[Nodxa] ARRL Systems Service Disruption (Update)

[Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)]

 From the ARRL Web page at:
https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-systems-service-disruption

ARRL Systems Service Disruption
09/25/2024

Updated 9/25/24

Two major systems that have not been returned to service include DXCC
and our accounting system. Most other systems have returned to full
service, and we are working to clean up the stragglers.

DXCC® System

Our DXCC software was written some 20 years ago. Although an attempt
was made 8 years ago to reprogram it to function in a newer environment,
that effort was unsuccessful, so the old system remains running today.
The complication with bringing it back to service is that it runs on an
older version of Windows that is not supported, and more importantly,
we cannot purchase adequate protection to return it to service on an
internet-based network.

We have created an air-gapped network to run the system on and have it
operating in a test, using a different method for connecting it to Log-
book of The World® and online DXCC -- the web service that runs the
online DXCC application. This configuration is being tested and we
expect it can go into production soon. We will work to process the
backlog as quickly as possible.

New DXCC?

There were statements made by an ARRL Director about work on a new DXCC
system. That is not factual. While we have ideas for merging DXCC and
LoTW® into a single ARRL Radiosport platform, this concept has not been
fully spec’d out or put into development.

ARRL Financials

The system we use for accounting was hit hard by the cyber-attack.
Currently, the system is fully operational and the ARRL Foundation
books are in place. ARRL’s corporate books are current as of 6/30/23,
and we are working to load the balance of the data through 12/31/23.
Once we are certain that the books tie to the audited 2023 financials,
we will move to load the 2024 transactions, which are in digital and
paper formats. That will take some time, but we will have all the data
current in time for the 2025 Annual Meeting and the annual audit.

Backups

Another statement made was about ARRL’s backups of our IT environment.
There was an effort last year to move all of our backups into the cloud.
That was completed mid-2023. There was a routine discipline of backups
that went through mid-May 2024 when the cyber attack occurred. Unfortun-
ately, the entire cloud infrastructure was penetrated, and all of the
environments were deleted. Not encrypted. This caused us to revert to
other backups that had been made and stored in other places. As a result,
we were largely able to continue all of our major services especially
publishing our 4 magazines and keeping book projects, like ARRL Handbook
101, on schedule.

Today, ARRL is using a proprietary system to backup systems and data
locally and to the cloud. We are also continuing to use air gapped,
off-site backups in specific areas and are expanding that for disaster
recovery purposes. The new IT environment is currently being rolled
out, so the assertion that there is something wrong or staff are in-
competent is not factual.

We appreciate your continued patience and understanding.

This story will be updated with new developments.

-- 

Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW - E-mail addresses:
<kb8nw at hotmail.com>  and<kb8nw at arrl.net>
Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX - DXer's Tool of Excellence)
President of the "Northern Ohio DX Association" (NODXA)
DX Advisor for the "Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society
Past ARRL Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division (1996-2022)
Sysop of the "Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS" (BARF80.ORG)