Tapatalk - anyone using it?

[Jim]

Tapatalk's e-mailing me saying "there's an issue with tapatalk on your site".

Are you using it?

Do you want to use it?


read: Should I process the update or should I turn it off.

[Popsgarage]

I'm sure there are several that do. Little Chris, Heather to name two. I know I've seen others.

[Brucker]

A couple different forums I frequent have been hacked lately. Some have even lost quite a bit of data from it. Was told that the hackers got them because of Tapatalk. CO4x4 was the latest one to have this happen. The owner, Eric, disabled tapatalk permanently because of the attack.

[Chris]

Is it even installed Jim? I don't get the annoying popup here that I do elsewhere.

Using the Mobile Style is a much safer alternative.

[Jim]

I just went searching through the plug-ins and options and I do not see tapatalk loaded. You might have removed it.

[Chris]

I believe that's the case but didn't trust my memory. No need to open a back door!

[Haku]

Just an FYI, if its anything like phpBB, it will be in the "plugins and products" in the admin control panel. To be safe, I would maybe go look on the server for the zip file and resulting installed folder as well. Search for a directory called "mobiquo" to see if there is anything left over on the server that could be exploited (not sure if its possible, but never hurts).

With bigger screens and better browsers, the mobile versions of sites are a more viable way to do it then when iOS and Android first came out. My Note II has a big enough screen where I browse using the normal site most of the time anyways. I can't remember when I used Tapatalk last, but I do know that I never installed it on my new phone.

[Heather]

I used to use it, but haven't for a while because it hasn't worked. Sounds like maybe that's a good thing.

[Fordguy77]

I used to use it, but haven't for a while because it hasn't worked. Sounds like maybe that's a good thing.
X2 used it all the time until it was removed previously.

[ILuvtheMountains]

I use it for other forums, and tried to for this one but it said that there was an issue with the site when trying to use Tapatalk. I probably would use it if it was available.

[Cr33p3r]

I just tried to do a search on there for the site and it said it could not find the site. Was hoping to upload my pics from my tablet that way since the site won't let me do it otherwise.

[Jim]

I understand the limitation.

With a goal of having the site up and stable I'm not looking to open a security risk that causes an outage, loss of member data (e-mail addresses to be spammed), and loss of site data (due to a backup being restored).

I can see, with non-traditional-pc devices increasing, support to be added in the unforseen future. Short term, uploading from mobile device to an image hosting service with a link URL on the forum, to be a common process.

[Jim]

This just in from TapaTalk...


This message is to notify you of a security vulnerability that was found earlier this year in the Tapatalk plug-in. The issue involves a cross-site scripting vulnerability that may allow a third party to manipulate the content or behavior of a web application in a user's browser, without compromising the underlying system.

While our engineering team and other security apps have classified this as a low risk item and have not received any reports of compromised systems, we still recommend that you update your forum's Tapatalk plugin to the latest version available on our website.

Bolding is mine. Essentially, there's a vulnerability and the issue looks to be a risk for the user.

[greenramp]

seems the issues were resolved and hence why they "recommend that you update your forum's Tapatalk plugin to the latest version available on our website."

[Jim]

I take these items:

1) They considered the issue "low risk" and took their sweet time to issue a patch (poor business operation, in my opinion).
2) Only web sites that institute the patch will clients enjoy the security. Those sites that don't update, it would seem, clients are still vulnerable.
3) If you use TapaTalk, check the sites you connect with to ensure you're safe.

For the record, TapaTalk is no longer used here - because of the security issues.