Kinky Friedman Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 My brother bought almost $100 worth of games just before the **** hit the fan here. STILL can't access his account to download his games, which he wasn't able to do immediately for whatever reason. I understand you got hacked, but what kind of fools don't have an emergency backup for something like this? So your customers are just supposed to be screwed until you get your pathetic act together? When does he get to access what he paid for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorgin Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Your brother can't send his own emails? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 We expect everything to be restored by tonight (US EST). We could get it done sooner, but we have to make sure that there are no hacked files still on the server and that everything is correctly configured for the new server. Otherwise we could be doing this all over again in the coming days or weeks. We actually do have backups (multiple). Unfortunately, restoring the backup files as is simply means reopening ourselves to the same attacks that took us down in the first place. Therefore, it would be foolish and irresponsible to just restore from a backup. Instead we had to carefully, and selectively, move hundreds of thousands of files (several GB) worth or data from one server to another and then reinstall/reconfigure all the various programs/settings for all the services run. Just moving the files alone took almost a day simply because of the amount of data. In a normal server transition we would have had the time to get everything on the new server mostly ready before shutting down the old one. We would have chosen the time carefully and given customers fair warning about a probable 24 loss of service. Obviously this was not a normal transition and we did not choose the time or conditions for the outage. We are very sorry for the disruption of services this hacker has caused. But we are doing everything we can to recover as quickly as possible from it. Unfortunately this takes time. This was our first major outage due to a hacker in more than 10 years. We sincerely hope to go at least another 10 before the next one (and there likely will be a next one, unfortunately). Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinky Friedman Posted March 26, 2010 Author Share Posted March 26, 2010 Well, it's well past Thursday evening...still nothing... BTW, he's not a forum person. And he also isn't assertive when it comes to crap like this...he'd be happy to sit back and wait a few days. He shouldn't be, and shouldn't have to be. Just insures this won't be a company I'm patronizing myself...as soon as this is resolved for him I'm out of here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geofighter Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 I hate to reply here to this instead of by a private email but I cannot get to www.battlefront.com without being asked to authenticate myself. I did my username and password when asked but it still didn't let me through. Thus, I need to ask my question here and I hope it causes no alarm to other customers. The postings above say Battlefront was hacked. I made an electronic purchase for SC-GW. Is my bank account history secure? You don't keep a record of our credit card numbers after purchase, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 KF, I can understand your frustration but at the same time this was a major outage for the server, not making excuses, but rather just a reminder that to resolve a similar hacking attempt and to migrate to a new server unfortunately takes a bit of time. That being said, I know for a fact that they are working around the clock to resolve your brother's exact situation and it shouldn't be long now so hang in there, both you and your brother, if you can. Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Geofighter, likely they are using a password login right now to run the final set of tests on the server. For example, the main portal was up and running this morning with the exception of the store and customer downloads etc. Regarding your bank account history, this is secure, and there was an Administrative post wrt this that can be found here: http://www.battlefront.com/community/announcement.php?f=116&a=283 Hope this helps, Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geofighter Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Thanks Hubert, I just wanted to feel reassured. Cheers, Geofighter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Unfortunately we still haven't been able to get the store scripts happy with the new server. Since digital downloads are tied into the store the services are still unavailable. Our point guy on this has put in about 40 hours in two days on this. We've also got the highest financial incentive to get the store up and running because that is our source of revenue. Even if we didn't care one iota about existing customers (which is not true, of course) we'd still be working our butts off to get things up and running. Normally a couple of weeks, or even a month, would be set aside for a server migration of this complexity. We're trying to do it in a matter of days. So while I understand your frustration, getting mad about it will serve no purpose. Obviously nobody is happy with that result. Except, perhaps, the person who caused all of this by hacking our server. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 To echo what Hubert said: 1. No credit card information is stored on our server, ever. Therefore it is impossible for that data to have been stolen by the hacker since it literally isn't there to steal. 2. The web servers will periodically go down when we go into debugging mode to test out the store/download scripts. We will keep the disruption to a minimum. The Forums should not be affected during such times. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowstorm Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 HUbert and Co, Just so you know, Some of us DO appreciate greatly your efforts here, and how difficult an ordeal this is. If it takes a few more days (heck, even a week), so be it. Most of us will still be here when you're done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinky Friedman Posted March 26, 2010 Author Share Posted March 26, 2010 Bunch of BS. There should be some kind of backup plan where there's an alternate place for people to download the games from so your outage doesn't **** over all your customers. You guys never heard of a backup plan, I take it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonRocko Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Kinky, didn't you have your game for sale here the other day? Why didn't your brother buy it?:confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorgin Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 As far as I can see on these boards, Kinky, you're the only one that's complaining -- and you were complaining (trying to sell your game) before the hacking incident occurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinky Friedman Posted March 26, 2010 Author Share Posted March 26, 2010 Unfortunately he didn't ask me before he went shopping, and from talking to him I hadn't thought this was a game he was interested in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crispy131313 Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Well I guess the good news is he can play your copy to kill the wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuniworth Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Well this all seems a little bit too Kinky for my taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluestew Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Like a previous poster, I don't like hi-jacking this thread but didn't want to create a new one. I purchased the game via download about 1 day before the server was hacked. I did an install and used the online license option. Since that first day, my game as ceased to work properly. Once I start a new game, I cannot change any game setting options and if I accept the options as shown, the game freezes once it has loaded. Does the online license intall have anything to do with this? Does the game have to locate the server to permit it to run? Everything else on the computer is working fine. Help please. I didn't see a support forum or I'd have posted there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baron Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Hey I have a great idea! Why don't you give your brother the copy you were trying to sell Kinky? He wouldn't have to wait and you'd get rid of the game you don't want. Then the rest of the Forum could get back to game play issues. And the poor guys building the server and web store could work without needless harassment and get things running again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowstorm Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 Bluestew, I can't say what your problem is, but I can tell you what it isn't: It has nothing to do with the server going down. If you downloaded and installed the game along with the online license, the game should be fine. My guess is it's something having to do with the computer hardware/applications you specifically have. Otherwise, you can send an email to the administrator on this site. They could steer you in the right direction for your answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSS Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 Personally I would prefer the REAL Kinky Friedman, at least he is a Humorist with a sharp with and genial attitude. Rather mature too the last time we shared a Scotch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 Download services are now available. Bluestew, I can't say what your problem is, but I can tell you what it isn't: It has nothing to do with the server going down. If you downloaded and installed the game along with the online license, the game should be fine. My guess is it's something having to do with the computer hardware/applications you specifically have. Otherwise, you can send an email to the administrator on this site. They could steer you in the right direction for your answer. Correct. eLicense is a one shot authorization system, not a persistent or intermittent system where the game tries to "phone home" to reverify. So if something is wrong with your game's functioning, Bluestew, the server going down is not a part of it. Best bet is to post the problem to the support forum here. As for the original poster's continued ire that life isn't perfect... we do have backup plans. We could have had the website back up, completely, within an hour or so. But the chances of it remaining functioning would have been low because it appears the hacker got in a long time ago and was just biding his time. Which means our backups are likely riddled with back doors for him to get in again. Therefore, instead we focused on fixing the core problem instead of distracting us and potentially opening ourselves up for more problems. Was this inconvenient for a small number of users? Sure and we are sorry about it. But was it MORE inconvenient than if we tried to restore the compromised website instead of getting the new one up and running? Possibly, possibly not. When you have your own website and have it hacked you can make the call and let us know how you did. Now, I am locking this thread up. Kinky Friedman has had his say (and then some) and all he is doing now is abusing us for the sake of abuse. That is against Forum rules and is definitely frowned upon. Especially after we've been putting in 20 hour days for 3 days to fix things. In other words, we are not in the best of moods when it comes to abusive people. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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