My email was hacked by business rival, what are my legal options?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My email was hacked by business rival, what are my legal options? (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:33:33 AM EDT

Hello Arfcommers. I decided to post here since we have a really diverse group of people with a diverse group of skills.

Long story short, I am in the process of sealing a time sensitive business deal. The main problem is that one of the people I'm dealing with has been nothing but a thorn in my side the whole time. This person has tried to fish for info via email from me- which I ignored. The next day,(today) my gmail account has the password changed and I cannot access it.
I finally managed to regain access a few hours ago. (make sure your recovery address is actually still functional!

) All my mails related to this particular deal have been opened.

With a small bit of research I have found out where the last 2 logins were from. Same state, same city, and same town as some guy I saw on the above mentioned person's Facebook friend list. My suspected hacker also works in the datacommunications/computer field with a very large firm according to Facebook.

So here's my dilemma. I'm 99.9% sure I've found my hacker, and I know who "hired" him. I'm sure pursuing this legally would not be worth my time from a finacial standpoint, but I don't take kindly to this type of monkey business, and feel that if nothing else, I should put the fear of the law in these creeps. This whole thing very well could have cost me tens of thousands if I didn't catch this.

I'm guessing I could call the hacker up and threaten legal action if he doesn't give up the other person. I'm pretty sure he'd sing like a bird- he looks like a reject from "Dwight" casting on "The Office". Maybe I can go the reverse route and pretend I'm interested in his services? Any better ideas? Any way to get concrete evidence on these clowns? All I really have is an IP address that just happens to be in same city as this person's computer geek friend. I just don't want these assholes getting away with this shit on someone else!

PS. The guy didn't hang around in my inbox long. I wonder if the thousands of emails from the NRA and multitude of gun related boards & shops have anything to do with that?

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:37:59 AM EDT

[#1]

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:39:04 AM EDT

[#2]

Whenever you get it resolved, make sure you use a better password.

At LEAST 8 characters, including letters (lower and upper case) numbers and special characters.

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:41:44 AM EDT

[#3]

I would at least let all the other parties in this deal know the Facts that you have. Let them draw their own conclusions.

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:43:23 AM EDT

[#4]

Mind sharing the method you used to determine who hacked your gmail account? I am no hacker but I think it might some useful bit of info...

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:45:13 AM EDT

[#5]

Email your business rival, tell him that you traced the hacker that got into your email address and that you have all of the information related to the incident and that if he doesn't drop out of the deal now, not only are you going to contact everyone related to the business deal to let them know what has been going on, you're also going to forward the information to the FBI for federal prosecution.

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:47:44 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Email your business rival, tell him that you traced the hacker that got into your email address and that you have all of the information related to the incident and that if he doesn't drop out of the deal now, not only are you going to contact everyone related to the business deal to let them know what has been going on, you're also going to forward the information to the FBI for federal prosecution.

this..but be prepared to follow through on your threats.

if they don't do exactly what you want them to do, forward all the info you can to the authorities.

Then go to their office and take a huge steaming dump on the desk of the boss and whoever it was that messed with your email.

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:51:24 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Email your business rival, tell him that you traced the hacker that got into your email address and that you have all of the information related to the incident and that if he doesn't drop out of the deal now, not only are you going to contact everyone related to the business deal to let them know what has been going on, you're also going to forward the information to the FBI for federal prosecution.

this..but be prepared to follow through on your threats.

if they don't do exactly what you want them to do, forward all the info you can to the authorities.

Then go to their office and take a huge steaming dump on the desk of the boss and whoever it was that messed with your email.

Being the asshole that I am, I'd be inclined to follow through whether he dropped out or not.

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:53:14 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Email your business rival, tell him that you traced the hacker that got into your email address and that you have all of the information related to the incident and that if he doesn't drop out of the deal now, not only are you going to contact everyone related to the business deal to let them know what has been going on, you're also going to forward the information to the FBI for federal prosecution.

Is that blackmail?

Fuck it, just drop the dime –– tell your rival, the potential client, and the F.B.I.

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:59:19 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Email your business rival, tell him that you traced the hacker that got into your email address and that you have all of the information related to the incident and that if he doesn't drop out of the deal now, not only are you going to contact everyone related to the business deal to let them know what has been going on, you're also going to forward the information to the FBI for federal prosecution.

Is that blackmail?

Fuck it, just drop the dime –– tell your rival, the potential client, and the F.B.I.

I believe that is indeed blackmail. Your business rival will gleefully throw you to the cops and out of the picture. And his case will be much easier to win.

