Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hacker

the last dying gasp of anonymity...

nushustu — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:44:54 -0800

What can I do to keep my location being found from emails sent to me? I have a project that will require people to send me emails. I do not want the people sending the emails to find my location. Presently, I'm set up so that the email senders will send an email to a gmail account that will automatically forward all messages to a hushmail account.

I might not be able to use tor for this. Will it be possible for people to find where I am?

I should note that I'm not involved in anything illegal, and that I know that senders will be able to use subpoenas to find me through legal channels. I'm just trying to make sure that people can't find me through hacker channels.

They hacked our Joomla, help!

wile e — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:43:42 -0800

We've been hacked! We were just about to upgrade the Joomla version, and then we get this. Looks to be a ransom page, but we obviously want to reverse the hack. How do we do this? We can still access the administrative panel, but obviously our user/pass doesn't work. They were able to manipulate the hole in the older version 1.0.x (I forget the exact version it was, and can't check now) so can we do this as well? I don't want to publish the site name here, but if someone has valid reasons for requiring it, I can PM it.

Not sure what other info is relevant, but I will be watching all day so ask away.

Thanks.

Computer exposed to internet without a firewall, now what do I do?

miasma — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:28:48 -0800

My computer has recently been exposed to the wild internet without being behind a firewall. I'm running Windows 2000 without a software firewall. What should I do now to clean my machine and make sure it hasn't been subject to an exploit? I made the mistake of putting a gaming device in the DMZ of my router for a short while. When I came back today, the dynamically assigned IP had switched, and it was my computer that was in the DMZ. As a result, my computer has been exposed to the wild internet without a firewall. I have all the latest service packs and hotfixes installed. What else should I do to make sure that my machine hasn't been exploited?

I have Spybot S&D for spyware and AVG for virus checking.

Protect the droids

Brandon1600 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:56:36 -0800

I am in the market for some new anti-virus software and possibly a new router. Any recommendations? I had to do an overhaul on my laptop last week, so now is as good a time as any to fine tune my internet protection. I currently have a three year old HP Pavilion laptop running Win XP SP2 through a 2WIRE DSL router using AT&T/SBC DSL. I used to use Trendmicro but it got wiped so I am looking for some recommendations. Some have suggested not running any AV at all, but this just blows my mind. The idea is that you are ok as long as you have a good physical and software firewall. I am just looking for a good set-up to protect my computer from hackers and malicious programs. Thanks

Can you help me find tales of l33tness?

ArgentCorvid — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:01:39 -0800

Can you help me find more Hacker Folklore? There's The Story of Mel (and most of the rest of the Jargon File). There's The Story of the 500 Mile E-Mail. To a lesser degree of what I am looking for is The Origin of Quake3's Fast InvSqrt.

Do you know of anywhere that I can find more short stories in the same spirit of these? I'm talking about (probably) true stories of Techie Awesome and/or the history of Hacking. Stories about things that shouldn't work, but do.

If the story goes deep into the technical details, thats fine with me. In fact, the more details about the equipment and/or circumstances, the better.

I know that there are more out there than the three above, but I'm not sure I've been putting the right words into the search box.

Thanks in advance.

My web site is being hacked, what can I do?

semidivine — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:18:05 -0800

What do I do if a web site I maintain has been hacked? I've inherited maintenance of a web site, but I am mostly a front-end person, design and front end coding, so I am completely out of my depth here. Someone is using a user's identity to post hundreds of spam posts on the message board... really disgusting ones. The user has changed her password multiple times so I'm guessing they have another in. When I look at the database since they are both posting often (the real user and the spammers) I can't tell what IP address the spammers are posting from to block it. After that I'm lost... any suggestions?

CRTphobia

DU — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:01:59 -0800

Can my computer kill me without warning? In Cryptonomicon, there's a scene where a hacker sets up someone's computer to overdrive their (CRT) monitor, causing it to explode and send glass shrapnel into their eyes, brain, etc. Ever since then, I can't use a CRT-connected computer without thinking about it. Particularly the monitor I have at home, which makes these loud clunky clicking sounds whenever it switches modes, comes out of screensaver or turns on. Sometimes I even squint and cover my eyes, even though I know this is probably not very likely, if it's even possible.

I haven't been able to find anything about this online and sometimes the absence of evidence IS evidence of absence.

I would like to get an LCD (not just for this reason--I'm far from debilitated by this) but they are still too expensive.

Is all hacking illegal?

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:21:32 -0800

Is hacking just to find out the identity of someone illegal? The short story is I'm being harassed via email, have IP addresses, headers, all that, but not enough stuff that comes off as threatening enough to get anyone in authority to care. I downloaded and tried to use BO2k and realized I'm in over my head. I contacted a few "public" hackers and asked for help, but they claimed they don't do that sort of thing. I just want to know who this person is who knows my name and details about my family. I don't want credit card numbers, passwords, etc. Is what I want illegal? Is it _how_ I want it that's the problem? Public replies or emails welcome: painted_nails_20@yahoo.com

Hackers Dictionary

TheFeatheredMullet — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 08:23:02 -0800

Questions about the 'Hacker Dictionary'...... So,
I am told that one of the true hacker's secrets is his/her dictionary of words to be used in a dictionary attack on an encrypted password. Since most folks can get a complete dictionary of words in their /usr/share/dict/words directory, what is it about the hackers one that is so special? What sort of words and combos do they have that the average joe could not get?
I assume that they simply run a script that converts most of the words into some sort of 1337 speak or something. Is there anything else? If not, why are these lists so prized and traded?

My mac is possessed.

craniac — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:27:40 -0800

My Imac (running the latest patched version of Tiger) is possessed. While I watch, the cursor is flipping around, opening the terminal, and typing "wget" with nothing after it. I don't know if this is a bot, hacker, or hardware failure of some sort. The behavior seems kind of programmed. That is, I don't think that someone has a rogue version of VNC running. I've turned off the machine, and am wondering what my next step should be, or if someone has seen this before. Thanks!

Help us deal with this hacker!

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Oct 2004 19:57:34 -0800

S.O.S. We're being hacked! I run a small community website and somebody is trying to hack our VBulletin-powered forum. So far our passwords and usernames have been tampered with. How do we prevent this bastard from messing up years of dedicated volunteer work? Can we trace who the offender is? Any strategies in dealing with his demented mind? Its depressing/ I'm taking this personally. After years of thankless effort this is what my partners and I get. Please help.

Starter resources for white hat/grey hat hacker skills?

namespan — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 12:15:11 -0800

I'd like to learn some white hat/grey hat hacker (as in cracker) skills. I'm interested in focusing on Windows systems and possibly web mail, as I think knowledge in these areas would probably be the most marketable. What's a good resource to pick up the basics? What are some good websites to follow the discovery and status of vulnerabilities?