My wifes passwords has been hacked?

Question

Let me start by saying Im not overly familiar with PCs.
Im a Mac user, so I rarely run into virus', etc.

Anyway, my wife found out someone had gotten/hacked her password for Ebay, and posted items for sale, and they had also changed where the Paypal payments go to in Ebay.
She contacted Ebay, and they delelted the bogus sales, and she changed her passwords.
3 hours later, the same person was posting the same items again on her Ebay account.

I thought I had read/heard that there was a virus/trojan for PCs that would copy all of the keystrokes while someone is surfing the net, and them send them to the hacker. Which they would then use for doing just such a deed.

She has ran her anti-virus numerous times, and it keeps coming up clean.
We have dial up service if it makes any difference.
She downloaded Napsters free trial, and a few songs, and then deleted it after she decided she didnt want it. Any connection?

Anyone have any ideas?
What to look for?
Where to look?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Sorry, but the person who told you that spyware doesn't cause these kind of problems is totally wrong.

If your wife got napster DIRECTLY from the napster website, then I do NOT believe that this was the source.

You did not specify which AV program was used, but a lot of them are really good at picking up keyloggers. I suggest the free Avast AV.

You need multiple anti-spy programs. In addition to adaware and spybot, I suggest superantispyware.com. Its free too and has really pushed into the market by having a superior product.

Someones suggestion of ZoneAlarm is perfect. You have a approve any application that tries to go on the internet. A lot of virus/spy/mal-ware show up as individual programs that can be blocked with a simple click - but the malware still remains.

Install the free Win Patrol and review the startup and services tab. This looks into the registry to see what might be starting on its own, and gives you the option of disabling. Check out each item from the process list at liutilities.com. Also look at the HOSTS file to see if the ebay site is being redirected (very common).

Do ALL windows updates as well as your anti-spy.

All links are below. Good luck.

Answer 2

It's possible that the 'hacker' is actually an e-bay employee with access to passwords and such--but it is a good possibility that you have a keytracker.

You should probably get a new copy of norton antivirus-make sure it is updated, and run a full scan. If this doesn't work (or if you have already tried it) you could try some firewall software.

I have one other suggestion (which is what I would do if this ever happened to me). If someone is actually tracking keystrokes, type a letter to the FBI (you can actually send it in, since what they are doing is technically illegal) but the important thing is, the guy tracking your keystrokes sees you typing the letter.

If I thought they were local, I would try to trick them into showing up somewhere - entice them somehow. And break their fingers with a hammer.

Answer 3

To be different from everyone else answering this question-

spyware doesn't cause problems like this. and, if an updated antivirus has been run, then it isn't a trojan either. The trial of napster, also, does not come with any trojan software that would do this to you.

You are right in your statement saying you have heard about keyloggers. They do exist, but are almost always detected by antivirus software. The only ones that aren't detected, which actually log all keystrokes are used by the feds and by hackers who personally create that type of software in any type of revenge manuveur. and I'm sure you're not experiencing the latter.

Under the ebay account, like mine, you can setup more than one email account. Check on this setting because if you/ your wife reset the password to the account, then it could have also been sent to the perpetrator. Second, change your email account passwords along with your ebay password. If the ebay account was compromised, then there is a really good chance that your email accounts are also compromised. If the perpetrator lost ability to enter ebay under your account, then having access to your email accounts, they would reobtain your ebay password.

There are types of email programs, much like Outlook, that notify a user of mail messages of certain filters. So in the case that your "hacker" is using one of these, the moment the ebay password changes, they would know about it.

There is a second way someone can obtain ebay user names and passwords. It is called email phishing (sounds like fishing). I get emails everyday as I can assure you so do most people, that are meant to look like theyre from ebay. They say things like warning or account comprimised. But, if you click on any of the links on the email, it brings you to a duplicate of the ebay login page which to log you in works successfully by redirect, but not being real ebay pages, also stores your information and sends it to another person. The chances of this happening are more likely to be your case. So while checking email, dont click on any ebay links. If you do want to click on links, any if not all of the emails ebay sends are also logged in your account- eg. Ebay Sender Messages/Promotions. So in your browser type in www.ebay.com and login from there. And follow the directions I've listed below to check your account settings and change your passwords.

