Been Hacked?

[imoldernu]

I don't want to start a discussion on the technology part of computer security, but would be very interested to know if anyone has been Hacked... with serious consequences. Not the adware stuff, but cases of identity theft, with loss of $$$ or where a malware program has erased a hard drive.

In my many years of being online, and working with people (seniors) on their computers, I have yet to deal with a serious attack. Is this a miracle?, or is hacking of personal computers not too common?

There is an extensive current discussion on Computer Security, here:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/dedicated-computer-for-online-banking-65121.html#post1284900

 

[Alan]

Quite a few folks were hacked last October to the extent that one of the big banks in the UK, NatWest, had to stop its mobile cash withdrawal system.

NatWest Pulls Its "Get Cash" Cardless Cash Machine App Over Hacking Fears | Gizmodo UK

This week on the BBC I listened to an interview with a representative from NatWest who explained in broad terms how the thieves were hacking peoples' accounts and withdrawing cash from ATMs. He said that it was very sophisticated social engineering that garner bits of data from various sources about individuals, using phishing, smishing, plus gaining access to e-mail and phone calls. The thieves would then assemble the bits of data on someone and use that to get cash from the cardless mobile app used by NatWest.

 

[rbmrtn]

Unless you are running DOS, the HD won't get wiped. But no, I've never gotten a virus, unintentionally.

I do keep a couple of windows machines setup and I download viruses to them. See what it does and how to remove it.

 

[Midpack]

I gather you're asking about being maliciously hacked. You and the rest of us have probably been "hacked" numerous times, but it hasn't been malicious or noticeable - it's folks mining information, or geeks (all over the world) playing around, etc. Depending on who you read, 70-90% of corp IT folks report hackers getting into their systems over any 12 month period, most are not malicious.

Knock on wood, I haven't had ANY "cases of identity theft, with loss of $$$ or where a malware program has erased a hard drive" and I've been on the internet almost since it became widely available, at work until I retired and at home. Like almost eveyrone, I've had several nuisance viruses/trojans, the worst of them have taken me 1-1½ hours to clear up (using malwarebytes or an equivalent), probably 3 times at that level in my online computing lifetime (15 years?).

Unfortunately being hacked is probably more common than any of us realize. All you hear about is malicious hackers and they're relatively uncommon fortunately, though as more of us go online the hackers will multiply too...

 

[rodi]

A couple of years ago both me and my aunt (then in her 70's) were hacked by the same virus. Norton totally ignored it on my machine, and McAfee ignored it on hers.

It looked like a windows update - but when you went to accept the updates - it then asked for money.

Unfortunately, it got into the registries, and got into some pretty low level stuff... It took quite a bit of work to clean the machine (booting in safe mode, renaming some nasty files, then erasing them. It wouldn't let you erase them if they had their original name...)

That was not fun - walking my aunt through the process of cleaning it up, over the phone... She's reasonably tech savvy - but was VERY frustrated.

 

[easysurfer]

I've had my Discover credit card number stolen once. I'm not sure if that was via a keylogger (which was on my computer at the time) or some other means.

How I found out about my card number getting stolen was Discover called me early one morning asking if I made this suspicious looking charge.

 

[scrinch]

We've had credit card numbers stolen a half dozen times. We had used one of the cards online, but not the rest, so that leads me to believe that this type of risk is greater in person than online. No we didn't buy a $2000 pump in London. No we didn't go on a spending spree across Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. No we didn't buy a bunch of cosmetics in Hong Kong...

 

[Moemg]

I had my AOl email hacked years ago .They sent out hundreds of porn messages before I got it taken care of . The funny thing is they sent porn to an ex boyfriend .

 

[photoguy]

Several coworkers have gotten malware and had to get their computers wiped. I also occasionally get emails from people i know that have some nondescript link (like "hey check this out") which I guess means their email has been compromised.

 

[Walt34]

To my knowledge, no.

But from the time of the earliest antivirus software being available I've always had one running on my home systems. And I practice "safe hex" in avoiding anything that looks even remotely untoward.

 

[obgyn65]

Not that I am aware of. I try to be careful online and always update Norton software.

 

[MichaelB]

We helped extended family members who have had their bank accounts hacked twice. Both five figure amounts, eventually reimbursed, but after unexpected resistance by the banks and taking the cases to the federal regulators. Eye opening, to say the least.

I still have the impression that family financial abuse is a far greater threat, along with our own financial [-]incompetence[/-] mismanagement.

 

[Lsbcal]

...(snip)...
In my many years of being online, and working with people (seniors) on their computers, I have yet to deal with a serious attack. Is this a miracle?, or is hacking of personal computers not too common?
...

Have only personally had a few Trojans which were relatively easily quarantined.

It's more of a theoretical worry at this point. I just try to move forward with ever better though not inconvenient security. That's why I like security threads and also spy novels.

 

[Stanley]

No. I am much more concerned about my private information being stolen from somebody I do business with rather than from my home computer. I think some lawyers are going to make a bundle off of this in the future. Many companies are to cavalier with their customer's data

One thing I have done is put a freeze on my information with the three big credit reporting agencies. This goes a long way in preventing hackers from misusing any information about me that they may steal.

 

[padlin00]

Been in IT for a long time, I have yet to encounter a hacked pc. Run into viruses and malware on at least a weekly basis on one or more of the maybe 200 systems we care for. That said I do not leave my home pc's powered up and on the network when I'm not actively using it at home. I do hear that parts of our global network have been hacked, but I've not encountered it locally.

Seems to me something like AIDs, I hear about it but have yet to encounter anyone with it, at least that I know of.

 

[Bikerdude]

Several years ago I got a call from one of my Brokerage account consultants who told me access to my account had been suspended due to an illegal log on attempt. He asked me if I had logged on from another State within the past week and I said no. He said they would send me new log on instructions that I would have to use along with a new password to get on.

I ran a recommended anti malware scan and found a 'backdoor bot' which is a key logger and removed it.

I run several antivirus/malware programs and routinely do scans so how I got infected is beyond me.

I have not had any trouble since.

 

[Lsbcal]

I downloaded an anti-keylogger program called Keyscrambler (the free version just for your browser) from here: KeyScrambler Personal - CNET Download.com

Have used this for a few years without any issues.

 

[easysurfer]

I downloaded an anti-keylogger program called Keyscrambler (the free version just for your browser) from here: KeyScrambler Personal - CNET Download.com

Have used this for a few years without any issues.

+1. I'm a big fan of Keyscrambler.