Re: Need advice about hacking and security

From:
Date: 10/28/02 

Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 07:25:28 -0500

"darlene" <dlor60@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:83724cbc.0210280109.db1dc12@posting.google.com...
> If anyone can please give me some insight about some computer
issues,
> I would appreciate it.
>
> Since I've had my used computer for about 2 years, I've had my
privacy
> violated to the extreme. All of my email accounts - Hotmail, Yahoo,
> my Outlook, my personal files have been tampered with.

Yahoo, Hotmail, and Outlook, if you use the default
preferences, is like walking around with a big "Kick Me"
sign on your back.

They are not designed with security in mind. The best way
to protect yourself on Hotmail and Yahoo is to remember
that they can't divulge information they don't have.

Rather than give lots of information to them, provide
only what they absolutely require, and select the "do
not put me in any online directories" options.

Outlook also requires a lot of tweaking to secure it.

> The sites
> where I frequent, some sock puppet apparently take personal info
from
> personal emails and post them in their messages.

There is no private email on the net. If it's private
and personal, either don't put it in an email, or
encrypt it. Email is a postcard delivered by
passing it around your entire neighborhood,
rather than handing it to the post office.

A postcard, only the postal employees can read.

An email, any mook on any of the intervening
servers can read. And many system admins
leave directories unprotects.

> I receive offensive
> purported porno 'opt-in' emails that I did not subscribe to - even
> within a few hours of creating a brand new email account.

Part of that is spammers targeting every possible
id on all the main services. The email address you
use on this mail is simple enough you'll get lots of
hits. Change it to something like d90_lor4567
and you'd probably see a huge reduction, just
because the spammer's random id generators
wouldn't try something that unusual as often.

> I also get
> taunted by a psycho cyberstalker who puts her name in the 'subject'
or
> email address of porno junkmail to make it appear to be unsolicited
> spam.

There are some web sites that detail cases of serious
cyberstalking. It sounds like it's time for you to get
serious about your computer security education.

> I frequently get these prompts "...computer shut down by the remote
> computer," "Password or access denied by the remote computer" or if
> I'm using a program I'll get kicked out accompanied by the message
> that says something to the effect of it "being used by 'another
> user'."

Sounds like you may have a trojan. The good news is
there are tools to detect and remove trojans. The
bad news is, unless you secure your system, they'll
come right back. Do a search on Yahoo or Google.

> What can I do about all of this? I have 3 suspicions as to who is
> behind this crap and all have their motives, but I would like to
know
> what are the legal ramifications?

There is no general answer. First, you need to prove
who is doing this. _Very_ difficult, if they are at all
knowledgeable. Most police departments aren't
capable of understanding the problem, so they
won't help. For legal advice, you need to contact
a lawyer. In some states, there are laws with teeth,
in most there aren't.

Direct your newsreader to news.grc.com
Gibson Research has a series of newsgroups dealing
with security and protection.

Also check out http://www.cert.org, particularly
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/. You'll find links
there and on the grc newsgroups to more
information.

You probably need a firewall to start. A software
firewall is fine, but if you have a broadband connection,
you may want to use a hardware firewall or router.

Get ready to back up all your data. You're likely
to need to wipe and reinstall your OS and all
applications to be sure you're secure.

Expect to spend a _lot_ of time learning what you
need to know, and a little regular refresher for new
information (a couple of hours) every few weeks
for the rest of your life.

Good luck.