been banned). However, @Roy can check through the database itself. Other databases that haven’t been moved over include HLStatsX, SourceBans, and Server List (used for Server Hop, Server Ads, etc). We have no ETA on when everything will be moved over to our new database server although it should not be too much longer. The good news is the databases at this time are still running and collecting stats, running bands, and so forth. Supporters/VIPs System Change The next thing to talk about is the Supporters/VIPs system change. As mentioned on the old forums, we were completely rebuilding our donation system. Despite it currently being unfinished, a basic version will be coming out soon. For pricing, the supporter package will be $4.99 a month and the VIP package will be $7.99 a month (there will be discounts, etc when donating a high amount of money at one time). Users will have to manually input how much they want to donate and it will be multiplied by a factor to receive the amount of days they get Supporter/VIP for. Auto-renewing will not be available (for now, at least). As an added note, users who had an active Supporter/VIP package after May 20th, 2016 (this includes permanent VIPs) will be given back their time. More information will be available when we release the rebuilt donation system. Our Current Financial State Currently, we are not doing well financially. We only have ~$350.00 in our PayPal account. Although we have cut down on expenses (we currently spend ~$851.91/m for our services), we feel we still are in a bad financial state. Especially after the recent events. Server Managers+ will be going over their server(s) and look for new perks for Supporter/VIP to add. This should overall make our current and future Supporters/VIPs more happier. Cutting Down On Servers With GFL being rebuilt, we thought it would be best to cut down on game servers that: Don’t generate much traffic. Don’t generate any donations. Cutting down on servers will allow our administration to give more attention to those that are vastly popular, consolidate hardware, and reduce expenses. We currently do not have a list of servers we will be cutting down on. However, we will release it in the near future. Overall There are many changes being made to GFL. We are doing our best to make GFL a better place and the steps we are taking should definitely make us stronger. With this in mind, one should still consider that GFL’s new setup is in beta. Therefore, Supporters and VIPs will not be given their groups on the forums until the donation system is done (should be soon). Like we said in the past, users will need to reapply for Member once the system is built. We thank all of you for bearing with us through this difficult time. We will continue to make GFL stronger in the future. Thank you, - GFL’s Staff Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy 1,480 / 15,610 Report Post Posted June 4, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Here's to a fresh new start for GFL. So everyone is listing their former stuff so I'll just be cool and list mine :3 Former @HackingPotato's White Knight and Boss Former Director Former TF2 Division Leader Former Community Advisor Former TF2 Technical Administrator Former TF2 Server Manager Former TF2 Trial Manager Former TF2 Admin Former TF2 Revivalist Former TF2 Player Former TF2 God Former Media Leaderish Former somewhat Media team person Former VIP Former Supporter Former Member Former TF2 Player Former Player Share this post Link to post
Bigtime 322 / 6,475 Report Post Posted June 4, 2016 · Hidden Hidden 2 hours ago, Snoopy said: Here's to a fresh new start for GFL. Agreed a fresh new start sounds good. Share this post Link to post
Jesus 90 / 3,841 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden 3 hours ago, Snoopy said: Here's to a fresh new start for GFL. I aggree Share this post Link to post
Coolest Cat 1,266 / 14,449 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 Edited June 5, 2016 by Major_Push · Hidden Hidden We're finally shrinking down and cutting the dead weight. Woot. Also, why can't I use a space in my name. RIP the 10k post count dream, boys. Edited June 5, 2016 by Major_Push "Be good people" Share this post Link to post
Hannah 103 / 4,105 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden The future has many great things to come! - Triggered - Creative Team (GFX) Former Hide and Seek Manager Former Purge Admin PM me for personal requests Idk like it kinda sucks 2 suck unless you like sucking Fᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤFᵤcₖ yₒᵤ Share this post Link to post
Alucard33rd 1,175 / 15,145 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Its a new day for GFL. I am so excited right now. I can't wait to experience that new GFL Forums and changes to the servers Share this post Link to post
Cypher 1,187 / 11,383 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Nice. Unfortunate past few weeks, but now that the forums are up, hopefully we can translate passions for the forums into passion for the servers. Share this post Link to post
LitTwix 81 / 3,355 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden 16 hours ago, Roy said: Cutting Down On Servers With GFL being rebuilt, we thought it would be best to cut down on game servers that: Don’t generate much traffic. Don’t generate any donations. I cry. Don't hurt me :(. Share this post Link to post
