OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

All,

First, regarding a current post attributed to me (the old Free Martha BS), I
had nothing to do with it.

Second, I put my own name into the Google search, and came up with a bunch
of posts via a message board in UK, Garden Banter. Just for the heck of it,
I tried some other names, including my husband's. He's on line regularly,
though he doesn't do groups. His name came up, but it was clearly someone
else. I tried some names from this NG, and only one came up in the context
of Garden Banter, even though lots of us are referenced on that board. For
example, Ray - your name came up numerous times, but never attached to
Garden Banter.

Third, yesterday I received an email from someone unknown to me (I don't
download unknown mail - I read it off the ISP's server) who knew a load of
information about an event in my life that took place many years ago and
claimed to be a part of that event. I was suspicious, of course, but more
so now that I've seen that new post in this group. And, last time the "Free
Martha" stuff came up, months ago, responses indicated that the post
originated with me.

We update our Norton antivirus at least weekly, the most recent time being
yesterday afternoon. I know I can add a "nospam" or something to my
response addie, but what good will that do if someone simply takes off the
junk?

I'm far from stupid, but the workings of hackers are beyond my expertise.
What am I missing here? I went back and reread the original Martha thread,
but honestly I don't have the technical knowledge to fathom some of the
information that was posted (Mick posted a lot of info, but much was lost on
me).

I certainly don't want to give up this group. What can I do to protect
myself, beyond what I already do? Plain English, please!

Thanks very, very much.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

One addition to what I already wrote: the individual who contacted me,
ostensibly regarding that long ago event, referenced orchids, which, due to
the time frame of events, no one from way back when could have predicted.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 18:53:54 -0400, Diana Kulaga wrote:

One addition to what I already wrote: the individual who contacted me,
ostensibly regarding that long ago event, referenced orchids, which, due
to the time frame of events, no one from way back when could have
predicted.

Diana


Are you using your REAL e-mail address when you post to usenet? If so STOP
and change it to a phoney name and domain name, like .
There are spambots that harvest newsgroups for e-mail addresses. There are
also really screwed up people that may do things with your real address.

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

I certainly don't want to give up this group. What
can I do to protect myself, beyond what I already do?
Plain English, please!

Diana, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong,
but this really isn't hacking. This sounds like some-
thing as simple as typing a new address in the news-
reader options. In mine, it's under Newsgroup Account
Settings. I *could* go in there, change the 'Tracey'
to 'Diana Kulaga' and the ' to
your e-mail address and my posts would, at first
glance, look as if they were coming from you. The
only way to tell for sure is to check the header in-
formation and see if all of that information is the
same as a post that is verifiably from you. As far
as the message board, a lot of times there is no
verification that someone who is signing up or posting
to message boards is who they say they are.

As far as protecting yourself from someone using your
e-mail address, as long as it's on something disseminated
as this is, you really can't unless you're willing to
post using a totally bogus e-mail address. That's an
option, but then, you have to deal with the problem of
not getting e-mail from people you might want to talk
with.

Tracey

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Death to Spammers and Hackers! No, no that's too good for them. I say,
make them read every single piece of crap they generate and the hackers get
to use nothing but a first generation Mac with 128K of RAM.

By the way, I just changed my "handle" . Anyone know who Cecil Kimber is?
"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
hlink.net...
All,

First, regarding a current post attributed to me (the old Free Martha BS),
I
had nothing to do with it.

Second, I put my own name into the Google search, and came up with a bunch
of posts via a message board in UK, Garden Banter. Just for the heck of
it,
I tried some other names, including my husband's. He's on line regularly,
though he doesn't do groups. His name came up, but it was clearly someone
else. I tried some names from this NG, and only one came up in the
context
of Garden Banter, even though lots of us are referenced on that board.
For
example, Ray - your name came up numerous times, but never attached to
Garden Banter.

