@somik said: A full ps aux would give a full result, but we did not consider it (hindsight is 20/20).
I did collect and look at ps aux regularly. I could be wrong, but I did not see any process which obviously would have been port scanning. Therefore, I think the port scanning was from inside one of the VMs. 🤔
@Not_Oles said:
Previously, there have been people who have provided information to me. So I respectfully disagree that "No one" will provide identification information.
Well, I did not know that. I guess those who have good intentions have nothing to hide.
@Not_Oles said:
As always, thanks for your comment! I'd be interested to hear more about your own adventures as a "free" provider.
Lets just say that the servers I setup and provided free hosting to users were used as torrent seedboxes. This used up the bandwidth very quickly and since I was not monitoring UDP traffic, my monthly server rent of $200 to shoot up to just bellow $4k. I was making nowhere near that amount as I was paying for the server out of my own pocket.
Needless to say, it was a very bad experience for me. Luckily after a lot of back and forth with the server provider, they agreed to wave the fee and terminate my account. I was lucky to have understanding server providers and they also understood that I had no way to pay that fee. Great provider nonetheless.
@itsmepaddi said:
Let me explain what did I do when the attack is happening.
I'm running a Windows 11 VM for testing stuffs (and failed)
Also that logs probably was from a few days ago...
Thanks for letting us know, @itsmepaddi! I believe you were not the person who caused the problem. So, please do not worry. It will all work out okay. Please just give it a little time. Best wishes!
@Not_Oles said:
Previously, there have been people who have provided information to me. So I respectfully disagree that "No one" will provide identification information.
Well, I did not know that. I guess those who have good intentions have nothing to hide.
@Not_Oles said:
As always, thanks for your comment! I'd be interested to hear more about your own adventures as a "free" provider.
Lets just say that the servers I setup and provided free hosting to users were used as torrent seedboxes. This used up the bandwidth very quickly and since I was not monitoring UDP traffic, my monthly server rent of $200 to shoot up to just bellow $4k. I was making nowhere near that amount as I was paying for the server out of my own pocket.
Needless to say, it was a very bad experience for me. Luckily after a lot of back and forth with the server provider, they agreed to wave the fee and terminate my account. I was lucky to have understanding server providers and they also understood that I had no way to pay that fee. Great provider nonetheless.
Hard lesson! I understand why you feel the way you do about what has happened here. Thanks for sharing!
Best!
Tom
Maybe it's time to move on now. . . . I hope we will hear from @dinopotato, @iamvinh123, and @NodeSeek用户123. Then I have to reinstall the server, which is the easy part, compared to figuring out the hard questions concerning filtering neighbor applications and resource limits (assuming one or the other or both of these should be implemented).
I agree with what @somik says. Based on his input, here are my suggestions:
If @Not_Oles wants to keep membership open, at least restrict access to just shell account, no sudo, and LXC creations only. Abuse can be detected if so desired.
If the user meets some criteria (e.g., long term active forum user, provided documents proving who they say they are, or long term 1st tier user without abuse), invite them to the second tier, where KVM creation is possible.
But for the sake of longevity of the project, running windows or another hypervisor on a VM should be prohibited.
@somik said: A full ps aux would give a full result, but we did not consider it (hindsight is 20/20).
I did collect and look at ps aux regularly. I could be wrong, but I did not see any process which obviously would have been port scanning. Therefore, I think the port scanning was from inside one of the VMs. 🤔
Ya, cause it's easier to hide it inside a KVM with disk encryption then running it openly for everyone to see. Most port scanning programs run on windows (while there are a few scripts for linux, they are less popular). They also have a DB that gets updated with the port scanning results and they need to upload it to get paid. So a windows VPS is easier to use as well.
@terrorgen said:
If @Not_Oles wants to keep membership open, at least restrict access to just shell account, no sudo, and LXC creations only. Abuse can be detected if so desired.
Agree!
@terrorgen said:
If the user meets some criteria (e.g., long term active forum user, provided documents proving who they say they are, or long term 1st tier user without abuse), invite them to the second tier, where KVM creation is possible.
That's good idea
@terrorgen said:
But for the sake of longevity of the project, running windows or another hypervisor on a VM should be prohibited.
You cant even verify if they are running a legit copy of windows or not. Some cracked versions have portscanners built in, so it may not even be the user's fault, but rather the windows he is running. So windows is a No No.
@Not_Oles said:
Poor people could go to a library and use one of the library's public computers to access LES. Maybe they could dream of getting a cheap VPS?
