Old Freeper Accounts Hijacked?

Original Content | 03/16/2025 | By Laz A. Mataz

[Lazamataz]

I've noticed, over the years, that very old Free Republic accounts, accounts that have been inactive for months or years, suddenly reactivate.... but their politics are suddenly suspect.

Be they Zeeper-oriented (that is, super-favorable to Ukraine) or, conversely, super-favorable to Russia, or even suddenly-liberal... these accounts reactivate with a flurry of posts that are contrary to conservatism.

Are these real Freepers who have had a change of heart about their politics? Are these real Freepers who feel the need to jump on the forum with propaganda and support for one side or the other per the Ukraine/Russia war?

Or are these hijacked accounts?

People will recall some time back, quite a few accounts of active Freepers were hijacked. It created a bit of a problem. When all was said and done, the accounts were returned to their rightful owners, and the site owner (and his moderator crew) pointed out that their passwords were very easy to guess. He instructed people to have stronger passwords.

I also have a friend on Facebook who no longer participates in the forum, but still reads it, who has seen a Freeper posting who he happens to know has been dead for more than a decade.

The problem is, we have far too insecure a login process, and enemies of the forum have been exploiting that.

At the login page, you can attempted unlimited login attempts. This will allow simple brute-force password cracking.

Also, the Forget Password option sends an email with your password in clear text. Emails can easily be sniffed with the right techniques. Passwords can easily be cracked that way.

My suggestions to mitigate these critical security concerns are:

1. -- Limit login attempts to five, after which the account is suspended until unlocked. What unlocking consists of can be anything. One suggestion is that the account is auto-disabled for a day. That means a hacker will only get five brute-force attempts in any given 24 hour period.
2. -- Install two-factor authentication, in which a text number is sent to a phone the user possesses.
3. -- Emails for Forget Password should not send the actual password, but instead, a link to a page on FR that allows a reset of the password.

These relatively-simple security changes will stop account-hijacking.

[NEMDF]

Are you referring to OLD Freepers or OLD accounts? Trying to decide whether I am offended.

[AppyPappy]

Except we need Don Morgan back

[ronniesgal]

F@ncyLaz is now my password.

[palmer]

Q-Anon and the Epstein Obsession have done terrible damage to Free Republic credibility - and, to Free Republic donations.

I must not be around enough because I have not seen the latter. Q Anon and the birthers and others are mostly here to entertain themselves. Often they will claim to be on a self-induced "spectrum" of some sort.

[Responsibility2nd]

Even I don’t understand what you wrote. So if you put up obstacles like this, the average FReeper will certainly just forget about FReeping

The answer is not going complicated with QR codes or two step authentication procedures and the like. Simply moderate the forum like it should be and zot agitators.

[Big Red Badger]

Well Fancy That !
.
The Movie ‘Alamo’ has Jin Bowie and Travis exchanging jabs;
“Drunkin’Hottentot” and “Two Bit Dandy”.
Love that!

[Responsibility2nd]

Q-Anon and the Epstein Obsession have done terrible damage to Free Republic credibility - and, to Free Republic donations

————————————————————

If this is true then the blame falls entirely on the owners and staff of Free Republic for allowing this to happen

Example: Humblegunner. This one person drove many Freepers and their donations away. Everyone knew that. Yet it went on for years.

[palmer]

The way I’ve set it up - the app generates a unique code representing your username and password, that is 512 bit encrypted, and creates a QR code from it. You scan the QR code into the authenticator app on your phone, and it sends the combined QR+emei encrypted in the other direction.

I'm trying to understand how that is a second factor. I could use any phone to return the encrypted message, not just a particular phone. How would you determine that a particular phone was used?

[Responsibility2nd]

And that is the problem. Bring back decent moderation (zotting) and all these complex sign on procedures stay unnecessary.

[palmer]

Thanks for the link. So it's on a virtual server in TX?

[zeestephen]

What was Humblegunner's main issue? I do not recall.

Or, maybe just an attitude?

[Responsibility2nd]

I always thought a membership fee is the answer. It would end FReepathons.

[Responsibility2nd]

I didn’t mind his arrogance and snarky attitude. Many did.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

Ah, but you are forgetting about the obvious trolls. ;-)

[doorgunner69]

Weird, I have no one I know of that became a pervert.

[doorgunner69]

Curious how this gives you butthurt.

[foundedonpurpose]

Dear Laz,
The answer to the quandary is, a profound yes!

Be blessed!
Founded

[Chickensoup]

I don’t know about a visit counter. Haven’t seen that. But I don’t think pressuring the owners to “make changes” by a few is a good idea. If the owners wanted to make changes, they could always post it as a poll and get users to vote yes or no. Otherwise, it’s moot. It has worked well for many years like it is, right? Leave it be, IMHO.

........

You have been here since 2022?

Babe I have been here since 1998.

I have some skin in the game here.

[Pelham]

Maybe some are just old Dubya worshippers. That crowd was hostile to what has become MAGA and happily zotted those who didn’t tow the RNC party line. Speak up against illegal immigration or question the Iraq war and you had a big chance of getting kicked off the site.

[Candor7]

Good Post Laz.

When I kick off I’ll bequeath my account to YOU !