Just contact the authorities and ask to speak to their cybercrime person/department.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 9/15/2010 3:59:44 AM EDT

[#10]

Eh.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:03:33 AM EDT

[#11]

Backtrace him! Make sure his consequences will never be the same.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:04:00 AM EDT

[#12]

SSS

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:06:08 AM EDT

[#13]

FBI.

Never play Mr. nice guy. Pull out all the stops.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:09:55 AM EDT

[#14]

File a police report. Get a lawyer.

Never again do something as stupid as using GMAIL for work.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:12:41 AM EDT

[#15]

FBI. DO NOT let him know of your intentions as that will allow him to try to clean up his path. You need to catch him flatfooted and unprepared. Get the FBI in on this ASAP!

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:13:44 AM EDT

[#16]

If you have found out this much imagine what some FBI computer geek could find out? Drop the dime dude seriously. Don't get yourself in trouble making threats, ect.

Let law enforcement do what they get paid to do. Taking the law in your own hands is never a good idea.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:17:47 AM EDT

[#17]

Break his knee caps, he will never forget that!

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:19:40 AM EDT

[#18]

Reset password so rival can continue to read email, disinformation campaign, profit, AND turn over to FBI.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:23:44 AM EDT

[#19]

Seduce his wife, take pictures, put them in your inbox.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:25:33 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

File a police report. Get a lawyer.

Never again do something as stupid as using GMAIL for work.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:26:56 AM EDT

[#21]

A few rhetorical questions:

1. Why are you using gmail for business? For ~10 bucks a month, you can get your own shared hosting.
2. Would *you* do business with someone who set an easy-to-guess password that potentially compromised confidential information? Indicates an inability to be serious about information security.
3. If I was the prospective business partner and the guy I was dealing with wanted to bring (even tangentially) the FBI into our deal at the beginning... that could be a deal breaker for me. The dramometer is just too damned high. How would you feel being on the opposite side?

I don't have a suggestion... you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:32:03 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Email your business rival, tell him that you traced the hacker that got into your email address and that you have all of the information related to the incident and that if he doesn't drop out of the deal now, not only are you going to contact everyone related to the business deal to let them know what has been going on, you're also going to forward the information to the FBI for federal prosecution.

Couldn't that be considered blackmail?

If you really think it is him, you might try going to the police. I'll bet Google still has the IP address of anyone that logged into your account. Should be able to trace that back to the POS.

ETA beat by like an hour... RIF

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:34:10 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
Seduce his wife, take pictures, put them in your inbox.

Win.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:36:36 AM EDT

[#24]

Changed my mind. sorry

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:36:45 AM EDT

[#25]

Delete this thread is my advice.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:40:47 AM EDT

[#26]

Just based on about 2 minutes of research before my first cup of coffee (so I could be WAY off here...), I think 18 USC 2511(1)(a) may be the operative federal law here:

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter any person who— (a) intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept, or procures any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication; shall be punished as provided in subsection (4) or shall be subject to suit as provided in subsection (5).

(4) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection or in subsection (5), whoever violates subsection (1) of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

Lawyer up. I need coffee...

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:43:09 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:

Backtrace him! Make sure his consequences will never be the same.

You may also want to contact the Cyber police. This is their jurisdiction.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:48:28 AM EDT

[#28]

Whatever the operative laws, whatever may or may not be happening, my experience in these matters leads me to believe that, unless you caught Mr. Hacker in your house dildo-banging your wife while feeding your dog table scraps and hard boiled eggs, they're not going to do shit.

I've referred a few computer related incidents to law enforcement. While there are guys in the system who know what they're doing, there aren't enough of them to worry about most incidents.

It's like bias crimes against white people. The law says what the law says. How it's enforced is another matter.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:52:11 AM EDT

[#29]

How much $$ are you dealing with?
If it's worth it involve a PI with computer forensics experience along with an attorney.
First, delete this thread. OPSEC!!

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:54:37 AM EDT

[#30]

Wow gmail for business. Really?

If this happened to me I would be lucky to keep my job simply because of using gmail for business.

About the only course you can take is to turn the info over to the authorities. By the time they act on it the critical nature of the deal will probably be done.

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:57:06 AM EDT

[#31]

Was your password easy to crack

Posted: 9/15/2010 4:58:03 AM EDT

[#32]

Just post whatever you want the hacker to know here, because he is reading this thread.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:07:09 AM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:
Whenever you get it resolved, make sure you use a better password.

