Brain meanderings on living through King George's reign of terror. Sharing what little nuggets of truth I'm able to glean of what's happening in this fascist regime. Pithy observations on the struggle to march to the buzz of my own kazoo. No answers, but thanks to the neo-cons, enough issues for all of us. Nostalgic reflections and random mind blips on who knows what. Why I don't sleep. Who could, with reasons like these:
Thursday, June 02, 2005
June 2, 2005
Well, I'm back. I was going to start a public or private journal on AOL just to spew venom at Micro$oft and my a-hole hackers. Then I read the "community guidelines" I was expected to follow if I wanted to be on "hometown AOL." Give me a break. AOL really is a Republican thing, don't you think? But I like playing with all the gizmos and and fun features it provides. Earthlink was absolutely horrible, even though I got it for free. And it costs $21.95 to AOL's $17.something.
Also, I googled this blog to find it again. And what to my surprise do I see, but some ad saying it is now worth $12/share. I have no idea what this is all about, but they aren't selling MY blog out from under me.
So here's the update I feel compelled to write:
I am now on computer #4 since April of 2003, and I am still hacked. You can't imagine. I've had this one since Jan of this year. Soon it will pass on like the previous three: Turn it on and nothing. And this after having Dell tech install a new power supply. I am saying that when the hackers are done with the computer, they somehow manage to completely destroy it so that it won't even show lights or make a peep when you turn it on.
I have been to hell and back trying to simply have a computer so I can look things up on the internet, as well as read, research and write. As I mentioned in my last post, I sent a box of evidence to the head of computer crime at the Chicago Dept of Justice. Mr. Bob Podlasek told me he didn't have time to see me, but he would look at it.
I sent him detailed notes and evidence just before Christmas of last year. I have about 50 floppies, a bunch of CD's and 30+ notebooks of evidence, but, of course, I didn't send but a small representational sample because he had told me he was a busy man. I absolutely couldn't phathom that no one could find these hacker asswipes with the amount of evidence I had. As of today, the only thing I have heard from him after repeated letters, e-mails and phone calls is, "They'll never catch these guys." I guess not, if no one even tries. I mean, I sent photos of the hackers I found in the files including their crummy European vacation pics. I sent all the aliases attached to one photo of someone whom I am sure is one of my hackers. I sent IP addresses, names of companies they did business with (one of their businesses is apparently designing websites), and more. That's all he had to say. Mr. P, my last hope: "They'll never catch these guys." He could offer me nothing. I had asked for months if he could, at the very least, write me a letter to show friends, family and co-workers that this fucking XP is really hacked and I am not nuts. I also asked him to return my evidence so I could write a book about what I've gone through since I bought my first XP in April of 2003. But I guess he is a busy, busy man.
The point of my article or book will be, I think, that hackees have nowhere to turn for help. If you read back on this blog you will see that I tried to elicit help from everyone from CERT to the Secret Service to Homeland Security to the FBI and so many more agencies that SEEM to provide help to hackees. CERT has a 24-hour "hotline" to report hacker activity. When I called them the guy who answered the phone listened to me and said something along the lines of "Bummer, really, but we can't help." Well then who do they help? Who do any of these so-called anti-hacker hotlines and agencies really help? From what I could make out if I were a 10-year-old child being preyed upon sexually over the internet they would immediately help. If I don't have a lot of identity and financial info of some worth, they could care less. Oprah, for example, could get instant help, but no one was willing to help the likes of me.
So I am left not being able to have a computer period. I can't imagine buying computer #5 and telling myself, "This time they'll leave me alone." And I am not stupid about security either. I have had to learn enough stuff to be an IT professional, if I wanted to take the classes and make it official.
Someone, I think, is out to get me, and even paranoids are right sometimes.
I am not crazy as my friends, family and co-workers assume. What is "crazy" about believing that the most wide-open, vulnerable, piece of crap computer made could be hacked?
I wrote Bill Gates twice and told him what I thought, but, whatdoyouknow, he never responded. He has his billions, and doesn't give a damn if this shit works or not.
I called the Micro$oft hotline many times. The purpose of these consumer friendly hotlines, as I understand it, is to make up for the fact that Windows XP really is a lot of open windows, with open backdoors thrown in for good measure. So M$ said, they would offer additional help at no charge to customers having trouble. This was back in the day (last year I think) when they were publishing these nauseating articles about Micro$oft being "trustworthy". Give me a break.
When I last called again, hoping to connect to someone who would apologize and send me a computer I could use, I was transferred from desk to desk until I reached an M$ engineer. (One of the few probably that hasn't made a run to Google yet.) After letting me tell him the problems in detail for about the 100th time in my life and the 8th time that day, he assured me that there was absolutely nothing M$ could do to help.
Nice, huh? I said, "Should I just throw the latest computer out the window and forget ever even trying to use a computer?" He agreed that most likely computer #5 would also end up hacked and destroyed. He then repeated that Micro$soft couldn't help. Fuck you, in otherwords. We've got your money. Maybe Longhorn won't be as much as a catastrophe as XP, I bet they're thinking while counting the days. Like I would ever buy M$ products again. I am headed towards Linux, that is, if I can somehow save this computer first.
Well, this may be my last post for a while again. I rarely am allowed to get online, and when I do I must go through their broadband proxy even though I am a dial-up user. This way they can decide which sites I can and can't go to. Miraculously, I have now been online for three whole days for the first time in months. I normally go to the library to read my e-mail and look up things on the internet. And pay a dime a page for printing when I have a perfectly good printer at home that I can't use.
People ask me, "What makes you so special? Why would anyone want to hack you?" Say what? Am I the only XP owner in the world that has ever been hacked?
Book is forthcoming. I just hope it doesn't get to long, what with the evidence, refusals of help agencies, manifestos from the hackers, detailed accounts of their break-ins to my apartment and the damage they did, etc.
"Trustworthy computing" indeed! Look up that article from M$ just for laughs.
