Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

SI - Site Forums : Silicon Investor - Welcome New SI Members! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AugustWest who wrote (15485)	8/8/2001 7:13:03 AM
From: Nemer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32871

AW ... I have "suspected" this happened to me ... but it is not confirmed. No idea if this will help you, or for that matter sure if it even helped me ..... BUT a) I went to a separate box from which to trade with nothing else on it b) went to a separate ISP dialup for this box, as I had been running cable and dialup both for all uses, for trading, I could tell no difference in execution speed c) downloaded and use zdnet.com "seems" to have helped/cured .... good luck to you, as such a situation is indeed scary, to say the least ... Nemer

To: AugustWest who wrote (15485)	8/8/2001 8:18:21 AM
From: thecow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32871

August Here's some good info on computer security. I use ZoneAlarm. grc.com tc

To: AugustWest who wrote (15485)	8/8/2001 10:43:25 AM
From: smchan	Respond to of 32871

They are aware of the situation and told me if it happens again they would be able to trace and identify the IP address where the interference is coming from. Would that be helpful even if someone is running from a cable connection? Absolutely. Network devices (like cable modems, ethernet cards, etc) have a MAC address. That address is permanently burned into the hardware and is used for low level networking. A cable provider generally knows the MAC address of each modem on their network on who owns it. If they are appropriately logging access to their network, they know which device was assigned a particular address at a particular time. That is, for any given moment of access, that MAC address and the assigned IP address is recorded, so it's a simple step to find the user. Likewise, dial-up ISP's can log IP addresses assigned to dial-in users (though I don't believe phone based modems have MAC addresses). All that said, it would be smart to call tech support anytime you suspect someone is using your account. They can grab the IP address and that's all you need to back trace from there. Any reasonable, major ISP will usually cancel subscriptions belonging to a known hacker or spammer. As has been suggested, use a personal firewall and know how to use it. I've successfully used firewall logging to put a stop to some hacking attempts on my machines, though you have to be careful to understand the difference between "kiddie script" hackers (folks using canned software to hack but don't really know what they're doing - 99.9% of what you'll see) and serious hack attempts. As for me, I have 2 levels of firewall protection, am constantly up to date on the latest OS fixes, and I keep my virus scanner up to date which can detect trojan horses, etc. Feel free to PM me if you require further help. Sam

To: AugustWest who wrote (15485)	8/8/2001 10:51:57 AM
From: smchan	Respond to of 32871

BTW, it is entirely possible that someone hacked your userid and/or password without accessing your computer. Without getting into a lot of detail, passwords which are words (especially common words) or that are related to personal data (dog's name, wife's maiden name, etc) are vulnerable. Use misspelled words or substitute letters for numbers. For example, "f1rst" rather than "first" or "butt3r" rather than "butter". Stay away from common keyboard patterns too (like QWERTY). Finally, I know you said that to your knowledge your account number, etc is not stored on your computer. Applications tend to use "property" files to store information like that. Even if that data were encrypted, someone could still steal the files and replicate your setup on their computer. Sam