If You Think Your Computer Is Secure

[Ed in Tampa]

My question, how did he get the passwords? He either monitored what you typed in, you store them on your computer or he captured them on the site that you used the passwords on.

Nothing I know of will protect you if someone has a Trojan virus that reads and transmits your keystrokes. You have to protect against the Trojan itself. All virus programs should do that.
If it is physical line tap there is little you can do to detect or protect against it.

If you store your password on the computer you are defeating the purpose of passwords. If he is getting them from the sites you are signing into then there is nothing you can do.

Something isn't being told here.

Like is he buying time from NSA?

[dusty]

My question, how did he get the passwords? He either monitored what you typed in, you store them on your computer or he captured them on the site that you used the passwords on.

Nothing I know of will protect you if someone has a Trojan virus that reads and transmits your keystrokes. You have to protect against the Trojan itself. All virus programs should do that.
If it is physical line tap there is little you can do to detect or protect against it.

If you store your password on the computer you are defeating the purpose of passwords. If he is getting them from the sites you are signing into then there is nothing you can do.

Something isn't being told here.

Like is he buying time from NSA?

I agree that the pieces (of information) do not all fit nicely together but I have written that off to not being real computer savvy. There was a time but no more. Things are changing faster than I can keep up.

As for how the pass words are being captured - if my current traffic was the source there are several pass words that they would not have. These are passwords to sites that I have not visited in ages. I do not have a password file on my computer. The ones that I might forget (and need) are written down here in my office.

Trojans - I don't know.

[reible]

I have to agree with Ed here, lots of unknowns.

On my system I present two firewalls by way of hardware routers and then a software firewall on each computer. Could someone get in? I'm sure they could if they targeted me but it isn't going to be as easy as other peoples systems so perhaps they move on rather then concentrate efforts on mine. Same premise as a home, depends on how hard they want to work on getting in. If they are determined then it is not likely you can keep them out.

Some years back there were a group of thieves in the area who had a van with a bogus company on the side that looked like they did home remodeling. They case a place and when they found one where no one would be home they parked in the driveway went around to the backyard and used a sawsall to make what would appear to be a new door way. Once inside they opened the garage and proceeded to pack the van. Closed the door and drove way. Owner comes home to find a gaping hole it the side of the house and a van load of missing things.

I have a separate computer for banking things that does not have access to the outside world. It is an old junky thing and I hope not worth stealing if someone breaks into the house. If they had the computer then perhaps they might figure out that passwords to access my banking records but there are no account information other then my transactions that I record. They would find out what money I have and how I spend it but that is about it.

Passwords for some sites like this one I store in firefox but unless you are logged in as me sitting here at the keyboard the passwords are protected. If someone were to find the master password they could get into the website here and post using my name...... Same for other accounts to places like this.

Other passwords are on paper so again if someone were to get inside my house and find the folder they can get into my slightly more secure information. Other passwords reside in only one place, could they beat them out of me, sure but even then they aren't going to get rich off me, just too poor to count.

It would just be too funny to have someone defeat all system protection then find they just got access to my TV or Roku.....

Ed

My question, how did he get the passwords? He either monitored what you typed in, you store them on your computer or he captured them on the site that you used the passwords on.

Nothing I know of will protect you if someone has a Trojan virus that reads and transmits your keystrokes. You have to protect against the Trojan itself. All virus programs should do that.
If it is physical line tap there is little you can do to detect or protect against it.

If you store your password on the computer you are defeating the purpose of passwords. If he is getting them from the sites you are signing into then there is nothing you can do.

Something isn't being told here.

Like is he buying time from NSA?

[tomsalwasser]

I just received an eye opening email from a trusted source (not to be named) that revealed to me just how vulnerable my computer is. In this email I was provided a list of all my usernames along with all the websites I visit and the associated passwords for those sites.

Understandably Dusty has his reasons for not revealing the trusted source but that would be the key to blowing this case wide open.

Leo Laporte, a computer geek with a great series of podcasts talked once about being on a cruise ship. A hacker who knew who he was and knew he would be on the ship was quietly capturing his wifi traffic. He then walked up to Leo on the pool deck and proceeded to tell him what his user names and passwords were, among other things. Wifi encryption has come a long way since then but as they say, rust never sleeps.

[rpd]

If you want to see what passwords are save in your Firefox browser-

In Firefox running under Ubuntu Linux go - Edit - Preferences - Security - Saved Logins - Show Passwords

In Firefox running under Windows go - Tools - Options - Security - Saved Logins - Show Passwords

[jsburger]

OK, I am mostly computer illiterate on this security stuff. I would like to ask a few questions from those that know.

I have a wireless network with 3 computers and a WD 3TB drive on the network along with 3 cameras. I run ESET NOD32 Antivirus V8 paid, Malware Bytes Anti-Malware Home Premium paid and Malware Bytes Anti-Exploit free on all computers.

ESET NOD32 and Malwarebytes are set to scan regularly/daily plus real time protection.

I use Passwords Plus paid to store all my sensitive information on the cloud. The backup is on the WD external drive and encrypted. I use Roboform paid to fill log in pages so there are no key strokes. Roboform logins are also encrypted and stored on the cloud so all computers can be synced just like Passwords Plus.

I very very occasionally get a junk email that ESET NOD says has a virus in the attachment. Other than that I have never have a problem with anything and I do all my banking online and have for years and years.

FWIW I have only had one email address (excep for the Google one you need today that I don't use) and it has been with the same ISP since 1992 back in the dial up days, Xmission.com in Slat Lake City.

So the question is, Is this reasonable protection for us home users?

[garys]

I don't believe any computer is secure if it is connected to the internet. If a knowledgable person wants what you have in it, they can get the information.

However, there are some things you can do to help yourself.
Rule #1 is to not follow the herd. Don't have your computer and your network set up the "normal" or "standard" way. Learn enough about networking and computers so you do things differently. That means you never use a Windows wizard or the Apple equivalent to set up anything. Learn the manual way to do things and make changes wherever possible to your computer, your operating system, and your network.
And, don't sign up for those free apps and services that your hardware providers offer for their hardware. That opens you up to being hacked through their system because you are following the herd and doing things just like the rest of the herd.
A hacker will look first for you doing things the standard way, so mix it up a little.