Question is why? And if he truly says who he is, he should be willing to provide documents to back up his claim. He is expecting premium service FOR FREE. When you sign up with AWS, Google, Oracle, you have to provide your email, home address, phone number and it gets verified. So if not willing to get verified, should be ignored as marked as a potential abuser.
Looking at the logs I posted, only the following accounts were active during the time of abuse (port scanning):
So out of the 8 active people on the server, 7 of them joined after April 10, when this thread was opened. Account age is less then 1 month. I'm not implying anything, but stating facts so you can make your own judement.
@somik said:
The way I see it, you got two choices IF you want the MetalVPS. Either provide personal Id for verification or pay a reputable provider. You can always NOT get a server. It'll save you on the internet bills and phone bills as well.
All I know is your LES account is 2 days old so there is no way to verify who you are and what your intentions are. Lets talk again in a year or two if @Not_Oles is still around by then.
Moreover all your activity was only on this thread so not a active member of LES community.
Hey! Friend @somik! Please take it easy. There's no immediate danger to MetalVPS right now because there are no MetalVPS dedicated servers running right now. Your suggestion about enforcing strict personal identification is being considered. Your suggestion is good and has many advantages. But for right now, maybe we can take it easy? Thanks!
Sorry about that. This just brings back old memories of the time I was providing free hosting.
I was not serious about personal identification. It's just a pipe dream. No one will provide such personal info to another individual on a forum.
However, there is always the option to get a little more info (like school email verification if they say they are a student) and making sure the LES/LET account is past a certain age before handing them access to do what they want.
Don't forget some schools block inbound mail from outside of the domain.
@somik said:
However, there is always the option to get a little more info (like school email verification if they say they are a student) and making sure the LES/LET account is past a certain age before handing them access to do what they want.
Don't forget some schools block inbound mail from outside of the domain.
Not for teachers. If it's for educational purpose, ask the prof to help send the email.
@Not_Oles said:
Thanks to the entire LES community and also to the entire NodeSeek community for providing the wonderful environments within which all this has been possible.
Hi Tom. It was really fun and a great learning experience.
@itsmepaddi said:
Let me explain what did I do when the attack is happening.
I'm running a Windows 11 VM for testing stuffs (and failed)
Also that logs probably was from a few days ago...
Let me explain what did I do too
I'm installing Windows 11 in my VM while the attack is happening
EDIT: I'm actually a Sr.Mod in the discord server you were talking about, so please don't suspend me.....
@itsmepaddi said:
Let me explain what did I do when the attack is happening.
I'm running a Windows 11 VM for testing stuffs (and failed)
Also that logs probably was from a few days ago...
Let me explain what did I do too
I'm installing Windows 11 in my VM while the attack is happening
EDIT: I'm actually a Sr.Mod in the discord server you were talking about, so please don't suspend me.....
I was just about to install visual studio before the server got shut down so I doubt it even got installed fully and probably got corrupted...
@terrorgen said:
I agree with what @somik says. Based on his input, here are my suggestions:
If @Not_Oles wants to keep membership open, at least restrict access to just shell account, no sudo, and LXC creations only. Abuse can be detected if so desired.
If the user meets some criteria (e.g., long term active forum user, provided documents proving who they say they are, or long term 1st tier user without abuse), invite them to the second tier, where KVM creation is possible.
But for the sake of longevity of the project, running windows or another hypervisor on a VM should be prohibited.
@Not_Oles
Please forgive me for replying so late. These days I am preparing for the java test. I didn't expect to hear about the abuse of metalvps so soon, which makes me sad😢. But seeing that everyone in LES is actively seeking change, I am very moved. We will surely get out of the shadows and welcome the rainbow soon🌈: @terrorgen I agree with your view, I also want to add:
1. Formulate a table to clearly specify which operations are prohibited and which operations need to be reported. This can let users know what rules they need to follow when using VPS. Because I see that some people don't understand the harm of port scanning at first (including me), this can avoid some inadvertent mistakes.
3. Create a chat group (I personally recommend the Telegram group, Discord only requires an email to register, Telegram requires mobile phone verification, which can increase the cost of abuse) for everyone to communicate with each other and share their learning outcomes. I think if users contribute when using the free VPS, such as sharing their experience and answering other users' questions, they may cherish this resource more and use it more rationally, thereby reducing abusive behavior.
4. Use some tools to view the log of operation commands of each user who have been granted advanced privileges on the VPS. Note that the security of log files needs to be protected to prevent malicious users from tampering with or deleting them.
