when your computer starts speaking [horrifically] on your behalf…

so yesterday morning i come downstairs and i log into Facebook and am busy catching up on the nights mail when suddenly a word in another mail in my inbox catches my attention… it’s a mail from my wife, the beautiful Val [tbv] with some bank details regarding flight money and my comment below it says, ‘bitch, i want all the money’

[cue me confused] so i start trying to work out what word i was going for cos i have clearly mistyped when suddenly, in the inbox to my left a new mail rises to the top of the pile, addressed to my former UK housemate from the Simply Way with brett fish anderson [that’s me] writing “Fuck you”

[confusement changing to panic as i realise i’m being hacked but all this live and while i am in my account] so i quickly scramble towards the password changing settings menu and as i do i get a notification and it is one of my old friends who i have not been in any contact with for a long time and he is saying ‘now why would i do that?’ so i click on it and on his status which was something along the lines of ‘Have a great week everyone’, brett fish anderson has commented ‘i hope you die.’

[password changed and hoping that is it – ticked the option to ‘log me out of all devices i am currently logged into’ – nice touch Zuckers – and waiting to see if the surreal movie-type experience has finished… my buddy Dunc, who i am staying with, walks downstairs so i share the story with him and he tells me to check my activity log – good job Zuckers – and so i do – just three other people fortunately – old church friend, old cape town friend and my boss’ wife all with the eloquent ‘F___ you’ scrawled upon their page [by brett fish anderson of course] and so managed to delete them]

by this time i have an email from a friend from The Simple Way suggesting i might have been hacked and copying the mail from my boss’ wife to me which i have just deleted…

so crisis largely averted – i think one downfall of the hacker was being over the top in terms of using language no one would have suspected i would actually use in that way – but it was a little freaky as it started to happen in front of my eyes [maybe better that way rather than arriving to 200 sent out messages i guess] and felt a little bit like being trapped in a movie…

i have seen a lot of hack attempts and been the victim on occasion, but that was definitely the most malicious one i have personally encountered. feels a little bit violationary…

and is it boss’ wife or bosses wife?

About the Author: brettfish

Brett Fish is a lover of God and people, and owns the world's most famous stuffed dolphin, No_bob (who doesn't bob). He believes that we are all responsible for making the world a significantly better place for everyone.

2 Comments

me February 12, 2013 at 6:55 am - Reply

I would think it is ” Boss’s wife.”
Clifford W. Hansen February 12, 2013 at 9:34 am - Reply

Shame Brett… That really sucks… good thing you managed to catch it in time 🙂

Some interesting stats:
4.7% of users have the password password;
8.5% have the passwords password or 123456;
9.8% have the passwords password, 123456 or 12345678;

Please excuse me while I get on the soap box, hopefully this will help prevent stuff like this 🙂

When choosing a password don’t use things that are easy to guess: name, surname, birth-date
Try and always have weird characters in the password: P455w0rd (ok don’t use that it’s a common password, but you should get the idea 😉 )

I use an application called LastPass, which not only stores your passwords on-line (encrypted) but it can generate passwords for you.

I use LastPass to generate a password for me whenever I sign up on a new site, and if the site emails me my password, I will either delete my account or leave it as the generated password (If they can email you your password, then if they get hacked the chances of a hacker getting your password is greater.)

Also be careful of what access you allow other sites to have if you use Facebook (or any other social site) to login, always read what permissions you are allowing, this goes for applications you install on your phone… So many people just click “next” and don’t read and then a malicious application steals their data. As an example, if you download a “torch” application and it needs access to your contacts, don’t install it…

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by the letter R
:p

Sorry for the long comment, but I take on-line security VERY seriously, as the saying goes, once bitten twice shy (kinda fits here)

when your computer starts speaking [horrifically] on your behalf…