• Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning old domain name stealing credentials

  • Special Server Maintenance

    Just when you think you have everything running some what better...

    You get a message from the Hosting company. Short story they need to move us to a new server. I have been working with them to plan a good date for all concerned. Here is what we have come up with as a schedule.

    1. November 4th 17:00 -5UTC shut off the forums and start backup proceedures. During this time there will be no access to the forums or the Resource Section.
    2. November 5th Continue with Backups and download same until complete.
    3. November 6th 7:00 turn over server to hosting company to move system to new server
    4. November 7th - 8th restore backups and upgrade forum software.

    If all goes well we should be back online on November 8th.

    To keep you updated Tom Clayton has offered to post updates on AVSIM forums.

    Thank you for your support.

Dino Cattaneo posted bad news on Facebook

Really sorry to hear this. Sadly its becoming a common problem. But when you look at the bright side, this also means that many people and companies are working on a solution.

Be patient Dino, I'm convinced a solution will be found soon.

Huub
 
Hi Dino,

Very sorry to hear this; I truely hope you'll find a way to recover ...
And I'll fully understand your principle position on not-paying these criminals.

Best regards, Rob
 
Dino, I know the pain you are going through at the moment - I suffered the same last year with the 'cryptowall 3' virus. I was running antivirus, firewall and was disconnected from the Web (having been away for the weekend). Started computer, attached external HD (my primary backup) and started backing up my latest files. I then disconnected that and repeated with my other external HD. The virus must have already been on the computer but lying fairly dormant because it infected both of them as well as the main computer drives and waited until it had all files encrypted then told me!

Like you, I refused to pay the ransom. One of the external HDs is sitting untouched until such time as the files can be decrypted. The other has been formatted and is back in use. I could not justify giving money to criminals, it will only encourage them and there is no guarantee that the files will be given back to you. Also, they would know that you can / are willing to pay so may hit you again.

If I'm ever lucky enough to meet the scum that did it, I would like the opportunity to peel their skin off and drop them in a bag of salt!
 
I get very sore about these people who go out of there way to make break and create mayhem ! destroying record details and information , model builds to the us the general public, I have a few choice words I could use here, I really don't see what the point is to disrupt a brilliant Artist and for what ! ... just shows the and gives the reflection of just how brain dead some people are .. Simply makes me absolutely Furious !
 
I respectfully agree with Dino's decision not to pay these criminals.
If you give in to their demands you have no guarantee that they will keep their part of the deal, in fact they are just as likely to demand more.
And while 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful gift, we all overlook our housekeeping on the odd occasion, so what is done is done.
Hope you can recover some of your data (or all of it) as an act of revenge on these cyber criminals ............................................................. :banghead:
 
Very sorry for you, Dino, and I applaud your decision not to pay. Principles’ best test is in distress. I do hope a solution will be found and you will be able to recover your files.<o:p></o:p>
 
delta558 said:
Dino, I know the pain you are going through at the moment - I suffered the same last year with the 'cryptowall 3' virus.
Click to expand...

That one's a b*tch as well........ Think I picked it up through a pop-up somewhere, and before I knew it, it had encrypted over 100 Gb of data, including a lot of my photos. Thankfully I do have an external HDD that is always disconnected when not in use for back-ups, but still...
Had to reinstall several programs and games. My fully paid Panda AV didn't even notice it, had to get Malwarebytes to remove it. That did its job so well that I immediately bought it, and I have this tool from Bitdefender installed as well:

https://labs.bitdefender.com/2016/03/combination-crypto-ransomware-vaccine-released/

So far, so good..... :mixed-smiley-010:
 
Yes, I have since this thread emerged decided to disconnect my external WD HD's which only exist for archive purposes anyway. A little inconvenience in that I have to go scrambling about under the desk.
We cannot give in and pay these people. They are criminals, no two ways about it. What next? Pay terrorists to release hostages? It only would serve to encourage them. No, we have to draw a line in the sand. I salute Dino's stance.
 
Dino, I am really sorry for you. I support you with your decision not to pay ransom.

