I believe my computer has been hacked.

I belong to a google group and receive emails from the group. I was told by the adminstrator (University of Illinois) that my computer was responsible for sending out spam and that I should change my password. Excatly what should I do if my computer has been hacked? I use yahoo for my email and sometimes directly from my mac. I did see that my "Console" showed up on my dashboard and several lines said "swallowed up". If anyone has an explanation as to what may have happed and how to fix it I would appreciate it.

I doubt your computer has been hacked, it's more likely that your email account has been hacked. There's big business in firstly finding email addresses and secondly cracking them, either through Windows malware, password guessing or exploits against the email provider. Change your email password, and to be sure, your Mac's password.

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How do I know If my computer has been hacked?

I think my Mac just got hacked into. I was working on a doc. that had personnel information- names. Phone #s and my home street address. my mac book pro froze up and when it unfroze, all of the names, phone#s and my address changed to ?/-\|# After I stared at the screen w disbelief for less than 1 sec. Word closed it down. After 2 min. Word brought the 2 word doc. I was working on back onto the screen. I looked at the personnel info, and saw the names, phone numbers and my street address in numbers and words. It looked like as if nobody touched my Mac. What should I do? I need help badly. If my computer has been hacked, the information they took, can they steal identity, credit card #s with just phone #s and first&last names besides my street address. I havent touched my computer since thus happened. I'm my iPhone. Should I turn off my computer? Also ididnt save the doc. I was working on. a box came up and said "this file is read-only. To save a copy, click OK and give the document a new namein the Save dialog box( AutoRecovery save of document1)". What should I do? I'm not making this up. I watched everything without realizing what happened. Should I have turned my computer off while it was in the middle of the proscess? Help! Help!

You have not been hacked. Something went wrong with Word and it crashed, and something must have reopened Word. (The system will usually ask if you want to reopen a crashed app... did you see such a message?) Word must have simply reopened the docs you had open when it crashed.
It's actually quite difficult to hack a Mac, and pretty much requires you to help out by opening it up for potential access by hackers.

How to detect if my computer has been hacked

I received an "error message" today on my MacBook Pro indicating that someone else was using the same IP address as my computer on my network. A little while later a friend forwarded an email to us that looks like it cloned an email account. I'm curious if anyone knows if these events might be related, and if so, how you can check to see if your computer has been hacked? Thanks much!
Georgebob

The "same IP address" error is pretty common. It pretty much never indicates your computer has been hacked. If you have lots of devices on your local network, this can happen. I assume you're using DHCP but this depends on your router (Airport Extreme, Linksys, other?) etc. I hope your wireless network is encrypted (preferably with WPA2); if your wireless network is not encrypted then you may have 47 of your neighbors and 4 people in cars out on the street surfing **** on your Internet connection and downloading illegal material. But that's not a hacked Mac, that's just bad form on your part ;-)
As far as the forwarded email: I'm unsure what you're referring to. Looks like it cloned what email account?
At any rate, no, I don't think the events are related. Duplicate IP addresses can happen due to DHCP leases and sleeping machines and having iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and Macs on the same network. The machines will work around it and it's rarely a sign of being hacked if you have control over your network.

I believe my BlackBerry has been HACKED

This may sound crazy. I've been using Blackberry for 7 years and have never encountered something like this. I woke up to my alarm last week and as I reached for it I noticed a messaged had popped up on my screen that said "Your phone has been hacked" with an exclamation mark inside a Triangle beside it. I read the msg at the same moment I touched my phone to turn off my alarm and the message disapearred. Rubbing my eyes I thought I was seeing things.
Last night Microsoft outlook mailed me to inform me my account had been accessed from another country. I changed ALL my passwords immediately and ONLY entered the new passwords into my Blackberry to re-sync my accounts. An hour ago I just got an email from a different email account saying my other email had been accessed. But the ONLY place I'd entered the NEW password for this other email account had been on my blackberry. Whoever accessed my other account already had my NEW password, and the only place I entered that new password was on my blackberry device.
I now believe the message I saw on my phone that morning was actually there and I don't know what to do! Is it possible for a Blackberry to display that message to a user? Please help!

