Pc hacked through my IP

[icereth]

Hello, they have traced my IP through my SL account and with a port attack they managed to enter my computer. I have formatted it and installed a paid antivirus with VPN but before going back in I would like to know if anyone knows of a method to avoid tracing in addition to the VPN I already have. Thanks

[Coffee Pancake]

Don't get lost in techno babble and magical "security" products.

Windows built in antivirus is good, you do not need to pay for a 3rd party AV - which will likely spend half it's time scaring the hell out of you on purpose, just so you think it's really protecting you.

A VPN is generally not needed - unless you're using public WiFi.

From what you've said in this thread so far, nether a 3rd party AV or a VPN would have prevented what you think happened. You don't seem to know exactly what happened, I'm seeing a lot of techno-fluff words and not a lot of actual specific details.

 

Key things to keep in mind when it comes to security.

Use a different password for every service you use - if one gets breached, you don't loose everything.

Don't download and run anything from untrusted sources. 

Don't pirate software or movies.

Don't let anyone talk you into installing remote access software like teamviewer.

Make regular backups of your important documents and pictures - get a big USB disk drive and only plug it in when you're doing a back up.

Keep Windows (and other software) up to date.

16 hours ago, icereth said:

Hello, they have traced my IP through my SL account and with a port attack they managed to enter my computer. I have formatted it and installed a paid antivirus with VPN but before going back in I would like to know if anyone knows of a method to avoid tracing in addition to the VPN I already have. Thanks

This make no sense at all. This reads the same as a bad hacker movie.

Whatever you think happened - didn't happen.

I'm not saying you didn't get 'hacked' .. but there is no way they just got your IP address from SL and then used that.

 

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, Malin Sabra said:

A person DJing can see your IP if you have your music on and the DJ goes to their shoutcast page. Its a guessing game of whos IP is whos... but it is possible.

It's not even nearly that simple.

Yes, your IP address can be discovered, but that alone allows a nefarious person to do only the most blunt and basic attacks, certainly nothing that would grant them control or hacking powers over a computer appearing to the internet to be at that IP address. That IP address likely points to the targets router, a device explicitly designed to sit between their actual computer and the internet - Doing more than a simple denial of service attack by harassing the router to the point it can't do it's job, requires more.

A router can forward ports to the actual target computer, but again, open or forwarded ports alone don't get you anywhere. There has to be "something" running on the target machine, listing at a port that's being forwarded, that can then be attacked in some way. That "something" could be anything, and without knowing what that thing is, the attacker is out of luck.

A simple example would be a webserver, typically these listen on port 80, and if you were to host one yourself at home you would have to configure your router to pass port 80 from the outside world to the computer running the server. An attacker can then run a whole battery of scripted tests against the webserver at that port and hope they find a vulnerability they can exploit (hence the term script kiddie) .. which leads to the question, exploit how .. there has to be a win condition by which the attacker is able to leverage a vulnerability on one specific piece of software into something of wider practical value .. and not crash the web server application or machine in the process. (it's worth noting here that this example is a red herring, web servers are designed to be exceptionally robust, so the target exploit would need to be something running on the webserver that adds its own vulnerability - but I hope this makes the point that even an IP and a known open port doesn't get an attacker very far at all)

Skill, time, research, patience and a lot of luck is now required to go any further. Which is laborious and frustrating, with no guarantees of success or any kind of pay off. It's very high effort and a waste of time.

If there were known security issues with the SL client that opened someone up to being attacked just by knowing a copy of SL was running at a certain IP, LL would take that exceptionally seriously. 

 

Social engineering on the other hand is crazy simple! Make friends with the target and talk them into opening a door for you. Say .. asking them to install team viewer or other remote access software under the pretext of helping them fix their computer. Jim Browing's YT channel is good place to see how call center scammers use this technique, and how he turns the tables on them (although he does gloss over exactly how he manages to accomplish that).

At this point, I would also recommend a copy of Kevin Mitnick's Ghost in the Wires , it deals with old school unix and telephone systems so not directly applicable to the technical aspects of modern hacking, it's a real testament to the power of social engineering (and a fun romp though the exploits of a man so feared people thought he could start WW3 with nothing but a telephone). Want access to anything? Find out who and how to ask for it. Job done.

If this wets your apatite for a deeper and very technical dive into the kinds of actual magic security professionals & researchers can accomplish, Blackhat and Defcon conferences both have a lot of event lectures online.  

[Alwin Alcott]

2 minutes ago, icereth said:

 what I want is to prevent it from happening to me again

stop using easy passwords, don't let your machine unwatched, never use auto login, don't click on unknown links, delete suspicious emails without looking or unhide hidden content.
Decline gifts from strangers, don't click on links in IM.....and a few more

[icereth]

Thanks for your help.

[Lindal Kidd]

I have used NordVPN with SL. I generally don't have problems.

[Malin Sabra]

@Coffee Pancake 100%

Love Jim Brownings channel

 

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Keep media off and don't click phishy links.

Antivirus is against viruses, by the way, not to close your open ports.

[icereth]

Thanks for your answer I will follow your advice.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

you had to of had a piece of software installed that was talking through the firewall windows has built into it and that piece of software freely accepted the connection.   Just an fyi too,  ip address are not private information, every website you visit logs them, also a vpn,  depending on which vpn, you could end up having a  bit of a rough time with SL as it's not recommended for usage with the service.

[icereth]

I have formatted my PC by sectors in theory I should not have any malicious software at this time what I want is to prevent it from happening to me again. Thanks

[Malin Sabra]

On 6/16/2021 at 11:46 PM, Coffee Pancake said:

I'm not saying you didn't get 'hacked' .. but there is no way they just got your IP address from SL and then used that.

 

A person DJing can see your IP if you have your music on and the DJ goes to their shoutcast page. Its a guessing game of whos IP is whos... but it is possible.