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Post by tntmom on Mar 9, 2013 3:39:22 GMT -5
Midnight.... WAY PASSED MY BEDTIME! However, I'm on an adrenaline rush right now and just can't go to bed.....
10 o'clock, sitting in the kitchen on a wonderful Friday night doing several cabs on my 325 lap listening to the news and winding down when the text messages started coming in, strange because they all came twice in a row. They were from my 12 year old daughter Brooke. The first stated "Left, on a bus with two of my friends, 229" I texted.... "WHAT?"!!!! Got another text... "Why weren't you there?" Then some other creapy texts and I freaked and got really confused and scared.
I tore through the house screaming Brooke's name and found her in her bed almost asleep. Her phone was across the room charging with a dead battery. First I flipped out and hugged her, second I showed her my text messages. She grabbed her phone, turned it on, and none of the sent texts were on her phone. Not any of the ones I received. Then her phone started dinging like crazy with text messages from her friends saying "Where are you?", "What happened?", "Call me!!!"... then Brooke started flipping out!
We immediately called T-Mobile and the guy told us that Brooke's phone had been hacked and re-routed. He told us that this was his very first tech support call regarding a hacker but that he was trained in how to help us. My poor Brooke was just shaking and went to Facebook to post a status that whatever texts her friends got tonight were not from her.
The tech support guy refreshed the signal from the tower among other things that he had us do like removing the sim card, etc.... That temporarily fixed the problem but tomorrow morning we have to go to the T-Mobile store and have them swap sim cards so that the hacker can't re-hack. In addition, Brooke uninstalled all of the games she had installed on her phone just in-case the hacker came from one of those. Unfortunately it will be tomorrow before we can find out how many people from her contact list got texted. She got a few strange calls from her friends but who knows what texts other people got that didn't call her. I feel so bad for her right now... she's too young and worried sick, as am I.
I sure wish I knew how these disgusting people do what they do but I have no idea???
I'm just glad that Brooke was in her bed safe, I was so scared for a minute. Shame on the bad person for terrorizing us like that!
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bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Mar 9, 2013 9:42:33 GMT -5
Man there is some real losers in this world. i just don't get what they get out of screwing with other peoples lives. They think they are hurting "big business" but in reality they are hurting real people. Wish these scumbags would get a job and a life.
Hope you get things fixed.
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Post by roy on Mar 9, 2013 9:49:46 GMT -5
wow ! was it a iphone? glad all is well and hope it all works out
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 9, 2013 10:12:36 GMT -5
wow, that is horrible. Good luck getting it all straightened out. I don't understand how people enjoy doing crap like that.
Chuck
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Post by helens on Mar 10, 2013 12:16:49 GMT -5
Oh wow... I've never heard of someone hacking phone text messages like that!! I would have thought that the only way to send TEXT messages would be using the sim card itself, with its own EIN #... how the heck is that even doable?? Scary. Did the T-mobile guy give you any potential explanations how it could even be done??
Poor Brooke!! That is truly a shocking experience Krystee!!
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Post by helens on Mar 10, 2013 12:42:49 GMT -5
So after I read this, I started looking around for ways people could have done this to her cellphone.
THIS youtube is informative, it shows an app that is a hack for other people's computers. Most hacks are double edged swords, people who aren't programmers and download programs like this are leaving THEMSELVES open to hackers, who protect their communities by putting hacks into their hack programs - that can only be disabled by another hacker. There's a whole subculture that hackers have, so don't get tempted to install anything like this either!!
The scary part of this video isn't what he can do with the text messages, but his COMPLETE access to the camera on the phone. Most newer phones have both front and rear facing cameras. The moment you connect to the internet, they can see everything around the phone in a 360. Given this, whoever hacked Brook's phone was clearly a kid who wasn't particularly malicious... he didn't have to actually do a thing to notify her it was done, and be able to spy her surroundings on her cell every time she opened it.
If you watch the video, he tells you in the beginning that how he gained access was by sending a photo - one from a trusted friend's account... and once the photo was opened, he was in her phone. You may want to tell her to not share/accept photos. Apps obviously can all do the same thing, you not only are downloading it, you actually give them direct permissions.
I've been setting up my new cell phone, so this was a really timely post for me Krystee, and I'm very glad you brought it up and made me look! I had NO IDEA they could do something like this so easily!!
Going to do more looking, but thought you would appreciate the YouTube immediately... it spells out the full capability of a phone hack, and how he gained access. Unreal.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,687
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 10, 2013 17:09:19 GMT -5
Damn sad situation!!! Hope it all gets straightened out!!! Alot of losers out there doing this,their nothing but slimeballs............
