# Browser Hyjack



## rusty (Sep 20, 2011)

In the past couple of days, visiting the forum my browser has been hijacked, wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same.

Firefox ver 6.0.2

OS - Ubuntu with all updates


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## jimdoc (Sep 20, 2011)

Nothing here, I am using Ubuntu also with Firefox (don't know what version)
Thats odd, sounds like a Windows problem, haven't had anything like that since converting to Ubuntu.

Jim


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## Claudie (Sep 21, 2011)

I use Firefox with Windows. I haven't had any problems.


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## epicnamefail (Oct 4, 2011)

Ubuntu shouldnt have those issues, its too hard to get to, if you notice mostly anything you want to do on ubuntu is code based, and you need to type the code yourself


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## kuma (Oct 7, 2011)

rusty said:


> visiting the forum my browser has been hijacked, wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same.



Hi all!
I'm not to sure what you mean when you say that your '' browser has been hijacked '' , but last week my internet dongle tore through over £10 credit in about three days , when usualy £5 will last about a week. 
I spend most of my time online here , which must use next to no credit , as I'm not downloading anything more than these pages to read.
Could it be that maybe someone else has been 'jacking' my connection , downloaing or uploading big files using up my credit?
My internet dongle is a Vodafone 3G , the type with a pay as you go mobile sim card
This has has me baffled! :shock: 
All the best and kind regards all ,
Chris


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## Geo (Oct 7, 2011)

it is very possible for wi-fi to be stolen. i saw a report a couple of months ago about a gentleman in Boston i believe that was arrested on child porn charges and it was discovered that an individual had tapped into his unsecured wi-fi and was downloading and transmitting images and videos. after a sting operation the real villain was caught and the most advanced piece of equipment he had was an antenna made from a Pringle's potato chip can. he was using a signal from a block away.


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## epicnamefail (Oct 7, 2011)

wow thats scary knowing people can do that geo....and it makes me wonder if the real bad guy is caught in most cases :/


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## macfixer01 (Oct 8, 2011)

I'd get some good anti-virus/anti-malware software to protect yourself in the future. Hijacking usually means some malware has changed your browser home page setting, the browser default error page and search page settings, may have altered website security levels you had set, and may be tracking what sites you go to and user names and passwords you enter. I'm a Mac person but I had this happen once a few years ago on a work laptop running Windows XP. I was under the impression at the time that it was something that really only happened with the Internet Explorer browser? I really don't know if that's the case though. Anyway I found a program then that fixed it for me, and I want to say I think it was a program called Hijack This?

At least you can do something about the other form of hijacking (neighbors and outsiders stealing your wifi bandwidth) by setting up WEP or WPA/WPA2 security on your router. Then they can't connect without knowing the password, although there are methods around to crack them if somebody wants to badly enough Not broadcasting the SSID is another good option since if the router doesn't advertise itself then outsiders won't be able to find it to log into it. Yeah well all that being said, I've been too lazy to do this myself. Instead every time my connection gets slow I log into the router and look at the DHCP table to see who's logged in wirelessly and just disconnect any devices I don't recognize. I like to think it's more frustrating for the freeloaders.

Good luck!

macfixer01

P.S.


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## seawolf (Oct 9, 2011)

I don't use the wireless portion of my router at my home, but my neighbor was. I started getting bills for movie downloads to my IP address. I tried the password route it worked for about a week then I started getting billed again. I built a faraday cage with some 80 mesh copper wire and haven’t gotten another bill since.
Mark


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## Geo (Oct 9, 2011)

most wireless routers have a lock out so they can only be used wired, or so i thought. mine does.


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## eeTHr (Oct 9, 2011)

Mine has an antenna that unscrews to remove it. But I think you can also turn off the wireless portion via the software.

I wonder how they got past the password?


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## macfixer01 (Oct 9, 2011)

eeTHr said:


> Mine has an antenna that unscrews to remove it. But I think you can also turn off the wireless portion via the software.
> 
> I wonder how they got past the password?