**About Filtration Issues **
I want to speak my mind：At first I had some concerns. I didn't provide my identity verification, but Tom trusted me and even actively added me to the sudo group, which made me build trust in Tom. So, of course, I will provide my identity verification on the day the VPS is rebuilt (or at any time, as long as he mentions it), because trust is mutual . If we don't trust Tom, how can we ask Tom to trust a "shadow"? Establishing mutual trust and letting resources flow to those in real need, I think this is also what Tom really hopes to see.
@Not_Oles said: Thanks for letting us know, @itsmepaddi! I believe you were not the person who caused the problem. So, please do not worry. It will all work out okay. Please just give it a little time. Best wishes!
So i explain what did I do too
I was trying to installing Kali Linux while attack is happening
@Not_Oles said: Hilariously, there is a Discord group whose members have been taking co-ordinated advantage of the MetalVPS free offers.
Hilariously, I was invited to join and did join the group earlier today.
Hilariously, I wanted to see what would happen if MetalVPS made the open and free offers. Now I have learned really a lot from many wonderful guys in the Discord group.
While (apparently) unrelated to the Discord group, I also have enjoyed learning from the fine guys at NodeSeek. One of the guys at NodeSeek, @freemjj, has changed my ssh habits forever. Now I always, always, always keep a local transcript of my ssh sessions. Something flashed by, and I almost missed it, and there was no transcript. Luckily a software vendor called MobaTek was very helpful.
I also enjoyed the opportunity, for the first time, to work through an abuse issue with Hetzner. I learned from Hetzner's excellent monitoring and from going through their wonnderful Support Team that was processing the issue.
Also i just a Admin there, can you please don't suspend me please
@NodeSeek用户123 said:
1. Formulate a table to clearly specify which operations are prohibited and which operations need to be reported. This can let users know what rules they need to follow when using VPS. Because I see that some people don't understand the harm of port scanning at first (including me), this can avoid some inadvertent mistakes.
The list would be too long and people will avoid reading it. I guess can make a short and simple list or link to content maybe? Dunno how this will work
@NodeSeek用户123 said:
3. Create a chat group (I personally recommend the Telegram group, Discord only requires an email to register, Telegram requires mobile phone verification, which can increase the cost of abuse) for everyone to communicate with each other and share their learning outcomes. I think if users contribute when using the free VPS, such as sharing their experience and answering other users' questions, they may cherish this resource more and use it more rationally, thereby reducing abusive behavior.
What happened to number 2?
Anyway, telegram group is a great idea.
@NodeSeek用户123 said:
4. Use some tools to view the log of operation commands of each user who have been granted advanced privileges on the VPS. Note that the security of log files needs to be protected to prevent malicious users from tampering with or deleting them.
Cant, specially if they are using KVM as the gest OS is not linked to the host OS. So anything in KVM is not visible to host node.
I want to speak my mind：At first I had some concerns. I didn't provide my identity verification, but Tom trusted me and even actively added me to the sudo group, which made me build trust in Tom. So, of course, I will provide my identity verification on the day the VPS is rebuilt (or at any time, as long as he mentions it), because trust is mutual . If we don't trust Tom, how can we ask Tom to trust a "shadow"? Establishing mutual trust and letting resources flow to those in real need, I think this is also what Tom really hopes to see.
I agree with you there, fully. If you want people to trust you, show that you can be trusted and put your trust in others first. I'm not saying this is a good idea on the internet, but I think @Not_Oles showed he can be trusted.
I want to speak my mind：At first I had some concerns. I didn't provide my identity verification, but Tom trusted me and even actively added me to the sudo group, which made me build trust in Tom. So, of course, I will provide my identity verification on the day the VPS is rebuilt (or at any time, as long as he mentions it), because trust is mutual . If we don't trust Tom, how can we ask Tom to trust a "shadow"? Establishing mutual trust and letting resources flow to those in real need, I think this is also what Tom really hopes to see.
I agree with you there, fully. If you want people to trust you, show that you can be trusted and put your trust in others first. I'm not saying this is a good idea on the internet, but I think @Not_Oles showed he can be trusted.
I agree, but asking for documents and stuffs are like some kind of "privacy invasion", especially the one who don't want their real name, address, school information or anything to be exposed online.
I know Tom is trying to be trusted by anyone, by giving away his high-spec MetalVPS, and he even gave me access to the new i9 server with SUDO ACCESS.
I also don't want to expose my information online, but I will try to get Not_Oles's trust by posting my contributions if I can. I'm not the kind of person who run away after getting the VPS, just like what most people here did.
@terrorgen said:
I agree with what @somik says. Based on his input, here are my suggestions:
If @Not_Oles wants to keep membership open, at least restrict access to just shell account, no sudo, and LXC creations only. Abuse can be detected if so desired.
