kage-ookami4
Online
Post: 26302801_1 created on Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:09 pmPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:09 pm
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 vote thumbs up. mrgreen THREAD RULES: QUOTE ANY OF THE GUIDE POSTS ON THIS PAGE AND YOU'LL BE REPORTED FOR SPAMMING. DO NOT SPAM THIS THREAD, EXCESSIVE BUMPING IS NOT APPRECIATED AND NOT ALLOWED IN THIS FORUM. If we're not on the first page, you may bump us up ONCE, thanks. QUICK *SHORT* LINK FOR POSTING [/size][url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/t.26302801/]♥ Avoid Getting Hacked ♥[/url] KAGE'S GUIDE TO AVOID GETTING HACKED... (and what to do if you've been hacked!) ANNOUNCEMENT BEWARE IN TOWNS! People are able to make themselves look like staff members- avatar, name and name color. The whole shebang! If anyone asks for any personal information report them and do not answer them, even if they appear to be Lanzer himself. REAL staff members do not need any such info from you and will not ask for it. MORE INFORMATION on this epidemic can be found in the Towns Forum JUST A REMINDER: always, always, always check the address bar to make sure you are at "gaiaonline.com". "gaiiaonline.com", "gaiaonlline.com", "betatest.com/gaiaonline" are all NOT GAIA. Phishing sites are very common and you'll find links to them everywhere including the hacked prize wheel in Rally. DO NOT RELY ON THE REDIRECT WARNING, PHYSICALLY CHECK THE ADDRESS BAR WITH YOUR OWN EYES. IMAGES: to see the images in this guide you must go to your account settings and chose "view all images" as TinyPic is not on the white list [yet?]; no, I am not going to host everything in this guide on Photobucket. If you do not want to do that you must click on the links to see the pictures, it's up to you. As for the signature banners you may still host them yourself on Photobucket or use the text link at the very top of this post. DO NOT PM ME IF YOU HAVE BEEN HACKED. READ THE GUIDE, THAT'S WHAT IT'S HERE FOR. DO NOT ASK FOR DONATIONS, DO NOT ASK FOR DONATIONS, DO NOT ASK FOR DONATIONS, I WILL NOT HELP YOU IF YOU ASK FOR ITEMS OR GOLD. Quote: THE RULE: DO NOT EVER GIVE OUT YOUR PASSWORD (THIS INCLUDES ENTERING IT ANYWHERE EXCEPT HERE ON GAIAONLINE.COM). DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER GIVING IT OUT. NO MATTER WHO THE PERSON CLAIMS TO BE DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PASSWORD! DON'T EVER BE FOOLED BY FANCY GRAPHICS OR OFFICIAL SOUNDING USERNAMES. FOR GOSH SAKES, JUST DON'T SHARE YOUR PASSWORD EITHER- THAT'S GIVING IT OUT. DON'T TELL YOUR MOMMA, YOUR DOG, YOUR BROTHER OR EVEN YOUR BFF JILL. The number one way to avoid being hacked on Gaia is to just not ever give out your password. It's as simple as that, but you must take further precautions to be safe. Remember, not even real staff members need your password. The only thing other than you that needs your password are the servers at gaiaonline.com. Nobody and nothing else needs it no matter how much they beg, plead, cry, threaten, intimidate or other wise try to convince you. Introduction: After much convincing, I finally decided to open a thread in the Guides forum based on my journal entry. Clicking the banner at the top will take you to my original journal entry. All future updates to my guide will be here in this thread, the guide has outgrown my journal. Both will remain up. Please do not ask me for donations, even if you have been hacked. I will not donate, I will just get VERY annoyed with you. Please go to the links section and visit the list of charities. This guide's intention is to teach you to recognize the threats and know what to do when you encounter them. It's important to remember that hackers are not preventable, but hackings are. This guide will "teach you to fish" but it's up to you to get the rod and bait and get out there on the lake. If you don't take the steps to prevent hackings, who will? This is not a job anyone else can do for you. You need to be vigilant where ever you go online, no matter what computer you use or what you're doing. Protect not only your Gaia account, but all other accounts and your personal information. So what's with the hearts and the pink? Well a heart is a symbol for health and this guide deals with computer health. As for the pink, pink is light red and red is the color of the heart. I chose pink just to be a little different, red is used a lot to bring attention. Please check the UPDATE LOG for all updates so you can easily find new information! Please read the MISC THREAD STUFF section! Important info in there. Proudly keeping Gaians safe since May 2006! Thanks for all the help and support. http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybtlky.gif Table of Contents WHERE TO GO... ♥ Introduction- info about this guide, gaia staff, terms and definitons, thread