Intercepted Emails

[chandrika]

Hi,
Some months back I posted here about a new neighbour who had asked for my wireless key just until he had sorted out his internet conection.

I secured my hard drive, but I wanted to ask, how easy would it be for someone who has your WAP key for wireless, to intercept emails. The person I think may have done such, does have a computer science degree, so if something is possible it may not be too difficult for him.

I have actually changed my wap key now, as it became obvious that he had info on me that I had never told him, it got really weird.

I am trying to work out how he got it, I am pretty sure my hard drive was secure, and my laptop is wired to the router not on wireless, but I am wondering could he have intercepted emails and if so how difficult would it have been, as I can not imagine he would have gone to alot of trouble to do so, but if it is fairly easy he may have done so just because he had nothing better to do...

[danlefree]

It'd be worrisome if you are using POP3 (port 25) or IMAP (port 143) but it'd be much more likely that he was intercepting unencrypted chat if you are a webmail (i.e. Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo) user.

When you gave him your WAP key you also gave him free reign to launch attacks against your home computer (particularly problematic if you are running behind on operating system updates).

You may want to have a talk with the police if you feel there is any cause for concern with your neighbor.

[wige]

E-mail is downloaded unencrypted, so in theory, someone with a sniffer (utility that records wireless traffic) could probably record your e-mails. It is unlikely however... if it was me, I would use the sniffer to record your login credentials for the e-mail server, as this is sent unencrypted. I could then log in to the e-mail server and check your e-mails without you being able to tell.

Just a suggestion, but you might want to change your e-mail password, and any other usernames and passwords you use that could be submitted unencrypted, such as FTP passwords.

Also, do not rely on the security of your encrypted wireless connection. If this person has shown that they are targeting you specifically, as opposed to looking for a target of opportunity to leech a wireless net connection from, it is likely they will be able to break your wireless encryption fairly quickly. 104-bit WEP can often be broken in under five minutes of traffic monitoring. Go for the highest level of encryption supported by all of your wireless devices, and use a wired connection for any sensitive traffic.

Also, to further protect your e-mail specifically, check with your mail provider to find out if they offer secure SMTP, which allows you to encrypt your login credentials when downloading your e-mail.

And, if you have file sharing over your wireless network, you may also want to run anti-virus scans on your entire network to look for keyloggers and backdoors that might provide access to your network over the wired connection.

[BK-SEO]

I think it totally depends on your hosting provider,if you are using pop3 accounts,its better to consult with them.However there can not be issues with hotmail,gmail etc.

-BK

[dozzn]

chandrika;

Please keep us updated... Do you have conversations with him when you see him out?? What kind of details did he have that you never told him? Have you called the police or will you consider it!?


As you can see I don't have a lot of answers but I do have a lot of questions as I am using a wireless connection on my laptop...


I do agree wige; change passwords , user ids, ect..

[chandrika]

I will change all my passwords for emails, I was also worried what he may possibly have been able to install, although I am pretty certain he couldnt have accessed my hard drive, nevertheless I have started running Spy Protector which should block any keyloggers and recorders, just in case. I actually feel like backing up, wiping the hard drive and reinstalling windows + added wireless protection.

I realised after a few conversations that something was odd, but I put it down to coincidence. There were a couple of things, such as I had made a joke to someone and he repeated same joke almost verbatim to me, I actually said to him, thats odd I told that joke earlier and he said oh really, what a coincidence and I just kept putting things down to coincidence. A few things like that occurred and when he said such things, it was out the norm, as if he were thinking and then he would come out and say something odd, that seemed more than coincidence.

He seemed to know my interests, which was odd, he would out the blue state how he liked this and that, such as I have been arranging to visit a stand up comedy open mic night and he mentioned that he wanted to do that, even though I had not mentioned it, again I put down to coinciedne, he could just have same interests.

I only had suspicions, but became 99.99% sure after a specific thing, which was that I had a operation some months ago. I had definitely not mentioned anything about it to him, as it was before he had moved in, and he asked me about it and whether the wound had healed, which only one person who could have known that I even had a wound that I was worried about was my brother who I had emailed to let him know what was happening.

There have actually been quite a few odd occurences and odd things he says, so I now just avoid him, but I could kick myself for giving him access in first place.

When I changed the wap key, I heard him downstairs, he started crashing around in angry fashion, and then he came up to my flat which I was expecting, but I expected him to ask why internet had gone off, but he didnt, he just came up and started making weird lewd comments and at this point he freaked me out so much I asked him to leave, which he did.

I am just surprised he would have even bothered to do that, but fact that he did, I now have to be really careful, as like Wige says, he could easily break my new key, and to have someone specifically targetting me, as Wige says, means extra care needs to be taken.

I have thought of going to the police, but I do not think they will do anything, as I can not really prove it as it will be my word against his.

[UCSI]

Geez Chandrika - that would freak me right out...do you have any 'big' friends you can invite that may be intimidating? Sad that one has to be so careful these days, even when just trying to help...

[adtastichosting]

When I changed the wap key, I heard him downstairs, he started crashing around in angry fashion, and then he came up to my flat which I was expecting, but I expected him to ask why internet had gone off, but he didnt, he just came up and started making weird lewd comments and at this point he freaked me out so much I asked him to leave, which he did.

I have thought of going to the police, but I do not think they will do anything, as I can not really prove it as it will be my word against his.

Ok, reading this thread has really freaked me out. In todays world you cannot be too careful and if you are a woman living alone and have a guy like that living below you having shown his colors so to speak now is the time to be critically careful. After all how much do you really know about this guy and how far he might decide to go. I might even think about moving but at the least it is time to be very security conscious. Also you mention a spyblocker but make certain you have a very good virus scanner and firewall and is all up to date. But look beyond your computer security to your home security. Now might be the time for a big dog. Just a thought.

[ronchalice]

Don't know about the UK, but privacy regarding medical issues is a big deal stateside. That alone might be enough to at least contact the authorities. Bringing up knowledge of your operation could be a very big mistake on his part.

[williamc]

You could always get a few male friends to show him the light