Unfortunately, I have been victimized by Cyber Stalkers, in the recent past, and over the years. This is not a pleasant experience, but as a transsexual female, I can not say that it surprises me. I include the below reference as a word of caution to all that use this sight or any website that may identify you as a member of a minority group and/or as a transsexual female. Please use great discretion and all due caution. Thank you and take very good care of yourselves.

With true love & affection:

Godiva

PPT] Victim StatisticsFile Format: Microsoft Powerpoint - View as HTML
Newbies – people who are new to the Net; Minority group members; Special ability groups. Cyberstalking Victim Statistics (2002). A Typical Victim ...
www.wiredsafety.org/resources/powerpoint/cyberstalking_study.ppt - Similar pages - Note this

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Teen Health - Health Topics - HarassmentPeople may be picked on because they are part of a minority group, .... out their advice centre and the topics on 'cyber bullying' and 'cyber stalking': ...
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There are very easy ways to prevent this. So easy in fact I don't know why anyone sees it as a major problem. Take Myspace, for example, set your profile to private, use an avatar as your profile pic, set misleading age(like if you're 18 put that you're fifty),have people fill out a profile question to add you as a friend, and don't add people you don't know IRL.

Unfortunately, Cyberstalkers are frequently people you know, or have had some contact with in the past, and the above precautions will not work in this situation. Take care.


Godiva

Posted on: July 14, 2007, 06:02:09 AM

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I have been just informed, by officials at my organization that for the second time since registering at Susan's place website, my office computer has been hacked into. This is very troubling to me. Personal privacy must, by virtue of the topic discussed at Susan's Place, be a very high priority.


Godiva

Quote from: Godiva on July 20, 2007, 08:11:34 AM
Unfortunately, Cyberstalkers are frequently people you know, or have had some contact with in the past, and the above precautions will not work in this situation. Take care.


Godiva

Posted on: July 14, 2007, 06:02:09 AM

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I have been just informed, by officials at my organization that for the second time since registering at Susan's place website, my office computer has been hacked into. This is very troubling to me. Personal privacy must, by virtue of the topic discussed at Susan's Place, be a very high priority.


Godiva

They won't see anything you do online if you take the measures I listed. As for forums, set a different age, don't use your name or nickname as your SN, give a different location, and don't post very specific stories. I own a Forum/MySpace clone(little bit more active than these forums so far) and I know a little bit about online privacy.

As for hacking I know a lot about that too. Can you give a detailed explanation of what exactly got "hacked?" Also was it at home(assuming no networking or very small network <5 computers) or at a office(assuming networking >5 computers)?

Assuming home networking, get a router preferably with built-in firewall, depending on your personal finances I would suggest different ones. Get a personal firewall too or the better than nothing solution enable Windows XP firewall. Get anti virus, anti trojan, anti adware, and anti spyware software. Use firefox(free) instead of Internet explorer. Also to provide security against physical threats, set a BIOS password in addition to your windows password. You may even want more protection than that. I know some people that go to the extremely extreme solutions. However, I'm fine with moderate personal computer protection.

It's very possible indeed. I think it is everyone's responsibility to prevent this.  I have stopped using current photographs of myself on avatars and  posts.  I don't list my age or my location although all of you know that I live in Utopia.  My personal email address is hidden, except for the one that Susan's graciously provided us.  I, of course, don't discuss personal information (i.e. telephone number, address, place of employment, occupation, legal name) in the public forums.  It's my own personal way to prevent these types of  situations from happening.

tink

Quote from: Tink on July 20, 2007, 08:17:32 PM
It's very possible indeed. I think it is everyone's responsibility to prevent this.  I have stopped using current photographs of myself on avatars and  posts.  I don't list my age or my location although all of you know that I live in Utopia.  My personal email address is hidden, except for the one that Susan's graciously provided us.  I, of course, don't discuss personal information (i.e. telephone number, address, place of employment, occupation, legal name) in the public forums.  It's my own personal way to prevent these types of  situations from happening.

tink

That's good anyone who cares about personal information should do just that. I don't follow several things, because I choose not to, not because I don't know how. Even if I did make an attempt to hide my idenity anyone could find it in an out of date WHOIS datebase, if they knew my domains I own.