Third, yesterday I received an email from someone unknown to me (I don't
download unknown mail - I read it off the ISP's server) who knew a load of
information about an event in my life that took place many years ago and
claimed to be a part of that event. I was suspicious, of course, but more
so now that I've seen that new post in this group. And, last time the
"Free
Martha" stuff came up, months ago, responses indicated that the post
originated with me.

We update our Norton antivirus at least weekly, the most recent time being
yesterday afternoon. I know I can add a "nospam" or something to my
response addie, but what good will that do if someone simply takes off the
junk?

I'm far from stupid, but the workings of hackers are beyond my expertise.
What am I missing here? I went back and reread the original Martha
thread,
but honestly I don't have the technical knowledge to fathom some of the
information that was posted (Mick posted a lot of info, but much was lost
on
me).

I certainly don't want to give up this group. What can I do to protect
myself, beyond what I already do? Plain English, please!

Thanks very, very much.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

http://www.dur.ac.uk/ashley.holmes/d...ber/kimber.htm

"Cecil Kimber" wrote in message
. net...
Anyone know who Cecil Kimber is?

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Most of the crap posted to the newsgroups and the spam that is sent to or
email addresses is done by automation and replying to it only allows one to
blow off steam and not much else.

There are several people in the world using my name. And not all of them
are the ones running around in my head, either. There is
"Al Pickrel, Executive Vice President, Chief Title Officer" of the
California Land Title of Marin County California. I have known about this
Al for a long time. He can keep the name, I figure it belongs to him too.
I want his paycheck.



Is it possible there is more than one person on the internet with your name
posting to the same newsgroup you post to?



I have received spam with Reka's email name and address on it but I am sure
it is not Reka from this newsgroup sending it. The same spam software that
sticks my name in the 'to' field also sticks random email addresses into the
"from" and "return to" fields. I thought it was a hoot to see a name I
recognized on a piece of obvious spam in my spam trap. Ever buy that CD
sold in spam emails that promises to contain 22 million valid email
addresses? Obviously somebody has...



In my spam trap I also find bounced spam which gets sent to me rather than
to the real sender and complaints from people as far away as Russia who
think just because my email address appears in the from header and the
return address header of the spam they received that I must be the one who
sent it and so they curse at me for trying to sell them p0rn and V1agra and
promise to shut down my .com domain by reporting me to my ISP. I wish they
would rather than making an email threat. If they did they might learn what
this paragraphs and the one above it tries to explain.



A fake name and email address on the internet won't stop the real one from
being abused. It will just slow down the process.



Do a google search on how to read email headers in order to learn the
difference between fake entries and real ones. There is almost always a
real DNS number that traces back to the original computer buried somewhere
in the mess. (In Usenet articles there is almost always an ID that can
trace back to the original poster and his service provider) In my spam, no
matter who's email address is in the sender or return sender fields, most
often the originating DNS number comes from outside the ARIN sphere, usually
someplace in china or Korea but not always. It almost never comes from the
person who's email address is in the sender field.



Are you saying that somebody on the internet can access your computer and is
stealing info about you and then emailing you back pretending to be somebody
you know?



Do you have active and current firewall software installed on your computer
when it is connected to the internet? Do you have dial-up or a cable
connection? Firewall software is probably more important than antivirus
software and they are not the same thing. Firewall software usually provide
a log of incoming and outgoing traffic when you are connected and will let
you know which ports are being accessed and from where and allow you to
block what you don't like. Firewall software is probably the thing you are
missing. Get it, if only for your piece of mind.



Good luck.



"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
hlink.net...
All,

First, regarding a current post attributed to me (the old Free Martha BS),
I
had nothing to do with it.

Second, I put my own name into the Google search, and came up with a bunch
of posts via a message board in UK, Garden Banter. Just for the heck of
it,
I tried some other names, including my husband's. He's on line regularly,
though he doesn't do groups. His name came up, but it was clearly someone
else. I tried some names from this NG, and only one came up in the
context
of Garden Banter, even though lots of us are referenced on that board.
For
example, Ray - your name came up numerous times, but never attached to
Garden Banter.