If the user meets some criteria (e.g., long term active forum user, provided documents proving who they say they are, or long term 1st tier user without abuse), invite them to the second tier, where KVM creation is possible.
But for the sake of longevity of the project, running windows or another hypervisor on a VM should be prohibited.
@Not_Oles
Please forgive me for replying so late. These days I am preparing for the java test. I didn't expect to hear about the abuse of metalvps so soon, which makes me sad😢. But seeing that everyone in LES is actively seeking change, I am very moved. We will surely get out of the shadows and welcome the rainbow soon🌈: @terrorgen I agree with your view, I also want to add:
1. Formulate a table to clearly specify which operations are prohibited and which operations need to be reported. This can let users know what rules they need to follow when using VPS. Because I see that some people don't understand the harm of port scanning at first (including me), this can avoid some inadvertent mistakes.
2. Create a chat group (I personally recommend the Telegram group, Discord only requires an email to register, Telegram requires mobile phone verification, which can increase the cost of abuse) for everyone to communicate with each other and share their learning outcomes. I think if users contribute when using the free VPS, such as sharing their experience and answering other users' questions, they may cherish this resource more and use it more rationally, thereby reducing abusive behavior.
3. Use some tools to view the log of operation commands of each user who have been granted advanced privileges on the VPS. Note that the security of log files needs to be protected to prevent malicious users from tampering with or deleting them.
**About Filtration Issues **
I want to speak my mind：At first I had some concerns. I didn't provide my identity verification, but Tom trusted me and even actively added me to the sudo group, which made me build trust in Tom. So, of course, I will provide my identity verification on the day the VPS is rebuilt (or at any time, as long as he mentions it), because trust is mutual . If we don't trust Tom, how can we ask Tom to trust a "shadow"? Establishing mutual trust and letting resources flow to those in real need, I think this is also what Tom really hopes to see.
But the difficulty now lies in the ways to verify one's identity. How can I prove my identity with minimal disclosure of privacy?
It may be a good idea to have their parents or school administrators contact Tom, but some parents are unable to contact Tom personally due to age issues, language issues, or because they don't know how to use email (which is common). And in some countries, accessing the extranet is not supported or even illegal, so their school administrators may not want to support it (and there are quite a few of those).
Here I would like to offer an additional option that can be done alone(no need to show their face): There is a lot of school information leaked on the internet, and it is not very difficult to hold a certain student's information or even their educational email address, but would it be enough to verify their student status if they were limited to holding this proof in a photo with a buildings with school emblem printed on them on a certain day, at noon, or at night (with a designated hand gesture like OK or yeah or some other one-handed gesture)?
The above remarks are all nonsense that I came up with on a whim😵💫. If there are any inaccuracies, please feel free to point them out. If there is any offense, please forgive me.
@somik said: The list would be too long and people will avoid reading it. I guess can make a short and simple list or link to content maybe? Dunno how this will work
Well, the table is a good idea, I believe it will be great.💪
There was no 2, I just wrote it wrong because my brain was like mush at the time.🤣
@somik said: Cant, specially if they are using KVM as the gest OS is not linked to the host OS. So anything in KVM is not visible to host node.
So it turns out they can hide in an unknown little black room.😮It seems that the personnel arrangement of the KVM group needs to be carefully considered.🤔
@somik said: I agree with you there, fully. If you want people to trust you, show that you can be trusted and put your trust in others first. I'm not saying this is a good idea on the internet, but I think @Not_Oles showed he can be trusted.
Thank you for your recognition. It is true that not everyone can be trusted unless that person is worthy.🧐
@NodeSeek用户123 said:
1. Formulate a table to clearly specify which operations are prohibited and which operations need to be reported. This can let users know what rules they need to follow when using VPS. Because I see that some people don't understand the harm of port scanning at first (including me), this can avoid some inadvertent mistakes.
The list would be too long and people will avoid reading it. I guess can make a short and simple list or link to content maybe? Dunno how this will work
@NodeSeek用户123 said:
3. Create a chat group (I personally recommend the Telegram group, Discord only requires an email to register, Telegram requires mobile phone verification, which can increase the cost of abuse) for everyone to communicate with each other and share their learning outcomes. I think if users contribute when using the free VPS, such as sharing their experience and answering other users' questions, they may cherish this resource more and use it more rationally, thereby reducing abusive behavior.
What happened to number 2?
Anyway, telegram group is a great idea.
@NodeSeek用户123 said:
4. Use some tools to view the log of operation commands of each user who have been granted advanced privileges on the VPS. Note that the security of log files needs to be protected to prevent malicious users from tampering with or deleting them.
Cant, specially if they are using KVM as the gest OS is not linked to the host OS. So anything in KVM is not visible to host node.
