Quick question about hacking.

DoleyBob

Hey guys, my friend just recently had one of her aim accounts hacked into and there were some lewd photos of her that got sent out to some of her family members. She's a little worried about this to say the least. The thing is that she's considering police action and pressing charges. What kind of recourse does she have with this?

Pheezer

Well, does she know who did it?

If she goes to the cops then maybe they'll be able to figure something out, but I honestly wouldn't hold my breath on it if she can't point them in the right direction.

DoleyBob

Well she had the cops show up because she was afraid of the guy stalking her or something. She forwarded the emails to a police detective and everything. She's just curious as to what the chances of catching/prosecuting this are.

Pheezer

Slim at best unless she can think of someone who would have a grudge or something. They'd have to subpoena AOL to get the IP log for her account. Then they'd have to subpoena the ISP that owns that IP address. Then they'd have to investigate anyone who would have access to that PC during the time frame, and if it's a public PC, say at a university, they'd need to count on surveillance tapes and that's not likely to work out and this is a lot of work for the police to do without any threat to her person, so expect it to be a long process if it even does go anywhere.

DoleyBob

ok thanks a ton for the help. Last question, what happens if they do manage to find the guy or he confeses or some off the wall shit like that? Sorry if I'm being nosy, it's just that I'd like to get her as much info as possible

Pheezer

I'm not a cop and I don't know where any of this is happening. That's kind of impossible for anyone to say even if they were both a cop and from where it was happening, anyhow.

DoleyBob

ok then, thanks for all the advice Dr.D

EggyToast

How does someone get access to another person's photos simply by hacking an AIM account? And how does that person then know all of the victim's friends and family?

I guess I'm confused on how it all went down. And the police are certainly going to be very concerned with everything being factual and on-the-level. Is she being honest with you about how this got started?

Daedalus

EggyToast wrote: »

How does someone get access to another person's photos simply by hacking an AIM account? And how does that person then know all of the victim's friends and family?

I guess I'm confused on how it all went down. And the police are certainly going to be very concerned with everything being factual and on-the-level. Is she being honest with you about how this got started?

Perhaps he means her AOLMail account.

Or her "I got drunk and forwarded those pics to everyone on my contact list" account.

DoleyBob

Yes'm her AOLmail account. Supposedly they forwarded these pictures to her whole contact list saying something about "bitch stay away from my boyfriend" This is all in New Jersey by the way. So yeah, needless to say she's a little worried about the whole thing and is wondering if she has a stalker.

EggyToast

She probably has a very easy password.

cooljammer00

right, she should think of changing it.

FyreWulff

sounds like a girl did it.

unless it's a gay guy.

probably a friend of hers.

Pheezer

cooljammer00 wrote: »

right, she should think of changing it.

If that wasn't the very first thing she did upon discovering what had happened, then I think I know what half of the problem is already.

EDIT:
I should also point out that it's vital she reset any passwords to any services with which she used that e-mail address to register, such as MySpace, Facebook, whatever. This could be a really big deal if it's a PayPal e-mail address.

blincoln

Did she log onto her account from this guy's computer? Because if she did, and checked the "remember me" type box, that could easily have given the other girl access.

DoleyBob

No, it looks like they only got into the AIM account. Funny thing is that it turned out to be one of her friends that fessed up to it after she mentioned pressing charges. So I'm not sure how or if she's even going to press charges. Any ideas on what they could nail the guy on? Criminal mischief? Harassment? Cyberbullying or some shit?

Stupid Mr Whoopsie Name

Your use of the term "friend" in your last post leaves me puzzled.

Pheezer

DoleyBob wrote: »

No, it looks like they only got into the AIM account. Funny thing is that it turned out to be one of her friends that fessed up to it after she mentioned pressing charges. So I'm not sure how or if she's even going to press charges. Any ideas on what they could nail the guy on? Criminal mischief? Harassment? Cyberbullying or some shit?

It's some form of hacking. I don't know what the actual law would be called, but it's certainly illegal. So if she's smart and she points the police at the person who fessed up, they'll have enough reason to properly investigate this (ie, they can anticipate actually making an arrest) and she might get somewhere.