I woke up this blog because I got an e-mail that someone was actually linking to it. I am amazed. I didn't think it was even being published. I miss you and I miss this blog. The hackers have continued to overwhelm me. Let me see, the most recent posting re hackers would be that I called local police again because I was pissed off that they again locked me out. Whenever I call the bigshots they always ask "Did you call local police?" So I did because the Computer Crimes guy at the Attorney General's Office who said he would look at my evidence and maybe help me, now told me that he was going on vacation and would "get back to me" when he returned. So the fucking domain, which is only another word for hackers, locked me out and I decided to see what the local police would do. It was hilarious if it wasn't your computer. A cop came over and told me he had built two computers. You'd think he'd know a thing or two? No! He insisted on treating me like a total dummy (probably because I am a woman and who cares how many 1,000 page books I've read on Windows and on Security). He DEMANDED in that very cop-like way to format and re-install Windows. I told him I'd already paid 4 so-called experts and that's all they did and it didn't change a thing: I was still hacked up to the gills. He knew, in that cop-like way they really know things that are absurd, that I just needed a man like him to show me how to format and re-install. It is so funny the way these assholes believe that formating in and of itself delete everything never to return. I tried to explain to him, as I've tried to explain to the rest of these so-called computer expert a-holes, that they have rigged my setup to always include their fuckin' network and all their files. I end up re-hacked.
The cop couldn't wait to SHOW ME. When he was done I printed out a three-page listing of all the hacker's files that were installed with the re-installation. I cannot get anyone who understands the sysprep and setupmgr to help me. I try to work on it myself and get lost in the computer details I don't understand. Do I have an explanation, they wonder, for why anyone would be hacking me? Only that they store all their files in my computer and use it for hacking other computers. Isn't that enough?
God help me! I only want to re-own my computer and enjoy blogs, and reviews, and news and write e-mails and maybe some resumes since I am starving here. Is that so fucking much to ask? Are there nothing but idiots out there who pretend to help me but are fucking ignorant?
I need a hacker to hack my computer. Please. At a reasonable rate.
NOTICE THEY DIDN'T PUT OUT A REWARD FOR FINDING HACKERS
My theory as to why Microsoft will only reward people who lead them to virus and worm instigators, without saying a word about even major hackers, is that there are too many of them. They'd go broke passing out all those rewards. Microsoft has already been hacked I heard, and maybe they don't like using the H word. My hacker got a message to me through BlogPatrol, my statistics website, that I should get my computer up and running so he or they can use it to hack Dell. I guess they thought I'd jump for joy at that one and eagerly re-install the Windows for them. True, I hate Dell for not standing by my four-year warranty, and leaving me computerless three months after I purchased a computer, but I'll be damned if they're using my computer to hack anything--not even the White House. If I can't use it, no one can.
But tell me I'm not narrowing the search for the hacker. None of the usual tools work. They have disabled everything. Ipconfig doesn't work. All the net commands are disabled. None of the hostname things work. The best tools for finding out who's at the other end of your remote network are all on Windows XP Professional, the mere peons get zilch. Anyhow, I've seen the 811. and LANs stuff in the files. I know they are within 1,000 feet. I think I have narrowed it down to the right neighbor. Tell me what you think: There is this 20-something who lives with his mother and sister in the garden apartment. He dresses in what you might call an independent mode. You wouldn't really classify him as anything but you would observe that he's not run of the mill--some might say odd. He works part-time at the local coffee shop. I saw him in there recently and something in my head just clicked. "It's him," my brain said, after weeks of unfairly believing it was the people upstairs from me.
So, out of nowhere that he expects I'm sure, I say, "Do you have a computer?" first thing out of my mouth. He looks flustered and mumbles that he does. "What kind?" I demand to know. Now how's this for a suspicious answer from a kid who's at an age and lifestyle where you would expect he'd know what kind of computer he has? He says, "Oh, I don't know. It's old. I got it from my aunt." Then he turns his back to me and stares out the window until I leave. I let it go.
That night I put a tiny voodoo robot toy with a crab-like creature clawing its stomach area and a missing right hand outside his door. It is gone the next morning. The next day I put a tiny toy stop sign. It, too, is gone the following morning. Then I am doing laundry in the basement and have to walk past their apartment windows several times. The shades don't quite cover the windows on the sides. I peek in and see a new laptop with built-in wireless antenna.
Now to prove it. Tonight I went to a forum at www.whitehats.com. First I went to blackhats, but it seems they mostly work with businesses. Everyone wants to help big businesses. I have yet to find anyone who wants to help an individual who is hacked. My reason for looking at the "hats" today is because sometimes I think the only way I'll get rid of this hacker is to find another hacker to help me.
I found an online publication for people who hate AOL or just want to make fun of it. I'll pass it along when I find it again. Here's what they did to me lately. I haven't used AOL in months since I can't get online but I keep it in case I ever get my computer back and want to download patches and firewalls in a hurry. This month my credit card company alerted me to suspicious charges by AOL. It turns out they charged me not once but twice for charges to an account opened by, get this, MsRefusnik. And here I thought she was just one of my screennames. According to AOL she is real. She got drunk one night and told my master screenname that it was over between them. She said she was going solo and the result was that although I am the one and only user (or non-user as of late) I had two accounts to pay for. AOL argued with me that lots of people like to have more than one account and they didn't find it odd at all. It was a lot of crazy phone calls before I got the account canceled and maybe the charges too.
I thought this blog was lost to me forever. I thought it would just orbit out there like space junk while flea market buyers tapped into it occasionally looking for the odd bit on the eplpdx02, fruit flies and doggerel with the theme of not sleeping at night. I have changed so many passwords that I got dizzy. I just did not have a clue what the password was for this blog. Unfortunately, the e-mail address that they kindly send the password reminder to was canceled due to being hacked. So I could not log in to change my user information and I was unable to get an e-mail to them because the page wasn't working properly. And then today my brain went pop and I found where I had actually written down the password and here I am.
