**FIRST EMAIL**/Important Reminders

[BiTurboS4]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

When you work the numbers out... the income FIRST has is staggering... remember, when you go to a regional, not only do you (as a team) pay to go there, the site pays FIRST to have the regional there as well...

-q

The site does not pay FIRST to have the event there, it's quite the opposite, FIRST pays to rent a venue and to put on the competition.

Also, the money you pay to goto a regional, championship, and to register for the season doesn't go directly to your program, but goes into the organization as a whole.

[Swan217]

You'd think with all of the attention that Chief Delphi has received from the GDC over the past year, they'd have the courtesy of filling us in ::end snark::

Honestly, I don't see any information on the FIRST website worth stealing by a FIRST team. It might have just been a random malicious hit, or even a bitter ex-FIRSTer that got kicked out of FIRST and was lashing out.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

...when you go to a regional, not only do you (as a team) pay to go there, the site pays FIRST to have the regional there as well...

I think you might be confusing sponsorship with payment. FIRST definitely pays in order to use the venue for a competition.

There is usually a major sponsor (or several) of the event that gives FIRST a lot of money. Such money would typically be "restricted" to help pay for that specific event. Sometimes a sponsor is closely affiliated with the venue, such as with Purdue University and the Armory. Sometimes not, as with Microsoft and the Tacoma Convention Center. But the site never pays FIRST.

[GeorgeTheEng]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

Maybe someone was looking for a sharholder's/financial report on FIRST?

Just playing devil's advocate, but if a genie came and said "And what information about FIRST would you like to know?" I'd like to know which way the cash flows.

When you work the numbers out... the income FIRST has is staggering... remember, when you go to a regional, not only do you (as a team) pay to go there, the site pays FIRST to have the regional there as well...

-q

I think there is a slight misconception here, that I heard periodically. FIRST is a public charity recognized by the IRS under section 501(c)(3) of the US Tax codes. This means among other things that FIRST cannot have shareholders who benefit from activities of the organization. This is also the reason many individuals and some corporations provide support to FIRST, it is tax deductible. (don't beleive me, look it up... Seach for "US Foundation for the Inspiration & Recognition Science & Technology" on the IRS list of charities)

It would be amusing if someone was after detailed financial information that is already available.

As for more detailed information or anything proprietary, FIRST behaves like most corporations; meaning that it's internal data is not stored anywhere near the same computers that house the web site.

[Kevin Sevcik]

I really hope they're not silly enough to think accessing old files still hosted on the server is "hacking". (I've seen sillier, though.) I've hit the site through archive.org recently to get docs for old games for archival purposes and to look into some rules history. Many of the PDFs, graphics, etc. were still around, so perhaps they left some of the old FoxPro framework laying about or something and someone's been poking at it.

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I really hope they're not silly enough to think accessing old files still hosted on the server is "hacking". (I've seen sillier, though.) I've hit the site through archive.org recently to get docs for old games for archival purposes and to look into some rules history. Many of the PDFs, graphics, etc. were still around, so perhaps they left some of the old FoxPro framework laying about or something and someone's been poking at it.

I doubt that it was some one looking at old files. I would tend to guess that some team member some where was trying to "hack" the site, possibly adding graffiti or changing text.

The assumption that "hackers" would be looking for something likely has no truth to it. There is a good chance it was some kid running trying to get edit a fairly public page.

[Qbranch]

Well, I stand corrected. But... I'm glad I was corrected. Now I still have ground to argue on when I go to the University of Illinois this comming fall for them to get involved in the FIRST program.

Now I'm stumped for what they might have been looking for/to do...

-q

[Jim E]

Our team's website was hacked by phishers last year. Turns out they were just stealing bandwidth to send out phishing spam attacks that looked like a legitimate banking enterprise. The bank traced it back to our site and we actually were forced to shut it down and redesign the whole website from scratch.They were not interested in our site information at all.

Crooks are getting sneakier and more cunning. Don't think it can't happen to you.

[BiTurboS4]

Originally Posted by Dan Swando

You'd think with all of the attention that Chief Delphi has received from the GDC over the past year, they'd have the courtesy of filling us in ::end snark::

The GDC has nothing to do with what happened.

[BiTurboS4]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I really hope they're not silly enough to think accessing old files still hosted on the server is "hacking". (I've seen sillier, though.) I've hit the site through archive.org recently to get docs for old games for archival purposes and to look into some rules history. Many of the PDFs, graphics, etc. were still around, so perhaps they left some of the old FoxPro framework laying about or something and someone's been poking at it.

It had nothing to do with old files housed on the server.