Has anybody else been "Hacked" lately?

I have 3 computers in a network at home, with DSL access. Two of them were taken over on the 21st and infected with the "Lovgate" virus which--even after cleanup--has left them virtually inoperable.

I have no idea how it happened or who did it. It most certainly did not come from emails, since one of them is never used for email. In fact is hadn't been used for several days. So it had to be a hacker's attack over the web, even though I have a firewall.

Just wondering if anybody else has experienced anything like this lately.

:tinfoilhat:

you are pretty safe from hackers. Routers act as a NAT firewall. Essentially if a hacker penetrates your routers security it drops them into limbo. They cannot procede past the router itself. You had to have opened an attachment or someone else did while sitting at your computer.

....ubless I know exactly where and who they are from, and I haven't been infected yet KNOCKING LOUDLY ON WOOD HERE. PLUS, I have a pretty good firewall that allows me to prevent anything and everything I don't know from getting through - best of all it is free. It is called "Kerio firewall". Bet you can find it easy enough with a google search.

Outlook can autoexecute attachments. If you are going to use outlook only use preview for email with attachments until you know what is in it.

There are ways of penetrating a NAT gateway, but that seems unlikely in this case. I would highly recomend making the switch to more secure software.

Go for mozilla for an IE and Outlook alternative that allows you to block pop-ups and is just more secure. (plus its open source, support free (as in speech) software!)

I would also recomend picking up some good, free anti-virus software if you don't have any here. If you have something, then update it.

If you are getting tired of windows in general, then I would recomend checking out the alternative. Probably the best place to start with that would be with knoppix. Just download an .iso image and burn it onto CD and then boot up with it in your computer to see what linux is really like.


Of course you could always go with Macs if you have money. :)

I'm going to try out Mozzila