Hypothetical question - passwords
Discussion
You need to change all the passwords to something only you know. Assuming the other party have changed the password to the Router and you have physical access to it but cannot log on. There is usually a way to reset the router by pressing a reset button on the router then log into the router using that default password which is on a sticker or removable card on the router. Then log on to the router and set the password on the router to something only you know. As for the devices, you need to let us know what they are first. They can be changed but it's not something that should be broadcast on public web sites.
speedyman said:
You need to change all the passwords to something only you know. Assuming the other party have changed the password to the Router and you have physical access to it but cannot log on. There is usually a way to reset the router by pressing a reset button on the router then log into the router using that default password which is on a sticker or removable card on the router. Then log on to the router and set the password on the router to something only you know. As for the devices, you need to let us know what they are first. They can be changed but it's not something that should be broadcast on public web sites.
Ok, thanks.It's an old PC with i5 8gb ram. Phone is iphone 5, router is latest normal BT one. I can/have changed everything, even did re-install and upgrade to windows 10 (although not a full wipe as left spare drive in).
It's like someone has done a Jim Browning from youtube/bbc and can see everything I type.
All a bit cryptic but broadly speaking change the wi-fi password change the router admin password and make sure it isn't accessible over the Internet.
Change your email password and enable 2FA on the account.
Nuke and pave the PC because if someone really wants to they could have installed something on it that lets them monitor/control it remotely.
Get a password manager and change every single password you have to a strong unique password.
It's like anything it comes down to if you have credentials and know what you're doing.
If you're compromised to that degree better not to take any chances.
Change your email password and enable 2FA on the account.
Nuke and pave the PC because if someone really wants to they could have installed something on it that lets them monitor/control it remotely.
Get a password manager and change every single password you have to a strong unique password.
It's like anything it comes down to if you have credentials and know what you're doing.
If you're compromised to that degree better not to take any chances.
b
hstewie said:
hstewie said: All a bit cryptic but broadly speaking change the wi-fi password change the router admin password and make sure it isn't accessible over the Internet.
Change your email password and enable 2FA on the account.
Nuke and pave the PC because if someone really wants to they could have installed something on it that lets them monitor/control it remotely.
Get a password manager and change every single password you have to a strong unique password.
It's like anything it comes down to if you have credentials and know what you're doing.
If you're compromised to that degree better not to take any chances.
Thanks, to be totally honest, I haven't a clue. I'm just trying to establish what things are most important to change and in what order, if possible why.Change your email password and enable 2FA on the account.
Nuke and pave the PC because if someone really wants to they could have installed something on it that lets them monitor/control it remotely.
Get a password manager and change every single password you have to a strong unique password.
It's like anything it comes down to if you have credentials and know what you're doing.
If you're compromised to that degree better not to take any chances.
I presumed if I got a brand new PC (I've only just done my first re-install so not sure I'd be capable of doing a full clean wipe) and a brand new paid for VPN(?) a router is never going to unscramble what it's getting from the VPN. So I should be clear to go through my passwords and change them.
Sorry for dumb question, but what does a password manager do and how secure are these? I presume they 'store' the passwords, but I'm a bit paranoid about storing things online as I think this is what started my issues albeit when I stored my passwords in my browser and not something 'safe'.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: Get a password manager and change every single password you have to a strong unique password.
Also secure access to the password manager with a hardware key like a Yubikeyhttps://support.1password.com/security-key/
Also consider replacing the iPhone 5 as that must have stopped getting security updates years ago.
What do you think has actually happened?
I'd secure your email first because pretty much every service you ever use has a "forgot password?" option that sends you an email.
So if someone has access to your email they can basically do just about what the hell they like because to all intents they are you.
I'd secure your email first because pretty much every service you ever use has a "forgot password?" option that sends you an email.
So if someone has access to your email they can basically do just about what the hell they like because to all intents they are you.
Harpoon said:
Also secure access to the password manager with a hardware key like a Yubikey
https://support.1password.com/security-key/
Also consider replacing the iPhone 5 as that must have stopped getting security updates years ago.
https://support.1password.com/security-key/
Also consider replacing the iPhone 5 as that must have stopped getting security updates years ago.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: What do you think has actually happened?
