THIS NUT HAS HACKED INTO MY ACCOUNTS AND CHANGED MY PASS WORDS AND ALL THE ACCOUNT INFO.  AND I CAN'T GET ON MY EMAIL ACCOUNT. SO IF YOU SEND AN EMAIL TO ME AND GET AN ANSWER FROM THAT ADDRESS IT'S NOT ME. ALSO DON'T ANSWER ANY EMAILS FROM THAT ADDRESS IT'S NOT ME EMAILING YOU. I KNOW WHO THIS GUY IS AND I ALREADY FILED A REPORT WITH THE POLICE ON HIM. HE ALSO MANAGED TO GET MY PRIVATE PHONE NUMBER AND HAS CALLED MY HOME AT 4 AM IN THE MORNING.  THIS GUY IS DANGEROUS.  IF YOU GUYS WANT TO SEE ME JUST GET MY VOICE MAIL NUMBER OFF MY WEB SITE AND CALL ME.. ALSO IF ANYONE OUT THERE CAN HELP ME GET BACK ON MY OLD EMAIL ACCOUNT  PLEASE CALL ME. I GOT A LOT OF IMPORTANT BUSINESS FILES SAVED ON THAT ACCOUNT THAT I NEED FOR MY BUSINESS THAT IS NOW LOST BECAUSE OF THIS NUT.  THANKS.

Protect Ourselves????? First hearing about that guy in the new's....then Nicholette stated someone hacked into her computer.....now you!!!!!

OMG......How can we protect ourselves from this?? I try to change my password often, firewall, and clean sweep the computer often, NO ONE But me has ever been on my computer......not even my kid's!!. Are these thing's to prevent this stuff? If not Please tell me!!!  

I Do NOT keep Client's information for more than up to 2 week's before we meet (for safety & Comfort as well as clutter reason's) Any person who has seen me know's they will NEVER hear from me without them contacting me first and either resending their info. or reminding me who they are. But hearing stuff like this is very scary.......I want my client's information to only be seen by me for verification reason's not someone hacking into my computer. So PLEASE Anyone who know's how to prevent such thing's tell me so I can do it.......I want My client's and myself to be SAFE!!!!

Start with a firewall.

If you currently have or plan to set up a home network, most routers have a built in hardware firewall. You can use a software firewall like Zone Alarm. It's free and it's highly rated.

Also, don't use use software features whice automatically fill in your password (like Auto Complete in Internet Explorer). If you have trouble remembering your passwords, write them to a text file  on a floppy disk or re-writable CD. Just don't keep the floppy/CD near your computer.

thirsty

chrissy one things   dont piss anyone off LOL . J/K  i know what you mean seems that latley lots been going on with saftey issue in boston area  gald that ann file with cop about this nuts  girls if anything ever happed dont get affraid to call the cops  your saftey come first as far someone try to harm  you in anyway  as far ann issue i would think the best thing to do is cancell that email add  and start new  i m not sure what info you do have there  but still i hope that guy dont use that stuff  to harm you in anyway  its really sad what someone would do to make other people life hard . its very good idea not to keep anything on the email add that you use . and if you do have to keep some  things i think best way to creat new email add with yahoo or hotmail with email add no one know but you and keep all  your important info there  and since no one know that add there is no chance that   anyone can hack to it  . i keep all my fav link s there  when i need to go to any site i just log on there and  copy the link and past it this way it s not on my pc and if by any chance some  use  the pc they cant find any naughty links heheheh  and i do have 2 fire walls and 3 cleaning  programs that i have them set to run every few hours  this way  my pc  allways clean
good luck ann with this issue  hope   you be able to get your things back  
oxoxoxo

Is a computer class.  I duess we all have our areas of expertise lol.  Any one care to teach us?

I could see us now......We wouldn't get any studying done! We need a patient teacher who isn't easily distracted by french! hehehe

Are you going to meet me in ct.? I'd love to see ya! ~Hug's~

Yes next friday right.  I don't know what are the odds of getting pics done.  I need to find a gay photographer or a straight woman to take pics.