If the messages are in your email, these are very common scams.
If you have a popup directly on your desktop of the Blackberry phone when not running an application this is very strange. This should never happen! If it is in an email, then it is obvious it is email content. If the popup is in a software then it is the software that is the problem.
If I was to see a popup on the desktop of a Blackberry device, I would wipe the phone and re-install the operating system. Using the Link software backup the user files first. If your data is not important you can skip the backup. First make sure your phone is synced with some type of service to preserve your email addresses. You can re-install the OS using the Link software. This is sort of a long process, but not too difficult to do.
I know a lot of people including myself who get these scams. I just hope you never answered to any of these, and NEVER clicked on any links and fill out their forms.
With your Blackberry phone, as long you use original Blackberry software and NEVER follow instrcutions from Scam email you should be safe. If you ever filled out any of these Scam forms you very quickly must change your passwords.
With your phone or computer NEVER open any emails, and especially attachments unless you are sure the source is safe.
The email services, financial services, operating systems services, and distributors will never send you emails asking about passwords and personal information. The only time you would receive an email from any of these services is if you solicited to have an email from them.
If you are installing Android software be cautious. Many Android programs can be a security issue with the phone. The whole idea of the Blackberry phone is for the security. Using Android software does add some risk.
I have been told the safest download sites are 1mobile and Amazon for Android programs to be used on the Blackberry phone. But, there are no absolute guarantees.
When I first got my Passport, I tried an Android software that looked interesting to me. I downloaded it from the Google server for Android programs. The phone started to work very slow, and the program was displaying banners on the screen when I was using the program. It was a free chess game. I tried to uninstall this game and it would not go out! I had a backup from before I installed this program. The best I could do to get rid of it was to wipe the phone and re-install the OS. This fixed it.
I hope all this helps you out. I am a user like anyone else, and when i have time I participate in these groups. In my family we have a lot of Blackberry phones. We like this phone a lot.
Jerry G.

How do I know if my computer has been hacked into?

I am having two issues with my iMac. One is with my wireless -- in the past few days I've received a few times an IP address error, which seems to be solved by renewing the DHCP lease and restarting. Also, at the login screen when I restart, it takes two tries to log in -- on the first one, my password only partially registers and the screen "bounces", then the second try works. Could this mean that my computer has been compromised? We had some workmen alone in our flat while we were away recently, so there are a few people who've had access to the physical machine as well. Thanks for any help.

You have not been hacked. Something went wrong with Word and it crashed, and something must have reopened Word. (The system will usually ask if you want to reopen a crashed app... did you see such a message?) Word must have simply reopened the docs you had open when it crashed.
It's actually quite difficult to hack a Mac, and pretty much requires you to help out by opening it up for potential access by hackers.

HT5622 my friend believes her phone has been hacked as her ex partner has read all her messages from people for the last week how is this possible?

my friend has an iphone 4 and believes her messages on her phone have been hacked as and ex boyfriend has contacted her telling her who she has spoken to and read the message she has for the past week, is this possible and how can she stop this?
Thanks

You're welcome.
Ask her if they shared an Apple ID to download iTunes Store content such as apps and music?
If not, he knows the password for her Apple ID email address.
She can create a new Apple ID with this link.
https://appleid.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyAppleId.woa/wa/createAppleIdForIK B?localang=en_US&path=
She needs to create a new email address first as well.
Tell her not to use any security questions that her ex knows or may know.
After she has created a new Apple ID, on her iPhone go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > Apple ID.
Select the Apple ID and at the menu window that appears, select Sign Out.
She signs back in at the same location with her new Apple ID to register her iPhone phone number with her new Apple ID and this will prevent her ex from having access to all iMessages that she sends and receives.

