*sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

I'll try to keep this short.

Had $6,300 on Eurolinx when they switched networks (around the 15th of January.) After the Neteller debacle I knew it was going to be a while before new withdraw options would pop up, so I just left my money in there (wasn't playing.)

Log in around Feb. 10th, no money in the account. I talk to support, they said "You lost it." I said I haven't played a single hand in almost a month.

She gives me ip addresses of where my account was played. Someone logged in from Hayward (pretty close to me) the day before the money was lost (wasn't me, wasn't anyone I know) and then someone logged in from East Coast of Canada and lost all my money.

Here is a letter I got today from the Eurolinx CEO



"We have investigated this incident thoroughly, we do not doubt whatsoever that it is a person other than you who has been in canada playing on your account. We have done extensive analysis of the gameplay on the actual dates and found that there was no "chipdumping" taking place. This is unfortunate in that the funds are not recoverable.

We do not store or have access to our customers passwords. They are encrypted and hidden. We know with 100% certainty that our databases have not been compromised. As i mentioned to you earlier, it is a puzzling case. In most instances these cases can be tracked back to a hijacked mail account, where the password has been changed.

The culprit has gotten a hold of your password from your end!

The next step for you will have to be filing a complaint with your local police department, i also highly reccommend contacting the Canadian authorities, as well as the ISP. In most cases the Isp will require a warrant to make available the people behind an IP. With the kind of money involved here it should not be a problem.

We are available to answer any queries from law enforcement officials.

This is unfortunately all we can do from our end!

Best Regards

Jo Remme
CEO
Eurolinx LTD"


Serious posts only please, what do you guys think of going to the authorities? Has anyone ever heard of someone successfully doing this? The money isn't a fortune but was almost half my bankroll right now.

And I know you guys would love to throw a bunch of insults in, but please don't do it right now, I'm feeling really [censored] about all this. Thanks for the help guys.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

By the way, I already requested hh's, already changed my password everywhere, already froze all my other poker accounts until I find out how this happened.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

That sucks.

Is it just me or does it seem like there is A LOT more hacking going on. There have been a lot of posts at other forums talking about this.

Good luck with things. I'm not sure I'd go to the police...I doubt they'd be able to help much, but who knows?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

do you have any idea how it happened? download any programs lately? anyone use your computer?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

If you haven't ruled out a trojan/keylogger/rootkit/etc then you should know that every key stroke on that computer may be shared with "bad people".

If you can, you should shut that computer down as soon as possible until you decide what to do with it. Someone knowledgeable of computers may be able to identify the method that the hacker used, if there was one.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you haven't ruled out a trojan/keylogger/rootkit/etc then you should know that every key stroke on that computer may be shared with "bad people".


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I have dl'ed some stuff recently, but I also run Adaware regularly, have macaffee firewall and antivirus. Is this not enough?

After this [censored] happened I also got Spybot S&D. Should all this stuff have caught a keylogger? I'm pretty sure that's how they got my password.

On a related note, I've heard of a good program that generates and maintains hard to guess random passwords. Link?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

sighs...this is why you buy 1 computer and lock it down and do nothing on it except play poker. You do not surf the web, you do not check email you do nothing but play poker. So lets do some math. A new cheap computer to run 4 tables of poker = $700. You lost $6300. $6300 - $700 = $5600 you would still have now.

Maybe now you will learn and buy a separate computer.

cheers
Boon

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

First, you should never download something from stranger or from sites that you don't know about.

Second, it's good that you have security software, but I personaly reccommend that you get Zonealarm Pro and Kaspersky AV or ZA internet suite.

That's all you need to do to avoid hacking.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]

I personaly reccommend that you get Zonealarm Pro and Kaspersky AV or ZA internet suite.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, so which one of these is the absolute best, and how are they better than the programs I'm already running now?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]

Maybe now you will learn and buy a separate computer.

cheers
Boon

[/ QUOTE ]

This kind of makes sense for people w/ unlimited space, but for a lot of people, nearly everyone I'm guessing, having 2 computer setups just isn't feasible.

There HAS to be a way to just make your primary computer un-hackable.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

i am not trying to be an @ss but am being serious. I play poker on my poker machine and that is it. No web browsing, no email, no AIM chatting, no porno, and no nothing except poker. I have firewall turned on, anti-virus (nod32) and windows updates set to automatic. It would suck to lose 50k because I am to cheap to purchase another computer.

cheers
Boon

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
There HAS to be a way to just make your primary computer un-hackable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Never turn on. Not what you wanted to hear, but it's true. You will never be hack safe when playing online poker.

I would be careful what I download from what source and watch how they install the files.

Don't download everything and anything off of file sharing apps.

