Breach - please read!

jcat

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I've been having problems while posting here for the past few weekends, though not during the week. Someone is "editing" my posts while I'm writing them (I don't appreciate the ethnic "jokes") or deleting the posts altogether. My firewall keeps flashing "BREACH"! As this has only happened while I'm logged on to this site, I assume that it may be someone here who thinks it's funny.
To make a long story short, I just finished upgrading my firewall, and would recommend that those of you who don't have one install one.
 

hissy

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jcat to my knowledge no one is editing your posts (that can) I am sorry you have had this difficulty and I hope it is resolved soon? I am moving this to feedback so Anne will see it-
 

mzjazz2u

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I'm sorry you're having problems. It could be that it is not someone on the site. It's possible that a hacker somehow has accessed your passwords or something. To my knowledge, only you and the moderators can edit or delete your posts. (Unless you've been hacked into).
 

Anne

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I'm sorry to hear about the problem. I really have no idea how can anyone, moderator or not, can cause your firewall to give you a warning. Even when mods edit/delete posts, the actual action is done on our server and not on your computer. I'm glad you upgraded the firewall - it could be a hacker or it could be somehting else.
 

jillian

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jcat,
Are you posting from home? or are you at a place where many computers are networked (for example, college)? While attending my last college, my idiot roommate's boyfriend installed a trojan virus on my pc that allowed him to control MY pc from HIS room. It sucked.... I was mad... Anyway... just a thought. Good luck!
 

mzjazz2u

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Originally posted by Jillian
jcat,
Are you posting from home? or are you at a place where many computers are networked (for example, college)? While attending my last college, my idiot roommate's boyfriend installed a trojan virus on my pc that allowed him to control MY pc from HIS room. It sucked.... I was mad... Anyway... just a thought. Good luck!
This is exactly the thing I was talking about. There are a lot of trojan horses out there that can do this. It can sneak in many ways without you knowing. I sure hope you figure it out.
 
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jcat

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I asked some of the computer whiz kids at school what could be going on. I use my home computer with a firewall. A few kids said that's what is called "carrying somebody piggyback" ("huckepack" in German), and theoretically somebody could use my account to make toll calls, download stuff, send text messages, etc., so I guess I'm lucky to have only had a jokester messing with my posts. The tips they gave me were: only use "stealth mode"(one of the girls claims it's an open invitation if your user name appears under "Users browsing this forum"), and to deactivate all instant messengers, or at the very least to change the names. I do use "stealth mode", but I hadn't thought about IMs - I've been using both AOL and Yahoo. One of the kids said he "wasn't exactly sure" how this is done, but I'm about 95% certain that he didn't want to admit to a teacher that he's a hacker. The reason I suspect the problem is here is that it has only happened while I'm browsing these forums , whoever doing it is obviously a native English speaker, and this is the only site where I use English. I'm anxious to see if it happens again next Saturday or Sunday, or if the new firewall helps.
 
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jcat

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As an addition - I hope you are not under the impression that I'm accusing any moderators of manipulating my posts. I simply think that members should be aware that they should take precautions against hacker invasions. The last computer classes I took were in the "Dark Ages" of DOS and COBOL, and this sort of thing wasn't covered. I suspect that somebody either has a personal vendetta against me, or is "lurking" and perversely enjoys screwing up anything pertaining to cats. I got a real eye-opener today when a student (whom I suspect is a hacker, but that is beside the point) showed me how to access a colleague's grade lists - the only information he had was my colleague's email address, which is posted in the teachers' lounge. I think I'll stick to my "two computer policy" - one computer with no Internet access, where I compose tests and make up grade lists, and another I use to go on line. I'm middle-aged and a computer idiot. The more I use the Internet, the more asinine I feel.
 

dtolle

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Wow, that is scary that somebody could do that! I hope you resolve the problem soon!
 
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