Due to a ICQ Hack scare???

[THP]

Icq hack scare?? ive no idea but fingers pointing to icq as possible hack form peeps that have been recently hacked??? anyone confirm that icq is safe or unsafe...ive also heard msn messenger is notoriously unsafe and never to be used????

SO QUITE SIMPLY ive wiped all off my icq LIST....Please if u want to keep in touch then simply re-icq me for my new list of friends only. txs THP

 

[Zofinur]

From my technical understanding it should not make any difference wether or not somebody is on ur list...

If the client is unsecure than it should be enough to know ur IP and the fact that u got an unsecure client.

But hey, i am not a security-specialist, so please tell me (if) i am wrong

 

[Alcestis]

ICQ is safe. MSN is safe.

Basically you're safe if you use an ounce of brains.

Like... Don't go telling ppl the name of your dog when that name is the answer to the security question for the hotmail address you keep your account info on.
Cause that kind of stuff is what gets people hacked. Not leaky ICQ or MSN.

 

[Nilrem]

As said, it's generally the user at fault these days for getting hacked rather than the programmes. either because the user has a simple password, or they open a file sent to them without checking it for virus's etc.

As an example.
You can spend a fortune on the best possible hardware and software to protect your computer (or forums etc), however if one of your admins (or you) uses a simple password it's all wasted (and on a forum it could be a simple password on that admins email account, especially if he uses the same email address for his forum registration as for his public address on the forum).

My advice in regards to this sort of thing is fairly simple.
Use relatively complicated passwords for everything.
Don't use your public email addresses for private things where possible.
Don't use things like the names of your cat/football team as the reminder if you let people know what they are.
Don't accept/open anything anyone sends you via email or file transfer unless you know who they are, and have asked/discussed it, and you trust them. Then virus scan it before opening it (preferably with a virus scanner on your machine, and an online one like housecall).
Run anti-virus and keep it up to date (some protection from viruses).

I personally haven't had any problems in the past 8 years, largely I suspect because i've followed those rules.

 

[THP]

All good advice....

Only it seems a few people of late have been hacked ....older UO players too.....and they were kinda pointing fingers at maybe ICQ .....or other messengers....I just want to be assured using ICQ is ok and safe ...as long as u dont accept inknown files .

 

[Birdseye]

I think the best advice offered here is the one on passwords.

I often 'hack' into my mates emails etc at work, and it's pure simple guesswork. Liverpool, and ManUTD, pop up more often than not, and things as supid as Simon1 etc...

A good idea of finding a strong password is to use the password stength indicator on msn mail accounts. Think your lottery numbers with 2 of the number type in letters, randomly in the middle. They seem to get good results.

Please any hackers out there, dont hack me, i'm just trying to make your 'sport' a bit more challenging.

 

[Kiminality]

One method I was told of, which was apparently recommended, goes like this:

Choose a song that you like. For the sake of example, I'm going to use "Still Alive" (the ending from Portal).
Pick a lyric that you like from it. In this example, I'll use "I'm making a note here; huge success"
Now, you can perform some kind of conversion to it...
"imanhhs" the first letter of every word.
"1m4nhh5" substituting letters for similar-looking numbers.
The beauty of this system is that lyrics are quite easy to remember. Failing that, people sometimes customise workspaces with printed out song lyrics, or motivational posters.
You can use anything as the source for the password.

 

[Nok]

Not replying to anyone particularly, just thought it would be good to share this information. Everyone has their own interpretations, so make of it what you will.

ICQ @ Secunia - Found: 47 Secunia Security Advisories
AIM @ Secunia - Found: 6 Secunia Security Advisories
MSN @ Secunia - Found: 9 Secunia Security Advisories
YIM @ Secunia - Found: 18 Secunia Security Advisories
Trillian @ Secunia - Found: 13 Secunia Security Advisories

ICQ has one more (47) than all the others combined (46). And these issues don't even address other security problems with ICQ's OSCAR & encryption protocols.

Ever since AOL's purchase of Mirabilis (the publisher of ICQ), ICQ's development has continued to go down the toilet. This is a major reason why so many ICQ users continue to use old versions of ICQ, thus putting themselves and their fellow ICQ contacts at even further risk. There are web sites out there that cater to these users by archiving older versions of ICQ, little do these users know that some of these archives are little more than sources for hacked versions with backdoors.

No instant messenger is 100% safe. But users should always use the latest version of the IM they use. But also use only what you need to. AIM and ICQ are compatible with one another. As is MSN/WLM with YIM. Trillian is a multi-IM client that supports AOL/ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN/WLM, YIM, and more.

We all know about hardware & software firewalls to protect our computers (these are network firewalls), but there are other different types of firewalls too. Also consider an IM firewall to protect yourself through your IM client... like ZoneAlarm's IMSecure (only works with Windows 2000 & Windows XP though). The basic version is free and works with AOL/ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN/WLM, Trillian, YIM, and others.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ferrut]

Thanks Nok - very informative and helpful

 

[Faith]

People are too stupid to use the internet. This is proven by those who manage to get "hacked" and need something to blame their own stupidity on.

 

[THP]

WELL in retrospective

Any info. is good info. on how to be safe on the internet

Lets not forget the likes of huge corportions in the USA like NASA and the likes have been hacked!!! so lets not pretend it was NASA's fault??? because they didnt have a firewall up!!!!!

 

[Alcestis]

Let's not forget that NASA is on a somewhat higher level than your UO account either.

 

[Lady_Mina]

ICQ is safe if you don't fill in too much personal info.

So make sure the email you put into your ICQ is not the same one linked to your account.
I'm not a fan of people linking hotmail accounts to their account.
Hotmail accounts are too easy to hack.

Also make sure your msn/yahoo adress is also not the same one linked to your account.

+ a good anti-virus will tell your when a keylogger is trying to sneak into your system.

 

[THP]

Let's not forget that NASA is on a somewhat higher level than your UO account either.

AND!!! YOUR POINT IS?????

Lets be straight up if Nasa can be hacked with the genious of programmers and the greatest availble security then it stands to reason tom/**** or harry can be hacked on there home PC

PLEASE STOP BEING RUDE with nearly every post i do....

Thankyou THP

 

[Petra Fyde]

cool it people.

 

[Barian]