If a computer has been hacked into, can the hacker leave behind their history and cookies?

Question

I found undesirable (pornographic) things on my computer. My husband swears he didn’t do it and this was a product of someone hacking into the computer and leaving a sort of “trail” behind. I’ve never heard of this being possible, is it?

Answer 1

Is it possible? Yes, I suppose. Did it happen? No, that would be ridiculous.

The closest thing to that which could actually happen would be getting a piece of malware that opens pornographic material without your permission. But it would be trying to sell it to you, so it would make sure you saw it in much more than just the browser history.

Answer 2

Can it happen? Sure. Did it happen? Could be, actually. I've uncovered several machines that had been hijacked, usually by a trojan, and were being used as a porno repository for redistribution.

Most often this involves child pornography since the distribution of adult porn is generally legal. Child pornographers want to isolate themselves from the material as much as possible to avoid the chance of being arrested.

In the 2 cases that I worked on the machines it was obvious from the software that was installed on the machine as well as the directory architecture of the material and the relative lack of computer knowledge on the part of the owner that the owner was both not involved in the distribution of the material and was unaware of its existance on their machine.

The system did leave enough forensic evidence behind that law enforcement was able to track down many of the customers as well a most of the key players in the kiddie porn ring, resulting in a major bust involving authorities in the US and a number of foreign countries.

All of that said, if it's adult porn on the machine and it's not popping up messages trying to sell you the crap -- a sign of a spyware or adware infection -- then most likely it was NOT left behind by "hackers." Wankers, maybe, but not hackers.

FYI, the forensic tracks that are left behind by "hackers" are not found in the IE history, nor are they stored as cookies.

Answer 3

You can get that type of activity with some spyware and adware, but probably not from a "hacker". If your system was hacked, then they would do more than just surf for porn. They can do that from their own systems.

It sounds like you need to probably run some spyware programs and see what it finds. It could also be your husband surfing porn sites. :)

Answer 4

Yes of course it can happen only IFFFFFFF the hacker forgot to delete them in internet options. But this is very unlikely to happen becaus eno hacker is stupid enough to let u know what he or she does unless it is s plan to scam you!