By the way, the e-mail address I had to cancel because it was full of malicious files was poor MsRefusnik's. Let's say goodbye forever to her shall we. I know I will never again leave an e-mail address out on the web for all to send their trojans, worms and viruses to or just to more easily hack the computer. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Speaking of security, here are some of the very interesting and unusual websites I promised you last time. All the research I've done has got to be good for something: at least I can share some of it. Do read "At Microsoft Security Flaws Emerge as Business Shortcomings," and then look over the entire issue of SecurityFocus.Com. According to Helen Jung's AP article, loss of revenue is getting Microsoft's attention in terms of Windows' vulnerabilities. MS said in latest quarterly report that revenue from multiyear contracts dropped $768 million from previous quarter, about $450 million lower than anticipated. And I bet I can guess the feature here: MS, it goes on to say, is making improvements in Windows XP desktop next year. "The improvements are to include disabling certain features that can allow hacker break-ins." What do you want to bet they're getting rid of the ridiculous remote assistance hacking feature?
Security Focus is run by Kevin Poulson, a convicted former hacker, and it is one-stop shopping as far as your security needs go. There are collected timely articles on every aspect of computer security, book release titles, tool downloads (everything from firewalls and password crackers to intrusion detection, vulnerability scanning...just look around. It's geared for the seriously security-minded but should be of interest to all.
The best thing to do according to one book, (Counter Hack: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks & Effective Defenses) is to subscribe to Bugtraq. Do this by sending an e-mail to LISTSERV@SECURITYFOCUS.COM. Message body: Subscribe Bugtraq, last name, first name
The obsessed returns to the possessed. Yes, this blog has a life of its own. According to BlogPatrol I am of no importance to the functioning of this blog: I have exactly as many daily hits when I don't write for a month as when I do. But I must say, looking at what the google-divers come for, I feel that I have sat at the end of the driveway with my junk on display and my cigar box only holding a little change. It's time to go in.
Halloween, my favorite holiday. It does for me the opposite of what Christmas does. I feel exhilerated rather than depressed. I start getting excited when I see the store decorations going up. People play tricks. They don't pretend to care about each other for a day. This old witchy freak fits right in with the other goblins, monsters and ghosts. Lately I have to say I have felt like a ghost.
Yes, my life stopped because my computer is hacked. Silly, huh? But I already admitted I'm obsessed. I do see a psychiatrist, and until last week I thought she was with me on this. Now she wants to see me more often. She came right out and told me that she doesn't know a thing about computers but she doesn't believe anyone would want to hack my computer. I really need to get a new doctor, perhaps one who knows enough to look at the computer for five minutes before discounting me as paranoid. But the problem is that in addition to the Adderall (a Dexedrine cousin) she has me on for ADD, she now has quadrupled the Ritalin to help me feel better. And I do feel better. So I put up with her asking me if I sleep walk at night looking for things the hackers have done.
I am ashamed to say that I don't even follow the news much anymore. I sometimes watch the BBC news at night and that's about it. Since I can no longer read my NYTimes and alternative papers on the internet I've lost interest in the world. If the right wanted to shut me and my anti-Republican blog up they couldn't have done a better job if they locked me up in jail. If I were just in jail I would find a way. Now my spirit is pretty much crushed.
I am a poor woman. The computer I bought this past April was a major investment for me. I simply cannot go out and buy a new one. Besides they would just hack the new one despite all my readings about security and downloadings of security tools. It is now just a piece of furniture. I still pay for AOL (which began my problems I believe), but I am not allowed online. I have a brand new printer but I am not allowed to use it. My WordPerfect program is gone, as are all of my files. My four-year warranty with Dell is a joke. I call every week or so for the hell of it, demanding that they send someone out to the house to look at it. Again, they have me re-format and re-install for the 20th time, or run msconfig, or debug or some stupid thing while the hackers have now put an additional operating system into my hard drive. I believe it is Windows NT.
How do they do it you ask? I have disabled everything on the computer I can without destroying it. I let it sit completely unhooked from all cables and unplugged for days. There are still 1,500 of their files in there. I picked up a book on wireless technology or wi-fi as people call it. I know they use LANs and I have seen the 811. listed in the computer as a device. So I pulled out my P1 card, which Dell tried to tell me is a modem card. Maybe it is, but maybe it is a wireless network card, so I just pulled it. (They do break in my house so it is possible.) Wi-Fi and LANs create networks usually in the same building or within 1,000 feet. I believe it is the threesome upstairs from me who moved in about the same time the hacking began, four months ago. But I cannot yet prove it so I am still living in the prison of my apartment unable to blog at 3:00 a.m. or drink Diet Coke and smoke cigarettes while I send some e-mails. I rarely e-mail anyone. I wrote in here about how addicted I was to the internet. Now I'm just addicted to reading about security, hacking, anti-hacking tools, and ways to finger the host. Yes, they are the remote host and I am the remote "assisted" client. Microsoft, that remote assist desktop thing was a very, very bad idea among so many of your awful ideas.
Well, I have to run up here to get online before they close when I get out of work. Now it's time to say goodbye. If I don't fall into the doldrums, I'll get back to you with some really interesting websites about hacking, cracking, defending yourself and getting regular great security tips in your e-mail.
I'm off to trick or treat. I'll be wearing a pin that says, "This IS my costume."
Yes folks, I am now addicted to being hacked. I mean it sounds ugly but it must be true. As you may have noticed by my recent, infrequent, posts the only thing I have time for anymore is reading about computer security--ironic when you know that my computer is still hacked--and playing mind games with the hacker.
In fact, today I played a few rounds of "You'll never open that floppy/yes I will, yes I will." When I gave up trying to open my debugging tools, I opened one of his files which contained a little cartoon slide show. The slide show was all about how wonderful computers can be when you just learn to share them on a network. Once you learn that you must share, you can go online, put your photos online, watch dvd's, make slide shows, etc. The theme (and accompanying picture) was "You have the keys." So fine, I wrote him a letter (with my Word Perfect which, surprisingly, is still installed), and lied and said, I surrender. I will be a good girl. What do they want me to do? Just let me use my computer again. In response I got the picture of the keys again. But the computer is still closed off from me and nothing works right.
