Help With Computer Hacker

[lilered]

My daughter called me recently crying, concerning a former computer nerd boyfriend of hers hacking her computer. It seems that about once a week, he hacks into her computer somehow and randomly deletes her emails. She also has a website where she sells dogs and people send her emails requesting information or sales concerning her dogs. When they broke up, he commented that he left a little angel on her computer so she won't be alone.

So my question is:

Isn't there someway that this person can be caught by software or stopped? She indicated that those she has talked to simply advise her to weekly change her password. Their rational seems to be that if he is a good hacker, hacking software will not stop him.

I am no computer geek, but it seems to me that this is wrong and that there should be a way to catch him doing it and prosecute him?

Any advise or thoughts?

[dazed-and-confused]

All i can think of off-hand (i'm no computer genious either) is to contact the police and hope they have a cyber-crimes dept, or to contact the FBI about info reguarding your alternantives.

Hope you sqash the little bug....lol.

[joel99]

This is something to take to the police with especially if he's messing with her website which is hosted by a third party. Once you've talked to them and they have the evidence they need then you can go about locking down the computer via changing all passwords, looking for accounts he created or programs he's installed, access to the website or any web email, etc.

[bytebear]

Yes, go to the police. It's pretty easy to track down who did what, because computers leave logs and IP addresses. I would also have her get a lawyer and go for civil damages. If he did anything to damage her company or the company's reputation, he will be held financially accountable.

[Heavenguard]

Change passwords is a must, no matter what.

Also, have her contact her host (for the website and her email); they likely have measures to stop people like him as well. She should also contact both her and ISPs and present as much evidence as possible.

It's possible he might have opened up some ways for him to get to her computer via the internet, or wrote a program, or even installed something that allows (usually legitimate) remote access to a computer. If he actually did something to "tinker" around with her computer or settings, she could try...

Do a system restore to a point safely far away enough before they broke up.

Look for any programs in the add/remove programs that aren't supposed to be there (but I suspect it wouldn't be as obvious as that)

Failing that, a little more drastic, but still keeping it within her own power, is to reformat her computer, effectively getting rid of anything he could have done.

He may have opened up some ports on her router, in which case she could try to default her settings.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Heavenguard

[Wingnut]

She could back up her files and then completely wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything. Somebody more tech-savvy than me could say whether or not that's likely to work.

[Seanette]

Depends on what you're up against. Could be hidden in a file that would get backed up.

Must call this thread to my husband's attention, since he knows more than I do about this subject.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Seanette
adding info

[Guest Alana]

I once was at a friend of a friends house and he was showing me how he is able to pull up on his computer some of his friends computer. Basically, it was like all their files were on his computer, and he could track everything they did. It's probably something like that. I would just wipe everything and reinstall whatever operating system there is. Then, on a different computer (library maybe) change all the passwords and security questions for the passwords of websites she uses. If that doesn't work, new computer.

[RegretfulGuy]

Get a firewall and virus protector for her. I suggest Kaspersky Internet Security. Of course change passwords, and if you can't stop him from getting new ones, he likely put a keylogger on there. (Logs literally every key pushed, some even say what site and such). In that case if you can't remove or detect a keylogger, reformat computer.

[Mahone]

From what you have said, this is my thoughts: he has her e-mail password. It's likely he watched her type it in at one point. That is how he is deleting her e-mails. Absolutely she must change her password, that's the first step. Also make sure she changes her secret question if she has one.

In my experience, those who claim to be hackers are no such thing. I believe he wants to scare her into thinking he is watching her and that he is this uber hacker, when it reality, all he did was watch her enter her e-mail password - I work in IT Support in a college and 95% of the time, this is the case when we have incidents like this.

HOWEVER to be absolutely sure (I have no idea of his skill set, though to be honest he is probably what is known as a script kiddy) reformat and reinstall the operating system (windows xp/vista?) on your computer. Trojans/keyloggers can be extremely advanced and difficult to get rid of by routing through the system, even by someone who knows what they are doing - the only way to be sure all traces of it are gone is by reformatting your computer and reinstalling the operating system.

What operating system do you have? Do you have a router? If you go ahead and reinstall, XP comes with a firewall built in which you can enable, depending on your current setup. If you have a router, these usually have basic firewall functionality built in, you could enable both if you wish. You should download all your operating system updates from http://update.microsoft.com - these are usually security updates which you will need.

Kaspersky is good as recommended above if you want to spend money, but good security can be set up for free with the right tools.

Most of the above is precautionary, the chances are he knows nothing about hacking. As I said previously, the chances are he just has her e-mail password and no access to her computer.

[Guest JoshDwellington]

^ all of the posts above

+ he may have used a trojan, which makes it useless to buy any protective software . . .

as he may as well delete/tamper with them too

First thing : contact the police !!

(said many times, but it's the first thing you should do)

second thing :

tell you daughter not to use her current Email address NOR current computer, until everything is settled.

Good luck

[marshac]

What he did probably goes beyond stolen passwords- it sounds highly likely that he installed something like sub7. An anti-virus program would likely detect the program and clean it up, and a properly functioning firewall could block his connection attempts.

Regardless though- my vote is also for filing a police report.

[FunkyTown]

I'm going to agree with Mahone. Most hackers are mostly just people who look for passwords when people put it in. The second most populous one are what is commonly referred to as 'Script kiddies'.

If he's one of the first or second, doing what Mahone said will get rid of him. If he's a full-on hacker, it's possible she has a static IP and he is accessing her computer directly. Switching Internet Providers should eliminate that. I would not back up her current files as backing up whatever trojan she has will just cause it to return when she restores her system. It's a pain, but it's less a pain than this.

