Computer Hacked
Matt Seinberg

Last Friday, my daughter, Michelle, told me she drove her grandfather to Staples among other places, but didn't tell me why. On Sunday night, we were going for dinner to the home of her grandparents. I asked her then why she had to take him to Staples.

Grandpa was hacked.

She said he was looking at a new computer, but didn't have any other details. That surprised me. I keep his computer up to date and there was nothing wrong with it.

As it turns out, his computer was hacked through his router. He was being held hostage by the hackers for the grand sum of $87. Huh? That's a weird number, so there had to be more to the story.

The hacker wanted his bank account number to withdraw the money. Sure they did! They would drain the account and be gone in the electronic wind. Although the computer worked, sometimes, the screen would go blank with a dollar displayed, prominently, on it for 30-to-60 minutes.

Just to be able to go online, he hooked up another computer I had reformatted for him four years ago. He changed the router to one provided by his cable company. So far, he hasn't had any problems.

His son Glenn, my brother-in-law, said he could reformat this Dell computer if he had the Windows 7 disc. I happened to have it, so I gave it to my wife who gave it to her father. Let's see if that works. I could have done it, but I would have taken the computer home instead of doing it there.

Check with security software provider, first.

I asked them why they didn't contact Norton Security. He has Norton installed on that machine. Norton may have been able to remove that malware and cleaned the machine without having to do a total reinstall of the operating system.

All I got was blank stare and a muttered answer. I wasn't going to have a long drawn out conversation over this matter. I would have had to call Norton for them, if we talked of it.

Ideally, a weekly, if not daily, up-date of every security program is necessary. I don't remember how I had it set up on his machine, but I'm sure it was set up to do it automatically. Because of the reinstall, I'll have to put Norton Security back on that machine and make sure it does a scan weekly.

I believe that computer hackers are low life scum, along with sexual predators and most Republicans. They all want the same thing, to screw people over and get their hard-earned money for doing nothing other than performing blackmail.

Sometimes hackers are thought heroes of the people. They may expose crime and corruption. Most of the time, they are alien opportunists looking to get as much money as they can from an unsuspecting victim. These hackers must think that all Americans are rolling around in cash, wondering what they are going to buy next.

Do hackers watch the news? If so, they can see how most Americans are struggling to live; their incomes that haven’t increased much in twenty years. Hackers don't care; thieves are thieves.

Hackers deserve to serve harsh sentences.

That's why hackers are criminals. Catching and prosecuting hackers must be priorities. They deserve long sentences; hard time.  

Can you tell that I don't like it when someone, anyone, screws over the middle class?