Computer privacy

[loveumore]

Okay, here's the story.

I moved in with my boyfriend who has a very smart 20 year old son. They have computers all over the house that run off of one Comcast cable modem/router. While this is fine with me, and I had it at my old home, the son has it set up that if I want to use a secure network, it has to be his, and I had to ask him for the password to access it.

I told him that I'm pretty sure that means he can get into my computer system. He said "Nah" with a grin at first, then finally admitted it. So, I made some computer changes, such as keeping it password protected, and turned off all file sharing (music, audio, pictures), and I set Firefox to clear my history and cookies every time I quit the program.

I was really enjoying Roboform, which is a program that stores all my personal information such as name, address, phone, email, passwords and SS# and credit card info, so I can quickly log into sites, work online, pay bills, ect. I could log into a site and get what I wanted to get done in to time. Now, I deleted the program and this really slows down my work time.

Did all this needed to be done on my part, or is he pulling my leg, by saying he can access my info? If this is the case, does anyone have any other suggestions for me so I can feel safe with what I'm doing on the web? This is an awful feeling, and if I have to live this way, I might as well call Verizon and get a separate phone line, as well as DSL. And now I'm so paranoid, that I even think he can read this. It's driving me insane!

Any help would be appreciated. TIA.

 

[phelon]

Okay, here's the story.

I moved in with my boyfriend who has a very smart 20 year old son. They have computers all over the house that run off of one Comcast cable modem/router. While this is fine with me, and I had it at my old home, the son has it set up that if I want to use a secure network, it has to be his, and I had to ask him for the password to access it.

I told him that I'm pretty sure that means he can get into my computer system. He said "Nah" with a grin at first, then finally admitted it. So, I made some computer changes, such as keeping it password protected, and turned off all file sharing (music, audio, pictures), and I set Firefox to clear my history and cookies every time I quit the program.

I was really enjoying Roboform, which is a program that stores all my personal information such as name, address, phone, email, passwords and SS# and credit card info, so I can quickly log into sites, work online, pay bills, ect. I could log into a site and get what I wanted to get done in to time. Now, I deleted the program and this really slows down my work time.

Did all this needed to be done on my part, or is he pulling my leg, by saying he can access my info? If this is the case, does anyone have any other suggestions for me so I can feel safe with what I'm doing on the web? This is an awful feeling, and if I have to live this way, I might as well call Verizon and get a separate phone line, as well as DSL. And now I'm so paranoid, that I even think he can read this. It's driving me insane!

Any help would be appreciated. TIA.

the real answer is.. it depends on how much work he is going to put into the idea of looking at your stuff...
no computer is secure period.. kinda like you can die anywhere.. but the chances of it happening at certain times or ways is more likely...

if to get access to the network its just using basic network encryption ... that won;t let him into your computer, just let him see that your computer exists on the network.. you would have to either let sharing be on, or he would have to deliberately use tools to break open your computer or to 'sniff' the network packets to try to get information.

generally if you run your own software firewall, sweep for viruses, and make sure he doesn;t physically access your computer to put anything on it, your about 85% safe from the average hack tool.. as for other things.. use a strong password, and a non-standard username, if your on vista, make sure UAC is on (annoying as it is), if on XP make sure your day to day account is not the admin account, and make sure administrator or your name is not the administrator account name... those take care of another 10%.. leaving the 5% for him using network tools to watch the traffic and then try to piece back together what your sending and receiving.. possible, but unless he is trying to steal from you or has something against you.. too much damn work for a laugh about the porn you read or such..

if your that paranoid, it sounds like you need to get his dad involved and make sure he knows its not a laughing matter...
oh, and don't forget that since your on the network you can get tools to sniff on him... softarchive .net has some bits and pieces you might find helpful

 

[infinity706]

Well, the only 100% certain way to make sure he doesn't get into your computer would be to kill him.

As for how likely it would be, it depends on how much he knows, and what he has access to. Afterall, it's possible to hack someone's computer from 3000 miles away. Some of the government's top hackers are even used to try to break into banks' systems to test the security. It's not impossible if you're good enough and spend enough time on it. The fact that he can physically touch your computer helps, too. Unless you go through a lot of trouble, though, it's not that likely to happen if you have good protection. The bad news, though, is if he were that interested in stealing your personal information, chances are, he probably did it before you even made your changes. Also, if he really, really knows what he's doing and has special equipment, he could have already taken your computer apart and gotten access to everything that's ever been on your computer.

As for controlling the network meaning that he can access your computer, it's not that simple. It is possible, though, if you wanted to go to a lot of trouble, though.