Is there some way to test to see if my computer has been hacked?

Can someone tell me how I can test my computer to determine if it has or is being hacked?
Thanks

lindafromwhittier wrote:
Dave
...what is filevault? And now that you know the firewall was off, does that mean it could have been hacked?
Not Dave, but I'll try to give you some answers.
In System Preferences->Security click on the "?" in the lower left hand corner to learn how to make your computer more secure. When you finish doing that type "About FileVault" in the search box in the upper left corner of Mac Help to learn what filevault is. It has been known to cause issues with backups and if you forget your password there is no way to recover the information in your home folder. They have revamped this capabiltiy in Lion (FileVault 2) to improve it, but I don't think users have had much of a chance to check it out to see how capable it is. Since I don't use it I hesitate to comment.
It's slightly more probable that you have been hacked with the firewall off through remote access, but now much.
Since I already paid for MacKeeper- thinking it was an Apple product, and seeing what is known about their ethics - which does matter to me, can I really get rid of it, thoroughly?
MacKeeper support says that you can completely remove it by dragging it to the trash and answering a question about why you don't want it. After you do that, the uninstaller is supposed to remove everything. Users have found that their keychain still contained passwords for mackeeper or zeobit which shouldn't cause any problems. A user the other day said they searched their hard drive and found three left over files, but I don't think they ran the uninstaller. Depending on what features you activate you may have to Log out or restart your computer to completely stop the processes running in the background, but the uninstaller should have taken care of that, as well.
If you decide to uninstall it and want a list of the known places to look for files let me know and I'll provide you with the list I have.

Just found out my computer has been hacked through firefox. do you have a scan to prevent this from happening

Facebook informed me that my account had been accessed from somewhere in Washington using my browser, Firefox.

Thanks for your comments. I generally keep it quite secure. I did open it up for a short time to serve some e-mail accounts. But, shut that down when all this happened. I also do intend to become somewhat of an expert on this, and I have read a lot on many sites over the past few days before posting here. However nothing I could find answered my questions directly.
As for the post being general, the first 3 paragraphs were to describe what happened. I just figured that the background might be helpful. The question(s) themselves were in the fourth paragraph. I guess I might have been vague. So, let me try to restate them again.
My questions are as follows: (1) do the facts that I have relayed give a strong indication that my computer was hacked into or could they just be erroneous behavior? (2) How can I tell if someone has logged into my system (whether they hacked in or not); and (3) where can I find in the system when someone has logged in and for how long they were logged into my computer (again, whether they had permission or not)? Seems like the answer to both of these questions should be in a log file somewhere.
A bonus would be if I could track where they were and what files they accessed, but I believe that is not possible under OS X, without some extra software that I did not have installed at the time.
Thanks again. I appreciate any input here. It is unnerving to have someone access your computer without permission.

I think my computer has been hacked.

Safari cant verify any websites at all, weird things keep changing and there is a new guest account that I can not go on. Also, I tried to do a security update and I would not work. Help please im just a teenage girl that knows little to nothing about computers!

Thanks for your comments. I generally keep it quite secure. I did open it up for a short time to serve some e-mail accounts. But, shut that down when all this happened. I also do intend to become somewhat of an expert on this, and I have read a lot on many sites over the past few days before posting here. However nothing I could find answered my questions directly.
As for the post being general, the first 3 paragraphs were to describe what happened. I just figured that the background might be helpful. The question(s) themselves were in the fourth paragraph. I guess I might have been vague. So, let me try to restate them again.
My questions are as follows: (1) do the facts that I have relayed give a strong indication that my computer was hacked into or could they just be erroneous behavior? (2) How can I tell if someone has logged into my system (whether they hacked in or not); and (3) where can I find in the system when someone has logged in and for how long they were logged into my computer (again, whether they had permission or not)? Seems like the answer to both of these questions should be in a log file somewhere.
A bonus would be if I could track where they were and what files they accessed, but I believe that is not possible under OS X, without some extra software that I did not have installed at the time.
Thanks again. I appreciate any input here. It is unnerving to have someone access your computer without permission.

