Okay so get this....
My e mail account was hacked and held hostage for the past several days! I mean, I'd type in my password and nothing would happen. The darn system would not let me in. My first thought was that something is messed up with my computer (me being tech challenged and all...) but then I tried changing my password and nothing... secret question and nothing and every other trick that could possibly be tried... I tried to no avail.
I was perplexed, mystified, befuddled and obfuscated! And that was not even the weird part yet...
So I log onto facebook and I have this cryptic message from one "Clock Stoppers" on facebook and it goes something like, ..."don't worry about your messed up e mail, it will be okay in a few days..."
I did a double take and instantly replied something to the effect of, "who the heck is this and how do you know about my e mail... have i been hacked?" (have I been hacked? of course I'd been hacked! what an idiot!)anyway, the next day it gets weirder and weirder....
In my facebook inbox, yeah... my facebook inbox I see e mails from my msn inbox. Said hijacker/hacker had copy/pasted important messages that required my attention!!!
I mean he is some freakozoid from cyberwhatever but he is a considerate??? freakozoid!!!!
It gets worse... read on....
So now I go beserk! Ahan... I am a hysterical mess... wondering what the heck is going on. I feel violated and victimized. If the kook is sending me my important e mails, he's reading my e mail too. That is PRIVATE STUFF!!!! So I vent a tirade of frustration, anger, distress, hysterics... his way and in ending in my most British Marmishness... I state in a most hoity toity manner that said freakkook should be "ashamed of him/herself!!" (that'll show him... feh!)
Now get this...
He replies that he is ashamed and that I don't need to rub it in and that if I would only be patient things would get fixed.
PATIENT???
PATIENT!!!!
HE WANTS ME TO BE PATIENT!!!!
What a load of fart!
This is my private freakin' e mail and the goose wants me to be patient! So I am feeling EXTREMELY icky now. Some total stranger is elbow deep in my e mail. I love my e mail. I archive it. I save it. I reread the meaningful and important ones. I have some very personal ones in there and one in particular, a poem that a very dear friend wrote to me on valentine's day.... the best valentine I ever got.... that is in there....and now I am ROYALLY PISSED!
To top it off I am a NICE PERSON! I do not visciously go about intruding on other peole's rights, privacy and space and expect the same. I tell said goose so. And assert that if they knew me they would not victimize me so. They reply, I don't want to know you! You may be a world celebrity and a psychologist and all....
EGAD!!!!! and ACK!!!!
Me? World Celebrity? Psychologist??
I am NO celebrity, and am not a psychologist!!!
So then... by now I begin to tire and feel helpless. In empathizing with the freak, I think well they did send me my e mail... so I send a little Thank You for the e mail message... and then feel like I am succumbing to Stockholme's Syndrome.... and get myself all worked up again!
By now, the goose sends me a message to the effect off, "people like you should know better..."
People like me?
Who are people like me??
I ask why? What is wrong with me? I am a perfectly fine person... I am nice and likable even... I feel a funny coming on..... so I see the humor and I laugh.... If I did not laugh I'd have to at the very least sob! LAughing is more pleasant so I choose that....but I ask, what are people like me...
Apparently, the cretin thinks that people like me aka celebrities and psychologists... we deal with freaks and geeks all day so we should be more tolerant... cretin insists that it is a compliment and that an dmirable quality of mine is being admired.
Now I feel like a goose. HONK!! WHAT?? I am stuck in bizzaro world!!! My e mail hijacker/hacker is actually complimenting me... by hacking my e mail?
This is really messed up.
I begin to tire of it. Like I've often stated. I get bored easily. I detest being controlled and manipulated and this is beginning to stink of all of the above!!!
So I state very politely, "you know... you're gonna do what you're gonna do! so go ahead..." and that's that. I am DONE!!!
NO more.
See I am the kind of person if I was held at gunpoint (and I have been....)(another story... I'll blog about it too...) I would NOT turn over my wallet. I'd say shoot! BEcause I'd NOT let someone control me... (Of course the problem is, I'd also probably end up dead)(but what the heck... i'd get my hooras in heaven!)(incidently someone told me that the hoors are only for the males- females don't get hoors!!! we just get our hubbies!!!!!! GASP! what? the hubby-or in my case the ex... gulp!!!!)(i know, right??!!)(so if someone has insight into this please inform me.. i am most disturbed! i want my hooras too!)
Anyway... so I am thinking.... I have done battle with monkeys!! (true story!! I swear it!!!)(that too shall be blogged about!)(ahem... soon!)and I have karate chopped muggers (also true! and coming soon also!!!)so what the dickens is a hacker??
HAHA!!
I EAT HACKERS FOR DINNER!
I GOBBLE THEM UP!
I FEE
I FO
I FUM!
I Laugh...
I know...sigh... what else am I going to do right?
I sigh...
I think...
Well monsigneur goose will do what they'll do!
I have no control over it.
So this is what I do...
I take a deep breath and I let it go!
Que sera sera...
Whatever will be will be...
I will not be controlled and harrassed....
so there.
And I click me machine shut!
And what d'you know!!
My e mail is back on. Freakozoid sends me a new password. Their IP address is from the UK... hmmmmmm......
But really... get a life goose! And leave mine alone....
PS: I named them CASH.... I figured Cash is a pretty unisex name right... could be male or female and I have no clue what the gender of said hacker is/was.... so I named them CASH!!
Sheesh!
The craziest things happen to me...
I kid you not!
Insane....
