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Books & Bytes – Issue 29, June –...

John Bennett

3 May 2018 3 May '18

8:27 p.m.

Hello, Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours warning you of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I wanted to let you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of the situation, and working with others in the organization on steps to decrease the success of attacks like these. The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from our systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized access to random accounts. These types of efforts are increasingly common for websites of our reach. A vast majority of these attempts have been unsuccessful, and we are reaching out personally to the small number of accounts which we believe have been compromised. While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security systems and processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these, the best method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in the past to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we continue to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a secure computer and account. That includes regularly changing your passwords,[2] actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your system software up to date. My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report back if we notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please contact the Support and Safety team (susa{{(a)}}wikimedia.org). John Bennett Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_requirements [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword

Show replies by date

Fæ

4 May 4 May

5:40 a.m.

New subject: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails

On 4 May 2018 at 01:27, John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

Thanks for the update. Could you please follow up with a public report about incident and the analysis. There is plenty of data available in the public domain, and an awful lot of users have been affected, there seems no special reason to keep the basic analysis a secret even if some behind-the-scenes changes might need to remain unpublished. I have raised this as a Phabricator ticket as a prompt.[1] By the way, the Wikimedia user community is still waiting for the promised report on the OurMine hack of 11th November 2016. Could you get on with it please? Leaving users hanging for more than a year for analysis to get published is not a good look for the WMF, it leaves us wondering if this type of standard analysis gets done properly or not.[2] Links 1. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T193846 Publish analysis of sustained login attack of 3 May 2018 2. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T150605 Publish an analysis of the OurMine hack Thanks Fae -- faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

Fæ

25 Aug 25 Aug

12:21 p.m.

New subject: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails

Dear Security group of the Wikimedia Foundation, The community has been patiently waiting for *113 days* for an analysis to be published for the login attack of 3 May 2018. The community has been waiting for *650 days* (that's around one year and 10 months) for an analysis of the OurMine hack to be published. We are repeatedly, and at times rudely, advised by WMF employees to raise Phabricator tickets for these types of task, which now appears to be deliberately bad advice if the tickets can remain open but languish as "Needs Triage" and ignored by the WMF for a period of years or indefinitely until the community conveniently forgets about them. The OurMine hack was an important breach of Wikimedia project security, and though the precise details may not be smart to make public as this might risk becoming guidance for future hackers, nobody can object to a potted summary and analysis of how severe the attack was, and what types of steps the WMF has taken to ensure this will never be repeated. Links 1. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T193846 Publish analysis of sustained login attack of 3 May 2018 2. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T150605 Publish an analysis of the OurMine hack (11 November 2016) Thank you for helping out with better community communication, Fae -- faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae On Fri, 4 May 2018 at 10:40, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

On 4 May 2018 at 01:27, John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Dennis During

12:58 p.m.

New subject: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails

Wouldn't disclosure in a public forum of any details of such an attack potentially inform the attackers and would-be imitators of the success or lack thereof of the attack, of its methods, and of detection and cleanup methods? On Sat, Aug 25, 2018 at 12:21 PM, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Dear Security group of the Wikimedia Foundation, The community has been patiently waiting for *113 days* for an analysis to be published for the login attack of 3 May 2018.

-- Dennis C. During

Shlomi Fish

7 May 7 May

7:56 a.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently blocked my entire shlomifish.org domain because it apparently misclassified an executable download as problematic (and it was built from source using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMake and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor so it is unlikely that that is the case.). MS Windows' poor resistance to malware and the fact that Windows Update is so dysfunctional (see http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Windows-Update/ ) are the reasons why I cannot recommend running it as a desktop, and instead one should use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or similar. A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said.

...

My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report back if we notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please contact the Support and Safety team (susa{{(a)}}wikimedia.org). John Bennett Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_requirements [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Shabab Mustafa

8:51 a.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

...

From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to have than

no protection at all. And the example you gave here, an anti-virus mistakenly classified your domain as a potential threat, makes a weaker point. By a few mistakes, we cannot cancel out a million of other successes. A false alarm is yet favourable than no alarm at all. --- Shabab Mustafa President Wikimedia Bangladesh On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:56 PM Shlomi Fish <shlomif(a)shlomifish.org> wrote:

...

On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hello, Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours warning

you

of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I wanted to

let

you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of the situation, and working with others in the organization on steps to

decrease

the success of attacks like these. The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from our systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized access

random accounts. These types of efforts are increasingly common for websites of our reach. A vast majority of these attempts have been unsuccessful, and we are reaching out personally to the small number of accounts which we believe have been compromised. While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security systems

and

processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these, the

best

method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in the past to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we continue to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a secure computer and account. That includes regularly changing your passwords,[2] actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your system software up to date.

-- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ http://www.shlomifish.org/open-source/projects/fortune-mod/ If a tree falls down in the middle of the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it… what colour is the tree? — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply . _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Gabriel Thullen

9:02 a.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

I am also a Linux advocate, and have been so for years (decades?). That been said, I imagine that there are still more people using Windows XP than there are people using Linux. Last time I checked (october 2017) it was something like 5% using XP and less than 1% using linux, all distros included. We can safely predict that virus outvreaks will be a problem for linux once it reaches 5% or 10% market share... Gabe On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 1:51 PM, Shabab Mustafa <shabab.mustafa(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

I have been a Linux advocate for almost a decade now and from 'my past experience', I can tell you have opened a topic of a huge discussion about people should switch to Linux Desktops (which is off-topic here). But I respectfully disagree with your statement, "anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good". From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to have than no protection at all. And the example you gave here, an anti-virus mistakenly classified your domain as a potential threat, makes a weaker point. By a few mistakes, we cannot cancel out a million of other successes. A false alarm is yet favourable than no alarm at all. --- Shabab Mustafa President Wikimedia Bangladesh On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:56 PM Shlomi Fish <shlomif(a)shlomifish.org> wrote:

On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hello, Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours warning

you

of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I wanted to

let

you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of the situation, and working with others in the organization on steps to

decrease > the success of attacks like these. > > The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from our > systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized

access

and

processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these, the

best > method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to > safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in the

past

> to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we

continue

> to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a secure > computer and account. That includes regularly changing your

passwords,[2]

actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your system software up to date.

From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good.

For

example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently blocked my entire shlomifish.org domain because it apparently misclassified an executable download as problematic (and it was built from source using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMake and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor so it is unlikely that that is the case.). MS Windows' poor resistance to malware and the fact that Windows Update is so dysfunctional (see http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Windows-Update/ ) are the reasons why I cannot recommend running it as a desktop, and instead one should

use

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or similar. A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said. > My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report back if

> notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please

contact

the Support and Safety team (susa{{(a)}}wikimedia.org). John Bennett Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_requirements [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

there

to hear it… what colour is the tree? — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Eduardo Testart

9:20 a.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

Shlomi, I believe that the problem is with your particular brand of antivirus, eventhough they all block a bit more or less to prevent certain risks. Nevertheless, making an extrapolation to every antivirus from the experience with only one brand, and concluding "they do more harm than good" based on that, seems a bit off. Cheers! El lun., may. 7, 2018 10:02, Gabriel Thullen <gabriel(a)thullen.com> escribió:

...

I have been a Linux advocate for almost a decade now and from 'my past experience', I can tell you have opened a topic of a huge discussion

about

people should switch to Linux Desktops (which is off-topic here). But I respectfully disagree with your statement, "anti-virus programs usually

more harm than good". From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to have

than

wrote:

> On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 > John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > Hello, > > > > Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours

warning

> you > > of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I wanted

> let > > you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of

the

situation, and working with others in the organization on steps to

decrease > the success of attacks like these. > > The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from our > systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized

access > to > > random accounts. These types of efforts are increasingly common for > > websites of our reach. A vast majority of these attempts have been > > unsuccessful, and we are reaching out personally to the small number

> > accounts which we believe have been compromised. > > > > While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security

systems

> and > > processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these,

the

best > method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to > safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in the

past

> to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we

continue

> to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a secure > computer and account. That includes regularly changing your

passwords,[2]

actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your system software up to date.

From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good.

For > example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently

blocked

> my > entire shlomifish.org domain because it apparently misclassified an > executable > download as problematic (and it was built from source using > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMake and > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor > so it is unlikely that that is the case.). MS Windows' poor resistance

malware and the fact that Windows Update is so dysfunctional (see http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Windows-Update/ ) are the reasons why I cannot recommend running it as a desktop, and instead one should

use > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or

similar.

> > A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said. > > > My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report back

> notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please

contact

there > to > hear it… what colour is the tree? > — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge > > Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post -

http://shlom.in/reply

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Shlomi Fish

10:56 a.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

Hi, On Mon, 07 May 2018 13:20:22 +0000 Eduardo Testart <etestart(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

this was just one example. I have heard of many similar problems with others. Just try subscribing to gimp-user ( https://www.gimp.org/mail_lists.html ) or chatting on freenode for a while and you will see.

...

