Site Back Online After Security Incident: New Server, New Safeguards
savekvec.org is back online. Over the past several weeks the site was taken offline, rebuilt, and moved to a new hosting provider after we detected repeated attempts to break into the admin panel. Rather than patch the old setup and hope for the best, we used the downtime to rebuild the site from the ground up and move it to a more secure server.Here's what changed.
The site no longer runs on the early software it used to as it has been rebuilt with newly added features. It still remains a fully custom system. Every login attempt against the admin panel is now logged, and repeated failed attempts are automatically flagged for review.
We also rebuilt SDS™, an automated system that screens incoming comments for spam, harassment, and other abusive content before it ever reaches the public page. Comments that get flagged are held for a moderator to review instead of posting immediately, and known bad actors, whether by IP address or email, are blocked automatically going forward. Accounts that violate the site's rules can be restricted directly, and email addresses tied to abusive behavior can be banned outright, both from registering a new account and from posting as a guest.
The practical effect of all this is that the site can run mostly on autopilot. Moderators no longer need to review every comment by hand. The system handles the first pass, and a human only needs to step in occasionally, when something needs a judgment call the software can't make on its own.
We know an outage like this is frustrating, especially given the reason behind it. Thanks for your patience while we got this right. We're confident the site is in a much better position going forward.
If you notice anything that doesn't look right, or if you're an eyewitness with something to report, use the contact page or the whistleblower form. Thanks for sticking with us.