Computer hacking is a crime in the U.S. and many countries, but that doesn’t stop the cyberpunks, does it?
When my email account was hacked into, back in September, I knew it immediately, thanks to friends and family members who messaged me when an email popped up in their inboxes, describing a sad family vacation in Spain, how I was robbed and needed money.
I mean, really … does anyone fall for it and start wiring money? Wouldn’t I have taken the time to let folks know I’m traveling to Spain? And if I were robbed, why not call the bank and procure more money?
Not to mention, how many U.S. tourists travel overseas carrying loads of cash? A very outdated lie, to say the least, this “wire money immediately” business.
Anyway, back to my hacking situation.
Luckily, I have good tech support. They put my computer on a secured server location (somewhere in India) while dealing with the hackers (somewhere in Africa), while I was sitting in front of my computer in Southern California.
The hackers these days aren’t people, you know, but servers looking to infect systems by changing the configuration of codes and passwords.
The hackers/servers deleted everything in my ten-year-old email files — inbox, sent items, drafts. What a headache.
No one fell for their “send money” ploy, and aside from emails and writing information saved in the folders, they found nothing worth their time and effort but apparently had to deleted everything in order to leave no trace.
The hacking was reported, and I lost ten-years worth of emails and files.
I learned a lesson, sure. I added seals of security; I call the techs to run scans on my computer often, do it myself from time to time, change passwords regularly, keep an eye on my email account for anything suspicious, check in with friends about questionable electronic activities, etc.
This takes a big chunk of time out of an already busy day, but whatta you gonna do?
How do you protect yourself from hackers?
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Photos credit: hacker image, by encryptedtbn; “Hacker Inside”, parody of “Intel Inside” logo, by Dagmar d’Surreal, from Wikimedia Commons.
Silvia Writes 
I’d always thought hackers were nasty people, intent on causing misery. But no–they’re servers, devoid of personality. That’s a relief. ;-)
They are robots, but I’m guessing someone operates them, Francene.
I’ve been hacked a couple of times, and from the most recent experience found it humorous that sites such as facebook, and twitter send you an email about your password being changed with a link to change it back, but amazon and walmart online do not. You would think those that actually sell items would help you protect your information. I now do not leave any payment information online, and change my passwords on a regular basis.
Stacey, sounds bad. Yes, you’d think companies we entrust with our credit card information try a little more.
So far, knock on wood, I haven’t been hacked. Thanks for visiting my blog!
That’s great, Roberta. Thanks for stopping by.
That sounds horrible!! Makes me think I’d better be more careful.
Not a bad plan, Marie. Pays to be careful in cases like these.
Sometimes hackers are people. I had a phone call from somebody saying they were Microsoft and while they tried getting informaiton and get into my computer they told me what I had to do to prevent it. I fell for it a little bit the luckily Norton kept them out.
Thanks for visiting Tattered Past.
Scary. Thanks for sharing, Rita, and for visiting.
Oh no, 10 years of emails! Damn you, hackers.
I got an email from a friend that she was stuck in Spain and needed money as well. Of course I didn’t believe it and texted her immediately. None of her friends fell for it as well.
Apparently, that’s their go-to lie — the Spain vacation. Thanks, Dee.
So sorry about the loss of your files! What a disaster. Loved the Garage Rock post – and yes, despite my somewhat advanced age, I do remember GLORIA! Rock on!
Thanks, Noelle. Oh, well, no fun, but they were just emails after all. Glad you liked the garage rock post. Gloria rocks!
Oh Silvia, What a pain that had to be. We had the same thing happen through facebook but caught it as we were being hacked and purchased identity protection and online backup that day. So sorry you lost all your files. God bless, Maria at Delight Directed Living
Thanks, Maria. Glad you caught it on time. One for the good guys!
Hackers haven’t caused me problems yet, but I try to be vigilant about suspicious-looking emails, especially with attachments.
Always good to be vigilant, Bob. Nice to see your comment here.
Crazy hackers! Great reading, I will look more into securing my emails!
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http://www.wearinglemon.blogspot.com
This is so scary. I change my passwords often and use lots of random characters and letters, I use a good virus protection program, avoid websites that look “off,” and don’t click on stray links. Even then, I think it’s so impossible to escape the hackers forever. Makes me want to log off and go read a book.
Since my computer died last year I’ve been a back-up obsessive. Your experience sounds horrible.
Pauleen at Tropical Territory
A to Z 2013
Sorry you were hacked. I try and run virus scans and have complicated passwords to make it more difficult to hack. They are clever so always good to be vigilant.