You got these but good to review, virus checker (scan real time all files, not just certain extensions), firewall (this is okay, but not required as a virus checker is), pick hard to figure out passwords (have letters, numbers, symbol combination), lock computer after you use it, do not let others on the same account, I create a different user account that has very limited access to files on my computer, never write down your password on paper or in a document that isn't encrypted (there are even better ways to do this).

I would change passwords at least once a year if not more.

Hopefully at least somethings to think about.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
sighs...this is why you buy 1 computer and lock it down and do nothing on it except play poker. You do not surf the web, you do not check email you do nothing but play poker. So lets do some math. A new cheap computer to run 4 tables of poker = $700. You lost $6300. $6300 - $700 = $5600 you would still have now.

Maybe now you will learn and buy a separate computer.

cheers
Boon

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow you're a dick. Could you be any more condescending and snobbish? Was that tone really necessary?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

So no one has really addressed my question of, is it ev+ to try going to the cops like the Eurolinx CEO suggested I do? Has ANYONE ever done this over a hacked online poker account? How did it turn out?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So no one has really addressed my question of, is it ev+ to try going to the cops like the Eurolinx CEO suggested I do? Has ANYONE ever done this over a hacked online poker account? How did it turn out?

[/ QUOTE ]
In the current political climate, it would almost seem to be the equivalent of complaining to the cops that someone stole your weed (although we know that's not true). I don't know. I'd be curious to hear the reaction you get from the authorities.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So no one has really addressed my question of, is it ev+ to try going to the cops like the Eurolinx CEO suggested I do? Has ANYONE ever done this over a hacked online poker account? How did it turn out?

[/ QUOTE ]

it can't hurt if it's legal in your area to play. it may give you a chance to find out who was using the IP (though it's probably a cyber cafe or something similar).

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Maybe now you will learn and buy a separate computer.

cheers
Boon

[/ QUOTE ]

This kind of makes sense for people w/ unlimited space, but for a lot of people, nearly everyone I'm guessing, having 2 computer setups just isn't feasible.

There HAS to be a way to just make your primary computer un-hackable.

[/ QUOTE ]

VMware is your friend.

Your physical computer would do nothing but run virtual machines. You confine casual web surfing and such to one virtual machine, anything related to money in a different virtual machine, and finally a virtual machine for poker.

Or use Linux and just run Windows as a virtual machine on top of Linux solely for poker playing.
Jeff

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]

VMware is your friend.

You confine casual web surfing and such to one virtual machine, anything related to money in a different virtual machine, and finally a virtual machine for poker.


[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds interesting, can anyone who has used it comment on this program?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
sighs...this is why you buy 1 computer and lock it down and do nothing on it except play poker. You do not surf the web, you do not check email you do nothing but play poker. So lets do some math. A new cheap computer to run 4 tables of poker = $700. You lost $6300. $6300 - $700 = $5600 you would still have now.

Maybe now you will learn and buy a separate computer.

cheers
Boon

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow you're a dick. Could you be any more condescending and snobbish? Was that tone really necessary?

[/ QUOTE ]

and was he really above 11% to get hacked? costly insurance policy.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

read my post in the faq (i used to be ColdCaller)

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you haven't ruled out a trojan/keylogger/rootkit/etc then you should know that every key stroke on that computer may be shared with "bad people".


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I have dl'ed some stuff recently, but I also run Adaware regularly, have macaffee firewall and antivirus. Is this not enough?

After this [censored] happened I also got Spybot S&D. Should all this stuff have caught a keylogger? I'm pretty sure that's how they got my password.

On a related note, I've heard of a good program that generates and maintains hard to guess random passwords. Link?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well Spybot and Adaware are certainly good products but I'm a serious nit about security. If my computer was compromised I would NEVER 'trust' it until the HD was reformatted.

My advice: use a known safe computer to change all your info again. If you are thinking about going to the police, do not use the hard drive of your computer again as if they decide to pursue this they will need it for an investigation.

If you do not go to the police/when you get HD back from them I recommend a reformat, its really the only way to be sure.

Some tips for staying safe:

use a firewall: ZoneAlarm for example.

virus/spyware scans weekly or so: (free examples) Spybot/Adaware/TrendMicro

active protection: Windows Defender/Snoopfree Privacy Shield

Also: RootkitRevealer and Hijackthis are pretty good programs. Hijackthis requires a bit of technical understanding (to use properly -- please be careful making any changes)

For password generation/storage I like KeePass.

edited to add: use a hardware firewall too, (router)

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
On a related note, I've heard of a good program that generates and maintains hard to guess random passwords. Link?

[/ QUOTE ]

KeePass

Good luck with your troubles.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
sighs...this is why you buy 1 computer and lock it down and do nothing on it except play poker. You do not surf the web, you do not check email you do nothing but play poker. So lets do some math. A new cheap computer to run 4 tables of poker = $700. You lost $6300. $6300 - $700 = $5600 you would still have now.