Joshy 4,363 / 44,852 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Well, I am excited to try out the newer forums. I am suspecting the length of this upgrade and security risks may have cost us a good number of members, but maybe this will give us an opportunity to improve our forum community this time around instead of trying to fix the old one. I hope some other changes that might be considered is how someone becomes an admin; I sincerely feel that 25 post count requirement (I'm not sure if it'll still be in place here) was toxic for our community. Although the players would have never achieved their goals, they still posted on the forums and sets of people trying to make their way to that 25 could literally causes an 100 ~ 200 posts of absolute crap. It looks like we have a lot of new features. I'm really happy about that. I recalling tagging someone was not as convenient, and you had to type in brackets Member with their complete name. Some people would change their name and the tag would go bad... Bummer about Sourcebans! It's very resourceful and that should be fixed as soon as possible. Thanks for the update, @Roy. I can tell a lot of effort went into this upgrade and it looks like it will be worth it. Great job. Share this post Link to post
Ghost_Assassin 75 / 3,516 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden So the website is officially back on? For some reason in the past couple days whenever I visited the gfl website to check, I stumbled upon a link to denro's nfoservers.com test forum, which appeared to have made in the beginning of the year and registered an account on there. The new website looks pretty good. Share this post Link to post
bropal 10 / 3,185 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Hey, Nice work on the website and on the security of the users! I hope no more incidents as serious as the last ones ever happen again! Game on and cheers! Share this post Link to post
ScootypTooty 371 / 8,393 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden 15 hours ago, Snoopy said: Here's to a fresh new start for GFL. THE NEW WEBSITE LOOKS SO COOL! MAJOR UPGRADE! LOVE IT! GOOD JOB GUYS! The new GFL is certainly better than before! We have taken a huge hit, however, we can still go through this and show those hackers that we won't let it get to us, that we will stand strong as a community! I think the higher ups need a big THANK YOU! for doing their best to find the problem, fix it, and then having to REDO tho WHOLE WEBSITE! It must have taken HOURS of their time! Anyway, thanks guys for getting the forums back up and doing your best, I think we all appreciate it :D THANK YOU! -DankMoose Share this post Link to post
ScootypTooty 371 / 8,393 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden 22 hours ago, Roy said: Cutting Down On Servers With GFL being rebuilt, we thought it would be best to cut down on game servers that: Don’t generate much traffic. Don’t generate any donations. I'm curious to how you guys are going to cut down servers. I know that there are some that can get fairly active during certain time periods but, from about 23:00-10:00 there are only 2-4 people on. Share this post Link to post
Addy 1,648 / 18,727 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 Edited June 5, 2016 by Addy · Hidden Hidden 2 hours ago, DankMoose said: I'm curious to how you guys are going to cut down servers. I know that there are some that can get fairly active during certain time periods but, from about 23:00-10:00 there are only 2-4 people on. I'm assuming that aspect is more based on whether or not they generate donations. I doubt they'll need to have populations at odd times. Just my thought, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ anyways, am glad new forums are up. Do you know how much YouTube I've binge watched the past week or so... Edited June 5, 2016 by Addy was good knowin you M E M E S Spoiler D I S C O R D D E N R O S D O N T F O R G E T W I L F O R D D O N T F O R G E T J E R M Spoiler Former Garry's Mod Jailbreak Manager Former CS:S Bhop Manager Former CS:S Dust 2 Manager #MakeGMODGreatAgain #BringBackGMODJailbreak #BringBackJermsquad #Hacking4CA Share this post Link to post
ComradeSteaky 18 / 2,299 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Honestly I'm not sure if i joined at a good or bad time. But being a former community owner I fully understand the situation and if there is any help i can provide feel free to ask. Share this post Link to post
alexw200 20 / 2,369 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden whos gonna be in charge of donations now? i could do it for 17k a year ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Share this post Link to post
MetroidSkittles 13 / 2,881 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Fresh start with the same management. You've essentially sent the same storm troopers back out again to get the Jedi after they failed the first 10 times.... Share this post Link to post
Dano 933 / 15,507 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden 1 minute ago, Brandon said: Fresh start with the same management. You've essentially sent the same storm troopers back out again to get the Jedi after they failed the first 10 times.... It seems as though you do not understand the circumstances here. Changes have always been made and are always made. GFL has improved its security, its staff, etc. It's certainly not the same that has "failed" before. Share this post Link to post Achievements
MetroidSkittles 13 / 2,881 Report Post Posted June 5, 2016 · Hidden Hidden Your lack of security and piss poor management decisions lead to my confidential information being leaked to the internet. Information I trusted to your website. You have failed and then prance back in here with a half ass apology and pretend it's all going to be okay. The trust is gone dude. Share this post Link to post