IS CFC website working

[Mike O'Connor]

What's going on?

I tried to access the CFC site today and got this message:

Safe Browsing
Diagnostic page for chess.ca
What is the current listing status for chess.ca?

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 584 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 25 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-09-01, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-09-01.
Malicious software includes 15 scripting exploit(s), 7 trojan(s), 7 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 46 new process(es) on the target machine.

Malicious software is hosted on 4 domain(s), including htsrh.info/, a0v.org/, dofulfill.info/.

1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including a0v.org/.

This site was hosted on 1 network(s) including AS14166 (SOFTCOMCA).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, chess.ca did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

Skullduggery?

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: What's going on?

Hi Mike:

Here is my post from earlier today above on this:

Re: IS CFC website working - Remedial Work Now Being Done

The CFC Website has now been taken off-line by our outsourcing contractor, EK Gillan ( or Gillin ) to deal with the virus problems. Here is the notice when you try to access the CFC website:

Temporarily Offline
We are currently undergoing some server maintenance, please check back later.

Bob

[Garvin Nunes]

Re: IS CFC website working - Remedial Work Pending

Hi Garvin:

I have been advised by CFC V-P Stijn de Kerpel that the company who handles now CFC office functions ( in April/May, CFC " outsourced " its office/E.D. ), EK Gillan ( or Gillin - not sure which ), specifically Patrick Smale, intend to shut down the CFC Website temporarily in the near future, in order to try to deal with these problems. I'm sure we will be given notice once the website is shut down. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Hopefully this is going to happen sooner than later, since this whole mess reflects pretty badly on the CFC. There is also much updating/correction of the website content outstanding, and it cannot be done until the mess is sorted out - again incorrect content on the CFC website is a clear negative to CFC.

Bob

Hehe, I was just about to submit a tournament to chess.ca when I read your post. Is that an example of Murphy's Law?

[Hugh Siddeley]

CFC website: "Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!" [Google]

I was met with the following "Diagnostic page" for chess.ca:
http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/d...hess.ca/&hl=en

OK, who here did this? As in:

"How did this happen?
In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message."

[John Coleman]

Re: CFC website: "Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!" [Google]

Eric Van Dusen writes on the CFC board:

The website was hacked and causing problems for users of the site. Our contractor EK Gillin is working on this issue. The CFC Executive is examining various options to deal with this problem, one of which is the creation of a new site. The VP, or I Stijn De Kerpel will update the CFC membership as progress is made. Please be patience with the inconvenience in the meantime.
__________________
Eric Van Dusen
CFC President
OCA Secretary
Ottawa RA Chess Club Executive

[Garvin Nunes]

Re: IS CFC website working

Do you guys at the CFC need any help with your computer? Maybe one of us can give you a hand?

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: IS CFC website working

Assuming that the site is regularly backed up (a big assumption, I know) it should take only a few minutes to a few hours to restore the website to a safe virus free state if it is actually infected. Someone wrote that the whole problem was with the Monroi link. The google message was unclear that it was actually the CFC site that had the problem. Presumably the web hosting company has antivirus and antispyware protection built into its servers.

Taking the site offline is a gross over reaction based on the available information particularly when it is the only way to get the services that CFC members pay for delivered. Taking a week or more to fix it is unbelievably amateurish and totally unacceptable.

There are a lot of CFC members who work in IT who would be willing to pitch in and help to get the site back up (including this one). This is not rocket science.

[Alex Ferreira]

Re: IS CFC website working

Hi,


I played in the Labour Day tournament this weekend, saw many old friends and some new people as well. Some comments I heard from different people during the weekend included:

"I stopped receiving the magazine, I never know what's going on with the CFC and I don't hear anything from them."

"The website is not working, how can I check my opponents' ratings and when is the next update?"

"There's a virus on the CFC site and I don't want to screw up my computer"

"The webzine stopped working though it didn't replace the old magazine anyways"


I am actually quite tempted to ask... where are the $43 going, and how does CFC expect to gain new members? As a player, how am I supposed to respond to the above comments? Worse... what is a TD / organizer supposed say to the above comments / questions?