I'll do you.....and you can do me!!!! No really we will for sure! Yay, Looking forward to it! Chrissy

Doing you would be so much more exciting than doing pictures

Zone Alarm is excellent and it pays to purchase the Pro version. Use it in conjunction with Pest Patrol and wipe out all those spyware cookies.

my father calls me, my mother picks up their extension, the two of them start arguing and forget that i'm on the line ... of course, during all this i've never heard either of them say "i'll do you if you'll do me". ugh, that would mean even MORE therapy ....

One suggestion I can make as to passwords is to make sure they are more than a name or the like.  Do not use passwords like "teresa" or "fluffy" or names of kids, cats, dogs, ex-husbands, or any other common words.  Anybody who knows you will be able to figure out those passwords quite easily.  Do not use names backwards either.  This is basically the same thing.

The best passwords are things which are random sequences of numbers and letters.  In other words a password like "r5c2w7z" is so much better than "roger" or the like.  Make the password something that is not associated with you at all.

The other thing is do not use the same password for all sites.  What I recommend doing is using the same first part of the password, but changing some of it for each site.  For example you could use "12345abc" for one site, then "12345adf" for another site.  

These things are much more important than firewalls, etc.  Most "hacking" consists of figuring out what someone's password is that they use either everywhere, or what few passwords they use, and gaining access to their accounts.  

One more thing, Change your password each and every month.  Do not leave it set to the same thing.


-- Modified on 4/2/2003 10:28:37 AM

clarence hmmm wasnt that the name of the boy in leave it to beaver.  Ok so I am dating myself.  but his parents slept in twin beds lol

Ann -
I'm guessing your problem with your Yahoo mail account is the same one SEVERAL of us New England ladies have had (read the Massachusetts public boards on the "other" site - you will see that we have all posted about it there).

My Yahoo account has been "deactivated." When I tried to log into my Yahoo e-mail account last Friday, I got a message telling me my password is invalid. I then used their form to get a new password, I was told my account was deactivated. I have written to Yahoo four times (at my-login-support@ yahoo-inc.com) since last Friday and received NO response whatsoever (I'll forward it all to you if you want to see it). I managed to find (somehow) a 408 (San Jose, CA) area code phone number for Yahoo, but I figured that it is probably not worth the effort since they won't even return an e-mail. And because I can not sign in to Yahoo as Kathryn Rachel, I also can not edit my website, so I have a website address published all over the place with a link to an e-mail address for me that I can not access. I think we're SOL on this one. Maybe it is the doing of this man of whom you speak...or maybe Yahoo is on some big crackdown, or perhaps it is a disgruntled New England provider or hobbiest (I would be VERY interested to learn if women living in states outside New England are having this problem with Yahoo as so many of us here are). Either way, I don't think there is anything we can do about it.

I've set up an account with hotmail and a "temporary" site on Tripod while I try to figure out where I want to host my domain (which I purchased on Saturday).

I'm sorry this happened to you, too Ann. Feel free to e-mail me if you want more information or to talk....

Crystal, I deleted the email with your number. It's 12:30pm  call me as soon as you can.......I need to talk to you! Chrissy

OOP'S here's my number......978-618-4505

-- Modified on 4/2/2003 9:28:27 AM

-- Modified on 4/2/2003 9:29:19 AM

Another anti-spyware option is Ad-Aware. I've never used Pest Patrol but I find that A-A is very effective. Like Zone Alarm, Ad-Aware offers a free version and a pro version.

thirsty

"ward, weren't you a little hard on the beaver last night?"

I decided to go with the pro version when I started having problems with downloads, and the free upgrades are a nice way to stay on top of the latest hacks n cracks.

Ad Aware seems alot like Pest Patrol. It's amazing how those cookies slip in every so often, even if you have your security set to high.

