posted on February 12, 2004 05:53:51 PM new
My wife's eBay acct got hijacked today. The perp got into her account, changed e-mail, password, and then proceeded to list two auctions for snowmobiles. eBay resolved the problem quickly with their online chat.
1. Does hijacking occur very often?
2. I have a firewall on my computer (cable modem), run frequent spyware checks, and have never found anything. Should I consider my computer hacked, or just the eBay acct?
3. Does a router/firewall give added protection over software firewalls?
I would have posted this on the eBay forum but I used to post here years ago and always found you folks of a higher standard! 8-)
posted on February 12, 2004 05:57:36 PM new
More than likely what happened is that you wife fell for a spoof email and sent her information to the hijacker.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on February 12, 2004 06:05:29 PM new
I agree with the other posters. Most accounts are never hijacked but are taken by spam emails that claim to come from ebay.
Always check the headers and read them carefully. There are so many that claim to come from paypal, ebay etc. They always ask for your password and user name.
posted on February 12, 2004 06:08:32 PM new
Hi Iswanson. You might want to go to Trend Micro and run Housecall to check for Trojans on your system.
You can get malware on your system if you use IE and/or have Active X or scripting enabled, even with firewalls and routers. Usually, the password is harvested through response to scam emails, but I would check to make sure.
HTH
You have the right to an informed opinion -Harlan Ellison
posted on February 13, 2004 05:20:06 AM new
The firewall that comes with your router is practically useless. I have that and software (EZ Armor by Computer Associates) which is constantly catching things. I got it free for one year, but I don't know if they do that anymore. If I can locate the link I used, I'll post it later. I also use the virus scan that comes with it and so far, so good. I used to use Norton, but it kept screwing things up on my computer.
posted on February 13, 2004 07:04:40 AM new
Thanks for the input thus far. One thing that many suggested but DID NOT happen was my wife giving out her password and/or acct info to anyone. She's a hardened internet veteran. In addition, she's a very skeptical, and very guarded NY girl from Long Island--the Pope himself could offer her $1 million and she'd be looking for the catch and would ask for a legal writ to back it up.
I'm afraid I didn't make my firewall question too clear. I'm currently using ZoneAlarm Pro. I realize that the cable service router/firewall is worthless. I was just wondering if an additional network router/firewall (or other blackbox) at my home would offer significantly more protection (although a computer veteran, I'm clueless about networking, routers, and such).