Alex Ferreira

[Bob Armstrong]

Some Member Concerns

Hi,


I played in the Labour Day tournament this weekend, saw many old friends and some new people as well. Some comments I heard from different people during the weekend included:

"I stopped receiving the magazine, I never know what's going on with the CFC and I don't hear anything from them."

"The website is not working, how can I check my opponents' ratings and when is the next update?"

"There's a virus on the CFC site and I don't want to screw up my computer"

"The webzine stopped working though it didn't replace the old magazine anyways"


I am actually quite tempted to ask... where are the $43 going, and how does CFC expect to gain new members? As a player, how am I supposed to respond to the above comments? Worse... what is a TD / organizer supposed say to the above comments / questions?


Alex Ferreira

Hi Alex:

I agree that the situation is somewhat difficult at the moment, with the website under medical rejuvenation, and the webzine having been put into mothballs. But I think that the CFC is functioning fairly well in all the circumstances.

As to the question, where the $ 43 membership fee is going, I think a partial answer is given by President Eric Van Dusen in another thread where he posted the CFC's accomplishments in the first 60 days of the new administration:

Accomplishments after 60 days :

1) Maurice Smith has updated the CFC handbook with help from EKG's Gerry Litchfield.
2) WYCC arrangements have been finalized,much of the work done by Michael Barron and EKG's Gerry Litchfield. Michael was able to get Artem Samsonkin as coach, who is volunteering his coaching hours. The president contacted prospective candidates and appointed Andrie Botez as Head of Delegation/Team Captain. These arrangements are complicated and time consuming.
3) In response to lessons learned from 2009 WYCC, the prez constituted a Youth Committee chaired ably by Michel Barron.
4) The prez constituted AGM Committee to deal with electronic meetings and voting.
5) The prez worked with John Coleman to garner a 2010 CYCC bid that has already been approved by the Governors.
6) A solicitation was done for Newsletter Editor, and the Executive approved Tony Ficzere. The prez was able to get Kevin Spraggett as a contributor.
7) The VP, Stijn De Kerpel manages the office activities working with EKG's Patrick Smale and Gerry Litchfield. The VP reacted quickly to deal with website troubles.
8) The prez, the VP, and the FIDE representative, Hal Bond, met with FIDE Treasurer, Nigel Freeman with arrangements by Gordon Ritchie.
9) The prez, the VP met with Russian delegation regarding Pan-Asian games.
10) The prez travelled from Ottawa to attend opening ceremonies of 2009 Canada Closed and Zonal in Guelph.
11) Michael Barron along with Toronto committee are working on a formal bid for 2010 Canada Open.
12) Hal Bond will be attending the FIDE meeting as our representative and as zonal president to support our status a a zonal.
13) The prez typed up minutes for 2009 CFC AGM. The secretary,Lyle Craver has published 2009 Governor's Letter.
14) Budget deliberations with executive are continuing. A number of items need to be re-allocated because of unforeseen expenses, for example the website.
15) I am in the process of constituting a fund raising committee, chaired by myself. Gary Gladstone has already volunteered. I need to follow up with a number of prospective members.

The CFC is alive and functioning, and it is the membership fees that produce about half the revenue to keep CFC going.

As to the loss of the magazine, it was going to be replaced by the webzine. But as we all agree, including its strongest supporter, past president David Lavin, it fell far below expectations. One of the biggest factors in this was likely underfunding, and perhaps insufficient technical expertise. It seems that to do a good webzine is not that easy, and is expensive. And CFC, in my opinion, does not have the $$ to make it credible - it is competing with many well-funded excellent chess news websites out there now.

But the aspect of communication with the membership has not been forgotten. The CFC is in the process of developing a new electronic newsletter that will come out regularly, and go directly to all members. It will focus on Canadian news and issues and tournaments. It will have articles by noted Canadian players. The first Issue is expected out in less than two weeks, Monday, Sept. 21 - and it will have articles by Kevin Spraggett and Lawrence Day to kick it off ! The new editor, Tony Ficzere has experience and is a well-known organizer. The CFC is hopeful that this initiative will get the CFC back into good, regular communication with the membership.

