Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

[MC]

Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

According to his website, ex KGO and KSFO, KIRO Talk Jock Lee Rodger's had his website hacked by people in Nigeria. They also sent out a fake email to everyone on his contact list saying he was stuck in Manila (and needed money I guess)

He now has no email list. http://radiorodgers.com/

This is technically interesting for people active or inactive in radio. They do a blog or a page and bad things happen in the way of hacking. (You wonder what web host he uses?) I wonder if this was done by some of the radio corporate types he complains about now?

Probably use a separate computer or drive for your contact list?? I do not know I'm not that techno savvy. Weird groups linking to a site is a problem too.

 

[DavidKaye]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

According to his website, ex KGO and KSFO, KIRO Talk Jock Lee Rodger's had his website hacked by people in Nigeria. They also sent out a fake email to everyone on his contact list saying he was stuck in Manila (and needed money I guess)

He now has no email list. http://radiorodgers.com/

This is just plain stupid. I have been using email accounts and Usenet and all kinds of Internet things since even BEFORE there was a Web, back when we communicated with DOS-like screens of bright green letters on black. I have had dozens of email accounts and dozens of websites for myself and for other folks, and I have never ever ever had an account hacked, and nobody has ever reported spam coming from my email accounts, either.

It's not rocket science. It's a matter of using hard-to-guess passwords and changing them from time to time. It's also a matter of locking down entry points into your computer (I do this for a living) that are sometimes left open and vulnerable. Either go over your own computer to check on leaks or hire someone to go over it for you.

Most of my email lists are on Yahoo and a few are on Google. I always back up the addresses because I never trust a company to be around forever, and I don't trust Google for anything. I'm a big fan of Yahoo. But even if Yahoo were to evaporate tomorrow, I have 2 copies of all my email lists on my home computers and one "in the cloud" on a backup system that costs just $60 a year to use.

Any radio person worth his weight as a radio person -- even if they're just talent -- should have been exposed to enough techies over the years that at least SOME of this knowledge would have rubbed off.

There is NO excuse for Lee Rodgers to have lost his email list. None.

 

[landtuna]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

I'm not going to call anyone stupid for being hacked because it is possible even though you go to extremes. As a former IT professional who HAS had their information pilfered I offer these suggestions:

1. If you use an Internet based email service such as Yahoo it is safer to keep your email addresses in a private file on your PC. If you use the public file system (or Windows default file) you risk thieves grabbing it (no matter how good your passwords are). If you put your addresses in a private file, using a file name not common to Windows, they will not bother to scan your machine looking for it. It is a minor inconvenience to go to the file to retrieve an email address but it can save a great deal of grief.

As an alternative, you can use a mail engine such as Outlook to link to your Internet-based POP mail server. Outlook will allow you to keep your preferences and email addresses anywhere you like instead of in a common file name. Instead of going directly to the Internet-based email service you access it through Outlook and therefore have no contact file for thieves to find.

2. As suggested in the post above, use hard to guess passwords including a combination of letters (both capital and lower case) and numbers and special characters. Do not use names, words found in the dictionary (including common foreign language words) or repeating characters. Do not use your phone number or street address. Phrases are more difficult to decipher than single words but do not use common phrases. My favorite is obscure movie phrases. Easy to remember but very difficult to break and usually not worth the trouble.

3. Do not forward emails without deleting any email addresses located within the original message. Use blind copy (BCC) instead of copy (CC) where ever you can. Forwarding an email where the originator has included everyone's email address is the easiest way of losing control of your address list.

4. Set up multiple email accounts. One for friends and family (personal), one for professional usage (businesses) and one to use to sign up for accounts on sites you're not sure of (in the event they sell your 'garbage' address). If you patronize social media such as Facebook set up an email account specifically for social media.

5. Configure your SPAM settings to send junk mail direct to your trash can. Do NOT open any email you cannot identify as valid and especially if it contains an attachment. Just delete it. Yahoo is particularly good at detecting spam.

6. Before you click on any link contained in an email move your cursor over it. The actual URL will be displayed at the bottom left of your browser window. You might find that www.bankofamerica.com translates to www.westealyourmoney.org and you will be directed to the hackers site (which can look identical to a real business site).

 

[DavidKaye]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

I'm not going to call anyone stupid for being hacked because it is possible even though you go to extremes. As a former IT professional who HAS had their information pilfered I offer these suggestions:

I should clarify. I'm not calling Lee Rodgers stupid for being hacked, but for losing his mailing list.

However, anybody in the public eye has to expect that there will be people out there who are out to get them, and thus he should have locked down his computer. How many computers have Remote Registry enabled? In my experience, most of them. It's simple to turn it off; Lee could hire any high school kid to do it.

