Jump to content
Science Forums

How Do Keyboard Hi-Jacking Pop-Ups Work?


Recommended Posts

Friends,

 

I keep getting these—Annoying doesn't come anywhere near describing the Rage, Tooth Gnashing and Fists Clenched in Rage—

 

I get a Pop-Up and I can't Navigate away from it.

 

Force Quit Won't work. Turning the Computer OFF won't work.

 

When it comes back on, the Damned Pop-Up is still front and center.

 

Only crawling around on my knees and unplugging the Damned thing gets rid of the Pop-Up.

 

PLEASE DO UNDERSTAND :

 

I am not looking for recommendations for Pop-Up Blockers...

 

To Keep getting that non-responce to the question being asked (3 or 4 Times Now…) is almost as Annoying as the Damned Pop-Ups.

 

How does the Damned Pop-Up Hi-Jack my Computer?

 

Isn't this Illegal?

 

Since the Sorry SOBs list their web site right on the !%$#**!!!!! POP-UP; Why aren't they Promptly Shut Down? ( Or hounded by some 1st rate Hackers as Vindictive as me, but with far better Computer Skills?)

 

 

Saxon Violence

Edited by SaxonViolence
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Turning the Computer OFF won't work.

 

When it comes back on, the Damned Pop-Up is still front and center.

This information narrows down the way the malware afflicting your computer could be working.

 

On a high level, a program that executes when a computer starts does so either because a reference to it is included in the list of programs the computer is configured to execute on startup, or because a legitimate program executed at startup has been altered to do it.

 

Without more information, I can’t say more. Can you post an image of what you see immediately upon starting you computer?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, I went for a long time without incident and had half forgotten about it.

 

This is my Sister's computer and she has definite ideas what she want's downloaded.

 

Nonetheless, I got irritated enough to dig into Safari and make some mods.

 

"Pop-Up Blockers" was off. Activating it helped—go figure. Then I turned the firewall on. That too helped.

 

"Why have a Firewall? Apples can't be hacked."  :surprise:  :irked:  :surprise:

 

I mainly encounter this when I'm at one of the Free Manga Sites. For a long time "Instalmac" frantically implored me to download their virus cure. 

 

{Will it get rid of y'all?}

 

Today it was "AFTOPSCOUT" or some such.

 

I am going to research how to do a screen capture.

 

Unlike "Instalmac", aftopscout goes away with a simple close Safari.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Saxon Violence 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These kinds of web pages have been built using a variety of approaches including plain javascript, java plug-ins, ActiveX (for Internet Explorer), and the most notorious these days, Flash.

 

The situation with Flash has gotten so bad that Firefox disables it by *default* when you update Firefox.

 

Basically the window pops open and then captures all input, incapacitating all commands that would redirect input to other windows and even if you succeed in switching to a different app, when you go back to the browser it will not let you do anything with the browser except complete the task it wants you to complete on that page.

 

If you are foolish enough to click anything on the page, it will attempt to download malware onto your system, which could do anything from look for password files or credit card numbers you have stored (it will know about the programs/files you might save them in), to making changes to the computer's boot sequence and encrypting large portions of your data files, after which the computer will boot telling you that you have to pay a ransom in order to get your files unencrypted.

 

The reason people do this is that it's good money. REALLY good money.

 

There are in fact white-hat hackers who are in an underfunded battle against the now-rich--mostly Russian and Chinese--hacking consortia (yes, it's highly organized crime) that rule this business. The Russian and Chinese governments have no interest in shutting this down both because it disrupts mostly western countries as well as it providing expertise that they hire to hack government systems for secrets.

 

The reason *our* governments don't do anything about it is that our economies are set up so that the big companies don't have much liability (or the liability is funny money), so there's no pressure to do anything about it. Then there are jurisdictional issues that mean that no one wants to pick up the hot potato: The FBI says it's not domestic so it's not their problem, the CIA says that it's not organized by foreign governments or actual terrorists so they don't have responsibility, and the NSA says they don't have enforcement roles.

 

So you're on your own.

 

No on Mac you're more likely to not have the hackers trying to inject Mac executables to do the nefarious things I described above, BUT THAT IS CHANGING, so don't believe the old saw that you don't need anti-virus or firewalls on Macs. That being said, the corollary is that the anti-virus software on Windows is much better than on Mac, where that business is only now restarting.

 

Bottom line is that this sort of thing does mostly happen on sites that are giving away free pirated stuff, because yes, servers hosted in western countries do get policed, mostly by the hosting companies themselves who can't afford the bad publicity for being a known hacker haven.

 

So mostly you're going to have to deal with this if you're stealing stuff. Tell your sister that. Might cost her her computer, a lot of allowance and all her sexts being published on the internet.

 

So I strongly recommend Internet condoms and other safe-networking practices, even if they aren't as much fun.

 

 

If you can't be good, be careful, :phones:

Buffy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically the window pops open and then captures all input, incapacitating all commands that would redirect input to other windows and even if you succeed in switching to a different app, when you go back to the browser it will not let you do anything with the browser except complete the task it wants you to complete on that page.

 

If you are foolish enough to click anything on the page, it will attempt to download malware onto your system, which could do anything from look for password files or credit card numbers you have stored (it will know about the programs/files you might save them in), to making changes to the computer's boot sequence and encrypting large portions of your data files, after which the computer will boot telling you that you have to pay a ransom in order to get your files unencrypted.

 

Hi Buffy,

 

2 years ago a friend called me up to try to clear the following image from his computer screen.

 

 

Luckily for him the XP system was so slow that I could alt+ctrl+del and get the task manager open before the screen loaded. I then stopped the most active process running and all of a sudden Windows defender popped up and trapped the virus.

 

These things are more sophisticated (and more expensive x 5) these days so people should really watch out what they click on the internet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...