SOLDIERX.COM Nobody Can Stop Information Insemination

As the news post says, we are now on the new server. Please let us know if you encounter any problems so that we can get them fixed immediately. Our first order of business on the new server is the restoration of the web IRC client. This should happen at some point before December 30th. Watch for the news post

Happy holidays to all of our community. As we stated in a previous news post, we were going to be switching to a new server in December. The time has finally come! We will be transitioning to the new server tonight and I will be posting a news post when it is complete. We will transition as quickly as possible to avoid down time, but 30 minutes or so is to be expected. We will also be changing our SSL certificate. Due to the server transition, we will have less holiday releases than usual - but we are still planning a few.

Also please note that I am a bit backed up on contest emails. Will get all of the contests updates published very soon after the server move.

We still haven't received any submissions to the contest. In hopes to bring in more participants, SoldierX is releasing some supplemental code that will make things a little easier. The programming contest now comes with a Battle Arena package that contains an example Battle Arena that is very similar to what will actually be run at the end of the contest, as well as 2 very simple example bots. We hope this will encourage participation. Check out the contest for more information.

Normally I would not make a news post for somebody completing a part of a contest, but the SX Cryptography/Steganography Cracking Contest 2011 has proven to be our most challenging contest yet. Out of the current 2,302 contestants - only one has made it beyond Mission 2. That person is jip. Congratulations, jip - you are in the lead! If nobody completes the contest, then the winner is whoever completed the most missions. The first person to complete the contest gets $100 + VIP + Shirt. If only one person completes the contest, then an additional large prize will be granted. Come on people, there's not much time left!

Think can you crack it was too easy? Try the SX Cryptography/Steganography Cracking Contest 2011. Three months and not a single person has completed the challenge! I've decided to up the stakes a bit - first person to solve this challenge gets $100. We will also still be offering a large (yet to be disclosed) prize if only one person is able to complete the challenge. So if you do complete it, I would advise against telling anybody how you did it

Would you like VIP access and a SOLDIERX T-Shirt but don't have the cash? SOLDIERX proudly presents the official 2011 SX Wallpaper Contest. The contest begins now and lasts until 12-31-2011. This year we are doing a two part voting system so that everybody has a fair chance. Last year some of the people were able to accumulate votes by submitting tons and tons of work. This year we are stressing quality over quantity. Please see the contest page for more details.

Good luck everybody! Check out SX Propaganda for ideas.

1st Place wins a SOLDIERX T-Shirt and VIP access. For right now we are only having a 1st place. If we receive enough entries, we may have 2nd and 3rd place winners.

Effective immediately, cisc0ninja is now retired from SOLDIERX. I received a phone call today from cisc0ninja (he hates IM) where he requested that I notify the rest of SX that he is retiring. He felt that it wasn't fair to remain listed as an active member after not having a major contribution to the group in two years. For those who don't know, cisc0ninja recently went through a divorce and has (for the most part) lost interest in computers. cisc0ninja told me that if he gets interested in computers again, he will try to return to the group. We wish him the best and hope that he keeps away from haxxxor girls

We are looking for a curator for our Hacker Database (HDB). The duties include making sure all of the information in the HDB is up to date as well as creating new entries as information becomes available. While SOLDIERX currently has the largest HDB on the internet (rumored to only be rivaled by the FBI's hacker database), our HDB has not been updated much over the past two years. No hacking experience is required but all interested parties should have strong written English skills as well as enough technical ability to search and compile information for HDB entries. Curator will receive a free SX shirt as well as free VIP for the duration of the position. All interested parties should contact RaT immediately.

Thanks to some donated hardware from johnabig, we will be transitioning to a new server sometime in December. It is already set up and working, but we need time to fully optimize and secure it. For those interested in the difference of hardware - we will be going from two processors to four and from 8 GB of ECC ram to 16 GB of ECC ram. Also, we are currently using one 15,000 rpm hard drive. We will be moving to three 15,000 rpm hard drives and one 10,000 rpm backup hard drive (we will still be doing our normal offsite backups of course). We are also looking to get some of our community servers hosted other places, so let us know if you're interested in hosting.

It's that time of year again - that time that cisc0ninja visits the rest of the SX crew. If you know cisc0ninja, you know that he's always broke. In an effort to give savings for the holidays as well as feed cisc0ninja, we are offering a short term VIP discount. That's right - you can get lifetime VIP for only $25. The special is going now through November 15, 2011. Please contact RaT if you are interested. After November 15th, lifetime VIP will go back to the regular $40. At $25, this is the cheapest you will probably ever be able to get VIP access (particularly since it's always voted to increase).