No escape

Got your own spyware horror story?

After three years, this incident was the first time I'd been hit by serious spyware. I logged in to my computer to play RuneScape, an online game, and noticed my password had been changed. I didn't think anything of it at first, but the situation soon turned serious. My passwords were denied for my MSN, PayPal, and RuneScape accounts, and even for my own 3,500-member Web site.

When I discovered all this, I could only think of someone I had encountered online three days before the attack. A "girl" had logged onto MSN, saying she got my address from a friend we both know. I believed her, so we got into some deep discussion and swapped photos. She was going to send over more photos, and that's where the trouble started.

The first file she sent had an EXE extension name. Um, no thanks. I had words with her, but she insisted that it was just a slide show. I was still leery. When she tried again with an RAR file, I figured the antivirus protection would catch anything nasty, so I took a chance. It turns out the EXE file was tucked inside. I ran it anyway, thinking about my antivirus protection.

A picture did surface, but moments later McAfee told me that something was trying to access my computer. I blocked it, but it was too late. I later learned that the picture included a file that would open up my port and connect to my hacker's. Though my scans came up with nothing, my account passwords had been changed.

I jumped onto an alternate MSN account and contacted "her," trying to find out why she did that. "She" was really a "he" and responded, "No reason, it's just what we hackers do for a living." He explained that he had gotten in by opening the port through the picture file and distributing an exploit bug to the system folders, along with a few Trojans. He stalks my every move, comments on a DVD I just watched, mocks me, and edits my Registry components.

-Ryan
United Kingdom

Reply from the Download.com editors:

Your personal hacker hit the nail on its ugly, gleaming head when justifying his deceitful assault as "just what hackers do for a living." In this age where career cyber-criminals really can and do make a living with what they can steal, misuse, sell, or pump through your computer, it's unfortunate, but perhaps unsurprising, that spyware may sneak in undetected.

Good antispyware and antivirus programs will work for you, but you have to steer them right. Choose programs with real-time protection, or whose definitions frequently auto-update. Review the settings to keep them sensitive, especially if you engage in riskier online activities like gambling and file sharing, which are known to attract cyber creeps. This list of our favorite free security programs can help you get started.

Most importantly, go wisely, and remember that no amount of quality software can protect you when you grant the criminal hacker permission to enter. With file sharing especially, curiosity maims the cat. It may be difficult to pass up that hilarious David Hasselhoff calendar, but it's better than ruining your computer.