At LEAST 8 characters, including letters (lower and upper case) numbers and special characters.

I heard that if you make your password a sentence, it would be very hard to crack.
Such as, Theyellowcowran21miles

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:10:21 AM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct2AWh-nKSk

ROFL, never saw that one before, good stuff!

OP - As far as how to deal with the guy, two words: achilles tendon

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:10:53 AM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Whenever you get it resolved, make sure you use a better password.

At LEAST 8 characters, including letters (lower and upper case) numbers and special characters.

I heard that if you make your password a sentence, it would be very hard to crack.
Such as, Theyellowcowran21miles

Not bad, but even better if you trade a few letters for numbers. Th3yellowc0wran21mi1e5 f'rinstance.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:12:42 AM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
Email your business rival, tell him that you traced the hacker that got into your email address and that you have all of the information related to the incident and that if he doesn't drop out of the deal now, not only are you going to contact everyone related to the business deal to let them know what has been going on, you're also going to forward the information to the FBI for federal prosecution.

Just forward the info to the authorities.

Let the arrests speak for themselves.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:13:27 AM EDT

[#37]

yea i am kinda thinking stuff that might not
be moral or ethical

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:17:14 AM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
If I was the prospective business partner and the guy I was dealing with wanted to bring (even tangentially) the FBI into our deal at the beginning... that could be a deal breaker for me. The dramometer is just too damned high.

Yep - Starting out a business relationship with the prospect of making depositions to the FBI doesn't sound all that appealing...

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:17:25 AM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
I heard that if you make your password a sentence, it would be very hard to crack.
Such as, Theyellowcowran21miles

Yep, and then you substitute special characters for letters, e.g. a becomes @ and s becomes $. So the password is really Theyellowcowr@n21mile$ after the change.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:19:55 AM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:

Whenever you get it resolved, make sure you use a better password.

At LEAST 8 characters, including letters (lower and upper case) numbers and special characters.

12 is the new 8 FYI.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/16/gpus-democratize-brute-force-password-hacking/

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:22:11 AM EDT

[#41]

document the hell out of it, and turn it over to the authorities. most states now have some kind of provisions to prosecute that, i think, and i believe a couple of years back there was some kind of federal telecommunications act that covers that as well.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:29:53 AM EDT

[#42]

Call the FBI it's their job to deal with this situation. Anything else is just a dick measuring contest.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:30:17 AM EDT

[#43]

1. What is the value of the time senstiive deal? Unless it is MILLIONS the FBI will laugh at it, in my humble opinion.

2. Can you finalize the deal? DO this quickly. Cash out and move on, of course get paid in certified funds.

3. Delete the email address and move on with life. Lesson Learned of course.

All the legal talk will only complicate and may negate the business deal. You could end up with a long expensive legal battle and no business deal.

Just my thoughts for the day.

Best wishes.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:33:18 AM EDT

[#44]

The FBI has federal jurisdiction over this. I would contact your local FBI field office. Don;t think that the case is too small for them. It might be, but it depends on the field office and the agent. You would be amazed at home sometimes federal law enforcement goes after the most trivial nonsense just to get a case stat. On the other hand (I didn;t look at your location) if you are in a big city they probably won't care. Like in the SDNY the feds need a minimum of $1million provable damages or around there for the fed prosecutor to even care.

Think about preserving evidence now. Contact a civil attorney. etc.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:33:23 AM EDT

[#45]

I have some bad news for everyone saying call the FBI. Unless the violations are very serious and huge, or you have some serious connections, they aren't going to give a shit.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:38:20 AM EDT

[#46]

Put the screws to the fuckers

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:46:46 AM EDT

[#47]

Put the feds to work, make them earn your tax dollars for once.

If it's as obvious as you believe it is, they'll have the guy doing the perp walk in a few hours flat.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:50:20 AM EDT

[#48]

I had someone ask me what to use for a password once. I told them to use something long with numbers.

Their password? "somethinglongwithnumbers"
Insert facepalm pic here.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:52:21 AM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:
I had someone ask me what to use for a password once. I told them to use something long with numbers.

Their password? "somethinglongwithnumbers"
Insert facepalm pic here.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:52:51 AM EDT

[#50]

DO NOT USE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE EMAIL SERVICES (HOTMAIL, GMAIL, YAHOO, ETC.) FOR BUSINESS!!!!!

Call the authorities or your lawyer. Ask them what to do. Don't seek legal advice on an internet forum.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My email was hacked by business rival, what are my legal options? (Page 1 of 2)

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