how is he watching me?

[PnBnJ]

I have done the password changing and plan to do a clean install soon. It is How he knows what pages I am viewing that concerns me.

 

[mrplow]

If your email is web based (yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc) and he knows your password it won't matter which machine you're using to access it.

As others have said; change your email passwords to something like e4$#yTy&1 I.e. something secure and nothing relateable to you or guessable. Also make sure there are no filters or rules set in your online email that forwards emails to another account.

But more than anything inform the police

 

[Oneironaut]

I would change the passwords first. Now that I understand what's going on, that seems to be the most likely solution. If that doesn't work, then do a clean install. It's kind of a ***** so I'd try everything before having to do that.

 

[Nethfel]

I would also (if I were you) be VERY careful about opening any attachments, make sure to turn on Show All Filename Extensions in Finder and save attachments prior to opening - there is always a chance this group of people might try to send you attachments in an email that would appear to be from someone you know that might be a malicious application.

I don't know if you have any other computers at home on a network with that satellite connection, but if you continue to have problems even after a clean install, I'd suspect any other systems on your network and if there aren't any then I'd be concerned that your satellite modem may have some how been compromised (unless they have changed significantly from when I had satellite internet, those modems act like routers and have various configuration options, although I have no idea if it's possible to change their config in such a way that would allow a remote user access to your network traffic (I don't remember the settings from my satellite modem; I don't even think I had a public IP address on it, but if it your modem does have a public IP and if it had a DDNS setting option, it would be possible for the attacker to setup your modem to report its public IP so he can always find you on the net if they don't actually have software on your system)

 

[PnBnJ]

If your email is web based (yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc) and he knows your password it won't matter which machine you're using to access it.

As others have said; change your email passwords to something like e4$#yTy&1 I.e. something secure and nothing relateable to you or guessable. Also make sure there are no filters or rules set in your online email that forwards emails to another account.

But more than anything inform the police

Yes, all my passwords are "gobbledegook" and lengthy. I frequently check the settings to make sure they aren't "forwarded". Another thing I did was disable the chat client. I don't use them and felt he was somehow accessing the mail thru it because he mentioned the names of two people in a photo that was sent to me thru email. All my "people" are privy to what is happening with this guy and his 'following' and they call me to alert me they are sending something thru the mail.

 

[joeelectricity]

This is scary... What is this news site? If possible, you could contact the website and have them give some information about his name and such, and then have the police go from there.

 

[PnBnJ]

I would also (if I were you) be VERY careful about opening any attachments, make sure to turn on Show All Filename Extensions in Finder and save attachments prior to opening - there is always a chance this group of people might try to send you attachments in an email that would appear to be from someone you know that might be a malicious application.

I don't know if you have any other computers at home on a network with that satellite connection, but if you continue to have problems even after a clean install, I'd suspect any other systems on your network and if there aren't any then I'd be concerned that your satellite modem may have some how been compromised (unless they have changed significantly from when I had satellite internet, those modems act like routers and have various configuration options, although I have no idea if it's possible to change their config in such a way that would allow a remote user access to your network traffic (I don't remember the settings from my satellite modem; I don't even think I had a public IP address on it, but if it your modem does have a public IP and if it had a DDNS setting option, it would be possible for the attacker to setup your modem to report its public IP so he can always find you on the net if they don't actually have software on your system)

Hi Nethfel, thank you for your reply. As I was saying, my contacts phone me about email they send. I know it's a pain, but they are all helping me anyway they can to catch this group of troublemakers. I don't open any email if I don't know who it is from and am leery about it then. They took over an email client of mine and sent out some pretty nasty emails to my contacts. Some stopped talking to me because of it and wouldn't listen to why this is happening, but the way I see it, I didn't need them as friends anyway so good riddance! One email did accidentally open in hotmail when I deleted another one. Its contents were nothing related to the 'name' and 'subject' so that may be how he got access to my mac. I have a friend who is coming to move my dish to another location and I will question him about the settings. He is somewhat of a geek so surely he will be able to tell me if the modem has been compromised. Thank you sooo much for your help...all of you!!!

 

[PnBnJ]

This is scary... What is this news site? If possible, you could contact the website and have them give some information about his name and such, and then have the police go from there.

He uses mannny names and mannny proxies on there as do his friends. Got that covered (wink). Thank you ;D

 

[chas_m]

The key question to help us help you is to tell us: has he had physical access to that machine?

If so, then I'd say it's quite likely he's installed a keylogger. A reformat and clean reinstall would fix that.

If he hasn't had physical access to the machine, then I'd say he's likely guessed your admin password and thus can install things remotely, particularly if you have any sort of sharing turned on.

 

[PnBnJ]

No, he has not had physical access to my machine. I am in usa, he is in uk and his followers are spread all over both countries, but none have had physical access. The password is over 12 characters long and a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols. I was concerned at one time about the remote feature being on, but it is turned off. With his ability to turn my cam and mic on at will, could he also turn on the remote feature or would he have to have access to the machine to do that?

