Can someone eavesdrop on my IM conversations?

[seahorse]

Can someone please tell me if I am chatting on AIM with a friend is there anyway a third person can be reading it without our knowledge?? Thanks for any help!!

[EEDOK]

if they're in between you and your friend(router, isp, etc) then yes they can, if you encrypt your messages though they'll be harder to read.

[Slickrick77]

whoa whoa....how is this possible for someone in between to read IM messages? explain that again? and ur saying there is no way i or a friend would know right?

[Renamon]

There are also programs parents and family members can get hat log all your conversations. People doing stuff they ain't supposed to, be aware of this. YOU ARE NOT SAFE FROM THE NEVER ENDING NOSYNESS OF PARENTS!

[RU Still Down?]

There are many ways a third party can read your conversations. I will list them below (please note that these are just a few of the many many ways someone can spy on your conversations)

• since your conversations are not encrypted anyone beyond & including your router (or even those before the router if multiple clients are set up under the same hub) can read your conversations -- these usually include governments, ISPs, IM providers, siblings. ECHELON and other spying programs have been setup by governments worldwide.
• Not to mention recently (over the weekend) in the USA (once known as the most free country on the planet) the House and Senate both passed bills that will enable their federal government to spy on its citizens without their knowledge.
• through a software keylogger
• through a hardware keylogger
• virus/trojan/spyware infestations which usually involve a keylogger or a screen capture program -- these pieces of malware can also log all packets sent to/from the computer
• legitimate spyware/spying utilities -- like the ones described by Renamon -- for use by 'parents'
• software used to log conversations by the end user -- i believe most IM clients now provide their own logging software
• US government spyware -- the US government has recently used keyloggers in catching 'criminals' who encrypt data -- also many anti-virus companies refuse to detect these programs as spyware
• electro magnetic radiation given off by your CRT/LCD monitor (the US government has policy in place to prevent this from happening in various government facilities) -- read about it on the Wikipedia article on van Eck Phreaking

so.. yes basically anyone with access to your computer for a small period of time can install software that will log all your conversations or monitor your packets live. if they don't do that they can install a little box (hardware keylogger) behind your keyboard hook up (PS/2 connector) that records all texts sent from the keyboard to your computer... and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

the closest you can get to complete privacy and security is building your computer every time you run it, compiling & security testing all softwares you use while on that computer, and making sure that you use strong encryption so nobody can break the cypher and read your conversations. either that or go outside and talk in a dark alley with your friends. just make sure you're not in Chicago or London because these cities (and probably others) have police/ government cameras installed to watch/catch 'criminals' (citizens).

[Renamon]

Not to mention recently (over the weekend) in the USA (once known as the most free country on the planet) the House and Senate both passed bills that will enable their federal government to spy on its citizens without their knowledge.

Thats bull****. What a free country we are. So free that our government spies on everything we do. You know what? Screw the government. This is just wrong for them to be able to do this.

[Chalala]

I am having an eavesdropping problem with one of my contacts on msn messenger. He is using some sort of program that allows him to see everythign on my screen while I am online. I was not aware of this until he told me. What kind of program would allow this and is there any way to block it? Can he see more than just my messenger windows? Please help.

[VvWolverinevV]

Chalala, there are two ways I know of for someone to remotely view your entire screen.

The first, Remote Assistance, is built into Windows XP. You can disable it via System Properties under the Remote tab.

The second is through Virtual Network Computing (VNC). The way I've seen it used, some VNC software is installed on the computer to be monitored (your computer) and then accessed from a remote computer via some permissions set locally. I'm fairly certain that some software must be installed and running on your machine in order for someone to be able to see the whole screen.

You should look into getting rid of remote access to your computer right away, because both of these methods also allow complete control of your machine (think viruses, bank accounts, etc.) Good luck, and let us know what you find.

[izzy]

so recently i was on my bf's computer and his bdays comin up and i know he went to a website that had the present he wants so when he wasnt around i went to his web history to look for it and found my screen name and all my aim logs with a bunch of ppl i talk to. at first it creeped me out but im not gonna say anything to him since i was looking through his history. Then about a month later i saw he accessed it again but it was all my newer convos.
Hes no advanced government offical or any of that and as far as im concerned he doesnt have and hardware that can spy on me, im hoping. he has a mac and i have a pc is there any way I can tell from looking at his computer that he has a certain software or program thats allowing him to access my stuff? or by looking at mine?
thank you!

[VvWolverinevV]

izzy, were the logs for conversations that you had on your PC or on his Mac?