On 20/9/19 11:04 am, Peter Wolf via luv-beginners wrote:

/Hello, />//>/            My questions are />//>/- how do I detect a suspicious network connection? />//>/- what sort of computer security tips do people have? />//>//>/Some background information regarding the above questions. />//>/Firstly as some of you may have noticed I have very little to no />/knowledge in this area.I am flat out running a business that is barely />/paying bills and probably cannot afford to buy security software, hire />/someone or spend much time on a computer security course. />//>/I believe my computers are getting hacked. /If you computer is hacked then stop there. Save your data, format everything and reinstall your operating system. You are time poor so that is the quickest option.

******* I often do that but I'm looking for something more efficient and a prevention.  >/I have noticed files being changed/added in dropbox that I definitely />/hadn't changed/added myself. /There may be another explanation for this than being hacked. Are you using the Dropbox app or web interface? What are the files? Are they found on both your computer and the cloud? When using the Dropbox folder as an application data storage I have seen temporary files remain after the application exits. ****** I mainly use the dropbox app for the desktop.One file that was modified was a script to enable apparmor.It was changed so that it did ****** some weird stuff with grub files.The script was in the cloud and on my computer.  >/Also at times I am no longer able to easily change my password or do />/updates.Also I have noticed that at such times web browsing can become />/very slow as well as the general speed of my computer.I am running />/Linux Mint 18.My solution to computer security has been to change my />/user password several times a day which seems to help.I do updates />/regularly and use relatively low spec /Changing your password will be of no benefit is someone has root access to your computers.

//>/computers (dual core machines) so that if there is a problem and />/someone else is using my computer I can notice it more easily.I always />/use regular hard drives so that any possible hacking cannot be done />/too quickly.I have also written a program to change the hostname on my />/computers and this seems to speed up my computers and web browsing for />/a while.When web pages start malfunctioning,changing the user password />/and computer hostname very often fixes it. />//>/I have noticed that problems seem to be correlated with how many />/network connections I see.I am thinking of writing a program to shut />/down any suspicious network connections as long as I know how to />/detect them.Buying security software may seem more cost effective but />/I don't trust commercial products because the seller always has a />/vested interest to encourage hacking etc to continue the sale of />/products and maintain subscriptions. / I have been using Linux distributions on workstations and servers for over 20 years. User accounts have been hacked in the past when users insisted on using dictionary based passwords. Each time the give away was the accounts were being used to send spam. A password reset stopped that activity. No one has ever gained root access. I hope this helps

******** Yes this helps,thanks,information is good.  >//>/Unfortunately I have no computers that can run the latest Qubes Linux. />//>/regards Peter />//>/_______________________________________________ />/luv-beginners mailing list />/luv-beginners at luv.asn.au <https://lists.luv.asn.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/luv-beginners> />/https://lists.luv.asn.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/luv-beginners /