Third, yesterday I received an email from someone unknown to me (I don't
download unknown mail - I read it off the ISP's server) who knew a load of
information about an event in my life that took place many years ago and
claimed to be a part of that event. I was suspicious, of course, but more
so now that I've seen that new post in this group. And, last time the
"Free
Martha" stuff came up, months ago, responses indicated that the post
originated with me.

We update our Norton antivirus at least weekly, the most recent time being
yesterday afternoon. I know I can add a "nospam" or something to my
response addie, but what good will that do if someone simply takes off the
junk?

I'm far from stupid, but the workings of hackers are beyond my expertise.
What am I missing here? I went back and reread the original Martha
thread,
but honestly I don't have the technical knowledge to fathom some of the
information that was posted (Mick posted a lot of info, but much was lost
on
me).

I certainly don't want to give up this group. What can I do to protect
myself, beyond what I already do? Plain English, please!

Thanks very, very much.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

http://www.dur.ac.uk/ashley.holmes/d...ber/kimber.htm

"Cecil Kimber" wrote in message
. net...
Anyone know who Cecil Kimber is?

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Most of the crap posted to the newsgroups and the spam that is sent to or
email addresses is done by automation and replying to it only allows one to
blow off steam and not much else.

There are several people in the world using my name. And not all of them
are the ones running around in my head, either. There is
"Al Pickrel, Executive Vice President, Chief Title Officer" of the
California Land Title of Marin County California. I have known about this
Al for a long time. He can keep the name, I figure it belongs to him too.
I want his paycheck.



Is it possible there is more than one person on the internet with your name
posting to the same newsgroup you post to?



I have received spam with Reka's email name and address on it but I am sure
it is not Reka from this newsgroup sending it. The same spam software that
sticks my name in the 'to' field also sticks random email addresses into the
"from" and "return to" fields. I thought it was a hoot to see a name I
recognized on a piece of obvious spam in my spam trap. Ever buy that CD
sold in spam emails that promises to contain 22 million valid email
addresses? Obviously somebody has...



In my spam trap I also find bounced spam which gets sent to me rather than
to the real sender and complaints from people as far away as Russia who
think just because my email address appears in the from header and the
return address header of the spam they received that I must be the one who
sent it and so they curse at me for trying to sell them p0rn and V1agra and
promise to shut down my .com domain by reporting me to my ISP. I wish they
would rather than making an email threat. If they did they might learn what
this paragraphs and the one above it tries to explain.



A fake name and email address on the internet won't stop the real one from
being abused. It will just slow down the process.



Do a google search on how to read email headers in order to learn the
difference between fake entries and real ones. There is almost always a
real DNS number that traces back to the original computer buried somewhere
in the mess. (In Usenet articles there is almost always an ID that can
trace back to the original poster and his service provider) In my spam, no
matter who's email address is in the sender or return sender fields, most
often the originating DNS number comes from outside the ARIN sphere, usually
someplace in china or Korea but not always. It almost never comes from the
person who's email address is in the sender field.



Are you saying that somebody on the internet can access your computer and is
stealing info about you and then emailing you back pretending to be somebody
you know?



Do you have active and current firewall software installed on your computer
when it is connected to the internet? Do you have dial-up or a cable
connection? Firewall software is probably more important than antivirus
software and they are not the same thing. Firewall software usually provide
a log of incoming and outgoing traffic when you are connected and will let
you know which ports are being accessed and from where and allow you to
block what you don't like. Firewall software is probably the thing you are
missing. Get it, if only for your piece of mind.



Good luck.



"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
hlink.net...
All,

First, regarding a current post attributed to me (the old Free Martha BS),
I
had nothing to do with it.