I'd secure your email first because pretty much every service you ever use has a "forgot password?" option that sends you an email.
So if someone has access to your email they can basically do just about what the hell they like because to all intents they are you.
Yeh, new phone is something I've been meaning to do. I'm guessing something as old as an iPhone 5 is probably as bad for security as my old windows 7 OS.I'd secure your email first because pretty much every service you ever use has a "forgot password?" option that sends you an email.
So if someone has access to your email they can basically do just about what the hell they like because to all intents they are you.
What would be oldest version that'd be safe for a while, iphone12 or just pay the extra and go for iphone 15?
I don't understand how to get round issue with my current router. It's a BT router so it's linked to the digital house phones, so I can't buy a 2nd hand one from ebay etc (tried that already and it crashed the house phones and we had to call BT out), they replace the router and I put the password for the replacement router with my other passwords (online), I know, I'm an idiot.
If I clean my PC or get a new one, I have to use the current connection to reset my passwords etc, won't that give an opportunity for a similiar issue to recur as soon as I connect?
Without a bit more info its just about impossible to help.
Who / where is the person / organisation that you think is reading your info?
Same household or remote, friend, partner (current / ex), company, scammer?
You must have an idea if you are seeing where this information is going to or from.
Who / where is the person / organisation that you think is reading your info?
Same household or remote, friend, partner (current / ex), company, scammer?
You must have an idea if you are seeing where this information is going to or from.
Ham_and_Jam said:
Without a bit more info its just about impossible to help.
Who / where is the person / organisation that you think is reading your info?
Same household or remote, friend, partner (current / ex), company, scammer?
You must have an idea if you are seeing where this information is going to or from.
Thank for reply. I wouldn't normally go into too many details as that when conversations end pretty quick, but I've had my evening drink so it's al gonna go tits up.Who / where is the person / organisation that you think is reading your info?
Same household or remote, friend, partner (current / ex), company, scammer?
You must have an idea if you are seeing where this information is going to or from.
It' s Adult Social services safeguarding team. I accidentally gave my password (for everything to adult social services) when we were referred to them back in 2020 they're remit consisted off domestic abuse, modern day slavery, human trafficking and counter terrorism. The women that came round wouldn't listen, wouldn't look at the independent witness (mum's lifelong friends).
They came back a year later after a family member with a long history of coming round here and causing trouble and making false accusations did what she always does. This time a different lady, much more aggressive and again simply wouldn't listen to our evidence to show the allegations were false and there's a long history of her doing this.. For the record, my accuser from social services did eventually rescind her accusations after 8 months, but by that time my mental health had hit rock bottom and I was on suicide watch.
This was now 2 years on non stop harassments from my sisters on top of the accusation from social services. Sisters using their gran kids to manipulate my parents. If parents give me POA for them, they'll never see the grankids again. Right under the ff
king noise of social services.Family dynamic was always known, I was 'mummys' boy to protect her from husband and eldest daughter who continuously barrated her to tears, they did nothing to help with day to day chores, dad is 94 mum is 90 with dementia and cancer.
I do all the chores, I even have to scrub the s
t of both toilets as no one else does (dad refuses to use incontinence aids sts himself daily, guess who has to clear that up..).ALL of this happened right under the noses of various social services people. The carers mum were getting was awful, one was so rough with her she was shell shocked, the carers who took her out you tell them mum been diagnosed with diabetes and carer bring her home with a giant cookie from Coughlans. Other cares don't make her bed so she slept for at least 2 night on her dirty incontinence sheets, another carer left her on the upstairs landing in her nightie. I asked the carer what's going on, she shays she's out of time and literally walked out the door.
I kept a log of all the these issues, but somehow social services would know about what was written in them. The log was offline in a folder on my storage drive on a PC only I have physical access too- all I want to know is how to get my privacy back.
