Although I am still active on the web, I am going to enter home hospice care and I cannot post anymore due to nephropathy and literally a panic attack I had yesterday when I stopped breathing, however my therapy pet woke me so I could put on my oxygen..  I wanted to share this email I received from Flight One, it is not of concern for me since any accounts I have used there are long since inactive, but they were a good company while they lasted.  I do not know whether this post is a spam attack or true, so I wanted to advise the forums of what I received in case you receive one and follow their advice, if some asks you to confirm your commercial vendor relationships or Avsim info, do not trust them, especially via email....  Lou Betti and I had some strong exchanges here but he and his team are still a class act and gave us many great add-ons.

_______________________________

Important Information:

Yesterday, September 5, 2019, Flight1 was notified that some of our customer data was found on the internet. We are posting what we have discovered.

First, Flight1 is a data-minimum company. We do not store more data than what is required to provide our service and we do not use data for marketing purposes. We do not store credit card numbers with the exception of the last 4 digits so you can inquire about a sale. Credit card expiration dates and CCV verification numbers are NOT stored. Card processing data is passed directly to the processing gateway and is not retained in our database. All flight1.com account passwords are stored as secure 1-way hash codes using an advanced algorithm. Please see our terms of service page for more details on our data policies.

What was discovered:

An audit was completed and does not show any active exploit on our server or database. We have examined our server logs going back a full year. Discovered during the audit was a script (for viewing information on a product) where logs showed there were attempts to retrieve data using an automated bot. We believe this is where some data may have been leaked. Not all current accounts were affected and yours may not have been affected. That version of the script is no longer in use and has not been in use for months. In auditing the current version of the script no vulnerabilities were found (also verified in current logs).

What you should do:

Due to the strong 1-way hashing used we do not believe it is necessary for you to change your passwords, but you are welcome to do so. Flight1 recommends you always be vigilant on the Internet. Be aware of email phishing attempts. Flight1 NEVER sends unsolicited emails asking you to log in to our site, or ask for any payment information via email..

In Summary:

Whether you have been a customer of ours for 20+ years or are a new customer, know that security is always at the top of our list and will remain so. Thank you for your support and please feel free to contact us.

John,

you'll surely get better, and back in shape!  :-)

Hope you can sort it all out soon, and get back to normal routine.

I really like to read your posts!

Regarding Flight1, yes!, I also received their email. Just like you John, it's been a long time since I last used their products, mostly because they were all for fs9 and then fsx. Presently I still have, from time to time, to re-activate my ELITE GNS 430/530 license that is a Flight1 Pro product integrated in ELITE XTS. They were always Professional, and once again they show it. Just in case, yesterday when there were rumours about that "data breach", I did change my password.

All of the Best John! 

 

Take care of yourself John, your many stories are a great part of the daily routine around here. 

Wish you all the best 

Get well soon John. 

John : Please get better so i can bust your horns about  Exxon/[happy flying] etc.Get some rest.  Paul

Get well soon John. Although I've never been there, I share your love for KPHX and surrounding areas in FlightSim 

Praying for you John!!! 

Likewise, John. Take care, sir!

Thanks for your follow-up, most of my challenges have been due to the grind of pain for diabetes nephropathy, because it takes away my ability to self edit my thoughts, so I just get kind of wore out making posts, get cranky, hey, it was part of being in school anyway when we were so innocent and young, lol, but flightsim students are innocent because we can freshen up our hobby with a new hummingbird to fly. 

So after my last post I just put my daughter on notice that I went in to get treatment for a severe migraine that had built up, and not to worry if I am offline for several days while I am on the mend, I have to do some fall cleaning anyway, I've been having so much fun with the now many sims I have, from boat/ship simulations, racing simulations and the holy grail of flight simming, three good flight sims (take your pic, I can't). 

I highly recommend folks see what will probably be my last video post for a while, simply because they grind my gears a bit because I like to spiffy them up with some of my self composed music and title cards, of the Mosquito Ultralight Helicopter I found just by using Google, for P3DV4.5. 

It arguably the best, cutest flying copter in all the sims I have, second only to Xplane11's VSkylabs Gyro....  As we love to say in Italian, Capice (that is what I love to say for my family from Italy it just means game, set and match, I found my toy of choice for now, good way of teasing myself towards my next payware purchase, which is always right after I get paid my pension check.

John

Take care of yourself John.  Wishing you the best through these health concerns.  Pull through.

46 minutes ago, John_Cillis said:

Thanks for your follow-up, most of my challenges have been due to the grind of pain for diabetes nephropathy, because it takes away my ability to self edit my thoughts, so I just get kind of wore out making posts, get cranky, hey, it was part of being in school anyway when we were so innocent and young, lol, but flightsim students are innocent because we can freshen up our hobby with a new hummingbird to fly. 

