MSN Messenger security, quick question.
Discussion
But if you are signed off the first one, does the conversation disappear?
Basically, my woman has a rather mad ex, he has hacked her account and magically keeps hacking into it, deleting/blocking stuff from yours truly, I'm just curious as we have been keeping a low profile (as matey is a nutter) and the old MSN conversations "might" have had some fury causing evidence. I'm just looking after my ass.
So, I leave my computer on with MSN running, YOU sign into my MSN account on a different machine, does my end not respond or what? Does it log off? Is anyone in a uni/library/work and in a position to try this? Seriously, there might be some consequences and repercussions from this.
Basically, my woman has a rather mad ex, he has hacked her account and magically keeps hacking into it, deleting/blocking stuff from yours truly, I'm just curious as we have been keeping a low profile (as matey is a nutter) and the old MSN conversations "might" have had some fury causing evidence. I'm just looking after my ass.
So, I leave my computer on with MSN running, YOU sign into my MSN account on a different machine, does my end not respond or what? Does it log off? Is anyone in a uni/library/work and in a position to try this? Seriously, there might be some consequences and repercussions from this.
You can only talk if your signed in. Its not like ICQ where the conversations are direct from PC to PC.
Can she not just create a new msn messenger account, he can then hyjack the other as much as he wants.
I can try this though just to make sure if you want...
.......
tested. Cofirmed it cuts you off.
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:24
Can she not just create a new msn messenger account, he can then hyjack the other as much as he wants.
I can try this though just to make sure if you want...
.......
tested. Cofirmed it cuts you off.
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:24
If you left your's running and he tried signing in on your account, the one on your PC would go offline.
Depending on which version you are using, the last few lines of the conversation can be shown when a new conversation is started. Also, there is the option to save messages to the hard drive. If she has messaged you off the PC he has access to, then he could read them that way.
Depending on which version you are using, the last few lines of the conversation can be shown when a new conversation is started. Also, there is the option to save messages to the hard drive. If she has messaged you off the PC he has access to, then he could read them that way.
polus said:
You can only talk if your signed in. Its not like ICQ where the conversations are direct from PC to PC.
Can she not just create a new msn messenger account, he can then hyjack the other as much as he wants.
I can try this though just to make sure if you want...
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:21
I am curious as to what TRULY happens, sadly until the 3rd, I only have access to one PC at a time. I'm not sure what he's using but it sounds like he can "just find" the information he wants password wise, it's quite a disturbing situation for her and increasingly, me! If you recall a certain "Jerry Springer" thread, I might have been involved in a "similar" situation.
Cheers
^As soon as you are signed you can no longer send or recieve messages at all.
Depends how knowledable he is.
The easiest is a brute force but that would take along time depending on the complexity of the password.
Does he have access, or is he the backup email account to her primary msn account so any request of password goes to that account. Having said that Im not sure if msn do it properly and generate a random password and lock the account until the new password has been entered or just email the plain text password to the secondary account.
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:32
Depends how knowledable he is.
The easiest is a brute force but that would take along time depending on the complexity of the password.
Does he have access, or is he the backup email account to her primary msn account so any request of password goes to that account. Having said that Im not sure if msn do it properly and generate a random password and lock the account until the new password has been entered or just email the plain text password to the secondary account.
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:32
I'll try and cover all your questions as best I can:
If you are mid-conversation and someone else signs in using your credentials (on another PC obviously), you will be signed out. The conversation you were having up until that point will remain on screen but will not be 'transferred' the other person using your account.
However, potentially person C (other half), who you were having the conversation with, could continue blissfully unaware that they are now chatting to person B (nutter), rather that Person A (you). Unless you are using the webcam capability of MSN.
If you have 'Message History' enabled (Tools -> Options) then messages are cached locally. From my laptop (using now) I can't see messages I have sent/received using other devices.
Now to open a can of worms - is the MSN account associated to an e-mail account (Hotmail or other) and does that have the same password, granting access for him to send/receive e-mail as well?
I've never tried, but presumably he keeps being able to reset her password or similar by going through the 'forgotten my password / enter personal information' type setup that I think MSN have? If so, simply change the personal information as well as the password.
Or simply move to a different MSN account.
Hope this helps - multiple PC's here so I can test out any scenario pretty easily if it helps.
If you are mid-conversation and someone else signs in using your credentials (on another PC obviously), you will be signed out. The conversation you were having up until that point will remain on screen but will not be 'transferred' the other person using your account.
