PC trojan

[Piff]

For some time I have been "threatened" by a hacker who has accessed my pc with a trojan.
His threats have been to publish my photos to my "contacts" unless I pay him bitcoins.
Some of my photos are of SWMBO in "beach" poses which she would not necessarily want broadcasting.
I have removed those photos from my online account.
I use microsoft defender as my main anti virus protection but it seems he can bypass this as trojans are installed at various intervals.
I receive emails from him at regular intervals purporting to be from me with suggestions to view various photos. Each of these emails I report as spam/phishing and do mot open them.
I now run a regular anti virus checker & the trojan reappears from time to time.

Any ideas how to get this lowlife stopped completely?

 

[whitenemesis]

How long has this been going on? Has he 'published' any photos to anyone yet? If not that would suggest empty threats?
I would download and install Malwarebytes, pay the subscription and get their support to 'cleanse' your pc.

 

[markjay]

Has you online drive (e.g. Google) been hacked, or your PC, or both?

As above, for personal use Malwarebytes is my favourite, it will protect your PC, though not your online accounts.

Regarding online accounts, just change the password and use two factor authentication (2FA) - this is usually sufficient for personal use. Also check that all the details in the My Account section are correct, i.e. have not been changed by the hacker, including recovery email options and mobile phone number.

Regarding paying the hacker with Bitcoin.... there's a 50-50 chance that this will achieve the goal. If preventing the photos from being published is very important to you, and the amount requested is small, you may want to consider it and take the chance (whilst not setting aside the fact that you will be financing criminal activity and the moral implications of it).

But before you do anything, what proof do you have that the hacker is in fact in possession of your data? Keeping in mind that often these are empty threats.

 

[Piff]

How long has this been going on? Has he 'published' any photos to anyone yet? If not that would suggest empty threats?
I would download and install Malwarebytes, pay the subscription and get their support to 'cleanse' your pc.

As far as I am aware nothing has been published

 

[Piff]

Has you online drive (e.g. Google) been hacked, or your PC, or both?

As above, for personal use Malwarebytes is my favourite, it will protect your PC, though not your online accounts.

Regarding online accounts, just change the password and use two factor authentication (2FA) - this is usually sufficient for personal use. Also check that all the details in the My Account section are correct, i.e. have not been changed by the hacker, including recovery email options and mobile phone number.

Regarding paying the hacker with Bitcoin.... there's a 50-50 chance that this will achieve the goal. If preventing the photos from being published is very important to you, and the amount requested is small, you may want to consider it and take the chance (whilst not setting aside the fact that you will be financing criminal activity and the moral implications of it).

But before you do anything, what proof do you have that the hacker is in fact in possession of your data? Keeping in mind that often these are empty threats.

I think it is pc only which has been hacked.
Sounds like Malwarebytes is the best option

 

[moonloops]

As above, probably nothing has been hacked they just spoof your email address to convince you have been compromised.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Don't respond to any communication.

Change every single password and make sure they are all different, eg not the same password across the board.

 

[st13phil]

Don't respond to any communication.

^ This.

Most likely it is a phishing attempt and no data has been accessed, but as a precautionary measure...

Change every single password and make sure they are all different, eg not the same password across the board.

^ Do this. If you don't have a Password Manager already, consider installing one and using it to generate and securely store complex passwords that are never used across multiple sites.

 

[Harrythedog]

Tell him you caught your wife having an affair so he can publish what he likes

 

[Piff]

Do password managers sync across 2 devices as I have a windows pc & an ipad?

 

[st13phil]

Do password managers sync across 2 devices as I have a windows pc & an ipad?

Depends on the password manager, but most do. I've been using this for a few years and it happily sync's between Windows PC, iPad and iPhone:

Password Manager for Families, Enterprise & Business | 1Password

A password manager, digital vault, form filler, and secure digital wallet. Manage everything in one secure place – 1Password remembers all your passwords and sensitive information, so you don’t have to.

1password.com

 

[Jimmyc63s]

For some time I have been "threatened" by a hacker who has accessed my pc with a trojan.
His threats have been to publish my photos to my "contacts" unless I pay him bitcoins.
Some of my photos are of SWMBO in "beach" poses which she would not necessarily want broadcasting.
I have removed those photos from my online account.
I use microsoft defender as my main anti virus protection but it seems he can bypass this as trojans are installed at various intervals.
I receive emails from him at regular intervals purporting to be from me with suggestions to view various photos. Each of these emails I report as spam/phishing and do mot open them.
I now run a regular anti virus checker & the trojan reappears from time to time.

Any ideas how to get this lowlife stopped completely?

I had this happen to me as well. Malwarebytes didn't work - the only way I got rid of it was with Bitdefender which found the trojan hidden in photo files which weren't photos. They came from a .RAR file from a forum.

Bloke had a full screenviewer view of what I was doing and Skype etc using a VPN from UK. Pissed me off aye but it was only Bitdefender that could fix it I shit you not.

 

[Dryce]

One of the malicious email attack methods is to issue a threat to publish personal information from your own PC.

The threat sent includes details of a login that that you will have used to register with another website. It is that website that has been hacked. The details from the hack on the site are in effect being used to strengthen the assertion the threat to you is genuine.

They will assert that the have managed to place their software into your PC. The threat may be to publish information from your PC or suggest they have compromising images and details of you while you have been visiting dodgy sites with a demand to be paid in bitcoin.

I use different email addresses to register on different sites - mainly so I can determine if they are circulating my address or to easily identify and block unsolicited emails from a particular source.

I get these messages from time to time for one of the email identities I used a long time ago. They tend to come in bursts every few months. I assume the perpetrators get shut down after a period of activity and then kick off again after a lull.

 

[rich1068]

But before you do anything, what proof do you have that the hacker is in fact in possession of your data? Keeping in mind that often these are empty threats.

This.

I get a similar email occasionally. The threat is that he will publish pictures of me captured by my webcam doing unspeakable things while viewing porn.

I don't have a webcam...

 

[markjay]

I don't have a webcam...

Ah I see.. so that's the only part in the scammer's email that's incorrect...?

 

[W1ghty]

This.

I get a similar email occasionally. The threat is that he will publish pictures of me captured by my webcam doing unspeakable things while viewing porn.

I don't have a webcam...

How unspeakable are we talking buddy ?

 

[Piff]

I have had similar threats of publishing web cam footage - but I don't have a webcam

 

[DSM10000]

How unspeakable are we talking buddy ?

We cannot talk about it

 

[Dickie Fix]

Check on haveibeenpwned to see if your email address has been part of a data breach which may have included passwords and other details. That could explain how they found your email address.

 

[Piff]

Check on haveibeenpwned to see if your email address has been part of a data breach which may have included passwords and other details. That could explain how they found your email address.

Oh no — pwned!​

Pwned in 6 data breaches and found no pastes (subscribe to search sensitive breaches)