Spying and Hacking

Your opinion will be appreciated.

Can a hacker hack into a PC when it is off? 'Off' as in shut down, not just on stand by?

Tinman

 

I have a friend who is of the opnion that it can be. So she diligently unplugs her internet connection each night. I know that the wiring carries an electric charge. However, I personally don't think so but, I'm no expert.

 

Instead of shutting down the PC, I'd rather unplug the network (cat-5) cablem if wireless then turn off the router/unplug it from the DSL/Cable modem....but it is an extreme measure...
..btw, it is possible for a hacker to hack in, given the 'wake/boot on LAN signal' or if using dial-up 'wake up on modem' option is enabled in BIOS.
But it would require a very skillful hacker to gather the minimal info such as your IP/phone number, calculate an appropriate time to begin his/her task and then after turning your system on, hack in EVEN if file sharing was enabled...it is not that easy also why would such a skilled hacker waste his/her time on your PC? Got such valuable data?
You could install ZoneAlarm and disable network connectivity and turn it on only when you need to connect would be a much more logical and practical procedure....
,...worry about trojans and spywares more!

 

Off is off as in no power. Laws of physics cannot be changed...yet..

 

Even if a PC is turned off by the power switch at the front panel it still gets power to the motherboard and with those forementioned settings in the BIOS the system could be turned on...but I have yet to hear someone got hacked that way, as I mentioned earlier TinMan, I'd be more worried about Spyware and Trojan infections, especially Trojan that could take your system over as a Zombie node and force it to take part in a DDoS attack....again, if you have taken logical steps to secure your system with applications and steps mentioned on this forum (over and over) you don't have to worry about much...

 

Thank you for the advice.

Now I need advice how to access the BIOS to disengage the "wake up when signal is detected" function
Thanks again
Tinman

 

Sorry, I didn't advise what my PC specs are:
Tinman


System Manufacturer Compaq
System Model Evo D510 CMT
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 4 GenuineIntel ~2392 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Compaq 686O2 v2.14, 15/08/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\System32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.0 (xpclient.010817-1148)"
Total Physical Memory 256.50 MB
Available Physical Memory 39.61 MB
Total Virtual Memory 854.45 MB
Available Virtual Memory 446.64 MB
Page File Space 606.96 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

 

Hi Tinman,
Unfortunately I am only familiar with AMI and AWARD, yours sounds like a proprietary BIOS Compaq used on their systems. But those settings I mentioned normally resides in the section where Power Related settings are. If you can't find it let me know check each page if you can, and if you still do not see anything that your BIOS may not even have that functionality so nothing to worry about.

 

Turcoloco,
I entered the BIOS but cannot find any 'wake on modem' setting or configuration.
The closest in the BIOS I can find is in the Compac Computer Corporation Setup Utility ->Advanced ->Device Options scrolling down to PME Wake up Events which is enabled.
Is this the same function?
Tinman

 

This should answer your question:

In both APM and ACPI computers, you may find settings for Wake on LAN*, generally under the Power Control area and titled "Wake on LAN" and/or "Wake on PME." Wake on LAN setting refers to wake up events received through the 3-pin header cable. Wake on PME refers to wake up events received through the PCI bus. To enable remote wake-up, you should enable the setting that corresponds to the your adapter connection (e.g. set Wake on LAN to "enable" if you are using the WOL cable). Read more about it here.

So try disabling it and see if you notice any abnormalities (enabling PME/APMI feature could be better or worse depending on the system, if feature is supported and enabling or disabling it causes a problem then there'd be a possible conflict between related BIOS settings and the installed OS).

 

not that you know of



TinmanPhilbert,
I am no expert(and will not be the last to tell you so)

but, if you are that worried about it

just unplug everything connected to your house
remove the cable from the modem or the wall
and unplug the pc from the outlet

thats just my 2 krooni