Ask a computer security expert (part 2)

[Jackalope]

If you want to watch a good hacking movie that was mostly accurate with the hacking, watch War Games.

^^^ This ^^^

Wardialing was something that we did in the early 80's and beyond to discover insecure systems. One might be surprised at how many there were and how easy they were to discover.

We did this at the time via misappropriated long distance card pins, which back then worked by dialing into a toll-free number, entering a PIN and the destination number - problem is that PINs were of a known length and were not very sparsely distributed so it was quite simple to get a large number of working PINs quickly.

There were also a number of hardware hacks used to get free long distance back in the day (Blue Boxes and the like, courtesy of the work of Captain Crunch (both the cereal and the hacker - seriously).

ETA: It probably goes without saying that I stopped being involved in any of the above and any other black hattery the day I turned 18, and the statue of limitations has long since run out - so the FBI can go pound sand.

[Edwardo Piet]

What's the best security software to install on my laptop?
Also, do you cover your webcams with opaque tape when you're not actively using them? (I do )

-Teresa

I would recommend Avira (https://www.avira.com/) these days.

Yay!!! That's the one I already use!

Okay I have a question... do you ever play any online games on the PC that require certain ports to be opened and do you ever have trouble having both a secure firewall and connection and anti-virus and playing online at the same time? Do you ever find that even when you open the ports that you are supposed to it's sometimes hard to get both a secure connection and functioning multiplayer experience?

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No, that would be the smart thing to do. The LED in almost all cases is controlled by software. Besides, if you are distracted you will not notice it, and that's often when you are at your most vulnerable (e.g. naked, getting dressed, etc.)

So like... device manager can be used to enable or disable a webcam... I assume that a hacker could basically do the same sort of thing?

I don't think me and my genitals can even fit on the same screen at once (that's partially a brag because my face isn't partially big ) so there would be no proof that my genitals matched my face or that it was me even if someone had the pics of both separately

I'm not sure if it's anything to worry about unless your webcam can take more damning photos than that lol.

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Atheist Republic could use your help right now. They have been hacked by a Hindu Love Doctor and are getting spammed in a big way. Recently , profiles have been hacked.

... wait... they were hacked by Mike Myerrs?



CHRIST that was a shit film. Seriously.