 

[cwa107]

No, he has not had physical access to my machine. I am in usa, he is in uk and his followers are spread all over both countries, but none have had physical access. The password is over 12 characters long and a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols. I was concerned at one time about the remote feature being on, but it is turned off. With his ability to turn my cam and mic on at will, could he also turn on the remote feature or would he have to have access to the machine to do that?

When you say the camera and mic are being turned on, how do you know? Does the light come on next to the camera? There's really no indicator for the mic, so I'm really curious about that piece.

How often do you change these passwords? Even a strong password can be cracked - it's just a matter of will, and this one sounds very strong-willed. I would be changing it every 90 days and using the same mix of letters, change of case, numbers and special characters. Do NOT use any English words for any part of the password.

Lastly, I would clean install Mountain Lion. When it's done, unplug it from the Internet and adjust this setting:

System Preferences => Security & Privacy => General tab =>

Under 'Allow applications downloaded from", set the option to "From Mac App Store". In this way, only code signed by Apple will be allowed to run on your machine. So, if he's doing this by some kind of trojan or worm he's developed (and I have to say that it is rather unlikely), this should slam the door shut.

At that point, go ahead and plug it in.

 

[PnBnJ]

As I said in an earlier post, he has me confused with a friend who used my pc back when this first started. He had told her (as he was pretending to be someone else) that he could turn mics and cams on at will. In my case now, he has turned my cam on, but could not see me because I have a band-aid over the cam. His "comment" on the news site was degrading nonetheless. As for the mic, I had a phone conversation one afternoon and forgot to unplug from the internet during that conversation. Later, in the comments, he used a name I had said in that conversation. It is not a very common name so I know he heard me. Also, sometimes I listen to the radio or play a dvd just for the noise. For a couple of days I played the same dvd over and over as I had something else going and wasnt paying attention to the movie, but had the noise. Later in the "comments" on that news site (about the aurora shooter), he made an ambiguous comment whereby he called the shooter by the name of the main character in the movie I had been playing. He is subtle in letting me know it is him, trying to harass or intimidate who he thinks is my gf, but can't understand that I am not her. So I have a mess to clean up. As for my passwords, I change them more often than 90 days.

I will do that dl option you mentioned when I install ML. Heck, I will do it now to stop any further intrusions, can't hurt. I really appreciate all the help all of you are giving me. Thank you so much!

 

[cwa107]

As I said in an earlier post, he has me confused with a friend who used my pc back when this first started. He had told her (as he was pretending to be someone else) that he could turn mics and cams on at will. In my case now, he has turned my cam on, but could not see me because I have a band-aid over the cam.

So, there's a little light next to the iSight camera that comes on when the camera is active. During the times you suspected the camera was on, did you actually see the light?

Just to be clear, while it's technically possible to remotely enable the camera and microphone, it's not a trivial matter.

The computer has to be compromised in some way, and software that is not germane to the computer has to be installed. On a Mac that is properly configured (and even on a Windows or Linux computer), this is not something that can be readily by done by your average Joe. It would take a skilled hacker with intimate knowledge of the operating system and of an active, unpatched for vulnerability.

We, as a society, suffer from a malady that I like to call "The CSI effect". That is, our popular media loves to portray hackers in fictional works as being "all powerful" and breaking into any computer system with ease. While there is a seed of truth behind these stories, as I said, it's not a trivial matter and most modern computers are very well-protected against this sort of thing.

For the layperson, it's easy to become paranoid when you don't understand how these things work. But as an IT professional, having administered thousands of PCs and servers in a large, corporate environment for the better part of the last two decades - I can tell you that it's not easy to compromise any computer without physical access to it or by tricking the user into running some kind of malicious software. It's even less likely on a Mac, where there are so few existing packages of this nature - one would have to basically find a vulnerability (a feat in and of itself) and then build a software package (again, not simple), and finally find a way to deploy it to the target machine.

You may very well have run up against a formidable hacker, but I'd be willing to bet that if there is a situation where your previous machine was compromised, it's more likely that he's just gathered enough detail about you, your friend and the others you communicate with that he uses in a way intended to make you feel paranoid.

 

[Berk]

Do you have any physical proof he's stalking you? From what I've read in your posts it's just a lot of "ambiguous" words or phrases. Has he called or sent emails directly to you or is all communication via a local news forum?

 

[joeelectricity]

In this case, I guess we'll find out if PnBnJ says if the light comes on when he is being watched. Seems like an unlikely situation. By now, wouldn't someone have found the littlest trace of hacking?

