[fChk]

This was totally unexpected!.. But deep-down not surprising if you remember this quote:

My rule was always to never depend on any 3rd-party software in anything. Principle that I also apply on the Web, where I never use any generic framework, WebApps or even Libraries (except for a select few!) When you need something, just Do It Yourself!.. Some may think of it as a 'rediscovering the wheel' kind of thing, but I think of it as a way of building a sound expertise.

Excerpt from https://post4vps.com/Thread-VPS-Manageme...1#pid35851

Using open-source WebApps (forums, CMS etc...) has always a serious security risk to it.. The reason being that there is always someone else that knows your WebApp's internals better than you do yourself.. hence  the constant security threat and the constant feeling of always being one step away of being hacked someway.. someday.. The solution has always been to constantly audit your WebApp and its setup.

Alas the reality of things has always been that one's vigilance fades away with time and the WeApp becomes pray to whoever bothers to try to compromise it !...

Back to the sad news.
Of course I'm not aware of the severity of the P4V hack; not enough input on that. But because the hack was so old and there is no complaint from any user from any visible annoyance of any kind --especially from the leak of private data...--, I'm a bit perplexed as to the quick decision to just pack up things and close the forum!!..

I would have hoped at least that @Dynamo gave us the full account of what exactly happened to P4V--ie how deep was the exploit.. and why he deemed necessary to just close the forum instead of purging P4V assets from the compromising exploits. This disclosure may also serve as a lesson to(/educate) everybody else using MyBB.

Anyway, glad to have been part of the community for awhile and wish everybody a happy continuation..

-fouadChk