Get an old 486 or low-end Pentium and setup a Linux box as a gateway between your PC and the Internet.

 

ahh.. that reminds me of in college.. yes simply by IP you can be traced to a domain.. hackers know ways around this..

there are plenty of immature 14yrs olds on power trips with simple point and click so called hacking programs that just go into chat rooms and hack others. there was a program a while back that annoyed the hell out of me.. it can be hidden in image files, programs, etc.. and virus scanner won't catch all of these.. of few changes and it wont be recognized.. once on your computer it could be shut down remotely and give the hacker access to your drives.

there are also programs that are simple annoyance software.. they use your zap your IP with packets that knock you offline.

i got kicked off my old colleges internet 3 times and eventually banned for various reasons.. the final one was some punk in a chat room that traced my domain to my college sent them my IP and wrote this fake ass letter as though it was from his lawyer. even with logged proof that i was the one being hacked. oh well

oh yeah.. the best way to protect against it.. stay out of chat rooms. use aol instant messenger or yahoo to talk to your friends.
most likely though you shouldn't be worried about the kid on the other side showing up at your door.

Firewalls aren't full proof.. which is why hackers get hired to test network security.. you can turn it around and trace thier IP and report it to their ISP. Most of these chat room hackers are the point and click kind that don't know anything about spoofing, shells, etc. so they can be traced.

 

Sounds like you hit the nail on the head Insomniak, is that what you learn when you never sleep? lol. Anyway, I don't go to chatrooms often, I use my MSN IM for that, but it just ticks me off that these peeps can mess with other users like that. I've seen them do all sorts of stuff on Multichat...knock people off, hack through their ID and type stuff that the peep didn't type, threaten to block their ISP from getting online for weeks, all sorts of stuff. I just wanted to know what I could do to keep me and my computer safe. I'm not so worried about anyone showing up at my door, that would be fun, what I'm worried about is someone just giving out all my personal info on the Net. What would it be like to be in a chat room and see someone give your SS# or address out? Anyway, I think I have my answers...thanks a million. At least now I know who to ask about problems if I have such in the future.

Andrew

 

I better get Zonealarm Dave, I'm no computer whiz...I can only wish.

Andrew

 

My approach is to learn as much as you can about what "attackers" can do. A book that is a good read for novices is is called "Hacking Exposed".

Additionally, take a look at www.securityfocus.com, and see what folks in the industry are dealing with daily. Personal firewalls are a good idea, but they are vulnerable as well. Be careful with the information you share online, you can be traced.

 

i hax0r3d your 411z j00!!

 

 

If you were in the Chat on AOL don't worry... They cant get anything.. as long as you don't click any links they send you or download anything they can't get your IP address nor your real adress.. i used to make little programs for AOL with Visual Basic 6.0 and it's just a scary facade.. AOL is not that hackable.. annd if you accidently click a link and they may have your IP address... Resign on

 

Actually, most of this info was for friends of mine, especially this girl I know that creates a chat on Multichat every night. On Multichat, you don't have to have admin authority to create a chat, therefore when peeps come in harassing you, you have little recourse. She has the same comp as me (Dell 8100) and she downloaded the free version of Zonealarm2 and it screwed with her computer. She thinks it was because of the Windows ME, but she's not certain. I'm no computer whiz, so when she and a few other peeps asked me to check it out I came...where else...here. The latest info I have is that Zonealarm Pro will work with Win ME, and I've sent her the info.

My personal recommendation to her was to stay the hell out of Multichat! There are way too many 14 year old wanna' b hackers on there for my taste. There is a room you can jump right to called "DSS Underground" that's just full of these kids with nothing better to do with their time than exercise what little power they have by messing with peeps.

Thanks again for the help guys...

Andrew