rules ♥ Examples of Scams- see screenshots and examples of many different types of scams ♥ Common Signs of Being Hacked- the most common signs that mean you've been hacked and what do to if you have been hacked ♥ Tips to Avoid Being Hacked- many tips that prevent being hacked and scammed ♥ FYI- important information about Gaia Online that you should know ♥ Basics of Account Security- how to keep your account and computer safe, safe passwords, downloads, sites to avoid, public computers, smitfraud trojans ♥ Link to this Guide- banner codes that link back to this guide ♥ Link List- links to other guides, guilds, petitions, shops ♥ Why Secondary Passwords Won't Help You- why this popular suggestion wouldn't keep your account safe ♥ Article Library- where to go for a good read and more info on keeping you and your computer safe. http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybtlky.gif What does it mean to be Hacked? Gaia FAQ Definition US Legal Definition The definition of hacking that I use is the legal definition, it basically means ANY and ALL unauthorized access to your computer or your computer accounts is a hacking. This includes but is not limited to entering your account after password scamming, brute force attacks and keyloggers. To those of you who wish to argue that hacking is only done by brute force attacks and keyloggers please do not bother to PM me or post here. If you disagree that's fine, but I am going to continue to use the legal definition and nothing you say will convince me to stop. You don't need to know the username of the individual who hacked you to be able to report them, the hacking report form does not ask you for that info at all. Be sure to read the instructions carefully and file a report immediately after you find you were hacked- there is a statute of limitations which is 30 days from the incident. [REPORT A HACKING] What does it mean to be Scammed? A scam is when you are tricked into doing something. An example of a scam is a user asks you to trade them your kiki for a kitsune mask, wrapped in a gift box. You trade them and inside your giftbox is a pair of starter shorts. That user misrepresented themselves and tricked you. Users are always misrepresenting themselves as moderators to get your password. If you just give them your password, but are smart enough to figure out what you've done in time and change your password before your stuff starts disappearing you can report a scamming. Only report a hacking if your account has changes made to it that you did not make yourself. Once the password scammer gets your password and enters your account it has become a hacking. Like hacking reports you only have 30 days to file a report so do not hesitate. You DO need to know the username of the person who scammed you. [REPORT A SCAMMING] What can I use the "Report Abuse/ Harassment" form for? That form is used to report users who continually harass you on Gaia. If a user is constantly trying to flame you, fight with you, talk to you or make any form of contact with you dispite asking them to go away, it's harassment. That's stalking. You can add a user to your ignore list and still report them, especially if they keep making new accounts to get to you. This form should not be used to report hackers, scams or people cybering in towns. This form is to report abuse that is directed specifically at you, as in you are being specifically targeted by this person or group of people. [REPORT ABUSE/ HARASSMENT] WHEN REPORTING BE SURE TO ONLY SEND IN ONE REPORT PER INCIDENT. Sending in more reports wastes the moderators' time and slows down progress for everyone. Also if you do not fill out your report properly it will be canceled and you will have to file again. Because some reports have a time window it is very important for you to be calm and read everything carefully, do it right the first time! All questions on filling out the form can be asked in the Questions and Assistance Forum, do not hesitate to ask a question if you are confused. http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybtlky.gif Important Definitions These are some terms that will help you better understand this guide and make you slightly more computer-literate. These are words everyone should know! • malware: short for malicious program, bad software that harms your computer. • virus: a type of malware, a program or piece of code that attaches itself to another program, when you run that program you also run the virus. Viruses do "weird things" to your computer which can be as innocent and annoying as renaming programs or as nasty as stealing personal information and destroying data. Viruses can not reproduce by themselves. • anti-virus: a program that sniffs out viruses and removes them from your computer. • trojan: malware disguised as a benign, legitimate program. • back door: a