I want to speak my mind：At first I had some concerns. I didn't provide my identity verification, but Tom trusted me and even actively added me to the sudo group, which made me build trust in Tom. So, of course, I will provide my identity verification on the day the VPS is rebuilt (or at any time, as long as he mentions it), because trust is mutual . If we don't trust Tom, how can we ask Tom to trust a "shadow"? Establishing mutual trust and letting resources flow to those in real need, I think this is also what Tom really hopes to see.
I agree with you there, fully. If you want people to trust you, show that you can be trusted and put your trust in others first. I'm not saying this is a good idea on the internet, but I think @Not_Oles showed he can be trusted.
I also agree too
Tom wanted everyone to trust him, He also gave me access of the i9-9900K with SUDO access
I wanted Tom to trust me so I've decided to post all my work for privacy reasons
Why? I don't want my info be exposed online
I'm also not a person who ran away after getting the VPS.
@itsmepaddi said: I also don't want to expose my information online, but I will try to get Not_Oles's trust by posting my contributions if I can. I'm not the kind of person who run away after getting the VPS, just like what most people here did.
This is why I think creating a communication group is great.When a person contributes to a node, they will cherish it like their own masterpiece, or even their own child.They will work together to maintain its security, and I don't believe that such a person would be ruthless enough to abuse it.😊
@somik said: The list would be too long and people will avoid reading it. I guess can make a short and simple list or link to content maybe? Dunno how this will work
Opps! I didn't take this into consideration at that time, just wrote a pair of them in one go, and found that it took more than an hour to re-edit them. 😵💫@Frankz Could you please help me to organize them, I've published some comments after this, integrate them or separate them? Thanks!🙏
There was no 2, I just wrote it wrong because my brain was like mush at the time.🤣
@somik said: Cant, specially if they are using KVM as the gest OS is not linked to the host OS. So anything in KVM is not visible to host node.
So it turns out they can hide in an unknown little black room.😮
@somik said: I agree with you there, fully. If you want people to trust you, show that you can be trusted and put your trust in others first. I'm not saying this is a good idea on the internet, but I think @Not_Oles showed he can be trusted.
Thank you for your recognition. It is true that not everyone can be trusted unless that person is worthy.🧐
Tom is a good guy actually
Everyone can trusted him, he trusted everyone even new or old to here, he trusted me to give me access to i9 9900K with Sudoer
I also trusted Tom (aka @Not_Oles), i'm not a people like bring the VPS to run away and i'm not a scammer, i am still here to talk, I still active here aswell
I hope people can understand
@NodeSeek用户123 said: This is why I think creating a communication group is great.When a person contributes to a node, they will cherish it like their own masterpiece, or even their own child.They will work together to maintain its security, and I don't believe that such a person would be ruthless enough to abuse it.😊
@itsmepaddi said: I also don't want to expose my information online, but I will try to get Not_Oles's trust by posting my contributions if I can. I'm not the kind of person who run away after getting the VPS, just like what most people here did.
This is why I think creating a communication group is great.When a person contributes to a node, they will cherish it like their own masterpiece, or even their own child.They will work together to maintain its security, and I don't believe that such a person would be ruthless enough to abuse it.😊
At the risk of coming across as heartless, I'm going to reply to this. Sorry in advance if you think I should be more compassionate.
@SheGivMeItAgain said:
I'm actually classed as homeless, I had to move from a hotel in birmingham into a flat 2 weeks ago, iirc.
It's been hard the past few years. Most of this is cause of my fucking landlord being a stuck up twat.
My inference from that is that you're an adult, because you have described this as "the past few years" and having a landlord.
Also, if you're living in a hotel, then it sounds like you have some means. You also say you just moved into a flat 2 weeks ago.
Also, noted that you live in Birmingham.
@SheGivMeItAgain said:
By "personal documents" if you mean ID I do not hold one currently,
I'd say this is false. It's practically impossible to conduct life in the UK without any form of ID, unless you are actually homeless and just living from donated cash to spend in shops.
I find it unbelievable in the extreme that you have no bank account as it is trivial to open one, and children from the age of 13 have been able to open their own bank accounts for several decades at least.
For the benefit of @Not_Oles who might be tempted to believe this story, there are several schemes designed to enable people who chose not to have typical forms of ID such as driving licence or passport to obtain other photo ID. For instance: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate
for school based documents I do not consent to providing those
You now you're at school? Presuming that you mean "school" as a UK person uses the word, you'd not be dealing with landlords. Also, if you were actually genuinely homeless child, a call to social services will find you some accommodation quickly.