As to the website, and inability to check ratings, etc., CFC has been hit by issues beyond its control. It has been hacked and viruses inserted it appears. And it may be the victim of having links to other sites on it, that are also infected. CFC has moved quickly to try to deal with this issue. Our office outsourcing contractor, GK Gillin, has been brought in to investigate, and has shut down the website for maintenance. This seems to have been a necessary step to deal with the problem. This definitely causes inconvenience to the membership. But CFC is doing what it can to get the website back up and running as soon as possible, and back to good health, so there is no danger to members accessing the site. We do not yet know how extensive the damage is. We don't know if a new website is called for under the circumstances - apparently this option is being reviewed as to whether it is necessary, or perhaps preferable. In the meantime, CFC has to ask members to be patient while the difficulty is dealt with - the problem is not of CFC's making, and it is working on the solution. Hopefully, as Vlad has said above, it should not take a long time to rectify, and it would obviously be more timely if a new website is not required.

I hope the above goes some ways towards providing you with some responses to the members' comments you listed above. It is not an ideal situation at the moment, but I think there are credible answers to current member concerns you have raised. Hope this helps a bit.

Bob

[John Brown]

Re: IS CFC website working

Hi Bob;
Will the CFC be wasting more money by mailing out this new Newsletter?
Paper costs etc are not necessary if a member has Email address and the CFC has a current email address. Or are the CFC just going to give us a link to the Newsletter that would not be good for non computer access members?

I know we all do not have computers or access to email addresses but maybe the CFC could ask it's members who do have computer access to get current email addresses now. For those who cannot get access get them organized with an email address now so that all Newsletters can be sent by emails.
Status of current membership can also be set so that only members in good standing can get the Newsletter on a regular basis.

I think it is time for the CFC to use it's research wisely now and have every current member give them a current email address and for those who do not have an email address maybe send them a letter to get them set up early for the New Newsletter.

This might give the membership some reason to rejoin if the CFC shows some interest in the membership now.

[Bob Armstrong]

The CFC E-newsletter

Hi John:

You are right on. The intent is that it be an E (electronic )-newsletter - it will go by e-mail to members to save $$ and trees !

And for those without computer e-mail, in this day and age there has to be a family member, relative or friend who will agree to receive it for them and print it out. Chess players have to be willing to keep up with the new technologies to some extent.

I might note that back in the summer of 2008, the Grassroots' Campaign expressed severe reservations about the CFC ability to develop and maintain a good webzine. And what did we suggest at that time? --- an e-newsletter to every member directly. Nice to see the idea finally getting legs !

Bob

[John Brown]

Re: IS CFC website working

Yes Bob;

But the CFC has to explore the email option now to find out who does not use a computer. There are members who complain after the fact when things are set up before they get any way to input their distaste.

Now is the time for the CFC to reach out to its membership and find out what the members need to get this newsletter. A member in their 70's who does not want to be bothered with the web will probably be lost in the shuffle and usually those members were the grass roots of the CFC. Remember that all Members are important not just the computer wise ones.

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: IS CFC website working

Hi John:

I've written Tony to ask him to consider your point.

Bob

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: IS CFC website working

"The website is not working, how can I check my opponents' ratings and when is the next update?"

Wait 1-2 years and FIDE will start doing daily updates :)

The recent was on September 1.

[Tony Ficzere]

Re: IS CFC website working

Hi John:

I've written Tony to ask him to consider your point.

Bob

Good points. Bob has forwarded these to the CFC executive for their consideration.

Right now, the CFC is up to its neck in code and getting the website up again.

I did talk to Stijn briefly today and touched on some of these points (but this was not the reason for the call). When we have more info, we will post it on the CFC site (when running again), here, and on the CFC chatboard.