Compromised...

[Christa001]

Recently I had a freind take some Fem pics of me ( before and afters ) Using a digital camera.She uploaded them into her computer to e-mail to me under her g-mail account...To shorten the story, her account was hacked (before the pics were sent to me)and my pictures were compromised.The hacker sent her an e mail ( thru a second party server so sender shows up as unknown@....) saying "does your family know about this"...... I am sick...I dont know what i should do as I have so much to lose and I dont want my family to have problems because of what i do.My wife knows of this and just says ride it out....should I? I am ok with who and what I am but again Im worried about family issues in the community now.....Is there any way to get around the 3rd party thing and find out who did this??
I know many will say just ride it out, but what would YOU do ??
Sorry for the rambling am just In shock for now.....
Lost a set of pics I was going to post on here too....oh well...
:nailbiting:

Christa

[kathrynjanos]

Sorry to say, no, you have no way of tracking that back. All that Google would have on file would be login attempts by IP Address, and that's easy to spoof, and Google claims not to keep this kind of info on file anyway.

Gmail really can't be "hacked," per se, it's more likely your friend either had a very weak password, put her password into a bogus site, or has other malware on her computer. All of the above are items that are user preventable. Start by contacting Google, seeing if they'll help her retake her account. Like I said, even if they have it, they won't give you the access information, and it probably wouldn't help you anyway.

Even if you got it back, it'd be pretty well assured that the files have been saved by the little idiot somewhere else, so there's nothing you could do.

As to what I'd do... Well, obviously, as I said, I'd never allow that to happen to me anyway. Even when I SUSPECT I have a virus, I change my passwords from another computer ASAP. But if, somehow else, my pictures were compromised, well, I'd probably panic. It's why I don't yet take any pictures of my face, and won't until my hair has grown out appropriately, and I've gotten better with makeup.

If you haven't already done it, just ignore this kid. He's some punkass script kiddie in his mother's basement. Don't even reply. If you give him anything to go on, more likely than not he'll just try some BS ransom attempt. Of course, if he does that, and gives you any kind of personally identifiable information, you COULD report the incident to the Internet Crime Complaint (http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx) site. But that requires you to put your information in, and you're unlikely to get your report investigated.

["Mary"]

S
If you haven't already done it, just ignore this kid. He's some punkass script kiddie in his mother's basement. Don't even reply. If you give him anything to go on, more likely than not he'll just try some BS ransom attempt. Of course, if he does that, and gives you any kind of personally identifiable information, you COULD report the incident to the Internet Crime Complaint (http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx) site. But that requires you to put your information in, and you're unlikely to get your report investigated.

I second that recommendation.

I feel for you, being in this situation and hope it turns out OK. I bet it will. Don't dignify it wit ha response. Don't let them know they even have your attention, never mind being worried.

[Christa001]

Kathryn,
I really appreciate your advice.Thank you so much !!

Thank you Diana

[Gabrielle Hermosa]

That's terrible!

I can only imagine how unsettling this must be for you, Christa. It probably won't amount to much though. The e-mail hacker can be literally anywhere on the planet. The likelihood they're in close proximity to you is very small. It's also unlikely that much will come of this. They've had their fun. If they send the pics out to anyone, what are the chances you'll actually know them or they'll know you? It's a big planet.

As was already said, don't reply to them. They'll get bored with you much sooner if you just give them the silent treatment. Soon they'll be looking at someone else's photos in another hacked account, and the cycle will repeat. You and your photos will be but a memory.

Sit tight and ride it out. Nothing much will likely come of it. And tell your friend to use better e-mail and/or computer security in the future. Most hackers get in because of easy to guess passwords, or an easy to figure out secret question for password reset.

[SherriePall]

Kind of like that movie "I saw what you did..." They really didn't see anything and were just bluffing. I would ride it out and if anything more should come of it (i.e. blackmail), I would report it.
P.S. I do appreciate the way you must feel, though.

[Carly D.]

There's a few ways to look at this.. one let whoever try to do what they will with the pictures and then tell everyone the pictures were obviously photo shopped by someone wanting to mess with you or your family.. another could be just to let the people know you were just having fun one day with your friend and just trying different things on a dare.. or three fess up and just ride it out.. when I was out dressed the times I was dressed and out I thought if I saw someone I knew I would just tell them I lost a bet..

[Veronica_Jean]

Hi,

I tend to agree with what Kathryn said about this being a "script kiddie". The "hacker" likely has no good skills and simply is using what someone else did.

Having said that, what is the likelihood that this person has any of the contact information for your family? Wasn't the email your friends email?

It seems that this person does not even realize that you are not the email address owner but someone else. At this point crime wise little has been done to you, and it would fall on the email ISP to deal with this.

I used to work for a web hosting company and it is not all that unusual to have something hacked. I suspect gmail already is dealing with it. We used to monitor such things and would keep a fairly close eye on our accounts. I bet gmail does the same with theirs.

