do you have any info you can safely share about where these attacks are coming from?
A Balkan country in central/southeast Europe maybe?
They use a VPN so it's difficult to tell their specific location exactly although there are some ways to suggest where they may or may not be from roughly. So I can't prove anything conclusively, but I do know:
They are trying to appear to be a regular spammer, but they tripped up a few times by specifically targeting me in some of their account names and passwords - maybe they drunk too much or took too many pills that night .... So it's something directed at me & the site and I know it's not really a spammer, it's someone with a grudge. Spammers aren't usually persistent - they are looking for low-hanging fruit and don't have time to spend on things that don't provide results, so the attempt to disguise themselves is useful information in itself.
I can only think of one person who really has a cause to intensely dislike this site right now and me in particular. So I'd guess it's either him or one of his flying monkeys.
The attacks began on the same day someone apparently learned of the existence of a thread about them and one of their employees showed up to try to derail the topic. Again, hard to prove conclusively but things that make you go "hmmnn?"
I can tell that they are not super-technically savvy and they don't even seem to realize that what they do is being blocked (so outright dumb in fact). I put some extra automated security measures in place which are working very well and mentally I always view people like this as providing some valuable security testing for me free of charge so ultimately it's beneficial to the site and makes it stronger. The evil side of me likes the thought of someone wasting so much of their time.
I'll continue collecting evidence and if I can identify someone I'll make it public.
