Tuesday, April 28, 2009

MSN Chat Hijack

BE VERY AWARE. Someone can hijack your MSN chat and take your identity to fool everyone in your contact list! Silver Bullet experienced this first hand yesterday night where an "old friend" started to chat with him on MSN with dubious request. While this friend has been on Silver Bullet's contact list for the longest time, apparently they haven't talked to each other in ages. The conversation goes like this (translated from Dutch to English) :

(10:34:40 PM) Bas: hi
(10:34:48 PM) Silver Bullet: Hey bas
(10:34:55 PM) Bas: Quick question
(10:35:00 PM) Bas: Do you by any chance use internet banking?
(10:35:12 PM) Silver Bullet: Yes
(10:35:41 PM) Bas: Could you perhaps order something for me and I’ll pay you back Thursday? I just entered wrong login data 3 times for my own bank.
(10:36:27 PM) Silver Bullet: Just to make sure this is not some annoying virus, can you please clearly identify yourself?
(10:36:45 PM) Silver Bullet: Sorry, I’m a little paranoid when it comes to MSN
(10:37:04 PM) Bas: virus?
(10:37:05 PM) Bas: haha
(10:37:13 PM) Bas: It’s just me, Bas
(10:37:37 PM) Silver Bullet: Thought so, but I’m a little surprised.
(10:38:03 PM) Silver Bullet: Haven’t spoken to you in years, and when you then all of a sudden get the request to pay for something, makes you wonder.
(10:38:42 PM) Bas: Yeah, exactly. Was a rush thing. I got a discount coupon that expires tomorrow.
(10:38:51 PM) Bas: Bummer
(10:39:02 PM) Silver Bullet: What’s it about?
(10:39:37 PM) Bas: A few items on Misco. Total costs are 175 euro Can you handle that?
(10:39:55 PM) Silver Bullet: Gives me an overdraft, don’t really use my Dutch bank account anymore
(10:40:08 PM) Silver Bullet: But if it’s deposited back quickly it’s not a problem.
(10:40:20 PM) Bas: Shall I give you the page then?
(10:40:41 PM) Bas: I’ll deposit some extra for the interest :)
(10:40:46 PM) Silver Bullet: Hahaha
(10:41:00 PM) Silver Bullet: Send the link.
(10:41:07 PM) Bas: ok, just a sec.

(10:41:32 PM) Silver Bullet: Do you still have the same mobile number?
(10:41:49 PM) Silver Bullet: +31 644######?
(10:41:57 PM) Bas: No, just got a new number
(10:42:28 PM) Bas: But that’s offline for the moment. Sent my iPhone for repairs last week.
[Alarm bells here. Apparently Bas is not the I-Phone type of guy and hate the damn thing]
(10:42:36 PM) Bas: When it rains it pours, haha
(10:43:26 PM) Bas: 0643102434
(10:43:59 PM) Bas: You still there?
(10:44:12 PM) Silver Bullet: Hold on.
(10:44:18 PM) Silver Bullet: Cat’s acting up.
(10:44:26 PM) Bas: oh dear.
(10:46:33 PM) Bas: Here’s the page.
(10:46:50 PM) Bas: This is the page you get to see after I click “payment” in the online store.
(10:47:05 PM) Bas: Let me know if you can open it up.
(10:47:14 PM) Bas: Your cat ok?
(10:47:41 PM) Silver Bullet: Yeah, sure.
(10:47:49 PM) Bas: Ok then
(10:48:02 PM) Silver Bullet: Give me 10 minutes
(10:48:16 PM) Silver Bullet: Have to finish something.
(10:48:19 PM) Bas: Were you busy with something?
(10:48:20 PM) Bas: ok
(10:51:33 PM) Bas: Ok, I’ll reboot in the mean time.
(10:51:41 PM) Bas: Windows just finished some updates


[At this point, Silver Bullet called up the REAL Bas and managed to get through him. The real Bas was currently at work and not logged on MSN as this conversation took place. Knowing this fact, Silver Bullet tried to string him along to try and get his IP addy.]

Bas: How’s it going?
Bas: Can you manage?
Silver Bullet: Working on something, sorry
Bas: Can you tell me how much longer you will need? That way I can take that into account.
Silver Bullet: Will need about another hour.
Bas: Can’t you squeeze it in? I think it won’t take more than about 3 minutes, haha.
Silver Bullet: Ok, hold on.
Bas: You still have the link right?
Silver Bullet: Yup.
Bas: Working?
Silver Bullet: Can you take a look at this screenshot? Just want to make sure I got it right.
[If he had accepted the file, SIlver Bullet would have been able to track his IP addy and his location]
Bas went offline.

The cheek this guy had! I'm just hoping that no one is gullible enough to fall prey to a trap like this. And unless you are really sure of the source, whatever you do, do not click on the links you receive on MSN.

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