
Ask HN: I think I'm being stalked by a hacker. What should I do? - leavemealone
I think someone who is very knowledgeable about security vulnerabilities might be stalking me. I don&#x27;t have any hard evidence, but we&#x27;ve been &quot;coincidentally&quot; running into each other a little too often in the past few weeks.<p>I work as a dev myself, but I don&#x27;t know a lot about security. Aside from the obvious things, like changing my passwords and keeping records in case I need to get the police involved, what should I be doing to protect myself?
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saluki
Is this person dangerous or threatening? If so you could meet with the police,
give them a heads up and ask for extra patrols in your neighborhood.

Be on guard when you're leaving coming home any place you're alone.

Resetting all passwords is a good idea, enable 2 factor auth.

I would leave your existing home router up as a distraction, purchase a new
one with new generic ssid and strong password and use that one.

You could also try using personal hot spot for a week depending on how much
bandwidth you use.

If you don't think they are a threat just snooping to make chance encounters
happen. You could try setting up honey pot plans one by one (gCal, email, sms,
from laptop, from phone browser, etc) to try to see if there is a pattern to
how they are tracking you.

Swap phones with a friend for an afternoon with someone that knows them or
what they look like, see if they run in to them.

They could be in to any or everything though digitally.

Or maybe nothing and they just know places you go so they go there often to
increase chance meetings.

Try to distance your self from them, give them the cold shoulder when you do
run in to each other, maybe they'll be the hint.

Good luck, be safe.

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2close4comfort
Are these meetings something that you have only discussed online (setting up
to meet others and "the person" shows up too)? You could look at setting up
something and see if they show up? If that happens I would reset my phone and
computer at home. email is in my profile should you have any additional
questions that you might not be comfortable dropping here.

~~~
leavemealone
Mostly, but not exclusively. Not sure if the other times were from something
like phone location data, old-fashioned analog stalking, or actual
coincidence.

Would a phone/computer reset, plus changing passwords, cover pretty much
everything? Should I change my home wifi password (or even network name?) too?

~~~
2close4comfort
It should really if there was an exploit used to get access to a browser and a
social media account. But be EXTRA vigilant with links in email from now on
and this should lower your risk of reinfection (only open if you HAVE to!).
And that is a BIG yes on the wifi password and network name that would stop
any drive by access to your home network.

------
ramtatatam
Are you using google calendar to plan your meetings?

~~~
leavemealone
I do use Google Calendar, but I didn't include the location for any of those
incidents. Is a private Google Calendar a security concern, though?

~~~
breakingcups
Go here:
[https://myaccount.google.com/security?pli=1](https://myaccount.google.com/security?pli=1)

This page allows you to review your security settings. Most importantly, have
a look at linked apps (I'm on a different language so I don't know the exact
terminology, scroll down bit and you should see it). Revoke access to any app
that you don't know / doesn't feel right.

Definitely enable 2 factor authentication on your Google account. Change your
password. Review your security questions and answers as well.

Also have a look at
[https://security.google.com/settings/security/activity](https://security.google.com/settings/security/activity)

This page shows you on which devices you've been signed in, and where they are
from. If you notice anything suspicious, click the link at the top of the
page.

