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My daughter has been having major issues with her AIM. I’ve tried to contact AOL but they don’t want to help at all and I don’t know where else to turn. The first incident started one morning she turned on her laptop and her buddy list was gone (190+ names) Then a friend returned a message that was sent out under my daughters screen name that was rather nasty about my daughter. She has 2 screen names that are linked. I was able to change the password on one, but it took me over a week to be able to change it on the other. On one screen name she could add buddies, on the other she couldn’t. Just last night, while she was on, she received a message that she was signed on in 2 locations (she wasn’t) and then her buddy list disappeared after just recontructing it. This happened after the passwords were changed. I used very unique passwords that I don’t think anyone could guess as they were just a series of letters with no meaning to anyone else. Is this a case of someone hacking into her account or an issue with AIM? Does anyone know?
change the passwords the email addresses that the screen names are registered to right away. make sure you do this from a computer that you can trust to be free of malicious software/hardware.
obviously someone has access to one of the computers she might be using. one of the computers that she uses might be infected with some sort of malicious software. the best way to get rid of those softwares is to reformat and reinstall Windows. you cannot trust a system that has been infected. any virus scan results from an infected system cannot be trusted.
someone could have also set up a hardware keylogger on one of the systems that she uses for AIM. this could be the case ONLY if someone has had physical access to the computers she uses.
if you are reading this from the infected computer i suggest you disconnect from the internet ASAP. backup your files, reformat your drive and reinstall Windows.
Most of what was said by RUSD was correct, except about the keylogger. It is absolutely NOT AT ALL necessary to get physical access to a machine to install a keylogger on it. It -can- hypothetically be done remotely without any user interaction, however, it’s much more likely that they would include it in a trojan horse (a file that looks innocent, but when run by an unsuspecting user, it will silently and probably undetectably install itself) Once the keylogger works itself into the system, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll be able to find it unless you use an antivirus program, even then it’s still not by any stretch guaranteed to detect it. If it is installed, as long as you’re connected to the internet, whoever installed it can potentially have complete access to everything your computer has access to.
In a nutshell, if you believe a keylogger is installed on your system, you should -reformat- your hard drive and only back up what you ABSOLUTELY need, if anything. Media files are generally ok, but if you want to be 100% safe, don’t use a computer 😉
But yeah, make sure to change your password from a safe computer and never enter your password on a suspected computer (that means you can’t use aim from that computer).
Putting all that aside, it’s not impossible that some glitch with the program she is using or with the aim server is deleting her buddy list. As for the message, make sure she unchecks “remember my password” or whatever whenever she uses aim on a computer available to others than herself, otherwise the next person to use the computer can sign onto her account. Lastly, I get the message about being logged on from 2 locations at once sometimes when my connection is flaky, most likely because the server hasn’t realized that the first session closed before my computer opens a new one.
Seems like a lot of coincidences though, I would suggest a reformat and teaching her about the dangers of using the internet, and particularly about those associated with downloading and accepting files.
There are ways to detect a remote controlled keylogger, like using a network packet sniffer, but that would almost certainly involve hiring someone, or having a very very very generous friend, lol. Good luck.
Thanks for your help. I know all these kids are IMing, MySpace-ing, etc. and I’m not really thrilled about it as a parent — especially when we have issues like this. I’m constantly looking over her shoulder, but I guess there are some things that are hard to control. THANKS!
@rpgjohn 222864 wrote:
Most of what was said by RUSD was correct, except about the keylogger.
I specifically said hardware keylogger. these cannot be installed remotely… unless a teleportation device exists that i do not know about. it is impossible to detect these with the use of software. you have to physically look at your keyboard setup.
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