It Isn’t Always a Hacker

Written by:

Nick Lindemann
Managed Services Administrator
NET Xperts LLC

I was enjoying a nice quiet evening not too long ago when my cousin called me.  She thought she was being hacked.  Files were being deleted, random programs opened up, her camera even turned on.  A nightmare for anyone, but she had just started her own business and was in a panic.  She brought her laptop over and I took a look.  Clean as a whistle.  No malware, no viruses, no evidence of hacking at all.  Her accounts were all secure, nobody had accessed them.  I set her up with some extra security just for good measure.  Two factor authentication, and stronger passwords for her accounts.   

She called me again the next day.  It was happening again.  I told her to shut down and I’d be right over.  When I arrived I looked at her setup and there was one thing that stood out.  I asked if her husband was home working as well.  She said yes.  I instantly knew what was going on.  Can you guess? 

When you work with NET Xperts, you get not only the professional experience and knowledge we offer, but the sum total of our personal experiences.  Computers don’t break the same way every time.  Every few weeks I run into a problem that even Google has never heard of before, but one of my colleagues may have.  I once fixed a computer by baking it in an oven.  Yes, you read that right.  I baked a computer.  10 minutes at 325 degrees and it was good as new.  Please don’t try that at home, I’m a professional. 

Did you figure out what my cousins’ problem was?  She had a wireless keyboard and it turns out her husband had the exact same wireless keyboard that she did.  The signals were getting crossed, so it would receive random keystrokes from his keyboard as she worked.  He would try to delete a typo in an email and a file she had selected would delete instead.  Various keypresses he made while she was working would trigger hotkeys combinations that would open programs, close things, even activated her webcam at one point.  We got her a different brand keyboard and just like that, the issue was gone. 

With NET Xperts we can provide solutions for your big problems and needs, and we can solve your weird ones too.