Computer experts...question about hackers

[mtemm]

two sites I visit frequently were hacked today. I'm not exactly sure what that means to me. I viewed both sites (unfortunately...ugh) after they were hacked but wasn't signed in to either at the time. I do have an account with one and tons of pm's and of course used an e-mail address to sign up the acct with, but did not include it in my public profile (not sure if that matters).

Any ideas how this could affect me and my computer? I feel so clueless about this...never experienced it before. I have a friend who visits the same sites and her husband told her we could get viruses just for having gone on them, post-hack. is that true even if we didn't sign in?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Very unlikely, especially if you have your defenses up, always, and current. Give your PC manual scans of virus and spyware.

ETA--not an expert here.

 

[Equidae]

Hacking is when someone not affiliated with the site access the website and has access to everything on it.

As long as you didn't have very personal info/credit card info there or in PMs, you should be ok there. The hackers may have been able to read your PMs or get your email address (and you *may* see an increase in spam).Run a virus check (norton or something similar) and a spyware detector program (such as spybot) to just make sure you didn't pick something up.

Also, change your password on every site that you have that email associated with. It's unlikely that the hackers will know where else you are registered, but to be safe stop using the password you used for those hacked websites and use another one. Better safe than sorry!

Good luck and fingers crosses you didn't get any viruses!

 

[mtemm]

thanks!!! thankfully I don't have cc info stored either in my pm's on in the e-mail the account is attached to.

I have norton updated and running, but I don't think I have any spyware. where do I get this? Is there one better than others?

 

[Equidae]

You can get spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html). It's free to use and download.

 

[MidNite]

I use the Microsoft Antispyware program. It's free and seems to work great so far.

 

[Dan Murphy]

thanks!!! thankfully I don't have cc info stored either in my pm's on in the e-mail the account is attached to.

I have norton updated and running, but I don't think I have any spyware. where do I get this? Is there one better than others?

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx It runs continually, in the background, like you want it to.

 

[mtemm]

thanks! I'm the windows site and there are 2 options...windowsdefender.msi and windowsdefenderx64.msi

how do I know which one to download? it just says pick the appropriate one but doesn't say what that is

 

[BethR]

I clicked on the first one, but I have no idea if that is correct, ntemm.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Not the 64.

 

[jfulcer]

If you have purchased anything from either of the sites, you should monitor your credit record. If you have used a CC there, ask the site owners if their CC databases were accessed. If they are worth their salt, they would have encrypted the #, but you never know.

 

[mtemm]

thanks all! and thankfully no, no cc stuff was used. phew!