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No, I don't leave it on, I put it to sleep. And the 2 sets of emails were sent when the computer was off and I was either in bed asleep or out. But I don't shut down. Can a hijacker get into a sleeping computer? Is hibernating better? Or do I need to shut down?
No, I don't leave it on, I put it to sleep. And the 2 sets of emails were sent when the computer was off and I was either in bed asleep or out. But I don't shut down. Can a hijacker get into a sleeping computer? Is hibernating better? Or do I need to shut down?
Okay, they were AOL and Gmail, web based emails. You computer is clean according to AV and Malwarebytes.
This almost certainly means someone has figured out your email passwords.
A hijacker cannot get into a computer that is turned off unless you have Wake on Lan turned on. Most people don't, and you have to specifically turn it on. I really do not think at this point there is any problem with your computer itself. It is simply your email accounts that have been compromised.
No, I don't leave it on, I put it to sleep. And the 2 sets of emails were sent when the computer was off and I was either in bed asleep or out. But I don't shut down. Can a hijacker get into a sleeping computer? Is hibernating better? Or do I need to shut down?
YES!!! Shut it down!! A computer that is "asleep" is still on and can be awakened remotely then hacked! (your power supply will also last longer too)
As long as you are behind a firewall you can leave your PC on, asleep, hibernete, whatever. I leave mine on for weeks at a time, protected by my router's firewall.
If you are on broadband, most likely there is a firewall already in place and turned on in your provider's equipment. If you aren't sure, we can investigate, or you can just call them and ask.
As long as you are behind a firewall you can leave your PC on, asleep, hibernete, whatever. I leave mine on for weeks at a time, protected by my router's firewall.
If you are on broadband, most likely there is a firewall already in place and turned on in your provider's equipment. If you aren't sure, we can investigate, or you can just call them and ask.
Whoa! Bad advice and uninformed practice. There is no way that your computer can be hacked if there is no power to it. If you run PC's then you are very exposed to remote hacking.....firewall (no fire wall is 100% sure) or not.
Besides why be so lazy that you can't reach over and turn off the power switch.
Whoa! Bad advice and uninformed practice. There is no way that your computer can be hacked if there is no power to it. If you run PC's then you are very exposed to remote hacking.....firewall (no fire wall is 100% sure) or not.
Besides why be so lazy that you can't reach over and turn off the power switch.
There seems to be a lot of bad advise being handed.
The attack the OP suffered very likely came in through an email. And whether the computer was on and unattended, or on with a person sitting in front of it is rather a moot point.
If a computer is on and behind a NAT firewall, it will not be hacked by an outsider (assuming a few very basic steps have been taken to secure the router) as all inbound unsolicited traffic is dropped. That is not just maybe, or sometimes, but always.
The only real protection that might have served the OP is a software firewall that also monitors email activity, and prevents emails being sent with more than 'x' number of recipients or no more than a 'x' emails in a minute. (both are configurable) and in both cases the firewall will prompt you if this behavior is OK, which it might be.
If it happened at the mail server, the only sure way to not have your email address used as such is to not have an email address.
Whoa! Bad advice and uninformed practice. There is no way that your computer can be hacked if there is no power to it.
I agree. And for even more security against hacking, don't have a computer at all.
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If you run PC's then you are very exposed to remote hacking.....firewall (no fire wall is 100% sure) or not.
The only thing that *is* 100% sure is that we are all going to die. Everything else is risk assessment.
So, knowing that, some of us feel that the protection afforded by a secured router firewall is worth the risk of a hacker wanting to spend the time and effort to penetrate that firewall.
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Besides why be so lazy that you can't reach over and turn off the power switch.
Because there are things I want my computer to do when I'm not sitting in front of it. They do more than just play games and check email, you know.
Someone got your old email address and used it to make their spam appear legitimate.
This is what I'd place bets on.
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Originally Posted by scarmig
They may also have gotten hold of your address book from your email.
I'd estimate there's a 99% chance that his email address was sold or harvested via the OP using it online and is being circulated in mailing lists that are sold to spammers, rather than his email address being harvested by intrusive methods.
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There is no way that your computer can be hacked if there is no power to it. If you run PC's then you are very exposed to remote hacking.....firewall (no fire wall is 100% sure) or not. 
