Am I being hacked for possible identity fraud?

[895]

I'm really hoping I'm just being paranoid, but I'd rather look stupid and play it safe than be sorry.

My computer just had this weird little episode with Hamachi. This just happened, after my computer insisted on updating for the second time in about a week (this is unusual for my laptop). I've had Hamachi on there for a few years for being a part of my friend's private network and being on other people's private game servers, and it has caused some issues for me before, but not like this. I know that it sometimes causes issues with my being able to connect to an Internet source wirelessly, seemingly by superceding the main connection I'm trying to establish and maintain a connection with. I know that when this happens I can just go into my connections wizards and disable Hamachi through Windows, and that always solves the issue. Just now, though, I was Skype IMing someone and in the middle of the conversation, I lost my connection. I went down to my connections list to disable Hamachi and clicked on Disable...but this time, Hamachi restarted itself right away. I kept clicking Disable but Hamachi kept restarting itself instantly and the Windows wizard was indicating to me that data was being sent from my computer in far bigger amounts that it was getting back. It was only in the range of kilobytes, but what troubles me is that it kept restarting immediately after I disabled it; Hamachi has never done that for me before. When I couldn't keep Hamachi closed in order to connect to the Internet, I restarted my computer...and Hamachi started up again right away after the computer rebooted. I tried to uninstall Hamachi and turned off my wireless radio switch on the hardware of my laptop before I did so, and only after doing that and then uninstalling Hamachi was I able to turn the hardware switch back on and get back online. I would have dismissed this as someone on my friend's private file-swapping network trying to download something from me, but I don't even think it works that way (we use a group dropbox server to deposit files, which the admin then organizes by hand and makes available to everyone on the main server), and I've honestly been worried about whether I'm being hacked for a little while.

A lot of my accounts have asked me to reset my password or are prompting me for passwords my browser normally remembers. That alone wouldn't be suspicious to me, but they all seem to be asking this at the same time.

Again, it would be going a little far to suspect hacking, but I'm on alert because my bank sent me an e-mail notification on the 24th stating the following: "We were just informed by [the credit card company that issues debit cards for my bank] that your [bank company] Debit Card may have been compromised within its network of merchants/processors. As a precaution, we're reissuing you a new card (with a new card number, expiration date and security code)."

I really want to believe I'm just being paranoid, but identity theft, from what I've heard, is not something to mess around with. If anyone can tell me I'm being too vigilant instead of not vigilant enough, I'd be content to just write it all off. But if there's any significant chance of me having my identity stolen, what should I do to go about further investigating that? I haven't had any charges on my card that I don't recognize and my financial accounts seem to be just fine, but might an identity thief go after something other than money?

[Crookedlung]

You should call each company and talk to customer service as they can guide you under their respective steps when it comes to identity theft. Secondly get a free credit. Under law you can get one free once every year and that is the most immediate thing you can do right now.

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/027...tity-theft

Also read this Federal Trade Commision article as it explains the best ways to go about it and it is better to be safe than sorry.

[Sum Ting Wong]

http://tinyurl.com/onvkwrr

[DunbarPappy®ϟϟ]

Using Windows by any chance?
If you are, then your security state can not be certain; and having many accounts requesting password modification raises the suspicion level considerably, to the paranoia state.

Play the safe hand: assume you have been compromised, and take steps to bolster your anti-theft protection.
First, do NOT use the suspected Windows device to contact any banks, credit card, or other high-value source. It may have a Trojan that will intercept and redirect your traffic to a site the bad guys control.
And do not use any phone numbers cited on e-mails from 'your bank' or credit card companies. Those numbers may also be in control of the bad guys.
Use known reliable sources like the number listed right on the card to contact them. Mention your predicament, and they should be able to direct you further. Cancel the old number, and get a fresh one.

Download some flavor of Linux and use that to do all future monetary work. (You really should use it for ALL Internet work, and thus deflect these Windows targeted hacks all the time...otherwise you'll never have meaningful security, and you may have to go thru your current problem all over again.)
Ubuntu is here, but there are other flavors: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installing
Once you have that done, and you've also verified your Network is secure, you can take some steps to assure your cards have the best possible defense.
See my other suggestions regarding that, plus 'fraud alert' steps, here: http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...252AAAcRGM

Banking Trojans & malware is so prolific with Windows you must drastically alter your approach to using it for high-value tasks...otherwise your agony will only be prolonged.

[Paul]

Do you use Internet Explorer for browsing? I stopped use it many years ago. It's absolutely unsafe internet browser. Nowadays I use only Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Also time to time clean my browsing history, never allow to remember my ID or passwords. So far so good. Be careful there are so much junk out there. Always remember about Email Phishing Scams.