Cheers! El lun., may. 7, 2018 10:02, Gabriel Thullen <gabriel(a)thullen.com> escribió:

I have been a Linux advocate for almost a decade now and from 'my past experience', I can tell you have opened a topic of a huge discussion

about

people should switch to Linux Desktops (which is off-topic here). But I respectfully disagree with your statement, "anti-virus programs usually

more harm than good". From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to have

than

wrote:

> On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 > John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > Hello, > > > > Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours

warning

> you > > of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I wanted

> let > > you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of

the

> situation, and working with others in the organization on steps to decrease > the success of attacks like these. > > The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from our > systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized

> > accounts which we believe have been compromised. > > > > While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security

systems

> and > > processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these,

the

best > method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to > safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in the

past

> to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we

continue

> to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a secure > computer and account. That includes regularly changing your

passwords,[2]

> actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your > system software up to date. > From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good.

For > example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently

blocked

use > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or

similar.

> > A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said. > > > My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report back

> notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please

contact

> the Support and Safety team (susa{{(a)}}wikimedia.org). > > John Bennett > Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_requirements > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: > Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ http://www.shlomifish.org/open-source/projects/fortune-mod/ If a tree falls down in the middle of the forest, and there’s no one

there > to > hear it… what colour is the tree? > — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge > > Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post -

http://shlom.in/reply

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

-- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ https://github.com/shlomif/what-you-should-know-about-automated-testing One of my most productive days was throwing away 1,000 lines of code. — Ken Thompson (Attributed) Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply .

Shlomi Fish

11:09 a.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

Hi Gabriel, On Mon, 7 May 2018 14:02:44 +0100 Gabriel Thullen <gabriel(a)thullen.com> wrote:

...

Most linux viruses have never outbroke and never caused much harm. Linux can be susceptible to other forms of malware such as worms or rootkits, but it hasyet to exhibit a large scale virus epidemic and it isnt because it wasn't tried. Linux is an attractive target because many servers run on it. See also https://duckduckgo.com/?q=linux+viruses&ia=web Regards, Shlomi

...

Gabe On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 1:51 PM, Shabab Mustafa <shabab.mustafa(a)gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hello, Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours warning

you

of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I wanted to

let

you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of the situation, and working with others in the organization on steps to

decrease > the success of attacks like these. > > The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from our > systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized

access

and

processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these, the

best > method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to > safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in the

past

> to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we

continue

> to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a secure > computer and account. That includes regularly changing your

passwords,[2]

actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your system software up to date.

From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good.

For

use

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or similar. A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said. > My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report back if

> notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please

contact

there

to hear it… what colour is the tree? — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Thyge

11:53 a.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

"Imagine a world, where all windows installations have turned off their antivirus protection"! Regards, Thyge Den man. 7. maj 2018 kl. 17.09 skrev Shlomi Fish <shlomif(a)shlomifish.org>rg>:

...

Hi Gabriel, On Mon, 7 May 2018 14:02:44 +0100 Gabriel Thullen <gabriel(a)thullen.com> wrote:

I am also a Linux advocate, and have been so for years (decades?). That been said, I imagine that there are still more people using Windows XP

than

there are people using Linux. Last time I checked (october 2017) it was something like 5% using XP and less than 1% using linux, all distros included. We can safely predict that virus outvreaks will be a problem

for

linux once it reaches 5% or 10% market share...

Gabe On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 1:51 PM, Shabab Mustafa <shabab.mustafa(a)gmail.com wrote: > I have been a Linux advocate for almost a decade now and from 'my past > experience', I can tell you have opened a topic of a huge discussion

about

> people should switch to Linux Desktops (which is off-topic here). But I > respectfully disagree with your statement, "anti-virus programs

usually do

> more harm than good". > > From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to have

than

> no protection at all. And the example you gave here, an anti-virus > mistakenly classified your domain as a potential threat, makes a weaker > point. By a few mistakes, we cannot cancel out a million of other > successes. A false alarm is yet favourable than no alarm at all. > > --- > Shabab Mustafa > President > Wikimedia Bangladesh > > > > On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:56 PM Shlomi Fish <shlomif(a)shlomifish.org>

wrote:

> > > On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 > > John Bennett <jbennett(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > > > Hello, > > > > > > Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours > > > warning > > you > > > of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I

wanted to

> > let > > > you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of

the

> > > situation, and working with others in the organization on steps

> > decrease > > > the success of attacks like these. > > > > > > The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from

our

> > > systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized > access > > to > > > random accounts. These types of efforts are increasingly common for > > > websites of our reach. A vast majority of these attempts have been > > > unsuccessful, and we are reaching out personally to the small

number of

> > > accounts which we believe have been compromised. > > > > > > While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security > > > systems > > and > > > processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these,

the

> > best > > > method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to > > > safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in

the

> past > > > to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we > continue > > > to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a

secure

> > > computer and account. That includes regularly changing your > passwords,[2] > > > actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping

your

> > > system software up to date. > > > > > > > From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than

good.

