A question of security

[Meaghan Zuta]

I recently visited a Safe Hub (I know I know, I was bored) and sat in on some heated conversations.  I wasn't a big contributor, just kind of texted to the people around me and had a good laugh.  I left, and out of nowhere a guy IMd me a goodbye, which I found odd because I wasn't talking to him at all, but didn't think too much of it.  A couple of hours later, he IMs me AGAIN, and I jokingly call him a stalker.  Things get really weird from there.  He starts talking about (paraphrased here) how I was on the prowl for a booty call and how HE wanted to help me out, and blah blah blah.  I told him he was wrong and went quiet, and was JUST about to mute him when he called me by my RL name.  

Since then, I have not spoken to him, and have filed a report against him under the category of RL information.  I am seriously spooked though; upon a thorough google search of my avatar's name, no RL information came up.  I am terrified he knows even more.  Does his have my phone number?  My address?  The names of family members?  It's really done a number on me, and I've spent hours scouring the forums for any similar situations to this.

My question is (and please forgive my naive wording here), is there any kind of underground database, software, spy tools, etc that would give this guy my information?  I am tapped into Comcast's randomly generated WiFi (thanks neighbors) so getting my name from the IP doesn't seem likely.  I'm just at a loss.  Of course, his account is also nearly 12 years old, and perhaps he knows me from an alt.  However, even my closest friends on SL don't know my RL information.  

Any information you guys can provide would be appreciated, and put me at ease.  Thank you.

[Alwin Alcott]

1 hour ago, Meaghan Zuta said:

 A couple of hours later, he IMs me AGAIN,

As soon you feel not ok with a convo, not get silent but directly block it.

You replied to him.. never do if one hits you.

And to your last questions, no he has no access to your info, other than he gets  ór got from you in the past somewhere... or you have friens with loose lips.

[Meaghan Zuta]

Oh he's blocked.  That doesn't change what happened.  

I replied to him, yes, but when it became harassment, I went quiet.  The block came after he gave me my RL name. Just to clarify.

Never talked to the guy in my life, don't know of a single friend (or enemy, for that matter) who would tell this person anything.  But thank you for your input.

[Pamela Galli]

I would guess maybe someone from your RL who somehow got your avi name, rather than vice versa. Or reverse photo lookup.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Pamela Galli

[Alwin Alcott]

6 minutes ago, Meaghan Zuta said:

That doesn't change what happened.  

I replied to him,

your short explanation shows there's a lot more said, or you wouldn't reply to him as  "stalker". He got you where he wanted and you supplied him with his few hours pre-enjoyment and a couple of minutes full ahead.

You can be lucky and never had lot of griefing issues, but my alarmbells go all on red when somebody i don't know IM's me... for sure at griefer nests as hubs

[Ceka Cianci]

Maybe they just lucked out in saying your name,I mean if it was just a first name..

I call everyone at work jack or Maynard.. Is your name common or rare?

[Meaghan Zuta]

Alwin, how does that explain how he got my RL information?  Please don't give me further grief about my wrongdoing.  Do you think I was somehow asking for it?  I just want to know if I've overlooked anything, in terms of collecting RL info.

Thank you for understanding.

Ceka, it's not very common, no.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Meaghan Zuta

[Ceka Cianci]

It is possible that it could be someone that you do know,that you had a conversation with at any time in the past..

It's so easy to make alts and easy to bump into people from the past..

that or they know someone that you know,there are so many possibilities.. is your SL tied in anyways to say a face book or anything else?

 

I've been here for years and really some people have bluffed me a time or two,but always been bluffs to just try to freak me out..I just tell them to come on over,just remember,you're the one that will be in the middle of Nowhere not me.. They haven't stopped by yet..

[Meaghan Zuta]

Heh, okay Ceka.. Sorry, this is the first time this has happened to me, and I've been here almost ten years.  I already suffer from anxiety, so it just made things worse.  

Not tied to a facebook, no.  Meaghan is, but not the account I was on (clearly not using that one on here, in case the stalker is still digging).  Anyway I will try to relax and chalk it up to some chance meeting in my past, where the RL name came out.  Even if I really don't remember.

Thanks.

[Alwin Alcott]

3 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

 is your SL tied in anyways to say a face book

it doesn't even have to be tied, FB does this automaticly if you have multiple accounts.

not really as tied, but sometimes shows your accounts as possible future friends to friends and others on your lists.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Alwin Alcott

[Ceka Cianci]

6 minutes ago, Meaghan Zuta said:

Heh, okay Ceka.. Sorry, this is the first time this has happened to me, and I've been here almost ten years.  I already suffer from anxiety, so it just made things worse.  