deliberate security hole. • worm: a type of malware that self-propagates. • keylogger: can be either software or hardware, logs keystrokes and mouse clicks. Hardware ones can be difficult to spot, they often look like a normal USB or keyboard plug. See a picture of one here (it's the battery shaped object plugged into the back of the computer, please check for these on all public computers). • execute: to run a file, programs ending in ".EXE" are executable. Viruses can only be attached to executable files. • OS: short for operating system, examples are Linux, Windows Vista and Mac OS X. The main program on a computer which manages all other programs. • driver: program that allows hardware devices to "talk" to the OS. • application: a program. • software: a general term for programs. • hardware: physical aspect of computers, examples are RAM, video card and mouse. • GUI: said as "gooey", stands for graphical user interface. It's what you see on the monitor and use to interact with the program. GUIs are not text based. • drive-by downloading: program where the download launcher pops up unprovoked and downloading is prompted maliciously, such as by clicking the button to cancel the download launcher. • cache: stored copies of graphics contained on web pages to accelerate load times. • cookies: tiny text files that store information about you and transfer that data back to web sites, your login info is stored in cookies. http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybtlky.gif The Real Gaia Staff
brown- developers red- NPCs green- mods and moderator assistants (blue usernames mean they are on your friendslist.) All officials at Gaia will also have a specific title under their username specifying their role on Gaia. Anyone without a title underneath their username is NOT an official of Gaia in any way! About The Gaia Staff: Admins and developers are the ones who make the site, they create new features and fix code problems. The admins are the site creators, they make the site policies. They usually don't interact with users directly because they are very busy. (The automated Admin account now has an avatar and is no longer a shadow.) That's why they have moderators. Mods enforce the site rules and investigate report forms. They deal with users directly. Mods are here to help and each title under their name indicates what they do specifically: Omni Moderators- Responsible for resolving account issues, hacking cases, and scamming cases. Global Moderators- Handle abuse and harassment cases, as well as help oversee ToS issues across the entire site. Site Moderators (formerly Dedicated GAIA Moderators)- Work in a specific part of the site, handling ToS violations and thread move requests. Moderator Assistants (formerly Gaia Helpers) assist mods with moving threads. Their powers only apply to the forum they work in. Mod Assistants do not handle ToS violations and can not ban users. All staff accounts have more abilities than regular user accounts so they'd never need your password to check things for you. Mods and Admins can see your trading history with out logging in as you. Moderator Abuse If a mod has truly abused their power please send a detailed PM to one of the following admins: Dri or Siskataya. Do not abuse this. If you have indeed violated the ToS you have no right to report moderator abuse when you are banned. In order to report the abuse, you must be the one who suffered it. Please note that almost everyone who is banned is going to cry foul and moderator confidentiality prevents them from sharing the other side of the story. Nobody is ever banned unless there is clear evidence that they have broken a rule. DO NOT use this to report people who are not real moderators! If a person says they are a mod but do not have a colored username do not report them to the admins directly, report them to a real mod. This is what a staff member's name will look like in forums and PMs: http://i19.tinypic.com/4pv8rye.jpg View a real NPC here View a real admin here View the complete list of Gaia Staff here http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybtlky.gif A Special Message: many users believe that the victims of such offenses are 100% at fault. 