[MooseMk]

I own a Dell XPS M140 and have the following networking hardware on an unsecured line: Verizon 2200 modem, Linksys RTP300 router; Netgear WPN802 v.2 WAP

A hacker, perhaps a keyblogger, is monitoring my every move and keystroke (I have logged on via unsecure wi-fi network). This person takes over the system, while 'm online and has deleted or overridden programs, tracking logs and hardware.

I have backed up my software, my logs and I'm ready for suggestions and advice on how to deal with it. Would setting up a secured system prevent hackers / crackers and other opportuniistic individuals?

Please advise,

Thank you,

Moose

[lotuseclat79]

Originally Posted by MooseMk

I own a Dell XPS M140 and have the following networking hardware on an unsecured line: Verizon 2200 modem, Linksys RTP300 router; Netgear WPN802 v.2 WAP

A hacker, perhaps a keyblogger, is monitoring my every move and keystroke (I have logged on via unsecure wi-fi network). This person takes over the system, while 'm online and has deleted or overridden programs, tracking logs and hardware.

I have backed up my software, my logs and I'm ready for suggestions and advice on how to deal with it. Would setting up a secured system prevent hackers / crackers and other opportuniistic individuals?

Please advise,

Thank you,

Moose

Hi Moose,

The first thing I would do is change the default password for your router which is a common attack vector. You can probably disconnect from the Internet to do this, and probably should, once you find out how to do it.

The second thing I would do is configure your router firewall to stealth all of your computer ports (1-65535). You can check how stealthed your ports are by downloading and running nmap with nmapfe (nmap's front end gui) against your localhost computer.

I would visit the Linksys (were they bought out by Cisco?) website and download the specific PDF manual for your router, and do the same for your Netgear equipment to get the information you need to protect and secure your equipment.

-- Tom

P.S. Use another computer if you have no other safe way of getting the documents and save it on media (CD) that you can read locally with your computer offline.

[lunarlander]

Since you say he can see your every move.; I would disconnect from the network, backup all documents, photos and bookmarks and wipe your machine, then reinstall windows, then do windows update.
After you have a clean machine, then go and secure your network with a wired connection, ie changing the router admin password and add WPA2 encryption.

[taskmgr]

You don't absolutely have to slash and burn your machine, but you do need to get whatever backdoor malware he's undoubtedly installed out of your computer before you connect it back to the internet, or it'll be a waste of time.

With that said, you should make your first priority cutting off his access to your computer, and then work on eliminating his backdoors. To cut him off, use a software firewall like ZoneAlarm (not the integrated windows firewall). If you don't know how to configure a software firewall, and don't know who to ask, you might want to consider just reformatting your disk and making sure to install a firewall before you reconnect it to the internet.