> For > > example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently

blocked

> > my > > entire shlomifish.org domain because it apparently misclassified an > > executable > > download as problematic (and it was built from source using > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMake and > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor > > so it is unlikely that that is the case.). MS Windows' poor

resistance to

> > malware and the fact that Windows Update is so dysfunctional (see > > http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Windows-Update/ ) are

the

> > reasons > > why I cannot recommend running it as a desktop, and instead one

should

> use > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or

similar.

> > > > A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said. > > > > > My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report

back if

> we > > > notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please > contact > > > the Support and Safety team (susa{{(a)}}wikimedia.org). > > > > > > John Bennett > > > Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation > > > > > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_requirements > > > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: > > > Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

> > > > > > -- > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ > > http://www.shlomifish.org/open-source/projects/fortune-mod/ > > > > If a tree falls down in the middle of the forest, and there’s no

one

> there > > to > > hear it… what colour is the tree? > > — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge > > > > Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post -

http://shlom.in/reply

> . > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe:

https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,

> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

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-- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ http://youtu.be/xZLwtc9x4yA - Anime in Real Life!! (Parody) E‐mail, web feeds, and doing something productive — choose two. Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply . _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Gabriel Thullen

12:03 p.m.

New subject: Anti-viruses [was Re: Information on "Multiple failed attempts to log in" emails]

The main reason we have virus outbreaks is the way a lot of users click on email attachments and on programs they have just downloaded from the net. Users are warned time and time again, but they do it anyway. Once we get a large enough base of desktop linux users, we will have the same problems. We are safe for now... On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:53 PM, Thyge <ltl.privat(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

"Imagine a world, where all windows installations have turned off their antivirus protection"! Regards, Thyge Den man. 7. maj 2018 kl. 17.09 skrev Shlomi Fish <shlomif(a)shlomifish.org>rg>:

Hi Gabriel, On Mon, 7 May 2018 14:02:44 +0100 Gabriel Thullen <gabriel(a)thullen.com> wrote:

I am also a Linux advocate, and have been so for years (decades?). That been said, I imagine that there are still more people using Windows XP

than

for

linux once it reaches 5% or 10% market share...

shabab.mustafa(a)gmail.com

> > wrote: > > > I have been a Linux advocate for almost a decade now and from 'my

past

> experience', I can tell you have opened a topic of a huge discussion

about > > people should switch to Linux Desktops (which is off-topic here).

But I

> respectfully disagree with your statement, "anti-virus programs

usually do > > more harm than good". > > > > From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to

have

than > > no protection at all. And the example you gave here, an anti-virus > > mistakenly classified your domain as a potential threat, makes a

weaker

> point. By a few mistakes, we cannot cancel out a million of other > successes. A false alarm is yet favourable than no alarm at all. > > --- > Shabab Mustafa > President > Wikimedia Bangladesh > > > > On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:56 PM Shlomi Fish <shlomif(a)shlomifish.org>

wrote:

wanted to > > > let > > > > you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware

the

> > > situation, and working with others in the organization on steps

> > decrease > > > the success of attacks like these. > > > > > > The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from

our > > > > systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized > > access > > > to > > > > random accounts. These types of efforts are increasingly common

for

> > > > websites of our reach. A vast majority of these attempts have

been

> > > unsuccessful, and we are reaching out personally to the small

number of > > > > accounts which we believe have been compromised. > > > > > > > > While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security > > > > systems > > > and > > > > processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as

these,

the > > > best > > > > method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take

> > > safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in

the

> past > > > to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we > continue > > > to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a

secure

> > > computer and account. That includes regularly changing your > passwords,[2] > > > actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping

your

> > > system software up to date. > > > > > > > From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than

good.

> For > > example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently

blocked > > > my > > > entire shlomifish.org domain because it apparently misclassified

> > executable > > download as problematic (and it was built from source using > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMake and > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor > > so it is unlikely that that is the case.). MS Windows' poor

resistance to

> > malware and the fact that Windows Update is so dysfunctional (see > > http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Windows-Update/ ) are

the

> > reasons > > why I cannot recommend running it as a desktop, and instead one

should

> use > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or

similar.

> > > > A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said. > > > > > My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report

back if > > we > > > > notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please > > contact > > > > the Support and Safety team (susa{{(a)}}wikimedia.org). > > > > > > > > John Bennett > > > > Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation > > > > > > > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_

requirements

> > > > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: > > > > Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=

unsubscribe>

one

> there > > to > > hear it… what colour is the tree? > > — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge > > > > Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post -

http://shlom.in/reply

https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=

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participants (8)

Dennis During
Eduardo Testart
Fæ
Gabriel Thullen
John Bennett
Shabab Mustafa
Shlomi Fish
Thyge