For the .edu its wrong! My school uses .co.uk actually! But has students, also doesn't allow emails from out the school/schools email or emails that arent whitelisted.
Also, this seems very suspicious in and of itself. Most schools in the UK do not use .co.uk.
No [bank] card
As explained above, I find this extremely implausible. And if it is true, you've found yourself a problem to solve in the next few days.
But in any case, you have a choice - if you want to participate in people's offers (free or otherwise), you have to comply with the rules they put in place. If you don't want to, then don't take advantage of the offers, and don't complain about it. Pretty simple really.
root@fsn ~ # uptime
20:03:53 up 5 min, 1 user, load average: 0.01, 0.08, 0.05
root@fsn ~ # df -h .
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/md4 3.4T 884M 3.2T 1% /
root@fsn ~ # free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 62Gi 260Mi 62Gi 1.0Mi 114Mi 61Gi
Swap: 31Gi 0B 31Gi
root@fsn ~ #
hi mr not_oles, can you give me free shell account on metal server? i have only weak computer and bad internet connection at house. i want learn how scan ports. shell account on metal server would help me learn how scan ports. i promise not create vps with windows! thank you, you are nice man
"A single swap file or partition may be up to 128 MB in size. [...] [I]f you need 256 MB of swap, you can create two 128-MB swap partitions." (M. Welsh & L. Kaufman, Running Linux, 2e, 1996, p. 49)
@ralf said:
At the risk of coming across as heartless, I'm going to reply to this. Sorry in advance if you think I should be more compassionate.
@SheGivMeItAgain said:
I'm actually classed as homeless, I had to move from a hotel in birmingham into a flat 2 weeks ago, iirc.
It's been hard the past few years. Most of this is cause of my fucking landlord being a stuck up twat.
My inference from that is that you're an adult, because you have described this as "the past few years" and having a landlord.
Also, if you're living in a hotel, then it sounds like you have some means. You also say you just moved into a flat 2 weeks ago.
Also, noted that you live in Birmingham.
@SheGivMeItAgain said:
By "personal documents" if you mean ID I do not hold one currently,
I'd say this is false. It's practically impossible to conduct life in the UK without any form of ID, unless you are actually homeless and just living from donated cash to spend in shops.
I find it unbelievable in the extreme that you have no bank account as it is trivial to open one, and children from the age of 13 have been able to open their own bank accounts for several decades at least.
For the benefit of @Not_Oles who might be tempted to believe this story, there are several schemes designed to enable people who chose not to have typical forms of ID such as driving licence or passport to obtain other photo ID. For instance: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate
for school based documents I do not consent to providing those
You now you're at school? Presuming that you mean "school" as a UK person uses the word, you'd not be dealing with landlords. Also, if you were actually genuinely homeless child, a call to social services will find you some accommodation quickly.
For the .edu its wrong! My school uses .co.uk actually! But has students, also doesn't allow emails from out the school/schools email or emails that arent whitelisted.
Also, this seems very suspicious in and of itself. Most schools in the UK do not use .co.uk.
No [bank] card
As explained above, I find this extremely implausible. And if it is true, you've found yourself a problem to solve in the next few days.
But in any case, you have a choice - if you want to participate in people's offers (free or otherwise), you have to comply with the rules they put in place. If you don't want to, then don't take advantage of the offers, and don't complain about it. Pretty simple really.
Glad to have someone with a UK background comment on this! I knew something was up but without extended knowledge of UK life I am not able to point out what's going on.
Comments
I did collect and look at
ps auxregularly. I could be wrong, but I did not see any process which obviously would have been port scanning. Therefore, I think the port scanning was from inside one of the VMs. 🤔I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Well, I did not know that. I guess those who have good intentions have nothing to hide.
Lets just say that the servers I setup and provided free hosting to users were used as torrent seedboxes. This used up the bandwidth very quickly and since I was not monitoring UDP traffic, my monthly server rent of $200 to shoot up to just bellow $4k. I was making nowhere near that amount as I was paying for the server out of my own pocket.
Needless to say, it was a very bad experience for me. Luckily after a lot of back and forth with the server provider, they agreed to wave the fee and terminate my account. I was lucky to have understanding server providers and they also understood that I had no way to pay that fee. Great provider nonetheless.
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Thanks for letting us know, @itsmepaddi! I believe you were not the person who caused the problem. So, please do not worry. It will all work out okay.
Please just give it a little time. 
Best wishes!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Hard lesson! I understand why you feel the way you do about what has happened here.
Thanks for sharing! 
Best!
