- August 23rd, 2012, 3:35 pm
#399701
Hello, Flamefans.com users. I have a geeky announcement to share with you.
As of this afternoon, traffic between your individual computers and the FlameFans.com server is now encrypted via a 256-bit SSL channel.
Why in the world would we need to encrypt traffic coming and going between our little message board?
Two reasons:
1. First and foremost, it has come to my attention that it is possible that some of our users are being tracked when using FlameFans.com on campus. With the website previously running unencrypted, it would have been possible for IT staff at the university to identify users from network log data, if they had wanted to. While I can't say for sure that this is/was happening, I can say that enabling SSL makes identifying users slightly more difficult for outside parties.
2. Previously, any text submitted to this site (including usernames and passwords) were being sent in the clear. This made it possible to capture credentials by logging the packets as they traveled from your computers to our server. In theory, it may have also been possible for university staff (or anyone with sufficient access at your ISP) to capture your password and gain access to your account. Again, I'm not saying that this has happened, but it was possible and now it's much more difficult for that to happen.
I strongly believe in your right to have as much privacy when using this board as you'd like. The moderators of this board are all strongly pro-Liberty and have always done a great job of policing the board. I have no doubt they will continue to do that in the future so that we can still welcome a modicum of anonymity on the board.
As always, I make no promises concerning privacy. You post at your own risk. However, I think these changes were necessary. Let me know if you encounter any problems.
One final note: I'd encourage all of you to change your passwords here. If you were using that password anywhere else (which you really should not be), I'd also encourage you to change those passwords as well. This is a "better safe than sorry" measure.
Happy Thursday.
As of this afternoon, traffic between your individual computers and the FlameFans.com server is now encrypted via a 256-bit SSL channel.
Why in the world would we need to encrypt traffic coming and going between our little message board?
Two reasons:
1. First and foremost, it has come to my attention that it is possible that some of our users are being tracked when using FlameFans.com on campus. With the website previously running unencrypted, it would have been possible for IT staff at the university to identify users from network log data, if they had wanted to. While I can't say for sure that this is/was happening, I can say that enabling SSL makes identifying users slightly more difficult for outside parties.
2. Previously, any text submitted to this site (including usernames and passwords) were being sent in the clear. This made it possible to capture credentials by logging the packets as they traveled from your computers to our server. In theory, it may have also been possible for university staff (or anyone with sufficient access at your ISP) to capture your password and gain access to your account. Again, I'm not saying that this has happened, but it was possible and now it's much more difficult for that to happen.
I strongly believe in your right to have as much privacy when using this board as you'd like. The moderators of this board are all strongly pro-Liberty and have always done a great job of policing the board. I have no doubt they will continue to do that in the future so that we can still welcome a modicum of anonymity on the board.
As always, I make no promises concerning privacy. You post at your own risk. However, I think these changes were necessary. Let me know if you encounter any problems.
One final note: I'd encourage all of you to change your passwords here. If you were using that password anywhere else (which you really should not be), I'd also encourage you to change those passwords as well. This is a "better safe than sorry" measure.
Happy Thursday.