In desperation and anger, and with some terrible craziness, I called Dell tech again today. Maybe I just wanted to yell at someone, but maybe I wanted someone else to think about fixing the situation for a while. I demanded that they come out to the house and stop talking to me like I'm a crazy person. I told them eight or ten times was enough to realize that re-formating and re-installing wasn't going to lose the hacker. I demanded to speak to a supervisor. Next thing I know I'm putting on the Dell Resource CD waiting for the debugging stuff to load which it never did. I told the tech the hacker prevented the CD from booting right. The tech wanted to get off the phone. He said he's sending me another CD which will solve all my problems. But before he got off he had to ask, "You have McAfee, right? Why don't we run a virus scan right now." I told him viruses don't create slide shows, and that I deeply resented another Dell person talking to me like I'm crazy. What is so crazy about the idea of the worthless piece of crap Windows is being hacked? I ask you?
So yesterday I spent six hours at the library reading and making photocopies of everything from how to write automated scripts to install windows, how to clear the CMOS, how to remove the network card, 17 pages of info on the remote access desktop, client and VPN, more tool kits, more network stuff, and boy am I excited: a new book came for me: Hack Attacks Revealed A Complete Reference With Custom Security Hacking Toolkit by John Chirillo. It's 944 pages long. That should keep me from doing laundry for another month.
Oh yeah, I'm obsessed. I don't do much that I'm supposed to. I live on Diet Coke and Dean's Fudge Bars. I forget to take showers. I buy plastic picnic silverware and don't wash dishes. I can't remember if I fed the cat or not some days. I make long lists of advisories, bulletins, and articles I must get when I get to the library. I am in trouble at work for doing my photocopy filing sitting down on the job when I'm supposed to be standing up working. One of my best friends who has known me forever told me she can hear it in my voice that I am on my way back to the hospital soon if I don't let go. I can't let go. I don't want him to win.
My mother got angry at me last night. I tried to explain why I can't just hire someone to fix the problem. When I call these so-called computer repairmen and tell them I haven't been connected to the internet for months, they just don't get it. They apparently have never heard of VPN's, remote access, or wireless technology. They insist I'm nuts and that kind of puts me off hiring them. The last group I called, The Geek Squad, bragged about the big time stars whose computers they fixed when I asked if they were A+ certified. They hadn't heard of wireless technology either.
So my mother was practically screaming at me over the phone to take the computer up to Best Buy and tell them to fix it and just not tell them what was wrong with it. If you knew what all was wrong with it you'd know how ridiculous this is. Like for example, it's on a network and I don't want to be on a network for starters. I want to be just me and my printer again. How do you fix that? How do you fix it that he has my IP address, open back door, open ports, is now sharing my most recent firewall, has loaded my computer full of script, code and trojans guaranteed to help him always get back in. Oh, and he has a sense of humor, I forget to tell you, if you like hacker's humor. He let me actually read the properties of the events viewer one day. It was going on and on with the information, errors and warnings and suddenly pop up ads were showing up in the event viewer--not as pop up ads typically look but as event viewer errors look except that the text would be like "Joan has a full time mimi cam in her dorm room. Want to see?" There were a bunch like that.
I'm depressed. I'm going home to watch t.v. Maybe tomorrow he'll move out. He had a file of guest user pictures. I selected one of a suitcase and zoomed in on it until it was huge and left it for him. I don't know thouugh if hints mean much to him.
I can't stop reading stuff about computer security. Since my computer is already hacked, some might say it's a little late for that now.
Today I found a good blog devoted to "network security monitoring, incident response, digital forensics, and book reviews on related subjects." I learned in here about The Center for Computer & Communicatiions Security at Carnegie Mellon. I wonder what resources they have that I might be interested in.
Oh, and I found some really cool security tools you can download for free.
That reminds me of another cool thing I recently stumbled on. It seems to me that Microsoft just sort of sprinkles their goodies here and there, and if you find them great, if you don't too bad. Here's one I was glad to find. It also has, among its many gifts, free tool downloads. Check it out why don't you. There really are lots of useful things.
And I'm ripping and running again. Can't really give this blog justice today either. Too busy reading about security. And I did pause to read "Does Microsoft Give a Damn?"
Gotta go. The hackers are using the Word Perfect I installed today and they won't let me use it. I tried to install my printer again and still they won't let me. Now they won't let me use simple things or open anything from the control panel. They have to go. I am so tired of this.
Remember me mentioning that hackers actually have conventions? I mean they are brazen. I found the site with all you need to know so you can watch for the next one. You might want to check out the very interesting forum also. There are over 170 posts on wireless technology alone, in response to those who wonder how I could be hacked without being plugged in to the internet. I'm thinking of getting some cool Defcon clothes. Why not? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? What if I went and bumped into the hackers of my computer and didn't even know it? Small world. This just gets crazier. And more crazy people are telling me that I'm imagining it every day.
I don't know about you, but I need to get in touch with this guy and get a few things off my chest. From my address book to yours:
Bill Gates
Microsoft Corporation
1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA
98052-8300
425-882-8080
425-936-7329 (fax)
billg@microsoft.com
NOW YOU CAN REPORT MY PROBLEM TO THE FBI'S JOINT TERRORISM TASK FORCE
Or so says the page one announcement on the National Infrastructure Protection Center's warnings and advisories home page. I was filing my biweekly crime report with the FBI, when much to my surprise I saw that a lot more people with Windows XP are about to go through the agony I have been enduring, except the warning calls it a worm. I am more convinced than ever that what's in my computer is no worm and I'll give you the fascinating details in a minute. (I also file FBI reports at FBI crime. I hate to say it but maybe you should make a note of some of these sites. Not that they're worth much if you ask me.)
I haven't been watching t.v. and I refuse to read the media whores, so I had no idea about the new threats. I may have heard something but thought it was old news. I mean isn't there a new threat every week now? It's a good thing the windows at Microsoft security headquarters are sealed shut to prevent jumping, isn't it? (I read that in the "Hacker Weekly News" my hackers let me see. I guess they're all having a good laugh about now.