There have been programs around to crack WEP protection for a couple years now. From what I've read such software works by just listening in on transmissions to and from a nearby target router and analyzes hundreds of thousands of packets to find patterns which it can use to decipher what your encryption key is. I don't know a lot about WPA or WPA2 but they are apparently much more secure, at least for the time being.

Oh and if you haven't done so then make sure you change the factory password on your router! Otherwise any security you do set up, anybody can log in remotely and turn it off. I've seen people locked out of their own routers who couldn't make changes any more because someone logged in with the default password and then changed it. I use a Linksys and it has a procedure using the reset button to reset factory defaults. I imagine other brands do also, so all is not lost.

I should say I'm not leaving my router entirely open. For neighbor's devices I find connecting over and over I enter their MAC address in a filter provided in the router software which no longer allows them to connect. To avoid confusion, the MAC (Multiple Access Controller) address is the internal manufacturer-assigned hardware address of every ethernet port produced. It's still called a MAC address regardless of whatever brand of computer, phone, or other device it may be.

macfixer01


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## kuma (Oct 10, 2011)

Geo said:


> it is very possible for wi-fi to be stolen. i saw a report a couple of months ago about a gentleman in Boston .... it was discovered that an individual had tapped into his unsecured wi-fi and was downloading and transmitting images and videos. .



Hi all! how are things ?
That's pretty messed up to say the least. 
Just a thought , but is a mobile phone signal WiFi ? I only ask because the dongle that is my internet connection *runs* off of a standard pay-as-you-go mobile phone SIM card , meaning that they would litteraly have to hijack my mobile phone connection in order to gain use of it?
As you can probably tell , I'm not to tech savvy , it was only on reluctantly switching over to the dark side (mp3) from vinyl that I have even bothered trying to learn more of this computer lark! :mrgreen: 
Many thanks all , 
Best wishes and kind regards ,
Chris
P.S. , I think that the image below just about sums up my laptops attitude recently! :lol:


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## Geo (Oct 10, 2011)

i dont think wi-fi and cell signals is related but from what i understand cell phones are less secure than Internet wi-fi that has safeguards against intrusion. cell phones have an implied feeling of security but the truth is you can get the hardware to jack someones cell service from radio-shack. cell phone signal should be considered an unsecured connection unless security measures are taken on your part, ask your service provider about security.


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## macfixer01 (Oct 10, 2011)

Geo said:


> i dont think wi-fi and cell signals is related but from what i understand cell phones are less secure than Internet wi-fi that has safeguards against intrusion. cell phones have an implied feeling of security but the truth is you can get the hardware to jack someones cell service from radio-shack. cell phone signal should be considered an unsecured connection unless security measures are taken on your part, ask your service provider about security.




For just the normal single-phone data access on a typical cell phone I don't think there is too much to worry about unless someone gets physical access to your phone. There are some companies offering options though where once connected your cell phone also becomes a mini wifi router to share access to 3 to 5 other devices such as your laptop (for example Verizon MIFI). If the phone is acting as a router and assigning proxy addresses through DHCP then the same potential exists for someone unauthorized to log in and use it, unless it's protected by password. It wouldn't surprise me though if the phones had security enabled by default, whereas straight out of the box home wifi routers don't normally have anything but minimal security enabled.

macfixer01


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## kuma (Oct 11, 2011)

Ahh , I think I get it.
So , say my laptop is the *phone* in this instance (as that's where the sim card is) , somebody could sneakily connect to my laptop via bluetooth or WiFi or what have you , then use my laptop as a sort of skipping stone onto the web through my Vodafone dongle , thus using up my credit ?
If that's what your saying then that would make sense to me!
If that's not what your saying , then I feel that there is no future for me in I.T. Lol :mrgreen: 
Mega thanks for the input all!
Many thanks and kind regards ,
Chris


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