Tech Talk: So you've been hacked

WAITSBURG-It happens often enough, scrolling through one's timeline to find a friend or acquaintance posting about their accounts having been hacked, but has it ever happened to you?

Once in 2005 my eBay account was hacked into and subsequent attempts were made to use my sixteen-digit debit card combination at a few gas stations in Florida. Ah, but the joke was on the aspiring thieves. There was no money in that account. No nefarious gasoline expenditures for you!

The fraudulent charges were declined each time and thank goodness, too, because back then online commerce was only beginning to become the staple it is in our lives now. Personal fraud investigation was in its infancy, so there would have been no clear path to, nor guarantee of recovering any funds lost.

It's funny how even now I don't partake in eBay bids, not even a little bit. They've probably updated their security and privacy practices more than a dozen times since then, but once scorned, certain practices are forever distrusted.

It seemed like for a while there (in the 90s and early 00s), every science fiction movie had a reference to 'hacking the mainframe.' It's easy to understand why the bad guys go after the mainframe. In movies it is where all top-level secrets, nuclear codes and access to the world's money reside.

Nowadays you are the mainframe. That is to say the 'assets' at risk are your friends, your audience. What's at stake is the relationships you uphold.

I have a friend whose family had a major falling out after they thought she commented negatively in response to a post and, because of this, was shunned. Family members made excuses not to meet her son. Now, considering the restrictions on travel due to safety concerns, they might not have a chance to meet for years and years.

And it's happening right here. Recently, as in just this past week a Waitsburger, who kindly wishes to remain anonymous, had their identity taken and used to create a false Instagram account. That account "slid into my DMs" as they say, by sending messages through Instagram's Direct Mail. Using a profile picture people who knew the victim would recognize, and a username that was similar enough to the real thing. They asked if I'd heard about a humanitarian relief program, one that I had, in fact, heard of and as far as I can tell is not affiliated with a scam in any way.

Our Waitsburger friend is someone I know well enough to have already had their phone number programmed in my phone and we were previously connected via Facebook, so the interaction was already suspicious, but not altogether unbelievable that they would choose to communicate through DM.

Feeling around in the dark to poke the bear, so to speak, I replied to the message referring to Waitsburger's grandkids in general terms, expecting a very specific anecdotal response. What I got back was vague, but intelligible chatter.

At no point in our correspondence did this hacker attempt to get me to click any links, nor share any personal information. Perhaps there's a certain number of exchanges before the scam becomes clear.

Overall, what hackees seem to appreciate most is the truth prevailing. If you suspect a social media account of someone you know has been hacked, reach out through an alternative means of communication for verification. They may not even know.

I was able to quickly and easily take a screenshot of the conversation and send that through a text message to the Waitsburger straightaway. I was not the first to notify them of the hack, and precautions were already underway to correct the error. As far as we can tell, no harm was done.

Once you have confirmed a fraudulent account, it is important to mark that user as spam so that the platform, such as Instagram or Facebook, is made aware.

To lower your risk of becoming a victim of social media identity theft, limit the number of devices you're logged in on. Change passwords frequently and keep them as unique as possible.

Try to create passwords in groups so that they're similar enough to remember, but unique enough that if one account became compromised, the others would still maintain security.

Another great way to avoid scams is to never click a link you don't recognize. Use the information toggle feature to read the full email address messages originate from.

Always employ your best judgement on the internet and surf safely.

How to find who sent an email in Gmail:

Hover (without clicking) your cursor over the name of the sender. Details about the person appear on a card with options to save the address to your contacts and more.

Below the nickname of the original sender and beside the nicknames of other recipients, find the triangular menu which will reveal further details. If you hover over this triangle the words Show Details appear. Click to reveal the full details and ensure that the address is one you trust before clicking any links in the message.

Most email services have similar functions to allow you to "hover" the cursor over an email nickname or address to reveal the actual address without first opening a suspect email. If you have questions about a specific email service please feel free to email me at brianna@waitsburgtimes.com.