Hackers

[What happened to good TV?]

Ok. I'm beginning to get pissed. (Not in the alcohol sense...although soon I may be driven to it)

today for the second time my msn account was taken by a hacker. There was an incident a while back where some creep from a forum had a vendetta against my mate who was a mod on the boards, and closed this creeps account or something. Anyway creepy hacker guy posed as my friend on msn for ages, hacking ghis myspace and stuff. this guy was getting stalkerish. Anyway we confronted the creep (through IM of course) and he developed a personal hatred for me as....maybe I insulted him a little too much. But anyway getting added by random people, and today by naruto@hackernetwork.com, me decling the add and seconds later losing my account forever made me realise i need help.

Any advice? Any experience hacking/getting hacked?
Thanks

 

[nerd4hire]

How much security do you run right now? Do you at least have a software firewall.

Have you ran a trojan scanner since the attacks? Have you changed your passwords? From the way you describe it, it sounds like he's most likely put a trojan on your system. If you haven't already scanned, I think this one gives a free trial.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/trojanhunter.html

(Google's your friend. Double check everything like the above link. For example the name of the program you're being recommended is trojan hunter. Google that with search terms like "review", or "download")

Do you get automatic updates of security patches for windows? If not do you update regularly?

Same question with your anti-virus scanner.

The best defense is common sense. Don't click on attachments or links from untrusted sources or even trusted ones if you want to be real safe. Don't download stuff if you don't know exactly what you're getting, and from who. Read user reviews. You have to balance how secure you want to be, against how much freedom you want. Stuff like that.

I'll make one part of that more clear. If you're talking to a stranger on msn, and he says click this to see something really cool, don't do it. If you have a friend you exchange emails with, and he sends you an attachment, so you phone him up, and ask him what it is, he tells you, and it sounds kosher, what the heck, I'd probably click it.

Get to know the Security forums where you can find good tips on stuff like what security programs to install. Stuff like Wilder's Security, or Spywareinfo.com.

How secure do you want to be? Realize there's a price of commitment to the process, depending on how much security you want.

Personally I just run enough security to keep out the script kiddies, like your little buddy there. I figure if someone really good wants to get to me I can't stop him anyway. I can keep the pests away though.

 

[What happened to good TV?]

Thanks for the help, but I haven't got a clue of the answers to those questions. I have near no knowledge of these computer terms. I'll try and get someone who knows the answers to tell me later and reply with the answers then! Thanks again N4H!


(Just to let my rants out, the ass has been posing as me! trying to get my mates to go on websites! damn him and his sad little 'hobby'! But don't fear, all my friends are in the know of the hacker! but that doesnt make it any less creepy...)