These people have ruined my life, my brain just stopped working 2 years ago, my body is numb, nothing makes me happy anymore, all the little things, watching Match of the Day, going for a walk, a bit of video gaming, favorite films / comedies are just dead to me now.
I just can't get any online / personal IT/PC privacy back, these ffckers won't even give me that... I'm at my wits end.
I'm going to try maybe getting a none BT internet connection so this way I can change routers if need be without impacting the BT digital house phones. If anyone knows which internet providers don't use the BT connection then that'd help as to where to look..
To be honest, anyone can hep in any way would be appreciated...
Also to be honest, this time of night is when I hit the drink. Been tee-total for nearly 20 years for drink, same for the disco biscuits, about 15 years from having a puff and finally about 10 years from cigarettes'. But past 2 years now, gets to 9-10 o clock and break out a shot of vodka from the fridge, and 3/4 cans from the freezer, finally get a couple of hours of happiness in the evenings, probably why I posted this.... but hey-ho, c'est la vie.
That's all this guy got left...
Sorry..
And thanks to those who have tried to help, I know I'm not the easiest person to help but my brain died years ago and I struggle to know friend from foe..
If it's possible you could move over to Virgin Media, you can "port" over your 'phone number too. You can set their router to modem only mode and then have your own router for wi-fi. As one of the posters above has mentioned get something like 1Password to secure all your passwords and it can also store your sensitive info so that only you can have access. You may need somebody a bit tech savvy to help set everything up though.
WyrleyD said:
If it's possible you could move over to Virgin Media, you can "port" over your 'phone number too. You can set their router to modem only mode and then have your own router for wi-fi. As one of the posters above has mentioned get something like 1Password to secure all your passwords and it can also store your sensitive info so that only you can have access. You may need somebody a bit tech savvy to help set everything up though.
I was thinking about paying for a 2nd 'internet' connection, something that's literally a separate wire from the BT, so there's no chance of affecting the digital house phones.That way I can get either 2nd hand or aftermarket routers (i.e. brand new passwords to the connection) if ever it feels like it's been compromised. As you can probably tell in a bit of a mess, especially in the evenings so likelihood of doing something 'dumb' remains.
So, generally speaking:
Get rid of iphone5
Reset or replace router and possibly internet connection
Wipe (properly) PC or start afresh with brand new one(?)
Use password manager
Try to stop doing dumb sht
OK, just a few last questions:
What about a VPN, if so when during the process should this be done?
Are there any other internet providers that don't use the BT 'lines'?
What if I got a new hard drive or SSD and threw away (destroyed) my old ones, does that have the same affect as doing a clean re-install?
How far back in terms of versions of phones are 'safe' i.e. iPhone 12?
Thanks for all the help
F
You've said your mind is all over the place and that's entirely understandable. Looking at this from the outside, there is no chance that Social Services are snooping on your data by remotely accessing a device in your home. They don't have the resources to do this, they don't have the competence and it would be illegal.
If you want to make sure your data is secure, just check that only your user account has read access to the files and directories you care about, and then change your password. You can then be confident that no one else can read those files. You can put your mind at ease.
You can change all your other passwords too for routers, services you access over the web, and whatever. You do not need to be wasting money on extra internet connections or new routers.
If you want to make sure your data is secure, just check that only your user account has read access to the files and directories you care about, and then change your password. You can then be confident that no one else can read those files. You can put your mind at ease.
You can change all your other passwords too for routers, services you access over the web, and whatever. You do not need to be wasting money on extra internet connections or new routers.
To buy yourself some time, could you get hold of a mobile mifi unit (60 ish quid) and then get a data sim? That would give you your own wifi network to use that no one else could?
Recon business laptop from Morgan or another retailer for a couple of hundred and then you can set up all your accounts with new passwords on it.
Recon business laptop from Morgan or another retailer for a couple of hundred and then you can set up all your accounts with new passwords on it.
Are you absolutely certain no-one has physical access to the PC when you aren't around?
Is there anything plugged into the PC that you don't recognise? Anything beyond the usual Keyboard (and check there is nothing between the end of the keyboard cable and the PC), mouse, monitor power lead, speakers and microphone maybe. Anything else, I'd be removing and seeing if the PC still works.