I think my computer has been hacked, help please?

Hi,
A couple of days a go, after having my laptop for nearly two years, I have started to have major issues with it. When I log on, as soon as I get on to my desktop, without any encouragement, it starts doing its own thing such as the mouse moving around in a very jagged manner and generally resisting anything I attempt to do. It is making my computer incredably slow and its so frustrating. Even worse, I am frightened I may have picked up something and that someone is controlling my machine but the issue is I know so very little about computers, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have changed browsers (used to use Safari, now I use FireFox) and have backed up all my files on to a hard drive and am thinking about restoring the mac to it's factory settings but I am unsure whether this would mean I would lose all my applications which I desperately can't afford to do. It only happens occasionally, so at the present it is fine but it occurs out of the blue and is very unnerving. I have two anti virus programmes on here: ClamXav and iAntiVirus which suggest that there are no virus found on the computer. I have also been monitoring the activity monitor and although nothing has particularly drawn much attention, it can be fair to say I am not entirely sure what I am looking for.
Is there any way to double check to see as to whether my computer is infected and if so what would be my next move?
Muchly appreciated

The anti-virus software is not the problem. Yes, Shootist is correct that AV software can be almost as much of a problem as getting infected with malware, but ClamXav is one that is good. Having two isn't so good, though, so ditch iAntivirus at least. And see my Mac Malware Guide for more information to protect yourself from malware.
Similarly, the firewall is also not the problem. You almost certainly do not need a firewall. See Do I need a firewall? for more information on that.
Most likely, you are not being hacked. If I understand you correctly, it doesn't seem like the mouse has any purpose to its actions - is that correct? If so, my first thought would be that your battery has gone bad and is expanding, and in the process is pressing on the underside of the trackpad. That is a known cause of this kind of behavior. Though I must admit I've never seen a battery expand, it does happen. I'd advise getting the machine looked at by Apple ASAP.
If the movements do appear purposeful, someone could be playing a prank on you. Check System Preferences -> Sharing and make sure everything there is turned off. If Screen Sharing is on, someone may have been using that to access your machine, most likely someone who knows your MobileMe password (if you have MobileMe) or someone on the same local network that you're using.
(Note that my pages contain links to other pages that promote my services, and this should not be taken as an endorsement of my services by Apple.)

How can you find out if your computer has been hacked

For some reason, I couldn't find any information on how I can tell if someone has hacked into my computer or not.
I have an iMac:
Model Name:    iMac
Model Identifier:    iMac8,1
Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:    2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors:    1
Total Number Of Cores:    2
L2 Cache:    6 MB
Memory:    2 GB
Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
I was trying to save something on the computer and noticed that a co-worker's name was under the SHARED section in one of mu folders. He was in my computer! How can I find that information? His name was actually listed so I know he was on there. I even texted him then he stopped.
I have Verizon DSL and and older version of Norton Firewall (4).
He's my subordinate and we don't usually have problems. What do I do?

You probably made your system available to him by opening File Sharing. Open System Preferences - Sharing - File Sharing and look under Users. I you see it's open to him or everyone then highlight that and click the - symbol to remove them.
If you are using Norton then remove it following Norton's instructions. Their software tends to create more issues than it solves. OS X has a firewall built into it (System Preferences - Security - Firewall tab) so having a redundant firewall is unnecessary and a waste of system resources and a waste of money.

My computer has been hacked what do i do?

basically my problem is someone is remotely connected ot my computer through a virus and antivirus nor mac will pick it up i talked to apple and they did some troubleshooting but it only made the situation worse. He suggested that I change my IP address the computer and I was wondering how do I go about doing that.