Second, I put my own name into the Google search, and came up with a bunch
of posts via a message board in UK, Garden Banter. Just for the heck of
it,
I tried some other names, including my husband's. He's on line regularly,
though he doesn't do groups. His name came up, but it was clearly someone
else. I tried some names from this NG, and only one came up in the
context
of Garden Banter, even though lots of us are referenced on that board.
For
example, Ray - your name came up numerous times, but never attached to
Garden Banter.

Third, yesterday I received an email from someone unknown to me (I don't
download unknown mail - I read it off the ISP's server) who knew a load of
information about an event in my life that took place many years ago and
claimed to be a part of that event. I was suspicious, of course, but more
so now that I've seen that new post in this group. And, last time the
"Free
Martha" stuff came up, months ago, responses indicated that the post
originated with me.

We update our Norton antivirus at least weekly, the most recent time being
yesterday afternoon. I know I can add a "nospam" or something to my
response addie, but what good will that do if someone simply takes off the
junk?

I'm far from stupid, but the workings of hackers are beyond my expertise.
What am I missing here? I went back and reread the original Martha
thread,
but honestly I don't have the technical knowledge to fathom some of the
information that was posted (Mick posted a lot of info, but much was lost
on
me).

I certainly don't want to give up this group. What can I do to protect
myself, beyond what I already do? Plain English, please!

Thanks very, very much.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Weird, I put your name in the google groups search engine and get no
results. Even in the advanced search engine...

You don't exist, Di!

K Barrett

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
hlink.net...
All,

First, regarding a current post attributed to me (the old Free Martha BS),
I
had nothing to do with it.

Second, I put my own name into the Google search, and came up with a bunch
of posts via a message board in UK, Garden Banter. Just for the heck of
it,
I tried some other names, including my husband's. He's on line regularly,
though he doesn't do groups. His name came up, but it was clearly someone
else. I tried some names from this NG, and only one came up in the
context
of Garden Banter, even though lots of us are referenced on that board.
For
example, Ray - your name came up numerous times, but never attached to
Garden Banter.

Third, yesterday I received an email from someone unknown to me (I don't
download unknown mail - I read it off the ISP's server) who knew a load of
information about an event in my life that took place many years ago and
claimed to be a part of that event. I was suspicious, of course, but more
so now that I've seen that new post in this group. And, last time the
"Free
Martha" stuff came up, months ago, responses indicated that the post
originated with me.

We update our Norton antivirus at least weekly, the most recent time being
yesterday afternoon. I know I can add a "nospam" or something to my
response addie, but what good will that do if someone simply takes off the
junk?

I'm far from stupid, but the workings of hackers are beyond my expertise.
What am I missing here? I went back and reread the original Martha
thread,
but honestly I don't have the technical knowledge to fathom some of the
information that was posted (Mick posted a lot of info, but much was lost
on
me).

I certainly don't want to give up this group. What can I do to protect
myself, beyond what I already do? Plain English, please!

Thanks very, very much.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Diana,

Forget what I said before. Marry me and I will protect you from those nasty
badboy (and bad girl) hackers... actually I quite like to discipline the bad
girl hackers a little.

Mick

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Diana Kulaga wrote:

Second, I put my own name into the Google search, and came up with a bunch
of posts via a message board in UK, Garden Banter. Just for the heck of it,
I tried some other names, including my husband's. He's on line regularly,
though he doesn't do groups. His name came up, but it was clearly someone
else. I tried some names from this NG, and only one came up in the context
of Garden Banter, even though lots of us are referenced on that board. For
example, Ray - your name came up numerous times, but never attached to
Garden Banter.

I noticed Garden Banter in the access logs to my website- it seems that
this board mirrors a couple of newsgroups, displaying postings to
rec.gardens.orchids as if they were postings to this board. It's similar
to Google Groups, only in a different format. I'm not sure, but I think
it also works as a gateway, so if someone posts to the Garden Banter
board, it will show up here.

Spammers will often collect Names and addresses from Newsgroup or the
internet to pretend their spam came from there.