As others have indicated, I would be willing to send you money to rebuild and defend against this happening in the future. You deserve a little after all you have given to the flight sim community.
 
...for the record, I am trying to rebuild 3D Studio Max model out of the .mdl files by using Model Converter X by Arno Gerretsen (btw he is definitely one of my Flight Simulation world heroes)
The results are decent - meaning a lot of the geometry is correctly preserved and imported - although you need to redo the animations, the materials, surface smoothing, XML associations etc. and in general rearrange the models quite a bit... you can have a workable model in few hours.
I made some tests with the Typhoon... and it is not perfect, but it may be acceptable.
On the bad side, I lost all the .PSD files and getting the textures back from the .dds is definitely not optimal.

I will invest some more hours on this "salvage" attempt during the weekend - it may well be that the Typhoon will be back in the air in few weeks. For the time being, the F-35 update is my only project.
 
Thanks for the update and success with your salvage operation. At least it is already better than most of us expected.

Huub
 
Hi Dino,
just to let you know that I purchased today your F-35 as a support gesture, it is all I could think about helping you in a practical manner !
I wish you all the best in your recovery efforts.
Best regards,
Francois
 
That's really positive news Dino, I wish you all the luck with it. I think I'm right in saying the whole community is behind you :wavey:
 
Dino Cattaneo said:
...for the record, I am trying to rebuild 3D Studio Max model out of the .mdl files by using Model Converter X by Arno Gerretsen (btw he is definitely one of my Flight Simulation world heroes)
The results are decent - meaning a lot of the geometry is correctly preserved and imported - although you need to redo the animations, the materials, surface smoothing, XML associations etc. and in general rearrange the models quite a bit... you can have a workable model in few hours.
I made some tests with the Typhoon... and it is not perfect, but it may be acceptable.
On the bad side, I lost all the .PSD files and getting the textures back from the .dds is definitely not optimal.

I will invest some more hours on this "salvage" attempt during the weekend - it may well be that the Typhoon will be back in the air in few weeks. For the time being, the F-35 update is my only project.
Click to expand...


We have many great texture artists here. Have you thought about enlisting their help in making the new textures? It would ease your work load and make getting back on your feet less of a haul. Just an idea. We have one hell of a community here and you're definitely part of it.

Whatever your thoughts in this regard, what you've been able to do is great news indeed.
 
For over a year I have not kept any source files stored locally. They are all kept in a dropbox account which is in turned fully shared with other team members. Has anyone ever heard of files stored on dropbox having been infected by a ransomware virus?

EDIT: I answered my own question. Yes, however Dropbox will send an email notification of "suspicious activity" if a massive number of files are suddenly "deleted and replaced." Fortunately, all subscribers have a 30 day window to recover the so-called "deleted" files, and Pro subscribers such as myself have twelve months worth of recovery protection. That makes the $99/year subscription well worth the expense for 1TB of "secure storage" of Milviz's critical source files.
 
Dino Cattaneo said:
...for the record, I am trying to rebuild 3D Studio Max model out of the .mdl files by using Model Converter X by Arno Gerretsen (btw he is definitely one of my Flight Simulation world heroes)
The results are decent - meaning a lot of the geometry is correctly preserved and imported - although you need to redo the animations, the materials, surface smoothing, XML associations etc. and in general rearrange the models quite a bit... you can have a workable model in few hours.
I made some tests with the Typhoon... and it is not perfect, but it may be acceptable.
On the bad side, I lost all the .PSD files and getting the textures back from the .dds is definitely not optimal.

I will invest some more hours on this "salvage" attempt during the weekend - it may well be that the Typhoon will be back in the air in few weeks. For the time being, the F-35 update is my only project.
Click to expand...

So sorry to hear of this unfortunate situation. I don't think anyone here would argue that YOU are one of OUR Flight Simulation world heroes Dino...
If I can render any useful assistance within reason, please let me know. If it comes to replacing any of your hardware or contributing monetarily to some secure external storage solution such as Bill Leaming suggests - just say so.
 
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