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Post by tntmom on Mar 10, 2013 18:04:55 GMT -5
We went to the T-Mobile store and they did a factory reset and gave her a new sim card. She still has the same number but the sim card is different. Everything seems to be ok right now. Roy, Brooke has a Windows phone and mine is a Droid. Both are smart phones though. Helen, WOW! That video is FREAKY! That is sooooo scary. I think we caught it pretty quick with Brooke's phone since after reviewing the text logs at T-Mobile we found out that the text to me was the very first one. My son Devin was the one that told us to immediately take out the sim card and battery and call T-Mobile. The log showed roughly 5 minutes of texts being sent from her phone. It was weird because they showed up on the logs but not on her phone in her sent messages. It stopped after the sim card removal and the tower "refresh" that the tech guy did while we were on the phone with him. The next day replacing the sim card and doing a factory reset was precautionary. I'm overwhelmed with the crazy things people do maliciously with technology
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Post by helens on Mar 10, 2013 18:39:29 GMT -5
If you google "prevent cell phone hacking", you'll get a lot of articles. Here's a few: www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Your-Cell-Phone-from-Being-Hackedblogs.wttw.com/moreonthestory/2011/07/19/cell-phone-hacking-prevention-tips/www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/technology/personaltech/protecting-a-cellphone-against-hackers.htmlBut I think the bigger problem is app downloading... check the PERMISSIONS of all the apps you get, and don't open emails/text attachments unless you are expecting a photo or file. I just did that today, went through all the permissions on every app I installed... and immediately changed/uninstalled several apps (flashlight, speedtest, pixart, and ALL the games that required permissions they shouldn't need). I wasn't paying much attention to permissions before either, but realized that quite a few of those apps want permissions that make NO sense for what they do... why would a flashlight app need full access to my phone, contacts, precise GPS, etc? That was a really timely wakeup call Krystee, hope everyone else checks their phones too!!
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Post by helens on Mar 10, 2013 18:43:36 GMT -5
Also, I've had Lookout already, if you don't, it's pretty neat... if you lose your phone, you can go to your computer and it will send your desktop the PRECISE GPS location... down to the room you lost the phone in, even if the phone is out of battery. Lookout requires a whole lot of invasive permissions as well, but it's so universally recommended, that I figure it should be OK.
There's a few other security programs that will take bursts of 15 sec videos if you lose your phone... front and back, or can remotely locate your GPS even with low/no battery. Not sure I trust those, again, because of their access permissions.
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2013 14:22:01 GMT -5
That is so ugly. Sad to hear. Of course the first we learn of it, it's a windows machine. Microsoft sux. Sorry Krystee!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2013 14:35:59 GMT -5
I looked at Helen's video. That technology was developed by the CIA soon after the first iPhone came out. They did not need to send an encrypted message or anything. Actually that part of it seems like a scam..jpg is not executable, period. Notice how he did not show how that part worked?
The CIA did it as a tool. For instance, if they had an agent peering in a window their cellphone then became a video stream for their bosses to peer inside as well. Or they could completely and un-detectably commandeer a bad guy's cell phone for intelligence purposes. You can imagine what they could do if the phone was turned into a looking/listening device while suspect is in a meeting with conspirators. The phone still works as normal, but is passively giving information from all sources to the CIA.All they needed was the cell phone's number.
I learned this from a close friend whose son was high level at the white house. My friend's iPhone was used as a demonstration.
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Post by helens on Mar 11, 2013 15:06:14 GMT -5
Well, anything designed by a human can be changed by another human. I'm no programmer, but I know enough about computers to know that there's absolutely NO way to create something that interacts with others that is 100% secure.
Heck, there's no way to secure physical structures either. If someone wants to get in your house, you can have the strongest lock there is, and 6" steel plate doors, but they can just break a window, or take a sledgehammer to a wall.
The only way to 100% secure yourself on the internet is not to use the internet, have no email address, have no cell phone, and even then, you are trackable through your social security #, a car plate, credit card, bank accounts, gas station cameras, etc.
Easiest way is just not to download dumb apps and don't click links from strangers or companies. If your phone has a GPS, a truly determined programmer IS going to be able to pinpoint your location to the room. From what I'm seeing, it's an easy thing to do, and you can do very little to prevent it. Don't put sensitive information online, don't put passwords on your phone (anywhere).
I don't think cell phone manufacturers intentionally build their phones to accommodate the government. It's just that any tool that allows you to do something can be misused for other purposes. Google cell phone hacking, you'll find not only articles and forums that tell you how to do it... google cell phone hacking software (you can buy a machine that does it for ANY brand for $4000!).
And why would they need to access your cell phone anyway? ANYTHING wireless is a radio wave that can be descrambled anywhere along the route. Convenience always comes at a price.
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Post by gingerkid on Mar 11, 2013 22:25:03 GMT -5
Very frightening, Krystee. Very glad to read that it has been taken care of.
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