Illegal Internet Use

[jorligan]

For all of those computer experts: I have been contacted by Charter that illegal uploading of movies has been occurring from my computer. Apparently, a movie, movies? have been uploaded. When I have inquired about the times and dates, it has been when we have been at work or out of town. Our wireless network was unsecured and I thought that that is how it was working but now we have turned on the encryption. I have also scanned all of our computers for viruses or spyware to see if there is something on the system. I was told that the upload was "The Italian Job.AVI" and I have searched all of our computers. I don't know what is going on and any help would be appreciated. No, I am not illegally distributing movies on the net. Could someone be "faking" my IP address?

Tim

 

[hlweyl]

Do you have a firewall? If not, go to www.zonelabs.com and download their free version of ZoneAlarm. There are programs that let hackers use your bandwidth. Each time someone tries to break into your IP, zonealarm blocks and records it.

 

[lemansnsx]

Nobody has to fake your IP address if you've been running a wireless network without encryption. One of your neighbors has been using your connection for one of the P2P file sharing networks downloading and uploading. The letter from your ISP is probably nothing to worry about - they do it at the request of the movie and recording industry and they're the ones that you need to be worried about. They have been filing suit against many users of the p2p networks and, from what I have read, the "typical" cost to settle a suit out of court is 5K.
Your defense is that you were not aware of the activity but I'm not sure that is a valid legal strategy as they will hold that you are responsible for the use of the connection.

 

[lemansnsx]

Do you have a firewall? If not, go to www.zonelabs.com and download their free version of ZoneAlarm. There are programs that let hackers use your bandwidth. Each time someone tries to break into your IP, zonealarm blocks and records it.

Zonealarm is a good program but would do absolutely NOTHING in this situation. Zip, zero, nada. Zonealarm resides on the individual computer, the "hacking" is taking place before the computer - at the router that distributes the wireless signal. Out-of-the-box wireless routers have no encryption or security setup so there are MILLIONS of these un-secured connections.

 

[jorligan]

WEP is turned on at this time and again we received a phone call that things are being uploaded. Already using a firewall program. I have never used p2p file sharing nor has my wife but our housekeeper or housesitter may have in the past. Is there any program or "footprint" that it leaves on the computer which I can remove?

Tim

 

[Arshad]

You should enable WEP at the very minimum on a wireless network. If your router supports it, you should only allow specific MAC addresses to connect to the router. This way you enter the ethernet MAC address of each legitimate machine in your house and no others will be able to connect. Not all router config SW support this feature.

Tim: It's possible that some p2p SW is running in the background on your machine, perhaps installed by your house-sitter or something. You could check your task list to see if anything suspicious is running. Also check your "Install/Delete Program" or whatever it's called control panel to see if there is anything odd installed. Sorry I very rarely use Windows, so I don't know the specifics that you should look for...

 

[lemansnsx]

WEP is turned on at this time and again we received a phone call that things are being uploaded. Already using a firewall program. I have never used p2p file sharing nor has my wife but our housekeeper or housesitter may have in the past. Is there any program or "footprint" that it leaves on the computer which I can remove?

Tim

Ah - it wasn't clear if you meant that the activity was continuing after the encryption was turned on. That more or less limits it to computers that you are in control of. Any of the p2p programs will have some sort of client program installed and quite often it is something that is running all the time. Kazaa, emule, edonkey, azureus, bittorrent, anything that mentions p2p in the name, any files ending in torrent. Any program that you are not sure of tell me the name and I'll tell you what it is, anything running can be seen from the task manager - right click on your taskbar and click task manager then click the box for show tasks for all users. There are other programs that we can use to dig out any spyware or any stuff left behind by these programs. Also check control panel add and remove programs and see if there is anything on that list that you don't recognize.

Edit: once again, a firewall does nothing in this situation especially if whoever installed the p2p program setup the firewall to permit the traffic.

 

[NsXMas]

Did you change the password on your wireless router?

Even if you turned on encryption, there are ways for people to hack in easily.

If your router has the functionality, log into the router to see all the PC's connected to it, and validate that they are appropriate.

If I were you, I would reset everything and re-do all WEP settings, and change the password again.

Then go to GRC.com, and click on "shields up" to test your router.

I would also go so far as to re-image all of my PC's, but that's just me.

 

[jorligan]

Thanks for the advice. It turns out that they had misentered the information about my account and my cable modem. I had to point it out to them. The P2P furor and sharing has become something of a witch hunt. Apparently, the movie companies are routinely going out and trying to snare people file sharing and then notifying the Internet providers that it is occuring. The providers are then notifying the individual that high speed services will be terminated for violating the contract. It is then up to the individual to "prove" innocence. For those whose servces are terminated without fault, probably again another class action suit, especially for those who use their connections for business. If it happens to you, make sure that they have the information correct. They are tracing the "violators" by the id number of the modem.

Tim

 

[DocL]

So who's behind this whitch hunt and why do you have prove your innocence? I wonder if there is anyway you can contact your local congressman and see if there is someway to prevent this abuse from happing to other innocent people.

:

 

[Mr.Wolf]

I suppose all that porn was downloaded by the hacker too?

 

[paladin]

that doesnt add up. The isp's really have no care in the matter (other than p2p hammers their networks). Just like the isp isnt responsible for what you download, if you had a wide open wireless network you "probably" are immune to their lawsuits.

 

[NeoNSX]

I was about to give you some advice, but just follow <B>NsXMas</B>'s instructions. If you're using wireless, you really should be using WEP. And change the passwords once a month.

 

[jorligan]

Paramount Pictures apparently was behind the complaint. They had downloaded The Italian Job.avi from a file sharing service and it was traced to "my account." The first time, it was a warning to stop relayed to me by Charter who is my ISP. That was when I turned on WEP and checked everything. I was notified again of repeat occurrences and was notified to stop or the internet service would be terminated. Paramount would then by notified and a lawsuit could be instituted by Paramount, similar to what was done to that kid who was downloading from Napster. Ultimately, it comes down to a potential legal battle in which the defendent has to prove innocence. The ISP involvement is that they are cooperating with the studios who file a complaint.

Answer to who is doing the witch hunt? The movie studios and record industry. The ISP is cooperating to stop the "illegal" p2p sharing.

This is what was shared by the engineer from Charter.

Tim