So after my last post I just put my daughter on notice that I went in to get treatment for a severe migraine that had built up, and not to worry if I am offline for several days while I am on the mend, I have to do some fall cleaning anyway, I've been having so much fun with the now many sims I have, from boat/ship simulations, racing simulations and the holy grail of flight simming, three good flight sims (take your pic, I can't). 

I highly recommend folks see what will probably be my last video post for a while, simply because they grind my gears a bit because I like to spiffy them up with some of my self composed music and title cards, of the Mosquito Ultralight Helicopter I found just by using Google, for P3DV4.5. 

It arguably the best, cutest flying copter in all the sims I have, second only to Xplane11's VSkylabs Gyro....  As we love to say in Italian, Capice (that is what I love to say for my family from Italy it just means game, set and match, I found my toy of choice for now, good way of teasing myself towards my next payware purchase, which is always right after I get paid my pension check.

John

John,

 

My dad served in Vietnam and is 100% disabled because of Agent Orange Exposure. He led a full life and was an executive at a very large Cargo company that has planes :) He got me interested in aviation at a very young age. Taking me to work with him and get to play in the aircraft, the pilots teaching me about aviation. He even got me rides in choppers from friends of his at the State Police..  He suffers from Diabetic Neuropathy really bad because of the Agent Orange Exposure. He also has Macular degeneration. My wife took him to the VA Hospital this past week and he had to get shots in both eyes because of it.  I understand what you are going through. Him and I are going on an RV trip this week to see my son who is a freshman at a Military College to remain nameless.

Take care of yourself John.

Get yourself well John.  

If I never told you this before, thanks for developing Landclass Assistant.  Great for tweaking LC here and there.

1 hour ago, Camsdad13 said:

John,

Take care of yourself John.

Thank you.  Main reason I've been fighting cancer in one form or another since a pre malignant melanoma was removed in '97 (fantastic dermatologist by the way, he came leering at my forehead with a needle while I quaked like a little boy in a dentist chair, driving myself there after work, and I did not feel the injection or any pain during surgery). I had effortless euphoria from being in such skilled hands and only needed a bit of Excedrin when I got home to take the edge off, my preferred pain remedy, or dissolved aspirin tablets in a soda.  I am so militant in enjoying my simming that I do not like to drink (diabetics should abstain if at all possible anyway) at all, it takes away the fun, because I like to create intentionally stressful scenarios with tricky crosswinds to raise the adrenaline a bit to make flight as realistic as any of my real world piloting experiences. 

Also I was exposed to high levels of radiation after an above ground atomic test my father went to right before I was born when he first began work for Argonne Labs in Chicago.  He, with no paper degree at that time, went to keep a friend company while his friend applied for a job, and his friend said to him, "if you're bored, apply and take the test too". 

My Dad and I are Good Will Huntings when it comes to math, Landclass Assistant mentioned in the above reply was an example of integral calculus I learned out of college with help from knowledge my Dad taught me.  Anyway, my Dad took the test, got the job, and his friend had to shrug his shoulders because my Dad was offered the job he wanted, but he dared him anyway, and folks that know our passion for both the arts, math and music should know we take on a dare as a battle of Gin Rummy so we all come out feeling like winners. 

That is why, in Phoenix, surrounded now by more Casinos than Reno Nevada, I do not dare fate with one armed bandits, lol...  But I respect them for their entertainment value if people enjoy them for the purpose of just playing and sharing their fun with their casino hosts hospitality.

Anyway, I have lived my life with the understanding that Cancer, and we all have Cancer genes because it is vital to the aging process, is something that can be dealt with symptomatically as a chronic disease to the aggression the doctor and patient agree upon.  I learned this from my father, which allowed me to help my Mom and Older Brother deal with lung and a brain tumor, respectively.  I was my Mom's medical power of attorney, medication manager, and support after my brother passed four months before she did.  His cancer was brought on by radiation exposure and a work accident, and sadly he lost his own life after an accident related to his illness, a blessing in disguise.

I was a military brat even given an honorary rank in the Sons of VFW, I wore my khaki shirt proudly, in honor of my Dad and Two Uncles, My Dad and paternal uncle served in WWII and Korean, my maternal uncle in the 101st Airborne, and my other older uncle who we owned a cottage with in Cedar Lake Indiana was Gene Autry's personal driver while he toured Europe to rally the troops in WWII.  My two brothers, the oldest served 20 years in the California National Guard, and he worked with the TSA shortly before his passing in 2009, and my middle brother in the Air Force as an aircraft electrician going thru basic in Colorado and stationed in San Anton.

Hats off to anyone who served in the place of others who could find work, to save them from the sacrifice that comes with any form of public service.

John