100% means that the victim did everything to lose his/her stuff: they PMed the person their password, hell they sent the trades too! now we all know it doesn't work like that... the victims are guilty of nothing except ignorance. gaia does have warnings about password scamming but the info is not terribly accessible especially to vulnerable newbies who have no idea how the site works. the victims are not at fault here. giving away your password is not against the ToS, but impersonating gaia staff, scamming and hacking are. http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybtlky.gif Misc Thread Stuff *PLEASE READ, VERY IMPORTANT INFO* • bump only if off the first page, please keep bumps simple (no large images or giant posts) • do not stretch the page • typos/ incorrect info: PM me please • submitting a scam: please post it in the thread- do not include live links to scam sites, please do not send duplicates • link swapping: PM me your link/ banner code and I will add it to the links section • reporting people: use the proper report forms. Please do not post the names of people who have wronged you, do not encourage harassment or harass anyone • do not use the banners if you are not going to link back here, if you use the banners with out linking back please credit the banner creator- it's rude to take things and not give credit! The stuff in bold are the things i can not stress enough. If you want to submit a scam please look first to see if there is anything similar to what you are going to submit, also please NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER include a working link to a phishing site or provide the URL to one, that's not allowed! And please do not name drop, there is no reason to ever include the name of someone you think is doing something wrong. Chances are they've been hacked and their account is being used to scam people; don't go dragging other people through the mud. This stuff is the most important because they are not my rules, they are Gaia's. http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybtlky.gif Update Log 03MAY07 added definitions, new scam screenshot, new downloads, updated links 06MAY07 added new post- why secondary passwords are useless, links to stuff about real staff 07MAY07 added admin account avatar 13MAY07 saftey report for zwinky 15MAY07 new scam examples 27MAY07 links to journal no longer work due to journal update, contest 04JUN07 naida's gold guide link added 16JUN07 new staff colors 23JUN07 alia's island hangout link added 01JUL07 new links, new banner 02JUL07 battle system scam added 19JUL07 important- new staff stuff O: 04AUG07 new scam!! 17AUG07 new guide added to link list 27AUG07 public computer safety added to account security 30AUG07 new announcement 03SEP07 added link to sig limits guide, house keeping 09SEP07 added new scam screen shots 17SEP07 added new scam screen shot 29SEP07 risk of using proxy servers added to account security 16OCT07 new scam screenshot 28NOV07 two new scam screenshots added 06DEC07 new scam screenshot 12DEC07 new scam screenshots added 28DEC07 two new scam screenshots 05JAN08 new scam screenshot 11JAN08 list of sites to avoid added 12JAN08 expanded list of sites to avoid, added more info on smitfraud, added anti virus for mac to downloads list 13JAN08 new scam screenshot 21JAN08 new scam screenshot 22JAN08 new scam screenshot 27JAN08 added important definitions 28JAN08 new announcement 30JAN08 added ad blockers for four major browsers to downloads 10FEB08 new announcement, new section- article library 12FEB08 general house keeping 15FEB08 new scam screenie 25FEB08 new definitions- read them! 26FEB08 new phishing scam example 1MAR08 big update to article library 10MAR08 new info added to common signs of being hacked 17MAR08 new scam screenie added 19MAR08 new scam screenie 31MAR08 housekeeping, new info for report forms 06APR08 article lib update 07APR08 battle sys scam announcement 11APR08 [my gaiaversary XD] new scam screenie 12APR08 new phishing scam 18APR08 new scam screenshot, Gaia is fixing this issue though! 24APR08 new scam screenshot 30APR08 new phishing scam (please look for the last scam in the phishing scam section) 03MAY08 new scam screenshot 10MAY08 new scam screenshot 12MAY08 new scam screenshot 14MAY08 two new scam screenshots, article lib changes- featured article 18MAY08 new mod promotion/ phishing scam example 22MAY08 update to misc thread stuff, please, please keep those rules in mind when posting here 25MAY08 new scam screenshot 28MAY08 new featured article- see art. lib. 29MAY08 new scam screenshot 08JUN08 new featured article- see art. lib. 16JUN08 new scam screenshot 18JUN08 new phishing scam (please look for the last scam in the phishing scam section) and new phishing scam screen shot 23JUN08 new phishing scam screenshot [involves marketplace] 02JUL08 new tip 06JUL08 new phishing scam screenshot 09JUL08 new announcement 13JUL08 new banners made by vazz 03AUG08 new phishing site screen shot (please look at the bottom of the screen shot section) 09AUG08 new phishing scam example (please look for the last scam in the phishing scam section) 05SEPT08 new featured article, a must read! 14SEPT08 "keeping safe from malware" added to basics of account security (look for green text) 22OCT08 new zOMG/ battle scam added to the phishing scams section. look for the little red "new" tag, 29NOV08 new scam screen shot 23JUN09 general housekeeping 18SEPT09 new featured article |
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