However, potentially person C (other half), who you were having the conversation with, could continue blissfully unaware that they are now chatting to person B (nutter), rather that Person A (you). Unless you are using the webcam capability of MSN.
If you have 'Message History' enabled (Tools -> Options) then messages are cached locally. From my laptop (using now) I can't see messages I have sent/received using other devices.
Now to open a can of worms - is the MSN account associated to an e-mail account (Hotmail or other) and does that have the same password, granting access for him to send/receive e-mail as well?
I've never tried, but presumably he keeps being able to reset her password or similar by going through the 'forgotten my password / enter personal information' type setup that I think MSN have? If so, simply change the personal information as well as the password.
Or simply move to a different MSN account.
Hope this helps - multiple PC's here so I can test out any scenario pretty easily if it helps.
"However, potentially person C (other half), who you were having the conversation with, could continue blissfully unaware that they are now chatting to person B (nutter), rather that Person A (you). Unless you are using the webcam capability of MSN."
Yeah, the guy at the other side of my conversation didnt recieve any messages to alert him that id switched PC's during the conversation although I dont use MSN but a program called gaim which does alert you the other person closing the window etc
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:36
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:37
Yeah, the guy at the other side of my conversation didnt recieve any messages to alert him that id switched PC's during the conversation although I dont use MSN but a program called gaim which does alert you the other person closing the window etc
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:36
>> Edited by polus on Sunday 18th December 19:37
Love Machine said:
he can "just find" the information he wants password wise
I doubt very much this is from technical know-how.
I've never tried to "hack" MSN using technology, but lets face it, Microsoft aren't going to make it easy, and if it could be done easily then we would all know as it the press would have a field day.
He will be "just finding" password etc by social engineering - what are the "security" questions - mothers maiden name, DoB etc, things he probably knows.
Ok, the situation has progressed and has got quite serious, the question is "Is hacking someones account for divorce ammo legal?" Would it stand up in court?
Obviously, the guy can save and print all the emails as much as he likes, but at the end of the day, they are could have been created by Fred Bloggs in word. I can't see how any serious judge would call it viable evidence but you never know.
Obviously, the guy can save and print all the emails as much as he likes, but at the end of the day, they are could have been created by Fred Bloggs in word. I can't see how any serious judge would call it viable evidence but you never know.
Right - to start with, hacking's illegal, but this probably doesn't mean that he couldn't use the e-mails for a divorce case. Suppose you could try and have him under the computer mis-use act for hacking, but if it's yahoo or another webmail service it's not your computer that's been hacked. If he knows her password (possibly she's hopeless at picking one?) I suppose you could argue that he's not hacked at all - it's her that hasn't managed to keep her account secure.
Do you really mean "hacking" though? What is actually happening? Is he reading e-mails that are on (for the sake of argument) his PC, but sent to her? (I.e. looking at her mailbox in Outlook or similar), or is he logging in to yahoo/hotmail or similar?
If it's the latter, get her to change her password, and delete the e-mails from her account. If it's the former, there's not a great deal you can do about it, as I presume she's no longer got access to the PC.
Regarding MSM, IIRC the logging is turned off by default, and there's no way of accessing past conversations without that.
Dan
Do you really mean "hacking" though? What is actually happening? Is he reading e-mails that are on (for the sake of argument) his PC, but sent to her? (I.e. looking at her mailbox in Outlook or similar), or is he logging in to yahoo/hotmail or similar?
If it's the latter, get her to change her password, and delete the e-mails from her account. If it's the former, there's not a great deal you can do about it, as I presume she's no longer got access to the PC.
Regarding MSM, IIRC the logging is turned off by default, and there's no way of accessing past conversations without that.
Dan
The account is a webmail and the account has a secure password and secret question answer which are totally unguessable, there is no other email address that he could access it by yet still things mysteriously have been disappearing from the account, despite changed P/W's etc. The PC used to access the information is remote, the account now no longer exists. However, the information contained on it probably does in his "evidence folder", there will be residual stuff on her hard drive, which I will suggest she gets wiped, that will put it down to some electronic data he has which. Any form of that has to be unreliable.
There is a lot of stuff online about "Intercepting electronic communication" being illegal in the US, I assume it is her as well. However, a hard disc is another matter.
The MSN issue seems to be solved but the information from the Webmail account is cause for concern.
The hunt goes on.
There is a lot of stuff online about "Intercepting electronic communication" being illegal in the US, I assume it is her as well. However, a hard disc is another matter.
The MSN issue seems to be solved but the information from the Webmail account is cause for concern.
The hunt goes on.
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