Not tied to a facebook, no.  Meaghan is, but not the account I was on (clearly not using that one on here, in case the stalker is still digging).  Anyway I will try to relax and chalk it up to some chance meeting in my past, where the RL name came out.  Even if I really don't remember.

Thanks.

Well,it's always good to be cautious anyways.. I'm not trying to make you relax too much.. Just don't let someone that may have heard your name  in some way get you too riled either..

Some people are just so bored that messing with others is how they get their kicks.. Because they have nothing better to do..

 

 

[Bree Giffen]

Maybe he found your ip address if the parcel has voice or music. Also, look up your ip and see if it is tied to your personal info. If you have a static ip, like a small business with a securuty camera or have a small internet service provider, that ip could have some relevant data.

There is also the social aspect where he could simply listen in on your public conversation and learn enough to research who you are. The best thing to do is deny anything he says because he's actually looking for you to verify.

[Tari Landar]

As others already pointed out, there are two things that are far more likely than something underground or underhanded(well, in THAT sense) going on.

A-someone you know/have met trying to get a rise out of you on an alt they have(or even not an alt but someone you just don't remember, oldies like ourselves may very well forget some of the people we've met in the past, I do it all the time lol)

B-someone you know shared your name

You'd be surprised what kind of information actually gets tied to our various accounts all across the 'net, even when we don't realize it.  What happened to you isn't all that uncommon, in any area of the 'net, and it always stems from someone just trying to get a rise out of you.

Also, I must say that while you think Alwin may have simply been pointing out your wrongdoings, maybe you even think it was just pot shots at you...there's a good reason that kind of advice is given to people when these things happen. It's sound advice to remember what actions we take part in which only drive folks hell bent on getting under our skin. No that doesn't mean you're "asking for it", but that also doesn't mean we (all of us, not just you, lol) have no part at all in our own issues. Sometimes we DO give those folks, the idiots, more fuel for their fire-realizing it or not. It's good to remember that blocking immediately instead of interacting with those people is your best defense AND offense. We have these tools available to us, all of us do, so using them is quite wise. You never have to interact, chat, whatever, with anyone you don't want to. Those little "well this is odd" feelings we get when someone chats with us out of the blue, exist for a reason, and we should listen to them. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that someone with anxiety, trust issues, whatever have you, ought to listen to them even closer than others. If for no other reason, to save yourself from further anxiety. Been there, done that, have since burned that t-shirt  

And, no, that isn't me blaming you either, lol, it's just pointing out the obvious, which we often don't see when it's our own self we're talking about. It's not a bad thing to look back on a situation and say "well, I could've saved myself that little panic attack if I'd just not engaged at all". If anything, it'll keep you from having those mini panic attacks in the future. Odds are pretty good you may run into a situation in the future at some point that makes you feel the same way....and now you'll remember this instance and be like "nope, not today", and you'll head off the problem before it becomes one

 

[Madelaine McMasters]

I'll invoke Hanlon's razor here. It's more likely that you committed an error somewhere, than that your "stalker" has hacked something. Some years ago, an SL friend of mine inadvertently outed herself by sending me a link to an article she'd read. She was a subscriber to the site containing the article and the link she sent contained her subscriber ID, as is often the case for such websites. In the upper right of the web page containing the article, I saw her RL name. I immediately contacted her to warn her of the error, and to tell her to change her username on that website to her first name only, or to something completely else, so that if it happened again, she'd leak only useless information. Most websites don't make such rookie mistakes these days, but it still happens. You must be pretty diligent to avoid outing yourself through through any of the endless oopsies lurking around the internet.

I access SL via a separate account on my Mac, so there's little chance that RL information will leak into anything I do here. I cannot access the NYTimes, Wash Post or any of the dozens of technical journalism sites at which I have accounts, so there's no opportunity to out myself by posting links from them here. I have Yahoo and Google accounts that are not at all connected to my RL self. I have multiple SL accounts, only one of which has PIOF, and that's not Maddy.

Please don't feel like we're singling you out for the possibility of accidentally being your own leak. I think many of us (certainly I) have made the same mistakes, and learned from them.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Madelaine McMasters

[Paul Hexem]

Searching your name online gets a ton of hits. Wouldn't be hard to trace a couple back. Especially if you use Facebook with your real account and that account on the same computer.