Tom
Maybe it's time to move on now. . . . I hope we will hear from @dinopotato, @iamvinh123, and @NodeSeek用户123. Then I have to reinstall the server, which is the easy part, compared to figuring out the hard questions concerning filtering neighbor applications and resource limits (assuming one or the other or both of these should be implemented).
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
I agree with what @somik says. Based on his input, here are my suggestions:
If @Not_Oles wants to keep membership open, at least restrict access to just shell account, no sudo, and LXC creations only. Abuse can be detected if so desired.
If the user meets some criteria (e.g., long term active forum user, provided documents proving who they say they are, or long term 1st tier user without abuse), invite them to the second tier, where KVM creation is possible.
But for the sake of longevity of the project, running windows or another hypervisor on a VM should be prohibited.
The all seeing eye sees everything...
Ya, cause it's easier to hide it inside a KVM with disk encryption then running it openly for everyone to see. Most port scanning programs run on windows (while there are a few scripts for linux, they are less popular). They also have a DB that gets updated with the port scanning results and they need to upload it to get paid. So a windows VPS is easier to use as well.
Agree!
That's good idea
You cant even verify if they are running a legit copy of windows or not. Some cracked versions have portscanners built in, so it may not even be the user's fault, but rather the windows he is running. So windows is a No No.
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Yeah but that's not ID/Student ID
Don't forget some schools block inbound mail from outside of the domain.
Not for teachers. If it's for educational purpose, ask the prof to help send the email.
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A screenshot of a non critical email in the school mailbox would work as well, no?
The all seeing eye sees everything...
Plenty of those available online though. Specially people bragging on social media about something.
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True that. School ID it is then. Though i have never been to schools that restrictive.
The all seeing eye sees everything...
Hi Tom. It was really fun
and a great learning experience.
Let me explain what did I do too
I'm installing Windows 11 in my VM while the attack is happening
EDIT: I'm actually a Sr.Mod in the discord server you were talking about, so please don't suspend me.....
I was just about to install visual studio before the server got shut down so I doubt it even got installed fully and probably got corrupted...
@Not_Oles
Please forgive me for replying so late. These days I am preparing for the java test. I didn't expect to hear about the abuse of metalvps so soon, which makes me sad😢. But seeing that everyone in LES is actively seeking change, I am very moved. We will surely get out of the shadows and welcome the rainbow soon🌈:
@terrorgen I agree with your view, I also want to add:
1. Formulate a table to clearly specify which operations are prohibited and which operations need to be reported. This can let users know what rules they need to follow when using VPS. Because I see that some people don't understand the harm of port scanning at first (including me), this can avoid some inadvertent mistakes.
3. Create a chat group (I personally recommend the Telegram group, Discord only requires an email to register, Telegram requires mobile phone verification, which can increase the cost of abuse) for everyone to communicate with each other and share their learning outcomes. I think if users contribute when using the free VPS, such as sharing their experience and answering other users' questions, they may cherish this resource more and use it more rationally, thereby reducing abusive behavior.
4. Use some tools to view the log of operation commands of each user who have been granted advanced privileges on the VPS. Note that the security of log files needs to be protected to prevent malicious users from tampering with or deleting them.
**About Filtration Issues **
I want to speak my mind：At first I had some concerns. I didn't provide my identity verification, but Tom trusted me and even actively added me to the sudo group, which made me build trust in Tom. So, of course, I will provide my identity verification on the day the VPS is rebuilt (or at any time, as long as he mentions it), because trust is mutual . If we don't trust Tom, how can we ask Tom to trust a "shadow"? Establishing mutual trust and letting resources flow to those in real need, I think this is also what Tom really hopes to see.
Best wishes！🙏🙏🙏
So i explain what did I do too
I was trying to installing Kali Linux while attack is happening
Also i just a Admin there, can you please don't suspend me please
The list would be too long and people will avoid reading it. I guess can make a short and simple list or link to content maybe? Dunno how this will work
What happened to number 2?
Anyway, telegram group is a great idea.
Cant, specially if they are using KVM as the gest OS is not linked to the host OS. So anything in KVM is not visible to host node.
I agree with you there, fully. If you want people to trust you, show that you can be trusted and put your trust in others first. I'm not saying this is a good idea on the internet, but I think @Not_Oles showed he can be trusted.
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I agree, but asking for documents and stuffs are like some kind of "privacy invasion", especially the one who don't want their real name, address, school information or anything to be exposed online.
I know Tom is trying to be trusted by anyone, by giving away his high-spec MetalVPS, and he even gave me access to the new i9 server with SUDO ACCESS.
I also don't want to expose my information online, but I will try to get Not_Oles's trust by posting my contributions if I can. I'm not the kind of person who run away after getting the VPS, just like what most people here did.