To be honest, a lot of what you say doesn't sound particularly likely - social services aren't hacking your systems for example. However, you could have a family member who has set up a key logger - either software or hardware on your PC, harvesting what you write and passing it on to them. They are very easy to get hold of but it would suggest a certain level of technical sophistication.
I'd personally stop using the PC, buy a laptop, keep it physically locked away when not is use, somewhere that you only have the key to, and install decent anti-virus/anti malware software.
Reset the BT router - I don't use BT, but you probably need to log into it, go to the admin page and do a factory reset. Change the admin password - use a complex password you have never used anywhere before but you can remember without writing it down, and change the Wireless SSID and don't share it with anyone - not family, not friends, no one.
Reset all of your passwords from the laptop, not from the PC.
Is there anything plugged into the PC that you don't recognise? Anything beyond the usual Keyboard (and check there is nothing between the end of the keyboard cable and the PC), mouse, monitor power lead, speakers and microphone maybe. Anything else, I'd be removing and seeing if the PC still works.
To be honest, a lot of what you say doesn't sound particularly likely - social services aren't hacking your systems for example. However, you could have a family member who has set up a key logger - either software or hardware on your PC, harvesting what you write and passing it on to them. They are very easy to get hold of but it would suggest a certain level of technical sophistication.
I'd personally stop using the PC, buy a laptop, keep it physically locked away when not is use, somewhere that you only have the key to, and install decent anti-virus/anti malware software.
Reset the BT router - I don't use BT, but you probably need to log into it, go to the admin page and do a factory reset. Change the admin password - use a complex password you have never used anywhere before but you can remember without writing it down, and change the Wireless SSID and don't share it with anyone - not family, not friends, no one.
Reset all of your passwords from the laptop, not from the PC.
ATG said:
You've said your mind is all over the place and that's entirely understandable. Looking at this from the outside, there is no chance that Social Services are snooping on your data by remotely accessing a device in your home. They don't have the resources to do this, they don't have the competence and it would be illegal.
If you want to make sure your data is secure, just check that only your user account has read access to the files and directories you care about, and then change your password. You can then be confident that no one else can read those files. You can put your mind at ease.
You can change all your other passwords too for routers, services you access over the web, and whatever. You do not need to be wasting money on extra internet connections or new routers.
Thanks but back in 2020 when we got referred to the safeguarding team (who were part of adult social services), their remit was counter terrorism (along with domestic abuse, human trafficking and others), this was on their page of the .gov website. It's quite a shock when you're trying to look after your 86 year old mum with dementia and find out that's who you've been referred to. The amount of times I refreshed the page and went back to it, day after day, as I simply could not believe what I was seeing.If you want to make sure your data is secure, just check that only your user account has read access to the files and directories you care about, and then change your password. You can then be confident that no one else can read those files. You can put your mind at ease.
You can change all your other passwords too for routers, services you access over the web, and whatever. You do not need to be wasting money on extra internet connections or new routers.
I basically gave the counter terrorism team my password for my entire 'tech' life (PC, browser, router, email, every website etc you name it), with Windows 7 OS and just Microsoft and malwarebytes as 'security'.
Pitre said:
I would also recommend installing antivirus/antispyware software with auto update (AVG or Avast are free and work fine) if you haven't already.
Edited by Pitre on Tuesday 15th October 11:53
GlenMH said:
To buy yourself some time, could you get hold of a mobile mifi unit (60 ish quid) and then get a data sim? That would give you your own wifi network to use that no one else could?
Recon business laptop from Morgan or another retailer for a couple of hundred and then you can set up all your accounts with new passwords on it.
Thank you.Recon business laptop from Morgan or another retailer for a couple of hundred and then you can set up all your accounts with new passwords on it.
I have iphone 5 so am not up to speed with sim cards etc. Would I have to get a sim card that was 'linked' to me in some way, or is there a way of getting a data sim that's prepaid and ready to go?
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