You may want to tell your friend to contact gmail just to insure they are aware they have a problem. I bet the gmail logs will allow them to determine if it was a password access or a hack of some other kind. Email on the server is totally open to any server administrator unless the email is encrypted.

My opinion is your best option is sit back and see if this kid does anything more. Mostly these types are looking for hacking points with their peers nothing more. Of course if they can convince you to pay them "anything" then they go way up in the eyes of their peers.

Good luck,

Veronica

[TJ Tresa]

I second that recommendation.
I feel for you, being in this situation and hope it turns out OK. I bet it will. Don't dignify it wit ha response. Don't let them know they even have your attention, never mind being worried.[/QUOTE]

I have to agree, only thing to do now is let it ride and hope for the best. Good luck.

[Christa001]

Thank you to all that have replied with advice and comments.My freind did contact her server about this, not sure what they said.All of her e mail accounts (a couple i guess) were accessed.I dont know how she knows this.(can keylogger be used but hidden?) Evidently the pics were loaded for send with my e mail address attached,however not yet sent ( talk about bad timing)
We have no idea who did this so dont know if we know them and dont know if i can be recognized in the pics.I will take the advice given and encourage her to change all passwords,etc. Can a password entry be tracked thru ISP? I know little about computer tech stuff but am learning fast...
I will ride this out and Ill be ok.I will remember the photoshop excuse !
AGAIN, thank you ALL for the great advice!
:hugs:
Christa

[Midnight Skye]

While a password entry "could" be tracked though an ISP its unlikely to occur. Decrypting internet traffic from a line is VERY difficult, but not impossible. Most likely she had a week password or local keylogger. She needs to get her computer cleaned up (anti-virus, windows updates, etc) and get a more complex password on her accounts things with special characters and numbers. Ex: d#cki3 usualy I use words/names with vowels replaced with logical numbers/special characters to help remember the passwords.

As for you, don't worry one bit. Limit online activity with your realname on webboards. And don't post any pictures (male or enfem) on the web for a few months. After some time passes it will go under the rug and be forgotten. Don't worry sis, you'll be fine.

[Sheila]

Sorry for your scarey situation .................... should the idiot chops decide to out youm perhaps a story along the lines of you and your wife were/are planning a "WALK IN MY SHOES PARTY" to anybody that ask, just explain that your wife insisted that if the party was gonna happen then you were damn well gonna be good at being a woman .......... & there you have an idea for a party :D ....... get tog with a load of friends and get lots of pics including some with the outfit you wore ........ that way you are one of many at a party :D

:hugs: hun a kudos to your wife

[Hope]

Seriously - the "hacker" has no more idea who you are than you do him - well except he has seen your photos. But he has no idea who those photos belong to - he has no way - other than through your friends email address to connect those photos to you.

Sleep easy.

Either simply ignore the kid, or get him to blackmail so you can turn his ass into the police. Of course - he probably lives in Russia.

In either case - this is a good lesson for you to learn about the security of cloud storage. Get a thumb drive so that next time you can keep physical control over your data.

[Lisa Golightly]

Damned geeks and their pranks... Pay it no heed. They need to get out in the sunlight more.

[Alana Lucerne]

I'd say just ride it out. It probably won't even be a rough ride. But what else can you do anyway? You can't stop the hacker, even if you knew who they were. If the hacker does identify you and asks for something, paying won't work because there is no guarantee that the photo's won't be distributed anyway.

Since your wife already knows, I'd suggest you just chalk it up to experience and be a bit more security concious.

Alana

[lingerieLiz]

Deenial is probably the best you can do. If someone mentions them they were photo shoped and ask where they saw it so you can check it out. Then ask why they were on that site. Offense often works.

A few things you may want to consider. If the hacker has seen your pictures it would also mean that he could read other messages in your friend's account. Most people give away a lot of information in emails. He could have names, addresses and other various information. Your friend should change her password and question's answer. The password should be 8 character or longer, numbers and symbols. The same for the answer. That is how Sara Palin's email was hacked. He answered her question. Can't remember passwords get passwordwiz and you can keep it on a thumb drive.

As for finding who did it. If they used an anonymous forwarding site good luck. Forensic hacking can find a lot of things, but it is expensive and time consuming.

[Persephone]

Lost a set of pics I was going to post on here too....oh well...

I agree with the others here Christa.

But you said your pictures were gone, and that part I'm not sure I understand. Depending upon how she uploaded them, they are still possibly on her camera or someplace on her computer. Doesn't seem likely to me that they left the camera and went out in her e-mail and were gone.

Even if they are not stored anywhere else, there should be a set in her "sent mail" file.

Somehow you should be able to at least recover the photographs.

[DarlaCD]

Crista,

There is nothing more important than your reputation, online or otherwise. If your friends computer has become compromised, then you must do everything in your power to protect yourself. Everyone in her contact list will now be receiving alot more SPAM.

I would create a new email account for your friend to send your pictures to. Keep the email account as anonymous as possible.

Note: This is the cost of doing business on the internet these days.

- Darla