 

[PnBnJ]

@CWA 107


“Formidable” hacker? If he were anywhere in my county, I would teach him the meaning of the word formidable! This 61 year old granny has still got it!! No, I don’t believe he is that smart, however, I’m sure he knows people that are and have taught him what he knows. The sight he hangs out on has a few deadbeat men who’s only aim is to perv women and hack their computers---(my gf’s words, not mine). When she didn’t “co-operate” with him and left, he immediately set out to ruin her to cover up HIS indescretions, but it has backfired on me. At the time I owned several pc’s and had them on two seperate ISP’s. The one she and others used was the only one I allowed to “browse and surf” (on one ISP), so if it picked up malicious ware or got fried it would be no big loss. He hacked that pc after she left and erased all the proof of his “indescrestions”, filled it with pornography then had one of his women to steal all the files off it to show what a bad person she was. I am partly to blame for some of this because I didn’t wipe the hd before I let it go public. (I taught classes and had another project going at the same time so it never crossed my mind that my files were still on it.) One girl (who I rescued from a bad marriage situation) rented from me and she also used that pc before my gf came in the picture. I came in from work and caught her “in the act” (she was fully dressed, the guy on cam was not). I told her to get her files off my pc and get out of my house. She later admitted, that in retailiation, she put all her “crap” in a folder that contained pictures of me so if that pc got hacked....well, it worked! And to futher confuse everybody, my gf has the same name as me, but we have a nickname for her to distinquish between us. Anybody that went in that site would have mine and/or my gf’s name. There are four that I have been able to count thus far. He knows alot about ME from files stolen off that pc. But he also knows alot about other people who used it, but thinks its me or my namesake. He has tried to access my bank acct that I “played” with online when I ordered from ebay and amazon, he has mine and my son’s income tax forms with our ss #, he and his women hang out on my son’s sites and he has personal email I wrote and with my gf having the same name....you can imagine. He took over an email acct and sent out very nasty emails in my name and no telling what else. He and his following have put another of my email addresses out there in the porn world and that inbox fills up with some pretty nasty stuff. He has had some of his women make phone calls to my town from a number that was in a file on the pc. They have contacted people on FB that live in my area. There have been instances when I contact someone, he goes behind me and tells or “shows” them the trash from my renter saying it is me. I closed up shop, bought a mac and he found me again....thru the news site that was on the pc. A few minor things like this has me thinking bad thoughts. Where is Hannibal Lecter or Freddy Kruger when you need them? lol . And these things are just the tip of the iceberg. But paranoid, no. I just want to understand a Mac so I can stop this kind of doings. PC’s I got, but Mac is a whole new ballgame. He has Linux, so he is familiar with Unix.

My mac would have to be compromised for him to turn the cam/mic on?? Could be the letter that automatically opened when I deleted one in hotmail contained the malicious code for this to happen. Is there any way to run a check on mac for this? I have sophos and clamx. Neither reveal any threats known to them. Or are we talking about a different kind of threat than they can detect?

No, I didn’t actually see the light on the cam...as I said I have a small piece of tin foil over both, held in place by the little square band-aid. So if the light did come on, the foil blocked the light from me. If I want somebody to see me, I will turn the thing on myself otherwise, what I look like is nobody’s business. He has enough pictures of me from the pc so he can hang that up. But hearing what goes on in my house when the mac is online is another matter. He has made too many comments about what I have said in the last two weeks for him NOT to be listening. I set one phone call up to to verify his listening and sure enough, he fell for it. Any thoughts on how to check for this?

As an IT professional, I guess you know what you are talking about and I trust what you are saying. Thanks so much for your help. I’m going to learn this Mac.......bigtime!!!

 

[PnBnJ]

Do you have any physical proof he's stalking you? From what I've read in your posts it's just a lot of "ambiguous" words or phrases. Has he called or sent emails directly to you or is all communication via a local news forum?

YES we do! All the evidence he deleted on that pc before he had that girl to dl the files off it has been retrieved! We have every letter, conversation, msn invite, every poem of undying love he wrote, what he did to cause her to leave, the threatening letter afterwards...everything that ever transpired between him and my gf and others on that site. Everyday my gf would transfer everything to her pc. Everything she has on disk is what was retrieved from the 4 hard drives off that pc. Yea, we got proof!

 

[PnBnJ]

In this case, I guess we'll find out if PnBnJ says if the light comes on when he is being watched. Seems like an unlikely situation. By now, wouldn't someone have found the littlest trace of hacking?

We have proof of their hacking the pc and other sites pertinent to this case. Finding proof on this mac is what I am on this site for? Then I turn it over to the ones who have the other proof! Maybe someday that guy and his following will get it thru their heads that I am NOT her and leave me and mine alone.

 

[Rafsob]

Ok tell us the truth now. Have you taken your meds today? If so you may want to talk to your doctor about getting some new ones. From reading all your posts I am sure you are the one with a personal problem my friend. I only hope your doctor can help you with whatever ails you.

Good night.

 

[Dre Sage]

I use Tor Browser to visit sites I don't think are secure.