Hacked

[Guest]

I have reason to believe that my pc was hacked into.
#1 how can I tell if this happened? or rather can I?
#2 Are the firewalls included with MS wireless routers enough to prevent it from happening again? (it was disabled at the time)
#3 Any other thoughts (please no obvious things like never disable your firewall). I mean, massive change of passwords, etc.

 

[Colin Nash [MVP]]

1) Well you seem to already be suspicious... can you give some details
explaining why you think you have been hacked?

2) A firewall is only a piece of the pie: it doesn't protect you against
everything that can harm your system.

3) Well if your system has been compromised, you'll never know what someone
has hidden on there. The only way to restore integrity is to wipe the whole
thing and never use the same passwords again. But you still haven't said
what is making you so suspicious.


--
Colin Nash
Microsoft MVP
Windows Printing/Imaging/Hardware

I have reason to believe that my pc was hacked into.
#1 how can I tell if this happened? or rather can I?
#2 Are the firewalls included with MS wireless routers enough to prevent

it from happening again? (it was disabled at the time)

#3 Any other thoughts (please no obvious things like never disable your

firewall). I mean, massive change of passwords, etc.

 

[Guest]

Colin

I had posted a comment on a web site, and a complete stranger commented on material that was on my hard drive (My Documents to be exact). You think I am being paranoid? The mornings light can make someone look at things a little differently. Let me know your thoughts

Mike

 

[MAP]

-----Original Message-----
Colin:

I had posted a comment on a web site, and a complete

stranger commented on material that was on my hard drive
(My Documents to be exact). You think I am being
paranoid? The mornings light can make someone look at
things a little differently. Let me know your thoughts.

Mike
.
Most likely you were a little paranoid,but that can be a

good thing.Were the items in your "my documents" folder
only something that you would have? perhaps it was a
lucky geuss?something in common with everyone by default.
I would not connect with the internet without a firewall
I have one in my router and norton's on my computer(I'm
also a little paranoid).If you dont use them shut off
these services
Printer and file sharing
Remote help
Messenger service
and anything else you dont use, check at this site for
what they may be.
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice. I did find some blocked attempts at entry onto my network from specific WAN adresses, but being a novice, I am not sure what it actually means. I did go through the excersize of changing some passwords, which I do not do often enough, and all firewall schtuff is now up and running.

Again, I appreciate you taking the request seriously. Last thing, any way to trace the WAN address to determine who or what was denied access? Or is that CIA/spy stuff not really possible? just wondering.

 

[Doug Kanter]

Wrong thinking. Instead of trying to figure out who IS allowed in, block
everyone EXCEPT a select few, which should pretty much include NOBODY. You
can do this for free with something like ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com). I've
heard people say it's hard to find the free version on the web site, but
it's there. Slow down, find it, download it, read the instructions, and use
it.

Thanks for the advice. I did find some blocked attempts at entry onto my

network from specific WAN adresses, but being a novice, I am not sure what
it actually means. I did go through the excersize of changing some
passwords, which I do not do often enough, and all firewall schtuff is now
up and running.

Again, I appreciate you taking the request seriously. Last thing, any way

to trace the WAN address to determine who or what was denied access? Or is
that CIA/spy stuff not really possible? just wondering.