Maybe now you will learn and buy a separate computer.

cheers
Boon

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow you're a dick. Could you be any more condescending and snobbish? Was that tone really necessary?

[/ QUOTE ]

and was he really above 11% to get hacked? costly insurance policy.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol, that's what i was thinking. mr. sighs, i got some ocean front property i would like to sell ya.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

I would absolutely contact the ISP, and almost certainly contact the Canadian authorities. The ISP will tell you exactly what you need to get the IP trace, and while you may never get your money back, you could at least have the satisfaction of putting a scumbag thief in jail. Plus, you might get your money back. No downside as far as I'm concerned. I'd certainly even consider contacting your local authorities, though I might not mention the word poker until you are actually talking to a detective.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

I see that you like your turds on nice clean plates..ahhhh.

cheers
Boon

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
and was he really above 11% to get hacked? costly insurance policy.

[/ QUOTE ]

sighs...the idiots on this site....

11% is only of the current $6300 of OP's money that he lost. What % is $700 compared to his entire bankroll/poker earning capability?? ahhh..now enjoy that lightbulb going off and have a nice day.

cheers
Boon

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

VMware is your friend.

You confine casual web surfing and such to one virtual machine, anything related to money in a different virtual machine, and finally a virtual machine for poker.


[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds interesting, can anyone who has used it comment on this program?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, this is a good idea and something I have been doing for years. It is not gaming friendly, i.e. wow, etc, but will work great for poker.

If you need more than one monitor you will need the not free workstation version.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

Is there any security risk in browsing the internet if you don't click on links or download anything?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

maybe i'm wrong, but i'm just convinced that every person who gets hacked did something dumb like download something they should have known they shouldn't.

maybe i'm wrong.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

Adaware and spybot rarely if ever find the real culprit. If I have odd [censored] on adaware or spybot then I know I have something. Once a week I'll start in safe mode (keep pressing F8 on startup) with networking and run two online scanners. The links are below. You may also want to browse the forum I'm linking below. One sticky says "How to Protect yourself from malware" and the other says "READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide" Most if not all the programs in there are free. I have never found a virus or other [censored] that I couldn't remove following their advice in those two threads. Before I started playing poker, I used to download stupid [censored] intentionally. Always cleaned well. Once I had to run in Windows recovery mode and run a program to check for text in a file. The file I couldn't access was the virus. This file was invisible to the windows operating system. That was the toughest thing I ever ran into. The site below helped me to remove it.

Also +1 on the Zone Alarm. You can leave it on the higher settings and see virtually every program communication coming in or out of your computer.

BTW, IN MY OPINION, IF YOU FOLLOW THE STEPS <u>EXACTLY</u> IN "MALWARE REMOVAL GUIDE", YOU SHOULD HAVE A CLEAN COMPUTER AFTERWARDS. I would still install and run ZoneAlarm just in case. The free version of course [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Good luck

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
maybe i'm wrong, but i'm just convinced that every person who gets hacked did something dumb like download something they should have known they shouldn't.

maybe i'm wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Usually not.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

Good program I stick on all my installs now is snoopfree, it stops malicious programs from hooking into your keyboard/screen grabs: www.snoopfree.com

There is a good thread in the software forum about securing your computer.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
maybe i'm wrong, but i'm just convinced that every person who gets hacked did something dumb like download something they should have known they shouldn't.

maybe i'm wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Usually not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Who knew that the ad for 'Free download of Beyonce and Angelina Jolie getting it on' wasn't real?

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

Is there a significant risk from downloading torrents for video files? If so, is there a good method for scanning them to make sure they are safe before downloading?

Thanks

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]

Yes, I have dl'ed some stuff recently, but I also run Adaware regularly, have macaffee firewall and antivirus. Is this not enough?


[/ QUOTE ]

Are you sure your firewall is turned on and blocking outgoing traffic? If so when the keylogger "phones home" the firewall should catch it and prompt you.

Re: *sigh* hacked, where do I go from here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
sighs...this is why you buy 1 computer and lock it down and do nothing on it except play poker. You do not surf the web, you do not check email you do nothing but play poker. So lets do some math. A new cheap computer to run 4 tables of poker = $700. You lost $6300. $6300 - $700 = $5600 you would still have now.

Maybe now you will learn and buy a separate computer.

cheers
Boon

[/ QUOTE ]

Me two...only cost less.

Buy a KVM switch and desktop remains the same. All you need for the "poker" machine is some decent memory and speed if you are a HUDbot. No DVD/CD RWs or upgraded video or audio cards. (READ AS BYO= build yer own)