[Mahone]

You could try calling the police if you wish, as some posters have suggested. However I suspect they won't do a lot - probably the most they'll do is warn him off. This kind of thing is surprisingly common in the circumstances you describe (jealous ex) and they get calls about this all the time. However the police themselves can't do anything, most of them don't know the first thing about computer crime or computers in general. They have to get specalist units in to deal with that and it's very likely they won't for petty computer crime like this.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Mahone

[rameumptom]

Both a hardware and software firewall are necessary to keep people from seeing her files on her computer.

Is her email on her computer, or at an online site? If it is online (Google, etc), she only needs to change the password. If he's going directly onto her computer, she'll have to wipe the hard drive, reinstall the OS and programs, and then ensure her firewall and anti-virus function.

If she doesn't have a trustworthy friend to help her on this, it will be worth the cost to take it down to a computer store and have their experts clean and reinstall everything.

[Mahone]

Both a hardware and software firewall are necessary to keep people from seeing her files on her computer.

It's not really necessary, it depends on how good the software firewall and hardware firewall are - for a home computer one or the other is, in most cases, sufficient. That is of course providing the operating system has all the necessary updates and an up to date virus scanner (AVG is a fairly decent free one, Clamwin is also another good free one). Of course it won't do any harm to have both.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Mahone

[johnnylingo]

Call his parents and tell them what he is up to.

[eternalpromise516]

it's unlikely that this will be solved by calling this boy's parents.

lilered, i would follow the advice that's been given here by some of the other posters regarding calling the police and reformatting the computer and reinstalling the OS, then making sure she has good anti-viral/anti-spyware software installed after that's done and a firewall is in effect. Also check/reset the router as well as someone suggested earlier.

i hope you get this creep!

[puf_the_majic_dragon]

LOL Easy problem

He installed a trojan horse virus on her computer. It's literally child's play. The kid's a newb and I'd be more than happy to teach him a lesson.

Restart her computer completely; wait until it's totally finished booting up. Before opening any programs or messengers (make sure any instant messengers are closed), go to Start > Run and type "cmd" and press enter. In the new window type "netstat". Take a screenshot of that screen by pressing the "print screen" button and then open Paint and paste it in there. Save the image as a jpg and send it to me.

OR just get a decent antivirus program and firewall installed on her computer. Or go the drastic route and reformat it like wingnut says.

Btw - I'm Der Ubergeek. Comic book superhero.

:edit:

To give more information, a trojan horse is a software program that allows a remote user (ie somebody over the internet) to interact with your computer in devious and nasty ways. Some even allow them to interact with your computer as if they were sitting there in front of it. The common description of victims is that "my computer is posessed!" with things like deleted e-mails, randomly moving mouse cursors, disappearing icons, and the cd drawer opening and closing randomly. Trojan horses are a favorite of the "script kiddie" stage in geek development where a young newbie geek thinks he's really cool by "taking over" somebody else's machine, when in fact they have done nothing more than illustrate their own ignorance.

Trojan horses can usually be detected by most updated antivirus programs, and they are easily removed by such. A knowledgeable computer geek can manually remove trojans with relative ease. Software firewalls can prevent the trojan from accessing the internet, thus blocking the script kiddie from doing anything, however the trojan will still be active on the system exposing the computer to danger if the firewall ever fails. Some of the more advanced trojans include features that disable antivirus and firewall software before installing themselves to avoid this danger. Symantec, McAffee, and Microsoft all offer free online virus scans that can usually detect these viruses.

Your daughter should get the trojan removed - best done by a combination of a good antivirus program and a good professional geek. Then she needs to change ALL of her passwords for EVERYTHING to ensure the script kiddie can't access her accounts on various sites. Finally, the script kiddie needs to be taught a lesson in humility and ettiquette (ie rule number one - a hacker is not malicious). This can be done by calling the police, however this usually results in nothing being done - but at worst could pin an otherwise relatively innocent kid with a very nasty computer crimes record for the rest of his life (akin to convicting a 14 year old of sexual harrassment for peeking into the girl's locker room). The best way to teach the kid a lesson is to hack him back and make him wish he were smarter - usually by telling him to "format c:".

Edited July 29, 2009 by puf_the_majic_dragon

[lilered]

Thanks to everyone for the response. I have advised her of the suggestions and we will see what develops. Thx. Again.

[Mahone]

LOL Easy problem

He installed a trojan horse virus on her computer. It's literally child's play. The kid's a newb and I'd be more than happy to teach him a lesson.

That's still making a big assumption. All that was stated is that her e-mails are being deleted. As far as we know, there is no evidence to suggest there is any trojan on her computer. By far the most likely thing to have happened is he simply knows her e-mail password.

[miztrniceguy]

it would be cool if there was a forum here for members to seek computer help. i know there are lots of talented people here.

[ruthiechan]

There are so many forums on here that I think adding another would be unnecessary. The computer geeks see the computer advice needed threads just fine in the advice forum.

[eternalpromise516]

LOL ruthie

[puf_the_majic_dragon]

That's still making a big assumption. All that was stated is that her e-mails are being deleted. As far as we know, there is no evidence to suggest there is any trojan on her computer. By far the most likely thing to have happened is he simply knows her e-mail password.

He told her he left an "angel" behind to keep her company. That's practically an open admission of guilt (installing a trojan). EVERY trojan has a key logger which is how he got her e-mail password in the first place. And since he has the trojan on her computer if she changes her password, he'll still be able to get it and cause more trouble.

And btw marshac - sub7 is OLD old school. Like LOD era old school. There are a LOT of much better, much newer trojans available now. My personal favorite (back in the day) was "The Beast". Rather feature packed with a microscopic server. It was one of the first that let you build a small server and then remotely inject additional features once it was installed.