So, I went to a Web site purporting to be posted by alumni of my high school. When I clicked on a link there, I got a message that read: “You have been hacked!”
I don’t know what this means exactly. Has someone broken into my computer electronically or is this just some juvenile joke? I have AdAware and Spybot installed and run and update them frequently. The anti-virus program I used expired about a month after I got the message, but I ran it several times before then and found no viruses.
I use my computer for banking, so I’d be concerned if someone could read my keystrokes or get account or personal information off the sites I visit.
There are some pop-up ads that give warning messages like that in order to scare you into buying their software.
While it is possible to get spyware by visiting certain websites, they never announce the fact. They don’t want you to know that they’ve installed the software, since if you knew, you’d try to remove it.
I work for a network security company; although I work in sales, and am not an “Expert”, I’m pretty sure I know what happened.
I had typed a lengthy explanation of website hacks, but on preview, I see that RealityChuck presents a more likely scenario; I was thinking the webpage itself had the hacked message, but I realize that you didn’t say whether it was on a page or in a popup.
Regardless of the cause of this particular incident, I would highly recommend to keep your AV software up to date, however. There are viruses/worms that can infect over a network/internet connection (a la Blaster or Sasser), rather than email, and usually there is no outward indication of infection until your system bluescreens or hangs. Also, I’d recommend a client firewall, especially if you’re on a broadband connection.
A good solid client firewall can also mitigate your concern about your banking info being compromised; it blocks connections to and from unknown applications, so if there’s a keystroke logger or something, it can’t “phone home” with the info it’s gathered. It can quite often prevent the bad stuff from getting on the system to begin with. I have a preference on an AV/firewall product, but since I work for the company that makes it, I won’t shill it here. Whatever you get, as long as it’s a reputable brand, is better than nothing. Some products are available free, but for me personally, having an intimate knowledge of the logistics that go into supporting these types of products, I’d go with a fee-based product - you get what you pay for, and all.