[Marianne Little]

This is why I don't have voice or media on. I don't know how much IP addresses can reveal, but I don't want to find out the hard way.

I don't know if my IP is local or fixed, and I sometimes log in from different locations, I can not check IP everywhere. (can't or is too lazy? Better to leave voice and music off)

I don't have Facebook or other social media either. Way too easy to slip.

Meaghan, could it be a lucky guess, that he said your RL name? Your full name, or just your Christian name? Maybe it is common, as Maria or Jane?

[Alyona Su]

All these wrong guesses.

@Meaghan Zuta: Girl, you been hacked.

It doesn't matter if it's your neighbor's wifi. Whatever the IP is is still your I.P.; it's the address you are connected to. The number is easily discoverable because it has to be a public number or the Internet won't work. Once he has that number he used whatever outside-of-SL hacker tools to get into your system. This is one reason why @Marianne Little has it spot-on (because this is likely the route he took to find your I.P. address to begin with).

Every single suggestion above about "he guessed..." or "the previous conversation..." is likely a 0.1% chance of being a lucky fluke at best or, realistically, a laughable idea.

You need to ensure your Windows or macOS Firewall is turned ON. You may even want to consider aftermarket Firewall software.

Oh, and @Marianne: Do you use anything Google? If you do then foregoing Facebook and other social media is only 30% of your effort. I recommend DuckDuckGo.com in place of "We-Know-Who-You-Are" Google. Just sayin'

Edited July 27, 2018 by Alyona Su

[Dakota Linden]

Greetings all!

The most likely scenario is that you have your Second Life Avatar name linked to your RL name somewhere on the internet and doing a search of your SL Avatar name showed your RL name. 

While Linden Lab appreciates, and absolutely LOVES when users work to help each other out, please be careful when claiming a user has been hacked, or is being stalked.  

The most simplest answer is usually the correct one. 

[Alyona Su]

2 hours ago, Dakota Linden said:

Greetings all!

The most likely scenario is that you have your Second Life Avatar name linked to your RL name somewhere on the internet and doing a search of your SL Avatar name showed your RL name. 

While Linden Lab appreciates, and absolutely LOVES when users work to help each other out, please be careful when claiming a user has been hacked, or is being stalked.  

The most simplest answer is usually the correct one. 

I concur. Though at the same time, would this also not be a scenario where erring on the safe side is the safest way to move forward? //Just Saying.

And I do admit I did not follow my own personal forum rules, which is to always try to ensure that my comments clearly expressed as being my own ideas/opinions/thoughts etc. not any kind of general consensus. So I should have stated "I think you have been..." - and that is an EPICFAIL on me!

Edited July 27, 2018 by Alyona Su

[Rhonda Huntress]

I looked.  I followed something.  I read a profile.   10 minutes and I have a guess.

I won't give more details than that but please be careful about what information you put out there even if you think This and That are completely unconnected.

[Pamela Galli]

I sometimes show people my marketplace page ( otherwise I get a blank stare when I try to explain what I do), thus revealing my avi name to them, which they could use inworld if they were so inclined. Which they are so far not.

[Meaghan Zuta]

Guys, this wasn't the account I was on.  So thanks for your noble efforts to hunt me down lol.  

Anyway, someone tipped me off to my Skype account for that avatar, where I had my RL first name listed.  I'm just happy that it wasn't some additional information floating out there about my personal life.  This scumbag managed to glean my name and my name only.  Problem solved.

End of issue.  Thanks.

[Tari Landar]

Glad you figured it out

While I am personally always for erring on the side of caution when it comes to potential security issues...in sl, they're far (way far, lol) less likely to be the culprit than our own actions. Hence why I don't jump on the "OMG...you've been hacked" train, and why I trust very few, if any, claims of such...'cuz...humans, we're a weird bunch and don't always remember the things we do later down the road until/unless it becomes a problem. 

Other areas of the 'net...yup, those pose way more danger and remaining ever paranoid cautious and vigilant, is a wise move.  

[Ceka Cianci]

12 hours ago, Meaghan Zuta said:

Guys, this wasn't the account I was on.  So thanks for your noble efforts to hunt me down lol.  

Anyway, someone tipped me off to my Skype account for that avatar, where I had my RL first name listed.  I'm just happy that it wasn't some additional information floating out there about my personal life.  This scumbag managed to glean my name and my name only.  Problem solved.

End of issue.  Thanks.

I'm just glad you found closure..I know those things can be scary sometimes..

Enjoy your SL and don't let the ones trying to burn the world down around themselves, keep you from doing  that..

Take care now