Hello,
this is my first post, to what seams to be a great forum, so let me start by saying: hats off to the members that keep this such an active medium in replying to threads and helping us that are less knowledgeable.. very nice community here indeed
Now Here´s my dilemma, I work for a design company, I have fragile information on my external HD that I only plug in when loading and saving work files, this is valuable info linked to our design. My worries are that my PC has been hacked into and info has been leaked.
The motive for my worries is based on the fact that there is another company with a huge budget that has the exact same mission statement..., this company popped up two months after we presented our ideology.
The reason why I think My PC has been hacked is based on how my PC behaved two nights in a row, and strangely work files that I had never deleted popped up in the recycle bin.. ??
I did cut and copy a folder with allot of these files on the external HD so one of my questions is could this be some format of ghost files that where placed to the recycle bin due to the fact that I cut their original path?
Now the scenario leading to why I think my system was hacked is:
First night my computer stayed online after I logged off and I lost control over the system, I could not copy files or even create new folders, I was unable to open up the network menu to see what network I was connected to, I tried shutting down and the only thing that happen was that my screen went completely black... so now my PC was online and I had no control!... I thought this could have been just a bug, or something similar, so I didn't think much of it
...but
The 2nd night, when I connected I plugged my external HD did some work etc and went online to upload some files, I was online for 15minuts or so.. when I went off line I realized that my previously empty recycle bin was full of work files that I had only stored on the external HD and 95% of these files where files I had never deleted!! ... the fact that these where all files linked to the design and not just random files make me very paranoid to that my system was/has been hacked..
Also there where two files in the recycle bin that where not related to my work and where on my local HD C: and had not been edited or modified at the same time or date as these work files and only about 25 files out of 100 from that cut/copied folder appeared in the previously empty recycle bin, ... so my the idea of these being some kind of ghost path files from my cut/copied action is based on a daft case..
I quickly remove my battery (thinking my system is being hacked tight now), and power on my pc in an non network area, a little later .. my recycle bin was now empty and no signs of these files, no option to restore either !?
Another Q is: if my system was hacked: why recycle bin? to cover up tracks?, or is it possibly being used as a gateway to copy files from my system?
if it was hacked they did it through a 3rd party modem which my Wi-Fi picks up..
I´ve already prepared a police report but I´m deeply hoping some of you experts can talk some sense to me and shine a light on the possibilities concerning my situation.
All the Best from Iceland!
Regards
Ari
this is my first post, to what seams to be a great forum, so let me start by saying: hats off to the members that keep this such an active medium in replying to threads and helping us that are less knowledgeable.. very nice community here indeed
Now Here´s my dilemma, I work for a design company, I have fragile information on my external HD that I only plug in when loading and saving work files, this is valuable info linked to our design. My worries are that my PC has been hacked into and info has been leaked.
The motive for my worries is based on the fact that there is another company with a huge budget that has the exact same mission statement..., this company popped up two months after we presented our ideology.
The reason why I think My PC has been hacked is based on how my PC behaved two nights in a row, and strangely work files that I had never deleted popped up in the recycle bin.. ??
I did cut and copy a folder with allot of these files on the external HD so one of my questions is could this be some format of ghost files that where placed to the recycle bin due to the fact that I cut their original path?
Now the scenario leading to why I think my system was hacked is:
First night my computer stayed online after I logged off and I lost control over the system, I could not copy files or even create new folders, I was unable to open up the network menu to see what network I was connected to, I tried shutting down and the only thing that happen was that my screen went completely black... so now my PC was online and I had no control!... I thought this could have been just a bug, or something similar, so I didn't think much of it
...but
The 2nd night, when I connected I plugged my external HD did some work etc and went online to upload some files, I was online for 15minuts or so.. when I went off line I realized that my previously empty recycle bin was full of work files that I had only stored on the external HD and 95% of these files where files I had never deleted!! ... the fact that these where all files linked to the design and not just random files make me very paranoid to that my system was/has been hacked..
Also there where two files in the recycle bin that where not related to my work and where on my local HD C: and had not been edited or modified at the same time or date as these work files and only about 25 files out of 100 from that cut/copied folder appeared in the previously empty recycle bin, ... so my the idea of these being some kind of ghost path files from my cut/copied action is based on a daft case..
I quickly remove my battery (thinking my system is being hacked tight now), and power on my pc in an non network area, a little later .. my recycle bin was now empty and no signs of these files, no option to restore either !?
Another Q is: if my system was hacked: why recycle bin? to cover up tracks?, or is it possibly being used as a gateway to copy files from my system?
if it was hacked they did it through a 3rd party modem which my Wi-Fi picks up..
I´ve already prepared a police report but I´m deeply hoping some of you experts can talk some sense to me and shine a light on the possibilities concerning my situation.
All the Best from Iceland!
Regards
Ari