But as some of you may recall, all of my endless research convinced me that my problem began with the Remote Procedure Call. I think I even linked MS03-039 when I talked about it. The three vulnerabilities in the part of the RPC deal with the messages for the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) activation--two that would allow code execution and one that would allow in denial of service. The DCOM is a protocol that enables software components to communicate over a network. If you don't absolutely have to have it I suggest you disable it. Here's how to do it.
This has become quite a tech corner hasn't it? I am torn. I want to brag to you about all my latest computer accomplishments because I am so proud of how far I've come in the last month and the misery I've caused the hackers. I mean when you consider that before the hackers I couldn't put a link on the taskbar it's quite astounding. But I have to wait to brag. I have already said too much. They read this blog and there are repercussions. I can't stay ahead of them with a big mouth. Things happen. But wow, what a crash course I've taken. Today I was reading about debugging and realized I was trying to dive to the bottom of the ocean without equipment. Whew! This computer stuff just goes on and on with no end in sight.
But it's hard to brag today in any event. They have set up some controlled boot setup so I can't boot up Windows at all. I checked out the computer with the little I had to go on, and tweaked where I could. I don't think there's anything wrong with it except for the files I found that point to more of their fun and games. They do love to control. And now it's going to start happening to lots and lots of people.
Do you think that because there was a page one government warning people sat up and listened to me and decided to help me? Fat chance. They tell you on the warning to "report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to local law enforcement (more shrugging of shoulders), local FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (why bother, more of the same), or the Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC). I called the HSOC on my dime. (What? Report crime without an 800 number?) I called tonight just like Charlie Brown kicking the football Lucy is holding, thinking this time it will be different. I rationalized that this is now a big deal to them, surely they will listen to me and help. Sure I wrote them an e-mail report a month ago that they're ignored but now it's a big deal. Just look at that warning.
The man who answered the phone put another man on right away when I told him it was about hacking. I felt important and taken seriously. Little did I know I was receiving the bum's rush crazy treatment. The second man didn't want to hear the details. He didn't want to hear what I had just found in the registry that I felt he really should be interested in: hundreds of hacking classes files on every subject of interest to hackers. I am talking about a range and number of classes that could put a major university to shame. I made a list of most of these files. Someone could go to the registry and look for themself. A computer expert could find these hidden files and the jig would be up. He didn't seem to want to listen. He had one message for me and only one. I should take the tower of my computer to a "man" at a computer repair shop and have them re-format it and re-install Windows. I told him I have now done that about ten times and it does no good. He thought if I had a man do it my problems would be over. He started to tell me about his computer repair problems. I asked if he wasn't at all interested in catching people who teach others how to hack computers. He just repeated the instructions about fixing the computer. Told me I might want to get the hard drive checked out. I started to get angry and told him all the agencies that had refused to help me and asked him who was going to get these guys. He just told me to take my computer to a shop.
I am so sick of being treated like I am nuts. I can identify with victims of other types of crime now who feel shame as though they did something to bring the crime on themselves. I was reading about another new method of hacking the other day, and the article came right out and said that firewalls couldn't protect you in this case. But still I think people are thinking, "There's the stupid woman who didn't have a firewall up," even though I did. Or "there's the woman with the worm who imagines she's being hacked." The local police treat me like I'm bothering them when I tell them someone broke into my house for crying out loud. They don't want to hear anything about any hackers.
Anyhow I'm getting worked up again. I'm writing to Bill Gates or calling him up, whichever way I feel I can get closer to actually getting through. I want to know what happened to 2003, the year of Microsoft trustworthyness. I want to know what he has to say about what is happening with Windows. And I want to know if after everything we've gone through with this turkey if it's true that in 2005 he is planning to make the damn thing obsolete and you won't even be able to buy software for it.
Here are some of the files I found in the registry. I would guess that half of the material for the classes that are taught comes from Microsoft. I went to Microsoft and looked for myself. Yep, they put out all that stuff. It's difficult to tell the non-criminal purpose of a lot of that information. It seems to be made for hacking. They have disclaimers on every page, but they showed no responsibility putting that kind of information out there if you ask me. If you didn't know where I found these files, you'd probably think I knew someone who was a professional support person or administrator with Microsoft.
Here they are, remember there are hundreds and lots of the same ones and I'm just giving you a small sample. I recognized that they were all about hacking from all my recent research. (Watch. Wouldn't this be a nasty twist of fate? After all my begging for help, Homeland Security or someone will finally look into my case, and come and put me in prison for having these files in my computer. That would be about right.)
Microsoft (MS) Index Server Administration Object Class
MS XML Data Source Object Class
Help Collection Wrapper Class
Async M Handler Class
RadioBand Class
RadioServer Class
MS Data Link
MS OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers
MS Handler Class
MS Info Tech Protocol for IE 3.0
Marshalable TI Class
MSMQ Query Object Class
MSMQ Queue Class
MS Program Group
Script Control Object
Soap Port Connector Factory (I read in the Hacker News that something called SOAP is going to be big with hackers.)
MSSOAP soap soap reader class
MS soap serializer class
MS soap type mapper factory version 1
(MS MS Ms, see what I mean?)
MS Encoder Feature Segment
OLE SNMP Class
OLE Cvt Class
Bug Rep Sys Info Class
Process Dump Class
Public Key Security object
Precompiled setup info (probably what they're using on my computer right now)
png file
co png filter class
real networks streaming protocol
listener class (it's part of a hacking method)
and, finally, (only because I'm tired of typing, they're are many more), my favorite, "panic class"
BTW, here's what happened when I finally told Dell where I purchased the computer that they had to do something. I bought a four year warranty because I never wanted to have to worry about getting it fixed. Isn't that funny? So I wrote them an e-mail to their tech support address. I told them not to send the reply to the e-mail address they have on record because it's to my hacked computer but to a different one they don't know I have. Well, a month later, today, I got a chance to look in hacked account they of course sent it to, and I found their response. One response is just a copy of my letter returned to me by a computer acknowledging receipt. The other response is just a note telling me to re-send my note to the Dell Contact Center. That's it. That was the reply to a page and one-half e-mail that went into some detail about my desperate circumstances and what was going on exactly with the computer. So Dell will be getting another letter.
