Hacking

[Michael]

I think I may have had my first brush with the world of hacking. Any advice from anyone would be welcome. It involves Twitter, but how the hell can I ask Twitterers advice in 100 or so letters?  Anyway, I received an email today through twitter messages, it came from a very well known local business who I follow, or they follow me, or both. It said something like "Gosh we had a good laugh at your photo" It then gave a link. I clicked on but didnt get very far, probably fortunately. I dug around a bit in twitter and found that the local business concerned had issued a tweet 6 hours before to say he had been hacked, and under no circumstances click the link about any laughable photos. Too late for me. There were several other local twitter people sending messages  about this to each other, one said "This morning WHAT A MESS" I presume she meant her computer. Any advice? My P.C. seems to be working. I havent plucked up courage to get on to my Bank yet

[Nemesis]

Check everything Mike.
Someone hacked into an E Bay and Pay-pal account that we had some years ago and according to them we were flogging mobile phones.
Later our credit card was hacked into on two separate occasions. Luckily our bank was on the ball and rang and asked if we had been on-line gambling. We hadn't, we don't and they knew that and everything was stopped.

[dwsi]

step 1 - change your password
step 2 - click on your username on the top right -> settings -> 'revoke access' for anything you don't recognise

[DaveR]

It's a Twitter virus, Mike, it sends that same message from your account to everyone on your Follow list.

http://www.ianhardacresmb.co.uk/2011/08/watch-out-for-these-messages-in-your-twitter-stream/

[Yorkie]

Best advice is keep off Twitter!     

[Michael]

Thanks very much everyone for your quick responses. After my initial message here I realised something worse. When I clicked on the link what looked to be a genuine Twitter logging in came up, even though it was one I had never seen before. It asked for log in details------so now someone or something has my username and password. And---shush----I use that user and that password an awful lot. So now Ive got a lot of hard work in front of me  Mike

[TheMedz]

Recover your computer to the latest back up point prior to you clicking on the link.

Go into control panel

Click on recovery

and click on system restore.

If you cannot see recovery or restore

Click on the windows icon on the bottom left of the screen

type in "Restore" into the "search all programs and files"

and follow the instructions to get to a point before you opened the link.

This should leave all your data intact but take the operating system back prior to the point at which you encountered the virus.

[DaveR]

Only your twitter account has been compromised, Mike, so change the password on that immediately and you should be ok. They wont know which other websites you use.

http://thegaryhawkins.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/osama-is-alive-cnn-twitter-scam/

[Michael]

Thanks Dave. I'll get on to it now Mike

[Michael]

This is getting worse, but so far is restricted to twitter. Ive received several messages from local people who follow me, but they all appear to be sending me to the same twitter page that asks for my user and password. So Im leaving it all well alone--at a later date I will phone all the people/firms and explain why I have not replied. In my original post to the forum I was very careful, I didnt give the name of the firm that stated they had been hacked. But--by not stating this, I am helping these hackers/spammers whatever. Twitter is open to everyone to read, no one can hide. So I will state that it is Enochsfishcafe, a very well known chippy at the top of the hill in the Junction. Why do they follow me? Because they know a lifelong user of chippies when they see one

[DaveR]

Presumably, all the other people you mention now have the twitter virus and are sending messages back to you! That's not to say you gave it to them though, they could have received it from any of their contacts.

[Fester]

Mike, I have to concur with Yorkie.

Twitter, I have concluded, is a pointless waste of time, and needs to be left alone... and now it seems may even be dangerous???

[Yorkie]

I would apply my thoughts to all social networking sites (as they call them).  Why must people air all their private and not so private comments in public.   

It is a haven for criminals - how many times do you see the comment "Off on holiday for 2 weeks."   Burglar Bill thinks to himself that he doesn't even need to look for empty properties!   And there is normally enough information on the person's profile to pin-point the place.  They might just as well leave the front door open!     L0L

[DaveR]

Only a person's friends can see posts such as that, normally. Same goes for profile information.

[Yorkie]

But it is also amazing how many "friends" one can attract - don't tell me that someone with a few hundred Facebook "friends" personally knows every one of them!   I have a small Facbook friend list but am constantly receiving friend requests from all over the place, most of who I don't even know.   

Some people seem to gather friends just for the numbers!   ZXZ   ZXZ