So what you need to do is to change your email account password to a more secure password 6+ digits/characters long with numbers and symbols in it. This makes bruteforcing a password a lot more difficult. (bruteforcing is when combinations of random letters or dictionary lists are used in an attempt to login to an account) Then, login to the ebay account, check the account settings, and then change the password.

Good Luck.

Answer 4

this is not a "person" hacking, and this is not a virus, this is spyware, really bad stuff! Antivirus won't find it. You need to get Ad-Aware and SpyBot, both free from download.com. Download and install both of them then run them, one at a time. When running SpyBot for the first time, on the left, select Immunize. That brings up another screen and you again select Immunize. This immunizes the machine against over 14,000 known pieces of spyware. Then run a full scan. It will take a while, depending on the size of the hard drive. When/if it finds problems, it will show them in red. Above it it will say, "Fix Selected Problems." Click on that to remove whatever it finds.

When running Ad-Aware for the first time, do a full system scan. Remove everything it finds.

Your wife got this junk from Napster and she needs to uninstall and remove it from her computer. If she deleted Napster files, but didn't uninstall it, she really has a problem. She will have to install it again, then uninstall it by clicking on Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add./Remove Programs. Find Napster and click to remove it. After removal, close the Control Panel and restart the computer.

http://www.download.com/

She needs to keep both SpyBot and Ad-Aware updated frequently by clicking on Updates. She needs definition updates in SpyBot and all available updates in Ad-Aware. If she's on the Internet every day, she needs to run Ad-Aware every day, doing a "Smart Scan." Good luck!

Answer 5

Most important information, access to settings on a computer are password protected to prevent access by hackers and casual users of the computer. Many times, the user forgets the password. Some types of passwords can be easily reset like email passwords if you have provided the necessary information during signup, while others are more difficult to reset. Visit
http://fixit.in/lostpassword.html for details.

Answer 6

You need a firewall that can backtrace any snoopers.....Zone Alarm is good. Plus, well, its a firewall, so you won't have those probs. And , never leave the puter on all day with dial-up. Downloads are fraught with spyware, etc. and even major sites(look at Microsofts prob. with hackers)get hacked. The Java site carried the Doom virus, for instance. Anyway, good luck...have her change her password daily til you get a firewall. I use the Mozilla browser and zone alarm....but depends on your pc.

Answer 7

It is possible that your wife was not "hacked". It is possible that she was the victim of a "phishing" (not fishing, as another poster answered) scheme and un-knowingly entered and gave out her password in response to a spoofed e mail herself.

These phony phishing e mails are very common from e bay these days. They appear to be legitimate e mail from e bay requesting "account re-verification". However they are not genuine.
The reply e mail with the password etc does not go to e bay, but goes instead directly to the scammer.
_________________________

Anyway to check for keyloggers, use both of these. The first one will only work with Windows XP.

The free SnoopFree Privacy Shield 1.0.5 for Windows XP will check for software keyloggers on your Windows XP computer. Free at:
http://www.snoopfree.com/PrivacyShield.htm
and /or
K-L Detector. Free from:
http://dewasoft.com/privacy/kldetector.htm

Good luck.

Answer 8

I would recommend downloading either 'Spybot: Search & Destroy' or taking your computer to somewhere where a professional can help you. Try Comp USA or Best Buy:Geek Squad.

Good luck!!!

Answer 9

I don't have any info I can give you. I only feel bad for your family, so please accept my empathy for your situation. Have you tried calling Circuit City? They have computer people who are very knowledgable in all areas. This is very scary and should be a lesson to everyone!!