And McAfee, let's not forget McAfee when the dust settles here. I think I want to go in and see them in person if I can. Do I blame them that their security failed me? Yeah, I suppose so, but what I really despise them for is not giving me any support when I went to them after the fact and asked what to do.
I better sign off. I sound bitter. I must remember to keep on the sunny side: I can always sign up for the hackers' class in ATM core concepts and live on the side of the law where you never have to worry.
MS Persist Class (I was proofing the blog and this popped up. The hackers are here. At least they can laugh. But it really is the name of one of their classes.
And I wrote a long note to them today and told them in no uncertain terms that they have got to go. Then I posted it where they're sure to see it. I even pointed out the program that Hewlett-Packard has giving computers to needy people. Surely if they are so poor that they must barge in to take over my computer, times must be hard for them, no? I know for damn sure I don't like sharing, especially as I have no computer privileges. I really laid it out there for them and tried to explain my side of it.
Last night I spent over two hours blogging about important FCC and Constitutional amendment petitions and faxes that need your attention. I had to struggle with the links for some reason. I gave a little history on the issues, some personal insights, the current picture, you know, the whole ball of wax. And guess what? It evaporated. But the computer had been acting way strange all night. I mean really strange. I know they know where I go because they hear me telling my kids on my bugged phone that I'm at the library. The library is about two blocks fromy house.
I had fifteen minutes till closing, so I tried to explain and at least put some links in. Guess what? That vanished too. That reminds me. I'm publishing this unfinished right now.
Today has been a revelation. I think I have just about figured out what they do and how they do it. It's unbelievable. If you had told me this three months ago I don't know if i could have swallowed it.
Because I am a computer addict, I still get up in the morning and desolately poke the keyboard around while I drink my coffee. There's not much to do but disable their files. Oh, I got creative yesterday. I got out the Recovery Console and disabled all their remote and network devices. I re-did set-up installation piece by piece as well as did another re-format and re-installation. I disabled devices in the device manager. I uninstalled lots of services. I did some of my own creative registry editing. Big surprise--the poor computer had a fatal error and shut down. When I'm sabotaging their stuff it's like it's not even my computer anymore, because, let's face it: it's not.
They're still logging on the hoards of the "trusted", "authenticated' souls whose names go on and on. Big party at Local Authority's crib. Or Local Service's, or Local Security Authority, or Microsoft Terminal Services, or Global Knowledge, and on and on with the names. They believe in diversifying. But I was sort of right about them being in the security business.
Stay in suspense a minute. First up--get with the technology. How they do it. Here's one part of the answer perhaps. You sure don't need to be hooked up to the internet anymore. You can control from the comfort of your car apparently. Isn't that special? Here's an ad I found buried in one of the e-mails they sent me today (and therefore allowed me to see). Check out the features on this thing. System requirements, "The computer can be accessed from any device which has a web browser, regardless of the operating system." They still need script though, and that's why I find it. "Script-defined alerts and warnings." ("Alert. Alert. She's trying to go online".) File Transfer feature, which explains why all of a sudden I got a message on my screen that I was out of memory when I had barely saved anything yet. You get the idea. Things are wireless now. People need to adjust their thinking with the times. (Did you notice the 30-day free download? Who do you want to torture?)
Hacking is not a crime for brainless hoodlums. These guys could have Ph.D.'s in technology if they wanted. I think they were proud to show off their Tech Target e-mails to me today with it's "Expert Advice" columns and it's lists of websites. It's all above the ground information for hackers. No more underground message boards for them. It's big business now. And why not. No one wants to catch them or prosecute them. I can vouch for that. Today was more rejections from FBI offices, internet fraud agencies, the Chicago Police, the Illinois State's Attorney, AOL Fraud Dept., and a in-person rejection from the local police. They didn't even raise an eyebrow about them breaking in my apartment. But getting back to the hackers have brains topic, look at this little article I also found in the e-mail today. I don't know what it says but I doubt a firewall will work against it. I mean this hacking is a science. (A bitch receptionist at the Illinois State's Attorney's Office today wanted to know if I had tried a firewall. Wow! Never thought of that. )
Okay, so I knew I was calling AOL Fraud Dept. today. A kid at AOL had me all psyched up that they were really going to help me. He told me that they helped arrest hackers all the time. I was so excited I can't tell you. I put off calling for two days while I put all my notes together organized my presentation. I kid you not. I'm not getting called crazy anymore. What a waste all that was. Just plain "No."
But the point is that I decided this a.m. to see what would happen with the dial-up internet so I could tell AOL. Now I know that they have power even over AOL. I worked and worked to get the damn connection. Finally it said it was connected. I'm all excited except that there's a little note there that I've seen before. It means I'm not hooked up to the real internet--just to some of my e-mail. I couldn't even get to my main e-mail. They let me look at my small e-mail account which was mostly full of e-mails from Tech Target which I think is them or associated with them. It was interesting reading. I cannot get over how brazen hackers are, but, believe me, now I know why.
Here's my boys: "A terrific IT (?) offer got even Better!"
(Note: Their manifesto was full of capital letters that didn't need to be capitalized too.)
"Global Knowledge has added the color Palm M130 to the Cool Stuff program. As you probably know, Global Knowledge has IT training courses in Security, Web, Cisco,Microsoft, Networking, (I know they have that down) and dozens more. Now any of over 100 courses come with your choice of XBOX Gaming System, Playstation2, Linksys 54G Wireless Router or the new Palm M130 PDA."
(I wonder if those last two would keep my hackers out. I was all set to buy a Linksys but the guy at Best Buy told me not to bother unless I was on a network. I didn't know I was part of a network at that time.)
"Purchase any number of classes, virtual classes, e-learning courses on our web site and you will receive your choice of a Cool Stuff item for each course you purchase!" Here's the cool website for hacker wannabees. I signed up for a course myself while I was there. Why not? That's the side of the law that wins. (Don't panic. I didn't give my correct information.) There were courses in all the stuff I see in their files: Cisco Remote Access Products, ATM Core Concepts, Overview of Cisco Hardware, Java Script Basics, etc. I may go back for ATM Core Concepts. I'm not promising to stay on the side of the law that loses.