18 comments:
Well..don't worry too much dear..such things are part and parcel of being a celebrity, being famous and being sought after by a large number of people (Unfortunately that includes some of the biggest losers on earth as well..)..Same thing happened to Sarah Palin as well (if that provides some comfort!!)
thanks hasan... i feel better today but you should've seen me yesterday afternoon. it was freaky to say the least! but i seriously am no celebrity :P
!!
and oohhh look you are a software architecht! what should i do to stay hacker free?
Unfortunately, I am no expert on information security. But here is some info that might be helpful.
There are different types of hacker attacks..Two most common are
a) Brute Force Attack: This is when a software is used to enter hundreds of combinations per minute in the hope of hitting the jack pot.
The way to protect against such attacks is to avoid using common words as password and try using combination password that includes all of the following: capital letters,non-capital letters, Digits and symbols. A password that uses all of the above is hardest to break.
b)Second common attack focuses on the mechanisms that allow users to retrieve their passwords if they forget them..like secret questions. You must ensure that your secret question is such that its answer can not be guessed easily.
About your other comment, I think atleast for people who watched you on TV, you are a celebrity, whether you accept it or not. I can understand that you have come a long way since then and your current priorities in life are different, but the legacy of ABC will always remain with you (thats not a bad thing..is it?)
Oops, I forgot a key recommendation... the password should not be less than 8 characters long (longer is better)
at least u got your email back....
i once had to switch my email due to hacking....long time ago... but still get furious about it.
and all those events... held on gun point, monkey fight , muggers.... god what on earth u ve been into girl :) im sure would be interesting to know.
and about hooras.... dont know about them but do know hubby will only be given if we want them back... relief .. :)
oh this is truly unimaginable.
speechless...
when would people get a life of their own?
and I think the tips provided by Hasan are very genuine.
we hope and pray that such an incident never happens to any of us (again).
and especially to yoy Shahnaz
we would surely not want to miss such a cherishable blog.
and surely, the legacy of ABC lives and would live on for times to come.
you rock shahnaz.....keep the blogs coming.
glad u got it sorted yaar... i had jus sent an email to ur other account askin if it had...
hmm... why did it happen... anythin could b there...
hasan... i do not think a brute force attack would hav worked because if you keep tryin false passwords with hotmail it will lock the account up and send you a reset password on your alternate email...
could be the kind of attack where somthin is downloaded onto your pc via email n went on...
or... could hav jus entered throo the secret question path !!!
i jus had sombody try my gmail account like 5 min ago... creeeeeepy !!!
Ladies,
Believe me you dont have to worry about getting together with your men in the hereafter. Just imagine, they will be given the option to choose between either their wives or the hoors. Who do you think they will opt for?
But on a serious note, I have always had a theory that the genders as we know them will cease to exist in the hereafter, since the only utility of the genders in this world is procreation which will no longer be needed. So Hoor is not a gender specific term and just specifies a pure and sincere companion. I recently found out that Dr. Zakir Naik agrees:
http://www.islamicvoice.com/october.2000/religion.htm
hasan
lol celebrity wise... i like to think i am one to my peeps! they certainly should celebrate me right? as a side note i celebrate my peeps too! especially me near and dear friends! i would be nowhere with the constant support of friends and family. so thanks...
hasan
thanks for the tips mate!
gooni...
yaar i have a crazy life! seriously.. lol...
i'll post all about it soon.
ugghani
thanks for the vote of confidence pal...!
hasan and gooni
regarding hoors and hooras!
phew! i am glad. okay goodness here i come. i am working my way to my hooras!
one must look like brad pitt!!!! maybe it could be brad pitt!
i need to blog about hoors...
:P
This is hilarious to read, because the exact same thign happened to me. My FB was hacked, which had ALL my pictures, and my hotmail, where I had all my important emails. I sent the hacker an email, hoping to gain my password back along with sympathy. It kinda worked, though he said my cousin asked him to hack my account...I doubt it, cuz he hacked her I.D. too.
People can be evil and weird, or both.
i am not a techie but here's my bit:
1. do a complete scan of your computer with an antivirus program (e.g. Avast) and with an anti spyware program (e.g. AdAware).
make a habit of doing that on a regular basis, once in 30 or 60 days, for example. if something like a keylogger is on your computer then it doesnt matter how good your passwords are.
2. beware of phishing - very common method of stealing passwords. (it typically involves a forged website and social engineering to get your personal information such as password, bank account etc)
what you can do is:
- never click on a link in unsolicited emails. actually don't open such emails.
- check the url in the address bar before entering your password, unless you have typed the url yourself. (hotmail.com, gmail.com etc are genuine but forged could be anything similar like hotmeil.com, gmail1.com. Plus, it should be https. and not just http.
3. when using public internet, make sure your windows firewall is turned on. and avoid checking your mails if you can. do it on your cellphone's data plan instead.
the reason is that it is very easy for a techie sitting in the same starbucks outlet, for example, to sniff your internet traffic and see what it is. you can get some VPN service to securely use public internet by i guess you'd rather save those bucks.
4. if you use wi-fi at home, make sure that the wireless is encrypted / password protected.
the rest is mostly common sense and has been pretty much covered by others above. using a passphrase instead of a password is more secure. avoid installing cracked software since that can install spyware with it. keep your windows etc upated.
since you are a celebrity and a girl you would attract a lot more hackers than an ordinary person. :)
here is more on phishing:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/phishing/identify.mspx
Post a Comment