New_2_Chronic
Gone Baby Gone
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I am an IT professional with over 15 years of Technology experince. I build and secure networks wordwide. I also conduct e-discovery and forensic data retrieval and wanted just to throw out some info on the myths I have been seeing here.
First of all do not get paranoid. The NCSD ( National Cyber Security Division) is about the only agency worldwide with the resources and abilities to track you down in cyber space. They however spend most of thier time combating virus outbreaks and attacks that threaten the stability of the Internet and worldwide communications. And of course tracking down terrorists!:ignore:
Local and federal agencies do not have the equipment or resources to pinpoint your location via the internet. Let me quantify that,,,,,
The most common way for people to get busted on the internet is to reveal thier true identity or identifying information somewhere and it is found by a local agency and they come a knockin,,,most likely with warrant in hand for your computers and stroage media. This is how they get the rest of the information to carry a case. (The odds of this happening are highly unlikely)
The second most common way for people to get busted or identified is to be investigated for other charges, they come get your computer, and boom your busted for something totally unrelated. (This is more common)
Internet Browsing:
First and foremost your internet browser habits are pretty safely confined within your computer. You can be hacked and monitored, but this is highly unlikely as in todays Hacking Trends Hackers are targeting businesses and corporations rather than individual homes. Again it will be a hacker that gets you, not the LEO....
If your browsing is a concern to you and you really want to take another measure then use a PROXY SERVER - Proxys mask your IP (internet protocol) address and lets you surf the net worry free. If anyone tries to track you IP they just go back to the free proxy server.
If you want to see if anyone is connected to your computer you could do this:
click start button
click run
type "cmd" (little black box appears)
in the box type netstat -n
this will output all currently connected IP addresses. If you see a wierd one that doesnt go with the rest of them (youll be able to tell) then there is something outside connected to you.
Spyware and viruses can make some connections as well so it may not be someone connected to you, but it might be something on your computer such as a virus or a spyware making an outgoing connection.
The fact that most people are on broadband connections makes tracking someone down via IP harder as well. With connections such as cable or dsl there is two things happening.
1. There is a lease on your IP address defined by your Internet Service Provider, for example 3 days is mine. That means every 3 days the IP address I have expires and I am issued a new one.
2. Your IP address is actually Natted through your ISP.
This means that the IP address you are getting is on thier local network and outside thier network your IP actually is represented as an public IP address. This complicates things more.
LEOS GOT YOUR COMPUTER>>>>>>NOW WHAT?
This is what happens when they come get your computer. They have a warrant to search the contents of the computer for anything "incriminating". They will do a basic search opening files and looking at historys and pictures. They will not be doing any "Forensic" looking at this point.
9 times out of 10 if they find nothing in this "look see" that will be the end of it and it will go no further. WHY?
Well because local law enforcement does not have the equipment to do a "bit level" investigation of the drive contents, They have to send it to a company to look at the drive at the "bit level". These companies charge very heavily for these investigations. The kicker is that they get paid wether they uncover 1000MB or none at all. Thats why the LEO agency has to weigh the importance of it. (Example: The last drive i sent to a forensic data recovery company cost me 9,000.00. and I got 1 file recovered)
If anything is found on the "look see" there is a high probability of them incurring the cost to dig deeper. The weight of the case also has alot to do with it... If there is no sales or distribution, or conspiricy involved then the cost would not be worth it to the state,,,,
The whole point of this is calm down, have fun, grow and POST. Dont worry about LEO's monitoring the site because thats about all they can do. Do not give out any personal information or identify yourself in any way and you can pretty much say anything you want safely.
I would keep a good regimen of computer housekeeping as well. Regualarly clean out your temporary internet files. Take pictures off your computers (the ones that could be damaging to you) and keep them on CD somewhere, instead of your computer.
If anyone has any tech related questions please feel free to ask me.
Hope this helps......
First of all do not get paranoid. The NCSD ( National Cyber Security Division) is about the only agency worldwide with the resources and abilities to track you down in cyber space. They however spend most of thier time combating virus outbreaks and attacks that threaten the stability of the Internet and worldwide communications. And of course tracking down terrorists!:ignore:
Local and federal agencies do not have the equipment or resources to pinpoint your location via the internet. Let me quantify that,,,,,
The most common way for people to get busted on the internet is to reveal thier true identity or identifying information somewhere and it is found by a local agency and they come a knockin,,,most likely with warrant in hand for your computers and stroage media. This is how they get the rest of the information to carry a case. (The odds of this happening are highly unlikely)
The second most common way for people to get busted or identified is to be investigated for other charges, they come get your computer, and boom your busted for something totally unrelated. (This is more common)
Internet Browsing:
First and foremost your internet browser habits are pretty safely confined within your computer. You can be hacked and monitored, but this is highly unlikely as in todays Hacking Trends Hackers are targeting businesses and corporations rather than individual homes. Again it will be a hacker that gets you, not the LEO....
If your browsing is a concern to you and you really want to take another measure then use a PROXY SERVER - Proxys mask your IP (internet protocol) address and lets you surf the net worry free. If anyone tries to track you IP they just go back to the free proxy server.
If you want to see if anyone is connected to your computer you could do this:
click start button
click run
type "cmd" (little black box appears)
in the box type netstat -n
this will output all currently connected IP addresses. If you see a wierd one that doesnt go with the rest of them (youll be able to tell) then there is something outside connected to you.
Spyware and viruses can make some connections as well so it may not be someone connected to you, but it might be something on your computer such as a virus or a spyware making an outgoing connection.
The fact that most people are on broadband connections makes tracking someone down via IP harder as well. With connections such as cable or dsl there is two things happening.
1. There is a lease on your IP address defined by your Internet Service Provider, for example 3 days is mine. That means every 3 days the IP address I have expires and I am issued a new one.
2. Your IP address is actually Natted through your ISP.
This means that the IP address you are getting is on thier local network and outside thier network your IP actually is represented as an public IP address. This complicates things more.
LEOS GOT YOUR COMPUTER>>>>>>NOW WHAT?
This is what happens when they come get your computer. They have a warrant to search the contents of the computer for anything "incriminating". They will do a basic search opening files and looking at historys and pictures. They will not be doing any "Forensic" looking at this point.
9 times out of 10 if they find nothing in this "look see" that will be the end of it and it will go no further. WHY?
Well because local law enforcement does not have the equipment to do a "bit level" investigation of the drive contents, They have to send it to a company to look at the drive at the "bit level". These companies charge very heavily for these investigations. The kicker is that they get paid wether they uncover 1000MB or none at all. Thats why the LEO agency has to weigh the importance of it. (Example: The last drive i sent to a forensic data recovery company cost me 9,000.00. and I got 1 file recovered)
If anything is found on the "look see" there is a high probability of them incurring the cost to dig deeper. The weight of the case also has alot to do with it... If there is no sales or distribution, or conspiricy involved then the cost would not be worth it to the state,,,,
The whole point of this is calm down, have fun, grow and POST. Dont worry about LEO's monitoring the site because thats about all they can do. Do not give out any personal information or identify yourself in any way and you can pretty much say anything you want safely.
I would keep a good regimen of computer housekeeping as well. Regualarly clean out your temporary internet files. Take pictures off your computers (the ones that could be damaging to you) and keep them on CD somewhere, instead of your computer.
If anyone has any tech related questions please feel free to ask me.
Hope this helps......
