I was visiting my mother last weekend and I had been playing a game on her computer when we decided to take Sammy for a drive – with hope he’d fall asleep! I left her computer on, not even thinking twice about it. Scott and I leave our computers on at home all the time – it was the normal thing to do. We drove around for at least an hour and a half – Sammy never fell alseep. We just gave up and returned home, where Scott was waiting for us (asleep on the couch). Sammy was wide awake and ready to go, go, go! Scott took our niece, Keirra, and Sammy out for bike rides around the neighborhood. My mother went around watering her outdoor plants and I was quick to return to my computer game! I am not a gamer and for the most part I think of video games as being a waste of time – although we do play from time to time, late at night when there’s nothing else to do. I was totally bored at my mother’s and sat back down to continue my simple game of “Balls go Boom!” (Sammy named it that.) While deep in concentration the computer desktop flickered blue and then back to the normal picture. It caught my eye, but I did not stop playing – just kinda letting it go without a second thought. Then it happened again, but this time it didn’t flicker back to normal. I thought it was weird, but as long as it wasn’t messing with my game… But then my little cursor jumped off the game site and closed my game – all by itself! I sat in disbelief as I watched the cursor move up and click on Firefox – opening it! I’ve seen the cursor move by itself like this before; Scott has put this program called “VNC” on all the family computers, so he can “hack” into them, take control of the cursor and fix them. But this wasn’t Scott taking control; he was out in the street. Who was this? Once Firefox was open, they went into “tools” and as it moved toward options I started to freak out! I grabbed my mouse and started to jolt it from side to side – showing whomever it was, “Hey! I’m right here!” The Hacker did not seem to care that I was right there and fighting for control of the cursor as they went to click on “privacy” trying to get saved passwords. I saw my site name and went crazy with the mouse thrusting it in violent circles around the mouse pad. I started to scream for Scott, but he was nowhere around and my mother couldn’t hear me. I was frantic and needed help – there was an intruder trying to take personal information with me sitting right there! The Hacker finally gave up the fight and logged off. I went to “Start” and “Shut Down” her computer. I made sure it was off before sprinting outside in desperate search for Scott!

Out of breath and shaking I dashed outside and over to Scott and Sammy coming back onto my mother’s street. I ran to him and said as much as I could – my heart was getting ready to explode! “Someone just hacked into my mother’s computer!” I huffed. “With me right there!!!” I took a deep breath in and repeated myself two more times before Scott was able to get what the heck I was saying. He grabbed Sammy and the three of us went running back into my mother’s house. I told him I had left the computer on for a long time while we were out for the ride. He was calm, like it was no big deal. Though I could see his eyes wide with intrigue and bewilderment. He was asking me questions about what happened and how far the intruder got. I felt like I was being questioned by the police after a robber invaded my home. I showed him everything and he said they probably didn’t get any vital information. He looked at the log files and was able to see that the Hacker was from the UK and had hacked in twice (flashback to the first time the desktop flickered blue!) Then the hacker stayed on for a whole minute and ten seconds the second time. I told Scott it took me about ten seconds to figure out what the hell was happening, and then I fought with the hacker for about a minute! Scott smiled and said, “That’s when you do this.” and he hit the power button shutting the computer down. Oh my god! I didn’t even think about that! I explained I was freaking out and had no idea what to do. Scott knows me and he knows when I panic I cannot think clearly. Once, we were on a Washington State freeway heading home when my tire blew out! I grabbed the wheel and started yelling, “Scott! Scott! Scott!” He clamly said, “Pull off the road.” and that was all I needed – a little direction. There was no one to give me direction with the hacker and so I did what I could – and it turned out to be enough. Though, now I know what to do if it happens again.

Scott strengthened the password on my mother’s VNC and turned on the prompt that will pop up asking her if she wants to allow the remote connection or not. Scott is always using VNC to “hack” into my computer, my mother’s computer and all of his work computers. It is something he does to help out – not to invade. I told my mother that if the prompt comes up to deny it unless she is on the phone with Scott and she knows for sure it is him! Everything calmed down and it was over… or so I thought. The next day I was back on her computer and playing the same game I was the day before when the VNC prompt popped on-screen! I was shocked that the hacker would come back! I quickly clicked the “deny request” and called Scott. I asked if he had just tried to get onto my mother’s computer, but he had not. They cracked the password!!! It was nothing anyone could guess – unless they have a program, and even so, why are they targeting my mother’s computer? The prompt stopped them and they have not been back – that I know of.

When Scott got home he remembered not knowing how trojan horse had gotten on his computer a few days before this whole thing with my mother’s computer. He checked his log files, and saw that he had hackers on his computer too! They broke his password and Scott thinks they planted the trojan. He doesn’t know if they stole any vital information, bank account passwords or any other passwords he had saved. They could get into our bank accounts and other things that Firefox stores a password for – how creepy is that?!?! The only thing bad that has happened – thus far – has been the trojan horse. Scott put up a different password, but I don’t doubt for a second that they will be able to break it. He cannot put the prompt on because he is always hacking into it himself from work – and the same with all his work computers. My advice is never save a password on your computer! When Firefox asks, just click “never for this site” and you should be good.

That was so weird! It totally felt like I was sitting in my mother’s house and some burglar walked calmly in and simply started taking stuff. No matter what I said or did, the intruder just continued walking through her house taking what they wanted. There was no physical threat, but I felt invaded nonetheless! My laptop is pretty safe – as there is no direct way to connect to its VNC. To hack into my laptop you would have to go through a lot and then break the password! You are just never safe – no matter who you are! If you need to know how to activate the prompt in VNC go ask Scott, he’ll send you the directions.

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