Most likely, he's just being a smartass and wanted to play a joke on you, though. If he were really out to steal something from you, I doubt he would have done anything like he did to tip you off. He would have just taken what he wanted and been done with it.

 

[Weird Harold]

He can't get information from your computer except when you're connected to his secure network. Simply log into the secure network portion when you need it and log out as soon as you're done. When You're not actually using your computer, shut it down or at least go offline.

That, in addition to shutting off all sharing from your computer, should severely reduce his opportunity to snoop and at least hamper his ability to snoop.

 

[loveumore]

He can't get information from your computer except when you're connected to his secure network. Simply log into the secure network portion when you need it and log out as soon as you're done. When You're not actually using your computer, shut it down or at least go offline.

That, in addition to shutting off all sharing from your computer, should severely reduce his opportunity to snoop and at least hamper his ability to snoop.

Aha! I knew you'd come around, WH. Thank you! You're everyone's helper around here when it comes to computers and so much more.

What this tells me is that I need to get my own phone line and get DSL. I like staying connected at all times, and I'm not about to change that.

Mucho thanks again!

 

[Vivi1975]

'sniff' the network packets

Tee hee heeeee. Just had to laugh at that one. Sorry.


hahahaha

 

[human_male]

I know how you feel. My mother recently gave away an old family computer, and now I'm "Shit, there wasn't anything of mine on there... was there?" I'm a bit sick about it actually. It's certainly a horrible feeling to think someone might be nosying into something private.

 

[Weird Harold]

Aha! I knew you'd come around, WH. Thank you! You're everyone's helper around here when it comes to computers and so much more.

What this tells me is that I need to get my own phone line and get DSL. I like staying connected at all times, and I'm not about to change that.

Mucho thanks again!

Before you get your own phoneline and DSL connection, you might look into a wireless broadband like Cricket or othe cell service provider offers.

Around here, Cricket's advertised monthly rate and transfer rates are comparable to the cost and performance of DSL -- without the hassles of wiring an extra phone jack next to your computer (and you can move the USB broadband modem from your desktop to a laptop or a borrowed computer if necessary, 'cause it is smaller than your cell phone.)

 

[Ezzy]

The other side of the coin.

Who has control of the web interface?

If it runs through a computer on the network and then a wireless router, (or the router then has been set up through the web interface on one of the local computers), there is a good chance he can go and read the logs and see where (the URL's) and to what pages, (also URL's but often in directories and sub-directories), you visited.

As for anything much beyond this, he'd need access to your computer for a period of time, and while it wasn't as protected as you thought it was.

 

[kindashy]

Learned an interesting thing today, FireFox 3 does not delete your browsing history. I tried to get it deleted with CCleaner, did not work either (with FF 3). So back to FF 2 I went.

 

[Zoots_owner]

The other side of the coin.

Who has control of the web interface?

If it runs through a computer on the network and then a wireless router, (or the router then has been set up through the web interface on one of the local computers), there is a good chance he can go and read the logs and see where (the URL's) and to what pages, (also URL's but often in directories and sub-directories), you visited.

As for anything much beyond this, he'd need access to your computer for a period of time, and while it wasn't as protected as you thought it was.

Yeah. Being on someone's network doesn't give anything on your system away, unless you're sharing it. But every URL you go to can be logged, as can be other unencrypted network activity like chat sessions, if one goes to the bother. I'd worry about network privacy more than anything else. If you really think that someone might go to much hassle to get into your system, and they have physical access, the only thing to be done is to encrypt your hard drive, but that's not network-related in any way.

 

[phelon]

Aha! I knew you'd come around, WH. Thank you! You're everyone's helper around here when it comes to computers and so much more.

What this tells me is that I need to get my own phone line and get DSL. I like staying connected at all times, and I'm not about to change that.

Mucho thanks again!

Just remember, physical security will defeat all you do with a different line..
a small keylogger and boom, your on your own network and he still gets access..

your usually better off securing your computer services for the network side threat and then making sure he can;t sit down at your keyboard.
the best hack/crack 'ers i know use a usb drive and a system reboot, then they hack the security from linux tools, then reboot and its like they never were there but they have full access to that machine no matter where on the internet it is.

 

[linuxgeek]

If you really don't trust the guy, make sure your computer never leaves your sight. Unless you are taking the time to run your hard drive encrypted, having physical access to your computer for a couple hours gives him time to remove the hard drive and make a copy of it so he can poke through your stuff as he wants.

Also, if you don't realize it already, deleting files on your computer does not mean they are gone. Unless you are running a program that "shreds" the files by over writing them with random data, your deleted files can still be accessed with programs free on the Internet.

Read up on Computer Forensics if you want to know exactly how much can be retrieved from your computer with the right tools, skills and time.