anonymous surfing effective against specific attacker?

ok, so i use tor/jap for anonymizing my web surfing activity. mind im not that comp. literate. are those programs effective to use if you just have a specific hacker after you? or would it give more vulnability? meaning should i just forget anonymizing my surfing activity and just stick with tightening the security around my castle? i do realize jap/tor are under improvement so should i just not use much stuff that may open up more holes?? advice much apprecia***!

 

What do you mean by saying there's a hacker after you?

If someone is bothering you by atacking your system: save the logs, find the hackers ISP (using tools like samspade.org) and send an e-mail to abuse @ isp.

If someone is trying to find out what you do... no I can't see how this can happen, unless you connect to his system first. Or if you are on a unprotected lan segment.

You might need anonymizer facilities if you don't want the target system that you want to connect to, to find out who you are, of to defeat the network manager of your network. Or if you want to pass by FBI's or other investigators (although an anonimizer would only give you a little extra time, since even these tools leav traces).

So, please more info before we can help.

 

Strange story. What I would do:

change operating system

If you can't:
disconnect from any network
instantly change the password of your systems (make them very complex)
check for baddies
change the password of your systems (make them very complex)
only then reconnect to a network
change the password of your online systems (mail accounts and so on, make them very complex)

never ever run as admin/root

Good luck, you seem to need it.

 

thank you i really do need it i suppose.

like i said i have reinstalled the whole system over 10 times within the last month. and i have been changing my password to increasingly complex ones (in fact i have to write it down and type it a couple times myself before succeeding to change it right) i dont have prob. doing it again and again but after that i need to make my system pretty tight and i dont know how exaclt or what exactly i need to do.. even the minimal..

what are the baddies? what do you mean by never run as admin/root?

right now my account is the only one active (i guess im administrator?) every other user account is disabled. have the cookies blocked and scripts disabled. somewhere around there i lost connection to my hotmail/yahoo accounts i think and i was trying to figure out how i can log on to those.. got tor/jap running. what else.. whenever i do reinstall the system though, i would have to connect internet with no updated firewall or antivirus as i dont have a cd for those.

 

Not sure what law systems you have in america. In australia it is quite easy for police to track who's been making phone calls to you - regarding 'misuse of telephone service' or 'harassing phone calls' offences (should be something similar there)

There should also be some kind of stalking legislation. You need to familiarise yourself with this legislation, and start collecting the evidence for police (for a stalking case, the majority of the evidence will be evidence that cannot be gathered by police - ie you have to collect it)

You need to keep a diary of each event, and if possible also gather other physical evidence (eg, photos/screenshots/microcassette recordings etc). You also need to keep in your diary details of how you've had to change your behaviours to protect yourself.

For all past conversations/events that you have lost records of, you need to record (write down), as near as you possibly can, time/place/date conversations in first person (ie I said/he said)....how they made you feel, and how your behaviours changed.

For your computer system, you will need to find a way of logging who accesses your computer over the net. This will probably invovle a paid for firewall with those abilities (sorry dont know which ones do it).

For computer protective measures - if you want to go down that path -consider a hardware router-firewall, and an application based software firewall like zonealarm (I use hardware, zonealarm, and process guard...process guard to protect all my applications with internet access through zonealarm...this way nothing can get out...ie keyloggers etc. PG also prevents Remote Access Trojans and keyloggers from installing - so want a clean system first). You also want to stop other forms of spyware from installing. That may involve something like PrevX (theres a free version of it), and a few different anti-spyware programs (free ones include MS anti-spyware, spybot S&D, Ad-Aware SE, and spywareguard and spywareblaster). There is a free startup/system monitor in winpatrol. An anti-trojan could also be useful (either A2 or Edwido are free, maybe both. Trojan hunter is a good AT currently with a one off fee). Also if he has indeed hacked into your friends computer, I would advise against openning any email attachments from them without being certain that the attachment is safe.

If you do not know too much about computer security, and must be attached to the net, I would recommend you start doing a lot of reading on the types of threats out there. You will need to find out as much as you can about Trojans (esp Remote access Trojans/rootkits and keyloggers), worms, and spyware, and some about antivirus. Also firewalls, your system registry, and how to use a system process monitor. You may also want to read about home intrusion prevention systems...do google searches on all of these - eg search 'anti-trojan test' or 'antivirus review'). Wilders is a good forum for such info, but there is plenty of other info out there also. Castlecops is also good.

Just know, even if you take these measures...the person causing you these problems may still have more information that he hasnt revealed from past hacks, so even taking steps to protect your comp, may not immediately stop the problem. Also you may find that if he's hacking into your friends comps, that he is finding information from the emails you are sending them.

