We Asked an IT Expert How To Defend Ourselves From Horny DJ Hackers

It’s only been a couple of days since VICE discovered that a Copenhagen DJ was secretly peeping at tons of his friends through their webcams. He gained access to their computers by sending them zip files containing a so called trojan horse, allowing him to covertly take full control over their computers and have his cyber way with them. It’s still unknown, just how many people the DJ spied on. Between that and the Heartbleed bug that was made public less than a month ago, it seems you aren’t safe anywhere these days.

We decided to call IT-security expert and CEO of Solido Networks Henrik Kramshøj to find out how all those psycho fetishists are hacking our computers and more importantly, how we can defend ourselves.

VICE: So what is a Trojan Horse? 
Henrik Kramshøj: A trojan horse is a program, that poses as something harmless, for instance a game, but contains some harmful code that does something behind your back. It remains hidden, while it copies stuff off your computer, monitors what you look at on the internet or in other ways performs harmful actions. A trojan horse can easily contain what’s called a back door, which basically means a way for you to take over the computer.

A back door? 
One of the most common types of attack is “drive-by hacking”, which occurs when you visit a website containing some crap that immediately infects your computer. That’s why we recommend the use of no-script and add blockers. You can also receive it through spam mails including attached files or links containing harmful bits of code.

So basically from anywhere? What would a person use this kind of access for? 
Back doors are of course used to to access the computer and its resources, to send spam over the internet and possibly commit cyber attacks, or vacuum the computer for personal data.They would typically target personal pictures used to blackmail the owner, pin codes, passwords for other services, money, Bitcoins and everything of value on the computer. Today, even your identity can be sold on the internet - you can actually sell them in bulk. They’ll then be misused to commit identity theft, setting up false credit cards in you name.

Bastards. Why can’t you see if you’re infected? 
Many of these harmful types of programs hide by hooking into the operative system and simply remove themselves from the list of programs and the hard drive, so you can’t locate them program.

Can you risk receiving a trojan horse with a back door on any platform? 
Yes, there are specialized back doors for all popular computer platforms, like Mac, Windows and Linux.

What about tablets and smart phones though? 
Tablets and smart phones are made to be as safe as possible, but there are certain jailbreak softwares to most of the platforms, which lets you have full control over your device. The catch is, that jail-breaking your device opens it up to all kinds of crap. When downloading free unauthorized apps, you risk downloading some other crap too. This is especially true for Google’s Play store for Android, where there’s been an abundance of malware. A lot of this was installed directly on the users’ computers, phones and tablets, for instance collecting personal data in the background while the user played games.

And malware is?
Malware is an umbrella term for harmful software, mostly a combination of viruses, worms, back doors, recording software and the like. You usually get a package of sorts.

A package? 
It’s called an exploit kit. Cyber criminals actually sell a complete package [to hackers] as a service. The hacker then gets a package that attacks their victim continuously. It even includes updates and 24/7 customer support, which helps you hack others. There are parts of the kit that get it into the computer, and parts that keep it hidden, by for instance only operating while your screen is off.

Seriously? How easy are these programs to get your hands on? 
They’re easily accessible, and that’s both great and unfortunate. On one hand, we know from what to protect ourselves. But when they’re readily available to those who want to attack us, it’s pretty scary that they can design a piece of malware and send it off to you with a few clicks of a button. They can tailor it to that one specific use, making it highly unlikely that your anti-virus software will pick up on it.

Better get on the defensive then. Where are we at our most vulnerable? 
You’re most vulnerable, when you use the internet, but you can’t stop doing that of course. Other than that, you’re vulnerable if you use an old platform, like Windows XP, which is no longer serviced. Or if you run certain software, like Java, which is actually outlawed in most of the world. We just have to use it because of NemID. So I recommend that you use two different browsers, one for using Java and NemID, and the other for everything without Java. But you can minimize the risk of getting infected by updating your software.

Is that the easiest way of securing ourselves against attacks? What else can we do? 
It’s difficult for the average user to secure yourself from attacks. It’s important that you have a good back-up of your data. Make sure to keep a copy of your family photos and other valuable stuff  some place other than your computer in case it gets hijacked. This will for instance help you avoid a certain type of software called “ransomware”, which locks your computer and makes you pay a ransom in order to regain access to it. You can minimize the risk, but as an average user it’s difficult to stay constantly updated.

Maybe we should just tape over our webcams then? 
Well, I’ve taped my webcam over with a sort of yellow post-it note. You can just remove it whenever you need to use it and let it stay on the rest of the time.

So the IT-expert isn’t even safe? 
No. You can very well end up on a webpage that activates some harmful software. That can happen to me too. That’s why in a professional context, we divide up our sensitive information between devices.

What’s the best course of action, if you suspect that someone’s peeping at you through your webcam? 
The best thing to do, is to reinstall your computer. If you don’t know how to do it yourself, get a hold of a mate who does. Make sure to make a back up of the data you want to keep, and note down your passwords. Then reinstall the computer from the ground up (including the operating system), and change all your passwords. That’s how you regain control.

Is there anything else we should be on our guard with? 
Yes, every time you use a password, there’s a risk of it getting stolen. That means you should never use the same password for Facebook, Gmail, Apple and the all the other stuff. Instead, use a password keeper so you can have different passwords for all your different services and devices.

Thanks a lot!