QuoteGet a personal firewall too or the better than nothing solution enable Windows XP firewall. Get anti virus, anti trojan, anti adware, and anti spyware software.

Many viruses and spyware programs use firewalls as a portal to get in. In fact it wouldn't be too harsh to say that Windows firewall does little more than block harmless programs you need to use. If you're going to get software to protect your computer, forget about Windows firewall and get something better that will actually do the job. 

it's a good thing that i live in a different planet.   

Quote from: shiva on July 21, 2007, 08:44:14 AM

QuoteGet a personal firewall too or the better than nothing solution enable Windows XP firewall. Get anti virus, anti trojan, anti adware, and anti spyware software.

Many viruses and spyware programs use firewalls as a portal to get in. In fact it wouldn't be too harsh to say that Windows firewall does little more than block harmless programs you need to use. If you're going to get software to protect your computer, forget about Windows firewall and get something better that will actually do the job. 

Or you could get a Mac.   LOL

Posted on: July 21, 2007, 11:55:46 AM

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on a not-so-lighter note, although I haven't been cyber stalked, I've been stalked in real life and it's not fun. One I had a guy follow me all they way to my apartment, and then also got into the apartment building and tried to get into mine. It was pretty scary, especially that a week before someone tried to rape me at work while I was on break.

I now work at a different place, but I work late and I have to walk home at night. It can be very scary at times. One thing that really scared me was that a week and a little bit a go a woman was killed in our work's parking lot. The store was closed then, but it was night and a group of people came up and stabbed her. She died. The group then went out and for and hour, found people to stab. Four people were injured, but survived the stabbing.

So yeah, it can be a scary world.

Quote from: shiva on July 21, 2007, 08:44:14 AM

QuoteGet a personal firewall too or the better than nothing solution enable Windows XP firewall. Get anti virus, anti trojan, anti adware, and anti spyware software.

Many viruses and spyware programs use firewalls as a portal to get in. In fact it wouldn't be too harsh to say that Windows firewall does little more than block harmless programs you need to use. If you're going to get software to protect your computer, forget about Windows firewall and get something better that will actually do the job. 

I can't think of any virus that specifically uses a software firewall as a portal to get in. In fact, I can't think of even one virus that can infect a computer through a properly configured, up to date, and top rated firewall. Even the ones that have in the past haven't had anymore than a couple of week period until the software companies developed protection against them.

My best recommendation is a physical firewall plus Norton Anti-virus.

QuoteI can't think of any virus that specifically uses a software firewall as a portal to get in. In fact, I can't think of even one virus that can infect a computer through a properly configured, up to date, and top rated firewall. Even the ones that have in the past haven't had anymore than a couple of week period until the software companies developed protection against them.

My best recommendation is a physical firewall plus Norton Anti-virus.

Norton's good.

But there are plenty of viruses that use a firewall as a portal. People are always making more. I hang out in techy circles and these guys are dealing with exactly that problem a lot of the time.

Interesting. I had the same sort of problem a while back. I have a firewall program, anti-virus, and spyware protection, and someone still managed to watch for a while. And, it also seemed to happen after I was at Susan's site. In fact, the stalker alluded to that observation. But I have no way of knowing if I picked it up there. So, make sure you automatically update your protection systems, and check them periodically for functionality. They are always launching new stuff against the consumer ~ protection is by no means static in nature.

This is why I suggest to people to never use your PC, either desktop or notebook, to conduct business using your personal financial information, or for that matter, your social security number. Once they steal it, you are screwed. I worked with a guy that got hacked using the website of a major US banking institution, and he lost a bunch of cash. It was reimbursed later, but he took hours and hours of his own time to prove to the bank that he was not at fault. Eventually, they relented, and credited his acct., but until then, he was out a couple months worth of mortgage payments.

Hackers don't target just minority groups. They target anyone with a weakness that allows them to get at your information. People with something to hide just give them extra jollies.
They are out to induce fear and dread in their victims, to make themselves feel more powerful than the losers they really are deep inside.

