Got Hacked...

So, I got hacked over the weekend.

To be more precise, I got hacked on Thursday, the 16th.

I think I know how it happened, but not who. I made a payment to my electricity company over an open wifi network. Yeah, I know whomever reads this is saying, "you dumb-$%#," but I got lazy, arrogant, and it was the last day before I incurred late fees, etc.

Within two hours, two additional purchases had been made on-line with my credit card information; both under $100.00, I assume so as not to set off any major alarm bells. My bank noted it anyway, because the vendors were unusual for me. The account was frozen, and new cards will be issued. I didn't lose anything, but that's to the credit of Bank of America's watch-dogs, not my efforts.

So, first, talk with your financial institution about how to protect yourself. Money is how these people make their living, and if you're broke, they lose their livelihood. They run Windows, and Excel, and if you bring up the command-line, they ask, "what? Like DOS?" But, they know what they know. Unless you have the same skill-set...

Second, set-up a limited account (debit-card, whatever) for the everyday, mundane on-line transactions, so that if you are compromised, the bad guys get the laundry-money, and not your retirement fund.

Third, like your older brother with a hang-over - telling you never to drink when you're twelve, I'm hoping that you'll learn from my bad example. I got over-confident because I use Linux. I'm pretty confident that if someone tried to hack into my laptop directly, they'd have a tough time of it. What happens over an open wifi network, once the data leaves my machine...

Right. I'm going to post this to #! and LinuxMint forums, and ignore the slings and arrows that will result. Anyone who wants to copy and re-post it somewhere else, please feel free to do so. If my mistake can help some else from getting burned, I'm okay with that.

-jim