Disconnect from the internet.
Look through your Mac and delete all potential or recently downloaded files and folders.
The best bet is make a back up of trusted files and folders then completely wipe the computer but make sure the files and folders are definately safe.

I believe some how some way my iPhone or appleID has been hacked into. My iPhone sent 3 iMessages out that I did not type or send - 2 while I was sleeping and one while I was in mid imessage conversation. Please help if you know anything about this!

I believe that my iPhone or apple ID has been hacked into. Three imessages were sent from my phone that I did not type or send - two while I was asleep at 1:15am and in the morning during an iMessage conversation. These messages were to my boyfriend about my boss. Apple and AT&T have been somewhat helpful but both are pointing fingers at the others saying they cannot track the message or see if my personal information has been compromised. I feel extremely violated because this hacker knows who my boyfriend is and who my boss is and I just started this job two weeks ago! I am about to go to the police because this person is trying to taint my good reputation and destroy my relationships at work and in my personal life. Does anyone have any incite on how this could be done and is there any way to trace where those three iMessages were generated from??

No I have my own iPhone iPad and MacBook so everything is set up on devices that are mine and as far as I know I never connected to anyone else's device and logged with my apple ID. But are you saying it is possible for someone to have obtained my apple ID and send an iMessage from their device with my contact information so it looks like it came directly from me? It's crazy I looked down at my iPhone and saw this message had just been sent that I did not type or send

If i visited a website that has been hacked by Turkis Hackers is there a security risk for my computer and online accounts?

If i visited a websited that has been hacked by Turkis Hackers is there a security risk for my computer and online accounts?

Try to rename the cert8.db file in the Firefox profile folder to cert8.db.old or delete the cert8.db file to remove intermediate certificates that Firefox has stored.
If that helped to solve the problem then you can remove the renamed cert8.db.old file.
Otherwise you can rename (or copy) the cert8.db.old file to cert8.db to restore the previous intermediate certificates.
Firefox will automatically store intermediate certificates when you visit websites that send such a certificate.
If that didn't help then remove or rename secmod.db (secmod.db.old) as well.

My computer has been infected with a Trojan Horse. It has completely taken over my Mac email account and was sending out malicious email to everyone in my address book. At the same time it infected my iPhone---I am no longer able to receive or send emai

My computer has been infected by a Trojan Horse. It has taken over my Mac email account and began sending out malicious emails to everyone in my address book. I cleared out my MAC address book and began using my AOL email account. It took a few days and then my AOL email account was infected and has now been send out malicious email to all my contacts for over a month. It has also infected my iPhone--I am no longer able to send or receive emails on my iPhone. Also, once the Trojan Horse began using my AOL email it completely blocked me from using my MAC account by sending never ending popups asking for my email password to access my MAC email account, but it never accepts my pass word. The TH has also slowed down everything on my computer. It's like I am working on an old PC with dial up connection instead of the high speed digital connection that I have. The little color wheel spins constantly as I wait for sometimes over a minute for a page to pull up. If it pulls up at all. I have tried to use the 2 disks that came with my computer to completely remove everything on my computer and then reinstall all the programs, but I am not allowed to sweep my computer clean. I thought maybe my disks that came with my computer were defective so I called Apple and they sent me 2 new disks. I am not able able to clear my computer with the 2 new disks either. I have done this before successfully so it's not something new to me. I do remember when I believe my computer became infected: I had googled an unusual sewing term, and I was opening what appeared to be legitimate sites, when all of a sudden a pop up appeared that said that my computer had been infected. I immediately shut my computer off, but it was too late. I downloaded a virus program for Mac, and it has never found a virus or problem at all. I think it is part of this Trojan Horse, but I am unable to delete it from my computer. It refuses to uninstall. The Mac Trojan Horse is real and it is terrible. If anyone has any suggestions for me I would be very appreciative,
Beth
vu

Install ClamXav and run a scan with that. It should pick up any trojans.
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I believe my computer has been hacked.

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