As for munging the reply-to address, it's simple, but creates problems
of its own, a) the domain youre inventing might exist, channeling spam
directed at you to them, b) if it's a non-existing domain, spam will
bounce back and forth, creating traffic, blocking the road, so to speak.
Some news providers don't allow munged addresses for these reasons, but
encourage usage of a junkmail account, if you will, with a free provider
like yahoo. You use that address in your posts, all junkmail goes there,
every once in a while you delete it all. A notice in your posts that
that you don't read mail going to that address is helpful if people want
to contact you ;).

Once you've used your real address in a newsgroup though, it really
doesn't matter, your address is probably collected already, the only
thing that helps would be setting up an account like I mentioned above,
*and* changing your main address.

Or you start filtering spam out by using a program like SpamPal
(www.spampal.com)

Nina
--
C'est les microbes qui auront le dernier mot.
Louis Pasteur
http://www.chaotropic.net

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Mick,

You can always bring out the grin in the girl......

Diana

"Mick Fournier" wrote in message
. ..
Diana,

Forget what I said before. Marry me and I will protect you from those
nasty
badboy (and bad girl) hackers... actually I quite like to discipline the
bad
girl hackers a little.

Mick

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Gang,

Below is a copy of what I was referencing from that earlier post:

Vuarra wrote:
On Fri, 06 Jun 2003 01:02:03 GMT, "Diana Kulaga"
wrote:



*** !!! FREE MARTHA !!! ***


I really wasn't talking about spam, though the spammers should be drawn and
quartered. In any event, based on what you all have written, I'm starting to
gain an understanding of the situation. I already knew the procedure for
protecting my email addie, but hadn't done it because I value the occasional
personal contact from some in the ng. I'll go ahead and put in something
easily removable.

The real question has to do with why that Google search turned me up on that
message board, when most others here don't turn up. As to the individual
who contacted me directly, my reference to him related to how he got the
address. That situation is personal, and I will do some research and
contact him myself.

Heck. Just part of the game, I guess.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Kathy,

I searched from the main Google site. I'm there, girl.

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Again, thanks all. And Mick, though I adore you, I must forego your
proposal, lest my husband proves to be a bit less liberal in his thinking.
VBG

Diana

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

My name is Kevin and I operate the GardenBanter website referred to in an earlier post.

As correctly described earlier, the website acts as a gateway for many of the gardening newsgroups, allowing viewing and posting to the newsgroups through the web browser rather than a newsreader. (similar to google)

All email addresses are discarded from the headers of the posts. The only time the email addy will turn up is if it is in the body or footer of the message, or occasionaly, when someone with a newsreader has replied without snipping, and their headings on the newsreader are set to 'show'.

In order to assist with the spam (harvesting) issues for users of the site, I set up a system that delivers a unique email address with every post, which is linked backed to GardenBanter, spam filtered, and the genuine message kept at the site until the user logs in next. It's not perfect, but it does help and very little spam gets through. This way it can keep your own email address seperate, but still allow messages to be received.

There is no perfect system - beware that the latest email harvesters will search and remove words like NOSPAM from the address, or any group of letters in uppercase. You need to be creative to keep them fooled.

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

Hi
I am new to this group but I could not let this go without posting some
help. I have been hacked in the past and had someone send me the blaster
worm recently. Some worms and trojans do not have to be opened as in openng
an attachment, some open themselves. Anyway, some good links a

Symantec Security Check (free)
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/h...OABMSTHXOAMEQV

Zone Alarm (free version):
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...sp?lid=pdb_za2

(zone alarm basic is free and running in stealth mode makes your computer
invisible to other computers trying to get into your computer but it does
not affect your internet performance)

House Call (free antivirus check):
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hous...start_corp.asp

From what you have said about your computer trying to connect to the net as
soon as you turn it on you probably have a trojan or a worm. Best thing to
do is use one of the free antivirus scans, which should tell you if you have
anything and how to get rid of it. Once you are sure your computer is not
infected with anything start running a firewall like zone alarm (I have been
running this for several years with no problems) Also running an antivirus
scan regularly and making sure it is up to date is essential. There are
lots of other things that can be done to secure a computer, like encrypting
email and such but they're mostly for professional computer people.

