View Full Version : Why would a private chat from resource-zone.com be in my logs??
Dann404
09-12-2007, 11:03 AM
I have not been to that site in years and now this shows up in my logs.
http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/private.php?do= showpm&pmid=*****
I deleted the id, I'll PM it to anyone who can help me.
I don't know if someone dropped a dime on me or what. I got in a stupid debate with an equally stupid editor on Resource Zone a couple years ago. Could he/she be holding a grudge?
If a Resource Zone moderator got the pmid could they find out who did access my site through the private forums.
Another curious thing happened after that visit, an email From an SEO firm on an address nobody ever uses, customers use our contact form, spammers use our meta email address. So it was strange to see a single email sitting in the mailbox that gets like two emails a year(coincidently minutes after this log entry).
So if anyone can help me solve this mystery please let me know.
Thanks in advance! Dan :confused:
Referer spam is a kind of spamdexing (spamming aimed at search engines). The technique involves making repeated web site requests using a fake referer url that points to the site the spammer wishes to advertise. Sites that publicize their access logs, including referer statistics, will then end up linking to the spammer's site, which will in turn be indexed by the search engines as they crawl the access logs.
I would not be worried about this if I were you!
Dann404
09-12-2007, 11:59 AM
My log files are on a separate host with only FTP access. Anyway I would know if someone looked at my logs, it would be in there. This was not a bot, it was a browser, I have a remote script I use to track all activity on many of my sites. Like analytics on steroids. They even visited some of my inner pages on the same browser, it had cached my css and a tracking pixel.
I even have a pretty good idea of the individual's identity, I just want to know what my url is doing in RZ's private forums.
Sorry I wasn't more clear.
Dan
My log files are on a separate host with only FTP access. Anyway I would know if someone looked at my logs, it would be in there. This was not a bot, it was a browser, I have a remote script I use to track all activity on many of my sites. Like analytics on steroids. They even visited some of my inner pages on the same browser, it had cached my css and a tracking pixel.
I even have a pretty good idea of the individual's identity, I just want to know what my url is doing in RZ's private forums.
Sorry I wasn't more clear.
Dan
In that case, I would change all passwords to very strong passwords, clear any credit card or personal information from your servers and if possible use secure logins. I'd also check for any security issues with any of your software and keep an eye on it for a few days! Maybe even block the IP of the "user" and visitors from the IP of the forum in question.
Honestly I might even consider something like: http://www.scanalert.com/site/en/merchants/intro/
Keep in mind that not all user-agents identify themselves as they should. It is possible to for one user-agent to identify itself as another user-agent. Either way, best of luck!
Dann404
09-12-2007, 12:30 PM
Honestly I might even consider something like: http://www.scanalert.com/site/en/merchants/intro/
I have Scanalert/Hackersafe on that site already.
AussieWebmaster
09-12-2007, 01:22 PM
I think it could be someone dropping a link in their chat to your site
guinanie
09-12-2007, 02:18 PM
It could be a spam or someone use the private chat from resource-zone.com. You may used a spam filter or web log filter on which you can track logs and which you can block the number of users
Dann404
09-12-2007, 05:40 PM
I guess it's nothing. I get uptight about anything that has to do with DMOZ these days. It takes years to get listed if ever and this sight is listed, I'm just left wondering???
Has a competitor reported my site?
Could it be someone is trying to get my site eliminated from the directory?
Thanks, I'll just let it go unless I suddenly disappear from DMOZ.
Dan
Marcia
09-12-2007, 06:39 PM
It's seriously unlikely that you were log-spammed from Resource Zone, since they'd have no reason to - especially from a private forum. Log spam is for referrers and/or indexing open log info and they don't want or need either.
As for the email addy, how could anyone get that from nothng more than a hit on one of your pages? Is it out there so it can be scraped?
I even have a pretty good idea of the individual's identity, I just want to know what my url is doing in RZ's private forums. Anyone can discuss anything, anywhere they want, for whatever reason. You may have thought it was a stupid discussion and that the editor was stupid, but that doesn't mean it looks that way on their side. Very simply, the url probably came under discussion for some reason, possibly as an example, and someone clicked on it.
Yes, this is probably nothing to worry about at all but, if you think someone is "after" you it never hurts to take a few simple precautions.:)