I want to thank some very special people here on the boards for helping me get [email protected] back!   And I want to thank one special girl for with out her I would never been able to stop this creep .Lilly I owe you one.Your the BEST!!!  I still need some help . I need to know how to Change my pass word here on TER  I   think he might have that one too but  I doubt it. And I want to make sure  he can't GET ON USEING MY NAME!  This guy has his own user name on this board with a free account ,and he may have more user names .He stoled my husband  user name   of gigolojess from TBD and did post here sometime ago useing a name like  gigolojess. My husband does not  have  a user name on this board.  Nor does he post on this board. ONLY IN THE MALE ESCORT AREA OF TBD DID HE EVER POST!   Do a search of this board going back a few weeks and you will see a post asking about  where NIcholette  is .THAT POST IS FROM THIS CREEP!!!!   He is dangerous to ALL OF YOU! If you get an email from a guy asking questions about me or Nicholette  or Gigolo Jess  DON'T ANSWER!My    [email protected]  is OK to use again   I changed the pass word to something NO ONE NOT EVEN YOU YOU BASTARD  WILL EVER KNOW!!!!!!! OR GUESS!!!!!!!  AND I KNOW YOUR LOOKING AT THIS RIGHT NOW!   WELL THE POLICE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU RIGHT NOW!  YOU'LL BE HEARING FROM THEM REAL SOON! WHAT YOU DID IS ILLEGAL  AND ME AND MY HUSBAND ARE PRESSING CHARGES!!! I'LL SEE YOUR ASS IN JALL!!!!      

[edited by moderator - I understand you're upset but YOU CAN'T OUT PEOPLE ON TER MESSAGE BOARDS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!]  

Please guys protect your selves. He can hack in to your computers  even with a fire wall  up.Thanks. And email me if you have any questions.. .Also my 3hour dinner special is still on   all month. After this I need to have some fun.    Love,Ann      

-- Modified on 4/3/2003 6:05:02 AM

Those IP Addresses translate to bay2-f108.bay2.hotmail.com (which is a hotmail server address) and dialup-63.214.73.252.Dial1.Boston1.Level3.net Which is a dialup address (When you dialin to an ISP you always get the IP Address assigned to the port that you connect to.  So the IP Addresses really mean nothing unless you are level3.net and have who dialed into that port at that specific time.

As to the firewall issue, most "attacks" are based on the attacker knowing something about the attackee, or gaining access to the attackee's computer physically directly, or the attackee running some sort of trojan (no, not the condom) software that was attached to an email or installed directly, that gives the attacker access to the computer.

So the four things needed to be absolutely safe are:
1) A good firewall to protect against random attacks from anywhere on the internet.  These exploit either weeknesses in either Windows or when Trojan software is installed on the computer.

2) A good anti-virus program (like Norton or McAfee or the like).  This will filter out the known viruses that might be attached to email etc.

3) A good Spyware scanner (like Ad-Aware), to check your system every few days.

4) Good Passwords.  Ann you are abcolutely correct that you need a password that "NO ONE NOT EVEN YOU YOU BASTARD  WILL EVER KNOW!!!!!!! OR GUESS!!!!!!!"  That is absoutely what everybody should do.

Now this is important for people who have both a high speed connection and people who only dialin through AOL.  Whenever you "login" to the internet, your computer is just as accessable as any other computer.  Your IP address might change, but if you have a trojan program running, an attacker will be able to find you since the program will always "phone home"

Having worked with the internet for over 10 years, and writing much internet software, and learning the innards of TCP and UDP, I feel I can be pretty helpful on this one.

I hope this helps....

But I don't because I'm still learning this computer stuff... But thanks for the info.  Love,Ann

All nerds think about is sex (When they are not writing software..)

Basically, as long as you have good passwords, and and firewall program like zonealarm, you are pretty much going to be ok.

Just do not download any attachments that you do not know.  Ignore those "This is a cute program" emails.  They are usually bad news.

Some of those "cute program" attachments are what we call Trojans and they ain't what you're thinking they are ladies. They are hazardous programs disguised as something else and some of these programs like one known as back orifice can be set to steal information from your computer and email it back to an account that the sender sets up. Once they are in your computer if the sender finds you online he can get inside and cruise around looking for stuff. Reading files and stealing files off your computer.

Keep your Antivirus software updated. If you have Norton AV set your Norton Liveupdate to ON and let it download the updates every week. They usually update every Wednesday but will do it more frequently if some threat is out there that warrants it. Norton will check in the background when you go online and if there is an update it will just get it on it's own as long as LiveUpdate is set to ON.