J Kid, May I have a one qwestion....

[Nanook]

A while back I decided to go with my phone company internet service, plus I wanted to keep the service I've had for a few years now, so as to not have to go through the hassle of changing email address and everything until I was sure I was happy with the newer service...

I put the one service on a limited time for half the money and mostly only checked email on it, and another thing, I was only home for about 5 of that month's days....

I get this call from the first provider, the one that I had put the limited time on and they were wanting to know my CC card # which struck me as pretty OFF the wall, since they had been using it to bill me for YEARS now. Hmm......

Then came the clincher:

They told me my bill was over 600.00 for that month on oeverages!!! OMG!

OK, now I hope I explained that well enough for an answer to the qwestion.....

Was someone likely accessing/using my account? Is it possible that if this person had access to my account could they then access what is on my computer same way? OH OH that two qwestion, sorry but mi need to find out this if I can.

I WAS able to correct the billing problem and have the bill erased (wipe sweat off brow)...

And, in the end I stayed with the first company as the provider is much better than what I got from the phone company but yeah, I changed passwords and made sure they noted my account that no informaton is to be given out to anyone but strictly me yada yada yada...

I noticed somewhere in the control panel or in my computer that there was a box to check which would enable remote viewing or something like that and it was checked. As you can see, I am suspicious that someone both accessed my account, AND possibly my hard drive information. Oh, and by the way I have dial up if that matters....

Thanks in advance for any information J Kid! Notice mi spell yer name correct and nah worry mi nah go talk about car battery and alla dem ting whe jus bring ya chubble....

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid, May I have a one qwestion....

IM, yuh can always talk tuh mi bout any subject, any time. If mi noh know di answer mi wi lie.............aaaah... mi mean ask smaddi else or try point yuh inna di right direction. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Well now bout this present issue:

You did not say if you had wireless hookup at all?

Also, are you behind a fire wall?

Is your service provider web login page secured and encrypted (the lock at the bottom of the screen closes when you go to type in personal info on the web site)?

Have you ever sent them Any of your information via E-mail?

Do you regularly clean your PC with Anti-virus, Spybpt and Ad-Aware?

Before now, did you use the same password over and over again?

Are you the ONLY one that uses your PC?

Also what is not clear from what you explain is, if you agreed to let them charge you per usage? Do you pay by the minutes or hours, or do you pay each time you log on, or you dont pay extra until you go over a certain anount of minutes? What is the monthly amt you were suppose to be paying? Is this account strictly for web browsing and E-mail or are your phone or cable cost included on the same bill?

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid, May I have a one qwestion....

OK, I will try to answer your qwestions best I can..

You did not say if you had wireless hookup at all?
No, I do not have wireless connection

Also, are you behind a fire wall?
Just the firewall that came with my Dell (also XP)

Is your service provider web login page secured and encrypted (the lock at the bottom of the screen closes when you go to type in personal info on the web site)?
Hmmm...not sure what you mean, but I have the dial up dialouge box set to reamin accessible, I am now the only one using this computer (this was NOT the case earlier this year though)...someone else had access to my computer and this computer was also on a network with another computer, this one was the "Mothership"

Have you ever sent them Any of your information via E-mail?
If you mean the ISP provider, no...

Do you regularly clean your PC with Anti-virus, Spybpt and Ad-Aware?
Yes...

Before now, did you use the same password over and over again?
Yes, but I have changed it after finding out about the 600.00 worth of usage!

Are you the ONLY one that uses your PC?
Yes, but, earlier this year, no, someone else did...

Also what is not clear from what you explain is, if you agreed to let them charge you per usage? Do you pay by the minutes or hours, or do you pay each time you log on, or you dont pay extra until you go over a certain anount of minutes? What is the monthly amt you were suppose to be paying? Is this account strictly for web browsing and E-mail or are your phone or cable cost included on the same bill?

I had started a plan that allowed 10 hours of usage for 10.00 a month, so I only used it for email and then I'd disconnect and go to the other provider for my surfing, so my guess is I used about 2 hours of the 10 allowed. There is only a dial up connection here and the 10 hours of usage included surfing/and/or email, but I was worried about running over so I didn't use it except to check email...

Anyway, what I am trying to find out if someone who had previous access to my computer and log in passwords could have taken that information and used it to gain access INTO my computer from another location using my ISP log in...

Thanks J Kid for your answer! Whew!

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

It is all straightenend out now though, I have changed all passwords and log in information.

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid, May I have a one qwestion....

What happens if you go over 10 hours, what is the rate then?

Yes, they can access your PC if you are part of a network or when you log onto the internet, If file sharing is turned on.

Actually if they hav your logon ID and password information they can log on to your ISP account from anywhere in the world, they don't need to be on your PC.

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid, May I have a one qwestion....

J Kid, I am not sure what the rate for going over 10 hours is, I just know that somehow someone used my account and ran up the bill to $600USD. Thankfully, the provider erased that charge, and I re-did my passwords and alla that so now I must be safe from being hacked in to, I HOPE!!! :verymad:

They did say they couldn't trace where it came from though...

You did answer my question and thank you as I have been wondering if that did happen. At least I did find out and put a stop to it. If I hadn't messed with my rate plan I may never have found out.

Can I ask you one more question? I thought only computers hooked to cable or DSL without a firewall was vulnerable to being hacked, or your imformation can be accessed, but the other day someone told me it is dangerous to just leave your computer online when you're not using it, because even on dial up hackers can access your CC card info and such. Is this true? I almost always leave my computer online so I don't have to have every two minutes interrupted by telemarketers.

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid, May I have a one qwestion....

Anytime you go online you make yourself a potential tatget. That being said, the big difference with dial-up is that you eventually log off and during that time, you are safe from direct attack. However, they could have deposited something on malacious, or probed your PC during that brief period while you were online. You in effect have removed that intrim dial-up protection by keeping the PC constantly dialed on to the internet. That is why it is important to protect your PC content at all times, through a variety of measures.

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid, May I have a one qwestion....

OK J Kid, gotcha, I learned a lot in this thread, thanks again!