Just remember that even if you fail to stop this person...every time he contacts you he will leave evidence...so long as you are always ready/able/prepared to collect it. This evidence can often be immediately lost unless you are...eg what is said over a phone...the phone company can provide evidence that a phone call was made but not what was said. The best method is tape recording <not sure of the recording laws in america. You will have to familiarise yourself with them first. In australia we can record so long as we are involved in the conversation - for criminal offences anyway>

In the end, it costs you money, and it's not at all fair, but you will need to take some proactive steps to help yourself.

Hope it helps some

 

hmmm

Either it's not very professional of them, or you are presenting them with the wrong sort of info.

Personally, if the police arent going to listen to you, I would suggest that you go and see a lawyer, and ask him if you have a case (of course, they may say you do just to keep you coming back to them, but I would hope not)

Not entirely sure of your law system over there, but there may be a way to 'go above their heads'. You could go see your local government respresentative (not sure what they are called, but whichever one looks after the police dept), or make a complaint about them (if they don't handle it themselves).

What I would suggest you do, is look up your relevant laws, and find out what evidence you need to gather. When looking up laws, be aware that many words have 'definitions' that are referenced elsewhere in the legislation, and other words rely purely on the dictionary definition. Also be aware that the most powerful words in legislation are 'and' and 'or' . 'And' means both elements on either side of the 'and' must be met. 'or' means only one element on either side of the 'or' must be met.

This will also enable you to present your case more clearly. I know that in many cases even small things will seem important to you, but you need to think from a law enforcement perspective (of both what is relevant to the law, and what can and can't be proven), and present the facts that give you best credibility in relation to law (ie, if you present a lot of stuff irrelevant to the law and only one or two bits of information relevant, your credibility as a complainant can decrease)

Still, the easiest way for you to sort this out would be to go see a lawyer.

glad some of the free programs helped

Oh, and as someone else said, using a computer is like using a car... you have to learn the road rules...same with comp security

 

well....

for one- i am not american
two- i got no money
three- i am leaving this country pretty soon

by the way, is australia nice? never been there yet.

right now i dont care to pursue in trying to catch this guy, yea, it would be nice if i got more protection but they aint giving it to me so i gotta do it myself i guess.. dont mean to sound bitter, sorry, i really appreciate your help and concern which i dont seem to get from people around here (meaning them cops)... im going to look into those freewares you were talking about.. anything else you might think of, i would appreciate..

thanks

 

although i am willing to spend some money if there is a must have for anti-hacker

 

Australia is nice enough...apart from Sydney and Melbourne who have a lot of ethnic and class problems. Heh, it's more expensive to live here than say, america, don't know about Britain.

Good luck in whatever you do.

 

IS IT ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for you to even be on-line? If it's not and you are leaving the country anyway.........why give him more ammunition?

You have no idea where he is getting his info, it could be from your best friend!!

I would stay off-line until I left the country and then..........change everything about "HOW" you use your computer and the programs you put on it.....like Vikorr said, you have to know the road..........don't give him a road!!

GOOD LUCK!!

Marja

 

thank you for all the help!

however i must say.. i am feeling very uncomfortable leaving my posts with everything i said.. is there any way someone could either take them out entirely or just edit some detail that might be kinda specific in nature? sorry i do realize this is private forum and i shouldnt have put in too much to begin with but again, i do need help. but i just dont feel comfortable leaving all the info out in the public.. if you get what i mean. if not, thats ok too. i do understand how these forums work and do appreciate this site as i get so much help.

thanks

 

Can't help you there, the Admins have to decide that!

Again good luck, remember what the guys have told you and USE it!

Take Care!

Marja

 

thank you marja.. but yea, its kinda important to me i do try to stay away as much as i can. well, like i said since he appeared i have lost all my friends so there is no bestfriend who can give out any info. that he doesnt have already. there were some info. that i have only told one or two persons in my entire life that he knew. if that means anything, and that one person is whom he is claiming to be. everyting else like my phone number, i dont see how he would get it from anyone since if this is really him, he does not know (personally) any of the people . oh, well, but i dont need to be talking ablout how depressing my life is, i want to work on getting my life back including some amount of privacy. so, sorry, i would still appreciate if any of you had more advice on how to secure my computer and internet activity!

thanks

 

im that nobody,

As per your request, I've split the posts that would seem to be of concern to you off-line. I think that more or less does it. Let me know if you have additional concerns regarding this thread.

Blue

 

thank you blue

hmm i am getting more and more calls from the guy i think it might be a good idea to get off online ill see what i can do.. but in the meantime thanks all. ill prob. be back again tomorrow but if not i appreciate all you guys' help and advice youve given me. if i dont come back for awhile thats just cause i dont have a choice but if any of you interes*** in the subject keep the thread going and hopefully i will come back to check it out

good night