I wasn't around here 2 years ago. Can someone tell me what happened when DU got hacked?

[Cousin Dupree]

[hlthe2b]

1. Here's Skinner's post on it:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10137748


Those of us who experienced it can certainly attest to how devastating it was to have nowhere to share our frustrations after that "election"... It went on a long time too, before DU was back up... A very depressing episode compounded.

[Cousin Dupree]

12. Thanks. I've seen references to it but didnt know the whole story.

Video is weird, odd, disturbing beyond words.

[PearliePoo2]

2. It was beyond a gut kick. We were all trying to understand what was happening, why & who did it.

I was scared beyond words, in tears and actually close to panicking. On top of all that I was fucking PISSED.

It was the time we all needed DU the most.

[cwydro]

9. "Scared beyond words" and "panicking"

Seriously? Because a website was hacked?

[madaboutharry]

3. The hack itself, before Skinner took DU offline, was awful.

Weird graphics and sound, if I recall correctly. I felt so bad for everyone who needed to be with their DU community on election night and the days that followed.

Then no DU for days on end. I think it was a week before DU was back.

[tavernier]

4. Correct, the graphics.

I don’t remember the exact words but let’s just say it was something like Bow Down to the King... in other words, a momentary patch of intimidating and nonsensical jibber. And then DU was gone. For days. And meanwhile, Putin was sitting back, watching the dirty work, as Rump’s numbers kept going up.

I’m pretty sure that those responsible for the hacking are on DU daily. Perhaps even reading this right now.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "it was something like Bow Down to the King"

No it was worse than that - it was a homophobic slur.

[JHB]

11. Yeah, the video screamed of being made by a European RW source

Full of imagery domestic wignnuts just wouldn't reach for.

[NurseJackie]

7. It's on youtube. Search for "Democratic Underground Hacked LOL"

I'm not going to post a clickable link. If you really want to see the ugliness, someone recorded a live motion screen capture of what it looked like.

[Oneironaut]

5. Someone injected bad code onto DU's servers.

This can happen if part of your website has a flaw, and saves things to a database (forums are a prime example). They probably tricked the website into saving their bad code along with a forum post, or something like that.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. hlthe2b has a link to Skinner's post about it

which includes a link to a copy of the video that hijacked the site (webscreen recording of what the video hack looked like on DU). The hack also started deleting posts and substituting them with the term - "God Emperor" as the username.

The Admins were able to set up a temp page to give updates and also published emailed DU member "comments" about the election.

[obamanut2012]

10. It started months and months before Election Day

And will leave it at that.