Advice Request Hacked or Paranoia?

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Occasionally you will read posts regarding getting hacked, or a hacker in my phone, they are watching me etc. The poster is convinced they are constantly getting "hacked", settings are changing, receiving auth codes, apps wanting x, y, z permissions, router blocking IPs... the list goes on.

Are these real, or a health condition?
 
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And a third option, just having some fun and getting attention on the internet.

Personally, I got a warning from Emsisoft Anti-Malware when connecting to the wifi at a friend house.
That friend came out a bad divorce with her ex-husband who worked in IT.
I had Emsisoft support check my laptop, but everything turned out fine, but I was glad I got a waning from Emsisoft.
That friend got a new router from her ISP and all her passwords were changed, but there was something dubious going on there.

Posts from a stranger on the internet are always difficult to judge but it never hurts to get a second opinion from a malware removal expert.
So, it still could be one of those (now) three reasons :D

I hope this forum keeps on contributing to a safer internet by discussing members security configs, posting security news, updates and providing malware removal assistance (y)
 
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Spawn said:
The poster is convinced they are constantly getting "hacked", settings are changing, receiving auth codes, apps wanting x, y, z permissions, router blocking IPs... the list goes on.
Click to expand...
It sounds like a normal Windows behavior, the same goes for a phone, when certain apps are installed.
Some people are like, he wants to get me I am being attacked by hundreds of IPs a minute (unsolicited traffic).
Security software acts as scareware in order to sell its product, but when an user sees something, he gets worried.

Then again some people might be a target, one said, he switched dozens of phones a year in order to avoid hacking.
But they are like flies bumping into a window. If something does not work, change a security strategy, use 2FA, etc.
If they just use the same account, but forget to disable old authorized devices ... That reminds me, time to log out.
 

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It's usually paranoia. Someone at Wilders thought they had been hacked, because when pressing some letter keys on their keyboard, numbers were showing. I told them that Num Lock was on. I then had to explain to them that, no, a hacker would not hack into their computer and turn on Num Lock just to taunt them and that there would be some more reasonable explanation. Someone else thought that if a computer gets infected that you need to throw it away.

If only I was making this up...
 
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Don't forget plain ignorance as one of the explanations. I have seem people who thought they were hacked/infected because Bitdefender had downloaded a file called emalware.xxx, I forget the number now, and they wanted to know if it was bad.

Now this person thinks their protection suite downloading an update is a sign of infection... I don't even know what to comment....
 
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mlnevese said:
Now this person thinks their protection suit downloading an update is a sign of infection... I don't even know what to comment....
Click to expand...
But you have to appreciate theirs security awareness. Some will get the warning, your files have been encrypted, respond within 24 hours! They close the message and open FB. :LOL:
 
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mlnevese said:
Don't forget plain ignorance as one of the explanations. I have seem people who thought they were hacked/infected because Bitdefender had downloaded a file called emalware.xxx, I forget the number now, and they wanted to know if it was bad.

Now this person thinks their protection suit downloading an update is a sign of infection... I don't even know what to comment....
Click to expand...
The Bitdefender subreddit regularly has people freaking out about the update file names.:ROFLMAO:
 
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The false paranoia I most often encounter among people I know is that every time something doesn't work right on their computer, they attribute it to a virus. Perhaps this is thinking from 20 years ago, when prank viruses were common, or maybe it is just a confusion between "bug" and "virus".
 
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It must be hard to provide assistance, especially outside a corporate environment when everything should be configured basically the same. There could be a virus/malware, there could be another PC issue (eg. driver incompatible), there could be a problem with the user's expectations or there could be nothing at all.

I had a colleague who was certain someone was mining bitcoin on his PC. It turns out that his SSD was disconnecting and reconnecting hundreds of times per day due to a fault. Replacing that made the performance a lot more consistent and he had no more concerns about mining
 
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roger_m said:
It's usually paranoia. Someone at Wilders thought they had been hacked, because when pressing some letter keys on their keyboard, numbers were showing. I told them that Num Lock was on. I then had to explain to them that, no, a hacker would not hack into their computer and turn on Num Lock just to taunt them and that there would be some more reasonable explanation. Someone else thought that if a computer gets infected that you need to throw it away.

If only I was making this up...
Click to expand...
Aren't you?!
 
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roger_m said:
It's usually paranoia. Someone at Wilders thought they had been hacked, because when pressing some letter keys on their keyboard, numbers were showing. I told them that Num Lock was on. I then had to explain to them that, no, a hacker would not hack into their computer and turn on Num Lock just to taunt them and that there would be some more reasonable explanation. Someone else thought that if a computer gets infected that you need to throw it away.

If only I was making this up...
Click to expand...
I followed that thread, it’s sadly true…
 
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roger_m said:
Nah, here's a link to the NumLock thread.
www.wilderssecurity.com

malware that passes thru security

Hi, I think I am infected with something. It got past BitDefender GravityZone, Sandboxie and OSAmror. And it changed the character mapping of my...
www.wilderssecurity.com www.wilderssecurity.com

Don't tell everyone :ROFLMAO: Next week I'm going to randomly turn on Caps Lock :D
Click to expand...
How does pressing NumLock turn the "u" into "4"?
 
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roger_m said:
It's usually paranoia. Someone at Wilders thought they had been hacked, because when pressing some letter keys on their keyboard, numbers were showing. I told them that Num Lock was on. I then had to explain to them that, no, a hacker would not hack into their computer and turn on Num Lock just to taunt them and that there would be some more reasonable explanation. Someone else thought that if a computer gets infected that you need to throw it away.

If only I was making this up...
Click to expand...

I remember seeing this thread, it was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever read on a forum, it wasn't because of Num Lock incident itself, but because even after your explanation was enough to solve the "problem" he continued with delusions imagining various scenarios and possible "hacker" attacks and even supposed foreign interference.

It's so absurd that it's no longer funny, it's just pathetic.
 
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