So now that I'm getting the big picture I wrote them several things in my letter today. I asked did they want to work as my security consultants, since they know everything and can tear through firewalls like lions being thrown meat. I inquired as to what this would cost me in terms of them acting as consultants, and, of course, getting the hell out of my computer. While I was asking, I decided to get some free security advice from my hackers. Some cop or somebody told me the other day that good computer security consultants charge hundreds of dollars an hour. So I asked them if I made a mistake not to get the Linksys router, if that might have worked. I wondered if they could recommend any firewall that they couldn't tear up before breakfast. I asked in general what to do about a Windows XP besides get rid of it. And if you do get rid of it, what do you get? I saw some disturbing articles about Linux in Hackers' Weekly today. I just don't know. It would be good to have them as consultants. Who better? But they really need to get the hell out.
I told them I'd worked on an MS in Psych and couldn't help but guess that they were white, early 20's, longish hair but neat, minimal neat facial hair, maybe a soul patch here or there. I asked if being obsessive-compulsive or anal retentive didn't interfere with the wildness one thinks of as being inherent in a life of crime. I told them they are too young to remember the Odd Couple, but it's like imagining Felix as a big time kidnapper or something. He would worry more about the kid making a mess than he would getting caught. They have to be so attentive to detail, so precise and yet they are totally criminal and thumb their noses at the law big time. I may end up writing an article or even a book about this experience, if it ever ends. I mean I'd like to write it on my damn computer.
Gotta go now. And Rasman really has to go.
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PLEASE NOTE: The names of actual companies and products as being hackers or made for hackers is libelous and I am only postulating here. I am not really suggesting it's the truth.
I've never blogged blurbs before, but I have a bunch of them I need to pass on because they're buzzing in my head.
First, who in their right mind is going to take diet advice from Dr. Phil? I haven't seen him lately, but even if he crash dieted for this big deal diet thing with Katie Couric, you just know, dollars to donuts (lots of donuts), it's going to be like Oprah's wagon of fat and will show up again weeks later. I'm telling you I lost lots of weight and I have kept it off for over a year. My teenage daughter says I'm too skinny--now that says something! If you're in good health and have some money to spend, and you don't mind feeling good and having energy while you lose tons of weight, the secret is Phentermine. Look it up in Google. It's huge, but users don't talk about it because we don't want it to end up like ephedrine which is nothing compared to it. Remember: don't take it if you have high blood pressure or heart problems or really are extremely obese. Get a physical maybe. And if you want to take it as directed, hey, that's up to you. If you're not into it and want to use good old-fashioned willpower and lettuce, please forget I ever said this. I mean really--DON'T MENTION IT. I want it legal a long time.
P.S. I'm about to tell you my other big diet secrets. (Alright, I lost more than 50 pounds. It took over a year. I'm not crazy. I exercise daily too.) I substituted two meals a day with Slimfast and fruit/yogurt/or vegetable. My daily treat so as not to feel deprived and blow it was Dean's Fudge Bars. They are 100 calories and 0 fat. They are the best. Let them sit out for a few minutes before you eat them. Accept no cheap imitations. They have to be Dean's. That's it. I am now back to the size I was before I had to take meds which caused the weight gain.
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Next, Top 20 Search Terms for this blog:
1. The eplpdx02.
2. Bookworm bitches??
3. Logon process advapi.
4. How to kill fruit flies.
It's good to know I provide a service to humanity.
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Yeah, "the clouds are weeping." They're weeping at Bob Dylan's fourth grade metaphor and lyrics rappers could come up with, used to pimp for young women wearing their underpants, bras and angel wings. I thought we were through with that godawful sellout mess. Can't I keep some heroes? But no, that commercial is back again on an hourly basis. With everything that's going on in the world or even just in the friggin' white house, he has nothing to do these days but make bad movies and hawk women's underpants? If somebody knows more about this please drop me a line. Perhaps all his children need billion dollar operations? One of the underwear angels is his daughter and he couldn't say no? He sold his music to Michael Jackson who let Victoria's Secret use it. Next will be a Ford Motor commercial. Someone--find me an explanation I can so I can sleep again. My stomach hurts too. Am I alone here?
You know what I notice about some of the old rock songs used in commercials? They are so ingrained over such a long period of time, sometimes I can't remember which came first: the song as music or the song as a commercial. They become synonymous. Which came first the chicken or the egg? In the cartoon the chicken is smoking a cigarette in bed and blows smoke out at the egg lying next to him, saying, "Well, I guess that answers that old question."
************************************************************************************************ I want to reiterate, emphasize, and draw Google's attention to the fact that McAfee's security system: privacy center, Personal Firewall Plus and virus scan program failed me. Big time. Not only did my computer hackers take these systems apart and chew up the codes and spit them out into files for their personal use and for their friends' use, but when I went to McAfee's online customer support service, they would not help me. They were rude and insulting. They refused to believe me. What's worse is that it took me over an hour of online typing just to relay the problem. If you want to speak to them by phone, you have to pay $2.95/minute. That's for their customer's. They tried to tell me that I just needed to do a spy sweeper scan, which I had been doing regularly anyhow. I paid for a year of their services. I was hacked in less than four months. I have yet begun to fight. Wait till this is over.
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As if I didn't sound flaky enough, let me now tell you that this isn't the greatest month astrologically speaking--for everyone regardless of when you were born. Have you noticed that everything takes longer than it should? That there are more crossed wires than usual? That mail, packages, e-mail get lost or take twice as long as they should? When you're driving have you noticed that you are getting stopped by more trains or traffic? Or if you ride the train to work, has it been late more often? Do you get more busy signals and wrong numbers when dialing? Have you made some major purchases that you got home and instantly regretted?
This is because we have the planets Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus retrograding in the skies. Do NOT make major purchases, start any major new projects, sign any contracts, begin new ventures, enter new agreements until the month's end when these planets go direct. Just take it easy, sit back, and watch the frustration level of people who don't follow the stars. To read more about how it affects your sun sign, check out Astrologyzone.com. ************************************************************************************************
Ta ta for now. It's been fun being an airhead. Tomorrow: the serious stuff, including big FCC deadlines.
