Being smart with computer security.

[CountDuckula]

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I think the whole thing is bs. First of all it was his MAIL ACCOUNT that was hacked not his computer. Via that they got his password for his account. So either he stored his pass there [why would anyone do that?] or they used the account to mail party for a new pass [this is why passwords are better sent via regular mail]. Hotmail been hacked several times before and should never be used for stuff like this. I do not feel sorry for him at all.

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I do agree that Hotmail is a lousy email service for secure transactions, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I don't feel sorry for him. I think Party is to blame for sending out the info without requiring the answer to some security questions, and for not red-flagging the pattern of transactions following the password change (changing a password for a very active player, and then immediately setting out to drain the account?!?). Hopefully, they've learned a good lesson here.


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As soon as somthing like this happens everyone talks about getting firewalls, antispywhere and stuff. It is not needed if you set up your computer correctly and do not do stupid things (like clicking on every file you get on email and so on).

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Totally untrue. It is quite possible to catch spyware or trojans simply by visiting a website or viewing HTML email (I have the latter turned off, and only activate it when I have to and I trust the source), and not even clicking on a link. My wife (who is not computer-literate; I have to explain every little thing to her three times, and then repeat the next time the issue comes up) visited some website (we're not even sure which one), and got something that tried to relay spam from our computer. Fortunately, the defenses I'd set up squelched that instantly. Without them, we might not have noticed for a long time; the trojan itself didn't trigger any virus alerts. And antivirus scanners are only as good as the most recent update; new threats require different defenses.

In any case, while the problem that prompted the OP was not necessarily something that would have been caught by a firewall or spyware scanner (though it could have been a keylogger inadvertently downloaded from somewhere), concern for network security is still valid. There are many hazards out there that are not as obvious and simple to avoid as you apparently think.


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The only securitything worth having as far as I am conserned is a good virusscanner. I only use mine to scan downloaded files. Having a resident scanners just sucks the life of any computer and does nothing good.

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Good luck.

-Mike