1. If you use an Internet based email service such as Yahoo it is safer to keep your email addresses in a private file on your PC.

Yahoogroups, the mailing list service provided by Yahoo (formerly eGroups), allows the entire email list to be downloaded for backup at any time, and it's a totally free service.

If you put your addresses in a private file, using a file name not common to Windows, they will not bother to scan your machine looking for it. It is a minor inconvenience to go to the file to retrieve an email address but it can save a great deal of grief.

Nobody should be getting into his computer to begin with!

As an alternative, you can use a mail engine such as Outlook to link to your Internet-based POP mail server. Outlook will allow you to keep your preferences and email addresses anywhere you like instead of in a common file name. Instead of going directly to the Internet-based email service you access it through Outlook and therefore have no contact file for thieves to find.

POP costs money for Yahoo email; IMAP is free.

2. As suggested in the post above, use hard to guess passwords including a combination of letters (both capital and lower case) and numbers and special characters. Do not use names, words found in the dictionary (including common foreign language words) or repeating characters.

The most common password people use is "password". I'm still shocked when I find customers of mine who are using it even after I tell them to think of something else. Next common is "12345". Other common passwords are "letmein", "696969", and for those who go to Burning Man, "burner".

Good suggestions, by the way.

 

[MC]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

probably sent a fake email asking him to confirm his password? Above are good suggestions.

 

[JEREMIAH]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

I actually got the e-mail from the scammer. I spotted it as a scam immediately.

Even if Lee Rodgers had been robbed of his money and credit cards(in the phillipines no less) all he had to do was call his bank and they would take care of him. He wouldn't have to hit on his friends.

To get the money to him, the scammer gave his so called e-mail address....it was close but one word was different.

It was so full if holes you could spot it a mile away. I can't imagine anyone falling for it.

Jerry Gordon

 

[MC]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

Here is what the fake email said, it might help people recognize such scams in the future:

I'm writing this Email with Tears rolling Down my Cheeks, Am Presently here in Manilla, Philippines for a short vacation to visit a resort and got mugged at gun point last night at the park of the hotel where i lodged. All cash,credit cards and cell were stolen off me.I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all,my flight leaves today and I'm having problems settling the hotel bills.

The hotel manager won't let me leave until i settle the hotel & Hospital bills . I will Appreciate if you can loan me the Money or anything you can afford for now because am really freaked out. Please am hanging on for a Response from you so that i can let you know how to get the money to me.
Lee Rodgers

Visit my web page at http (withheld)
My e-mail address is (withheld)

They changed his email address slightly. I wonder if anyone sent any money???

 

[DavidKaye]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

It was so full if holes you could spot it a mile away. I can't imagine anyone falling for it.

Jerry Gordon

Not to hammer on Lee Rodgers any more than I already have, but you're absolutely right, one can't imagine anyone falling for this scam. There's a reason: The scammers PURPOSELY dumb down the scam in order to save time, because if they hook in brighter people, the brighter people will become suspicious and begin asking questions, resulting in lots of emails and phone calls that don't result in the scammer getting any money.

Here, check this out:
http://www.allspammedup.com/2012/06/sweet-home-nigeria/

I quote:

"In fact, the scam is designed to weed out those who might make the scammers lives more difficult.

‘Nigerian Scam’, Herley points out, “is one of five suggested auto-completes in a Google search for Nigeria” If the goal was to maximize response to e-mails, it hardly makes sense to mention Nigeria. But who are the most likely targets? “Since the scam is entirely one of manipulation he would like to attack (i.e., enter into correspondence with) only those who are most gullible.”"

 

[recto101]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

According to his website, ex KGO and KSFO, KIRO Talk Jock Lee Rodger's had his website hacked by people in Nigeria. They also sent out a fake email to everyone on his contact list saying he was stuck in Manila (and needed money I guess)

He now has no email list. http://radiorodgers.com/

This is technically interesting for people active or inactive in radio. They do a blog or a page and bad things happen in the way of hacking. (You wonder what web host he uses?) I wonder if this was done by some of the radio corporate types he complains about now?

Probably use a separate computer or drive for your contact list?? I do not know I'm not that techno savvy. Weird groups linking to a site is a problem too.

Why does China, Nigeria, Philippines and USA always get named for facebook/E-mail/Twitter Scams.

 

[MC]

Re: Lee Rodger's Website Hacked by "foreign criminals" (EX KSFO Morning DRIVE GUY)

people who were on his email list should watch for spam and phish attacks. A number of people say they saw their protection programs block Nigeriaan attacks after Rodgers website sent the the bogus email.