Cyber stalkers that turn into real world stalkers are particularly troublesome. They can know everything about you, and use that info to destroy you in every possible way. Being stalked was no fun, but being cyber/stalked would be really bad.

Posted on: July 29, 2007, 10:02:01 AM

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What is trojanware?  Is that like spyware?

QuoteHackers don't target just minority groups. They target anyone with a weakness that allows them to get at your information. People with something to hide just give them extra jollies.
They are out to induce fear and dread in their victims, to make themselves feel more powerful than the losers they really are deep inside.

Hackers have the worse public persona ever. Really it's just a trap set up by the media to convince people that hackers are bad. Lets all just take Jerry Springer's show and form such a strong opinion against the transgendered while we're at it.

I know because I'm a hacker. Just last week I found a glitch in teenspot.com which gave me the ability to add anyone as a friend without their consent. Added admins as friends as proof of concept(can be seen in this profile: http://www.teenspot.com/profiles/ouiouioui/ ). Immediately reported the error to the site administrators, which they greatly appreciated.

I, like most hackers get my 'extra jollies' from saving people from problems that could crash many computers and cost thousands, millions, and even billions. And the ones who get their jollies from damaging something, damage things like g0dh@tesf@gs.c0m, sites that promote racism, and other sites that discriminate.

Don't forget Uncle Sam.  It doesn't matter what you do, your whole life is an open book to our government with impunity should they be interested.  It's totally illegal and they are doing it anyway.

Cindi

   I agree with Annie.  The term hacker initially was used for people who pushed software and hardware to do new things.  In some ways, I'm a hacker too. I've done some things with hardware and software that went against the conventional wisdom.
   But, the jerky media had to ruin the word.  There was a push a while back to separate 'hackers' from the bad people by using the word 'crackers' for idiots who attack systems and steal and such.  But once something is picked up by the culture, there is no reclaiming it.

   I prefer Kaspersky antivirus to Symantec these days.  Symantec (Norton) seems to have grown into bloatware.  Even when I buy a product to do one simple task, it bogs my system down or requires me to tweak it too much.

Cyber stalkers are rarely technical geniuses, they don't really need to be with all the resources available publicly. The most dangerous people are those who translate cyber stalking into the real world, which is thankfully very rare.

QuoteI know because I'm a hacker. Just last week I found a glitch in teenspot.com which gave me the ability to add anyone as a friend without their consent. Added admins as friends as proof of concept(can be seen in this profile: http://www.teenspot.com/profiles/ouiouioui/ ). Immediately reported the error to the site administrators, which they greatly appreciated.

But are you a good witch, or a bad witch comes to mind. Look,you have the right to use any handle you want, but like it or not, there are people out there, using that term that ain't there for benign pleasure. They are there to take things from other people or to harrass people.

I'm thinking that not many people that invade private space are doing it to alert people of a weakness in their system.And even if they were, I still don't want them in my space. It's like those clowns on the Discovery Channel that break into people's homes to show them how defenseless they are. I'm sorry, but I don't want you in my house, or my space, even if you are trying to get a point across, or to show how smart you are.

If I caught someone breaking into my home, I'd shoot their a**. If there was an equivalent for someone that breaks into your personal space, I'd use it in a heartbeat. Shoot first, ask questions later. If you go poking your nose in somewhere looking for trouble, you get what you deserve.

Quote from: Thundra on July 31, 2007, 12:30:40 AM

But are you a good witch, or a bad witch comes to mind. Look,you have the right to use any handle you want, but like it or not, there are people out there, using that term that ain't there for benign pleasure. They are there to take things from other people or to harrass people.

Funny you should ask that because my unused handle is WhiteMage or recently WhiteMageGirl.

Yes, there are those type of people, but they're more rare than you think. The general public opinion on hackers is a media fantasy. There's not much more to it than that. The same can be applied to the general public opinion on transexuals.

QuoteI'm thinking that not many people that invade private space are doing it to alert people of a weakness in their system.And even if they were, I still don't want them in my space.

If the security of the computer hadn't evolved with the use of a computer, what do you think a creative kid in some basement could do? Same with the security of the car, imagine if there were no locks on any cars and no keys required to start them.