But the difficulty now lies in the ways to verify one's identity. How can I prove my identity with minimal disclosure of privacy?
It may be a good idea to have their parents or school administrators contact Tom, but some parents are unable to contact Tom personally due to age issues, language issues, or because they don't know how to use email (which is common). And in some countries, accessing the extranet is not supported or even illegal, so their school administrators may not want to support it (and there are quite a few of those).
Here I would like to offer an additional option that can be done alone(no need to show their face): There is a lot of school information leaked on the internet, and it is not very difficult to hold a certain student's information or even their educational email address, but would it be enough to verify their student status if they were limited to holding this proof in a photo with a buildings with school emblem printed on them on a certain day, at noon, or at night (with a designated hand gesture like OK or yeah or some other one-handed gesture)?
The above remarks are all nonsense that I came up with on a whim😵💫. If there are any inaccuracies, please feel free to point them out. If there is any offense, please forgive me.
Best wishes！🙏🙏🙏
Well, the table is a good idea, I believe it will be great.💪
There was no 2, I just wrote it wrong because my brain was like mush at the time.🤣
So it turns out they can hide in an unknown little black room.😮It seems that the personnel arrangement of the KVM group needs to be carefully considered.🤔
Thank you for your recognition. It is true that not everyone can be trusted unless that person is worthy.🧐
I also agree too
Tom wanted everyone to trust him, He also gave me access of the i9-9900K with SUDO access
I wanted Tom to trust me so I've decided to post all my work for privacy reasons
Why? I don't want my info be exposed online
I'm also not a person who ran away after getting the VPS.
This is why I think creating a communication group is great.When a person contributes to a node, they will cherish it like their own masterpiece, or even their own child.They will work together to maintain its security, and I don't believe that such a person would be ruthless enough to abuse it.😊
Tom is a good guy actually
Everyone can trusted him, he trusted everyone even new or old to here, he trusted me to give me access to i9 9900K with Sudoer
I also trusted Tom (aka @Not_Oles), i'm not a people like bring the VPS to run away and i'm not a scammer, i am still here to talk, I still active here aswell
I hope people can understand
That's great
Yep, that's a good idea.
At the risk of coming across as heartless, I'm going to reply to this. Sorry in advance if you think I should be more compassionate.
My inference from that is that you're an adult, because you have described this as "the past few years" and having a landlord.
Also, if you're living in a hotel, then it sounds like you have some means. You also say you just moved into a flat 2 weeks ago.
Also, noted that you live in Birmingham.
I'd say this is false. It's practically impossible to conduct life in the UK without any form of ID, unless you are actually homeless and just living from donated cash to spend in shops.
I find it unbelievable in the extreme that you have no bank account as it is trivial to open one, and children from the age of 13 have been able to open their own bank accounts for several decades at least.
For the benefit of @Not_Oles who might be tempted to believe this story, there are several schemes designed to enable people who chose not to have typical forms of ID such as driving licence or passport to obtain other photo ID. For instance: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate
You now you're at school? Presuming that you mean "school" as a UK person uses the word, you'd not be dealing with landlords. Also, if you were actually genuinely homeless child, a call to social services will find you some accommodation quickly.
Also, this seems very suspicious in and of itself. Most schools in the UK do not use .co.uk.
As explained above, I find this extremely implausible. And if it is true, you've found yourself a problem to solve in the next few days.
Aside from anything else, it's almost impossible to rent anywhere without a bank account, and it's very difficult to claim any state welfare without a bank account. If you situation is as you describe, then you make sure that you claim state welfare, so go along to your local job center and ask about the process. Or read more about it here:
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/claiming_benefits_when_homeless_on_the_streets
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/how_to_open_a_bank_account
But in any case, you have a choice - if you want to participate in people's offers (free or otherwise), you have to comply with the rules they put in place. If you don't want to, then don't take advantage of the offers, and don't complain about it. Pretty simple really.
Good morning!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Gm Oles am just asking when will the server come back?
hi mr not_oles, can you give me free shell account on metal server? i have only weak computer and bad internet connection at house. i want learn how scan ports. shell account on metal server would help me learn how scan ports. i promise not create vps with windows! thank you, you are nice man
"A single swap file or partition may be up to 128 MB in size. [...] [I]f you need 256 MB of swap, you can create two 128-MB swap partitions." (M. Welsh & L. Kaufman, Running Linux, 2e, 1996, p. 49)
Glad to have someone with a UK background comment on this! I knew something was up but without extended knowledge of UK life I am not able to point out what's going on.
The all seeing eye sees everything...