Shell


"Alison" wrote in message
om...
(Foo Finder) wrote in message
. com...


Trojans are spying tools that people use to get info out of your PC.
It sends things to people while you're on line. Some of them would
even dial out.

Could someone please tell me how to eliminate a trojan or find out if
you have one? My computer decided to start trying to connect itself
to the internet when I turn it on, & I was told I might have got a
trojan -- but not sure how? I don't open mail from people I don't
know.


Ann has asked me to add some helpful anti hacker links to Oddhobby, I
will do so as soon as I get some time. Until then, you're looking for
programs that eliminate commerical spyware for starters.

Where would I find one & is this the same as the firewall you
mentioned?

There is a free firewall called Zone Alarm. It's not that hard to
use. But if you set it up wrong some (internet) things will stop
working. Everyone who posts to usenet should use a firewall, it's
very important.


Thanks for any suggestions.

Alison

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

On Fri, 05 Sep 2003 11:31:46 GMT, "Shell91"
wrote:

Hi
I am new to this group but I could not let this go without posting some
help. I have been hacked in the past and had someone send me the blaster
worm recently. Some worms and trojans do not have to be opened as in openng
an attachment, some open themselves. Anyway, some good links a

Symantec Security Check (free)
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/h...OABMSTHXOAMEQV

Zone Alarm (free version):
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...sp?lid=pdb_za2

(zone alarm basic is free and running in stealth mode makes your computer
invisible to other computers trying to get into your computer but it does
not affect your internet performance)

House Call (free antivirus check):
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hous...start_corp.asp

From what you have said about your computer trying to connect to the net as
soon as you turn it on you probably have a trojan or a worm. Best thing to
do is use one of the free antivirus scans, which should tell you if you have
anything and how to get rid of it. Once you are sure your computer is not
infected with anything start running a firewall like zone alarm (I have been
running this for several years with no problems) Also running an antivirus
scan regularly and making sure it is up to date is essential. There are
lots of other things that can be done to secure a computer, like encrypting
email and such but they're mostly for professional computer people.

Shell



Another good thing to run is a firewall. This is usually part of any
antivirus package such as Norton or Zone Alarm. REMEMBER that your
protection is only as good as your updates!! If you don't update the
signatures and other detection criteria then you may as well not have
any protection at all. On my home computer I have both a firewall and
an antivirus protection suite running all the time with auto updates
enabled.

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

"Gideon Singer" wrote in message
...
[snip]
Another good thing to run is a firewall. This is usually part of any
antivirus package such as Norton or Zone Alarm. REMEMBER that your

Can you run both of these products without problems? Presumably each has
its strengths and weaknesses, so running both ought to provide better
protection than either alone.

Cheers,

Ted

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

I use a 4-step approach:

Hardware firewall
Software firewall
Antivirus software
Anti-Trojan software - Lavasoft's Ad-Aware 6 - nobody should be without it,
and the free version is very effective, if manual.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"Ted Byers" wrote in message
. ..

"Gideon Singer" wrote in message
...
[snip]
Another good thing to run is a firewall. This is usually part of any
antivirus package such as Norton or Zone Alarm. REMEMBER that your

Can you run both of these products without problems? Presumably each has
its strengths and weaknesses, so running both ought to provide better
protection than either alone.

Cheers,

Ted

OT - Hackers? Need Help.
 

On Fri, 5 Sep 2003 13:48:44 -0400, "Ted Byers"
wrote:

Can you run both of these products without problems? Presumably each has
its strengths and weaknesses, so running both ought to provide better
protection than either alone.

Cheers,

Ted
As far as I know yes you can. I use Norton which has both.. This
would be better answered in a computer newsgroup rather than here.