that was scary...

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pilvikki
Posts: 2999
Joined: 16 Feb 2015, 21:35

that was scary...

Post by pilvikki »

I was going to post tuppence pictures, but didn't feel like wading through my fb posts so I decided to upload some to photobucket. but first I had to redo the pw a couple of times as i'd forgotten...
that done I picked a picture to upload, but this ad kept popping up. then a game page... I thought i'd accidentally swiped one on the side, so just killed it. tuppence showed up on the screen. then I noticed the status bar.... waiting for ingdtf.com. waiting for kdthy c.com. or some such. wth? just as I was about to kill the page a screenshot popped up of a map over france.

wtf? I got out of there in a hurry.

so I went for my avast, but it was dead. then I get a message Logitech had tanked.

I went and dug up all the on line free virus scans I could remember and they found 0. zip. nada. I turned loki off. instead of the "shutting down", it just went out like a candle in a storm. well, that didn't look good.

the next day I turn HRH back on - and get "shutting down" - in French. what...? I left it thinking about it and went to get lunch. an hour or two later... still spinning. I hit the off button and kept it down until loki got the message. I waited a while and turned it back on.

and.... it's acting like nothing happened!

so I called nephew who has remote access and we spun every possible malware/virus scan known to an IT tech - and nothing came up!

now i'm thinking it was a hacking interruptus?

what do you think?
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yogi
Posts: 9978
Joined: 14 Feb 2015, 21:49

Re: that was scary...

Post by yogi »

It's hard to say from this distance, but there are a couple possibilities. Both of those "waiting for ..." messages have ties to ships and shipping companies. Kathy C, for example is a boat which apparently can be pinpointed on a map via a web browser. I guess that's the equivalent of tracking a package being delivered by the postal service or a trucking company. But, that's only a guess. Why you got mixed up in that is a good question.

It's a good sign that your AV software didn't discover anything wrong. That does not mean your computer is clean, it just means all the popular infections were not detected. My favorites for investigating such problems are Malwarebytes -- Dr Webb CureIT -- and Combofix. If you make it through all three of these without detecting anything, your computer is as safe as the average person can make it. Again, it's not a foolproof set of scans, but pretty darned good.

Your comment that an ad triggered all this is telling. Many viruses do indeed get loaded via fake advertisements. There is a class of problems that are not strictly viruses but certainly a nuisance. This nuisance-ware does things like throw up ads when you least want them and makes changes in your default web pages (to favor their cause). It's hard to get rid of this stuff because it looks legitimate for the most part, but shows up when you want it the least. My three favorites should flag such nuisance software and either remove it automatically or give you the option to delete the PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program).

Being witness to a hacking event is super rare. Those guys go through a tremendous amount of pain to avoid detection. Plus, they do most of their dirty work in less time than it takes to read this sentence. However, if you are still paranoid, there is something simple yet very effective you can do to lock down Loki.

In order to go perusing around your computer the bad guy would have to have administrator privileges. All default user accounts on Windows are administrator accounts. This makes life easy for the hacker in that all he has to do is intercept your password and he is the administrator. To fix that and to free your computer from well over 90% of the known hacking attempts, create and use a new account that is not administrator. So, if that user gets hacked, the bad guy can't do anything significant. If he already has your current administrator credentials, then create a second administrator account and delete the first one. If you have to do some administrating while you are not administrator, Windows will ask for the admin password. You will supply the new one and be on your way. If there was in fact a hacking attempt, that means he not only got your admin account credentials but also your router or Internet access point credentials too. So, obviously, you want to go change those things too. Do you have any devices on your network that need passwords, such as printers or storage for example? Change those too. Make certain you have run all the virus detection scans before you change accounts information. Oh, and just to be super paranoid, only make those account changes when you are disconnected from the Internet. Unplug your Ethernet wire and/or disable your wireless card. You never know who is listening from out there.
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pilvikki
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Joined: 16 Feb 2015, 21:35

Re: that was scary...

Post by pilvikki »

:loveu:

I have to get nephew to hack in to change my admin etc p/w next time he's rummaging around as I've been unable to recover my system p/w since the 8.1 update. apparently a common problem, thanks a lot, eh? I can dnld stuff, I can pretty much do all the usual stuff, but access to registry etc.

did the malware, so i'll just run the other 2 now.

ta-ta.
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yogi
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Joined: 14 Feb 2015, 21:49

Re: that was scary...

Post by yogi »

There is an applet in the Control Panel where you can modify and create user accounts. It's pretty self-explanatory and I don't think it would be much of a challenge for you.
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pilvikki
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Joined: 16 Feb 2015, 21:35

Re: that was scary...

Post by pilvikki »

I've tried that, but always get stumped by not having the p/w. I only have the screen pattern and can't figure out why that works, but not the others I set up.
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yogi
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Joined: 14 Feb 2015, 21:49

Re: that was scary...

Post by yogi »

When you create a new account on your computer it is created as a normal user. You can change that to it being an administrator. l think it's a check box somewhere. In order to make these new accounts, you must be administrator already and have a password for that account. Oddly enough the default account is an admin account, but one without a password. You have to go into that account and add a password. A lot of people don't do that because they want to log in without being bothered with a password. Well, you need it in order to do certain things, like make new user accounts.

So, go to the account manager, and edit your account. Add a password to it, or change the one that already exists. Once you do that you should be able to make new accounts.
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pilvikki
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Joined: 16 Feb 2015, 21:35

Re: that was scary...

Post by pilvikki »

thanks! :cool: :cool:
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yogi
Posts: 9978
Joined: 14 Feb 2015, 21:49

Re: that was scary...

Post by yogi »

Having said all that, you can still download malware and viruses. The odds of it doing damage is reduced a bit, but you still have to be careful. It's dangerous out there.
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