"I SAID, 'MAN I'D LIKE TO STAY
BUT I'M BOUND FOR GLORY
I'M ON MY WAY
MY RIDE'S HERE..."
Yep, Warren Zevon's ride came and now he can, like one of his album titles, says ... "Sleep When I'm Dead." He won't sleep though. He'll have to make some kind of music or raise some kind of hell. So to speak. I'm glad he died in his sleep though. He deserved that. He deserved lots of good things if you ask me. He gave us a lot through his gifts. I loved him as much as you can love somebody you never met, (but less than John Lennon to be absolutely honest. You know--that was The Beatles, come on--they changed my life forevever.)
But I loved Warren from the first time I heard him because I knew an untamable spirit when one rocked me. And this was before I knew a thing about him. He was equally lyric and outrageous. He had a classical flair; indeed, he'd known Stravinsky, but he didn't mind using strings as background music for his mad lyric movies.
I like the way Rolling Stone began their announcement of his death: "A year after learning he had an inoperable form of lung cancer-- and more than twenty-five years after he began obsessing over death in song--Warren Zevon passed away in his Los Angeles home on Sunday; he was fifty-six." Funny. He was only given three months to live a year ago when he told us about it on Letterman. Funny. Who ever thought he'd live to fifty-six? The way he lived he was lucky to see thirty and he'd be the first to say so. He compared his partying life to that of Jim Morrison.
Last Christmas my 12-year-old son wanted to know what one gift he could get me. My kids aren't into surprises like I am. So I told him the one thing I wanted most in the world was a copy of Warren's new CD, My Ride's Here. I got that and a black sweater with a hood from my daughter. It was an ironic, yet merry Christmas. I still need to get my friend Ellen to translate the French song on there that he does with his daughter. I wish my prig neighbors would let me play the CD at the volume I always feel Warren deserves. (Same goes for Neil Young. No point in listening if you can't play it at the required volume.)
And give me a break with the Werewolves of London and Excitable Boy. I'm making a point of not listening to the radio. You'd think those were the only goddamn songs he ever made. I love Accidentally Like a Martyr and I never get to hear it. It's off that same CD I think.
Here's a really good site with more about Warren Zevon and his music. It has biography, obituaries, reminiscences, candid pictures and self-portraits, lots of articles and reviews.
When he was on Letterman I remember how determined he was to get out new music before the end came. He did it with the new CD The Wind which came out two weeks ago. He also was blessed with twin grandchildren that he got to see last month I believe.
Do you think he's partying with Jimi, Janis, Kurt and Jim? Maybe, but he's still sober. Once you reach the end of the road with that stuff it loses it's lure. But at least he has compatriots who dig him. No one is calling out there for him to sing Werewolves of London again.
We'll miss you Warren. Don't rest in peace or we won't know who you are.
Two weeks. Ha! Who am I kidding? I can't go two days. There are the things that must be ordered online. Of course, I had to sneak some peeks at Blogpatrol. I was losing readers daily. How long could I stand that? And how do you communicate without e-mail? My phone is bugged, remember? Not to mention the FCC was in the news, and since I don't read the newspapers offline I didn't know what was going on. That really bothered me.
And my unplugged computer? Well, what if that little battery died and the thing couldn't go back on? What if the hackers had taken over the entire works? What if maybe there was something I could have done? I decided I had to at least install some more security patches, even though they invariably stop the installation or remove the ones I'm lucky enough to get on. While I was in there of course I had to delete some of their files and make some drastic changes to their registry. And so it goes. The hours on my former computer went by with me aching for one last good online hit which was never to come. (You can never go back to the thrill of that first time, huh?) I did even get desperate enough to try to hook it up to the DSL thinking "I don't care. It's already hacked. I just have to get online." And I am one desperate junkie. I have empty AOL CD boxes all over my desk. I tried the DSL then I tried the dial-up for a while. Last count I had 7 AOL programs on the computer and none of them would let me online because the hackers blocked them in various and sundry ways.
If I'd made it even a week without touching a computer, I'd have been a sad sight. I would have been desperately cruising the nearby Metra train line, sitting next to passengers with laptops. Then I would probably have casually asked if I could have a couple of hits on their keyboards, as though this sort of sharing were common practice in commuter circles. My children, friends, sibs and dear old Mom would have had to change their passwords just to be safe. And still they would have to put up with the begging and cajoling. And, of course, I really don't sleep at night. My most productive computer time is way after all the public access ones are closed. I want to be on a computer around 2:00-4:00 am. So you see I can't even go to a damn online support group for internet junkies when my worst cravings kick in. What do you mean the meetings probably aren't online? Forget it then!
Here's a true story. When I reported the hacking to the police I didn't call it in. I told myself it was because the phone was bugged, but I passed a couple of pay phones. I went up there because I had an ulterior motive. I wanted to get a vibe as to whether to ask if I could use one of their computers to look for computer security firms and repair places. I just didn't get a welcoming feeling though. The tipping point was that I didn't really care to hang out in a cop shop and you can't smoke. But I was very close to asking. That shows you the depth of my addiction.
Anyhow, I am a wretched, addicted, sick soul with happy fingers again. And my good news is that today I actually talked to a very large organization, and a man there said they will help me. No if's, and's or but's--he said the hackers will be arrested. He said they catch them all the time. It seems I was given bad information by other employees of this organization who weren't aware of what goes on there when I called several weeks ago. I won't say any more till it's over.
So I am getting back to business. I have a blog to write here. There are things going on I need to let people know about.
P.S. I will be getting comments. It was dumb of me to use my e-mail address. But for now since my computer is still hacked go ahead and write me at the e-mail address until I get the comments in. You would not believe all the ways you can get hacked. I read a new one today about Windows and the Internet Explorer. I heard a blurb on the news about three new flaws in Windows XP office programs. I didn't hear enough to know what that's about. Is there an end to this?
