Hello everyone!I'm a newbie when it involves anything other than a factory reset or reading change logs and trying to understand them.My 14 yr old has to wireup anything or remembering my password. I was such an android freak. I bought an ipad and I sent it back because I didn't like the formatting. God was I naive then.

I got curious about this thing called the dark web. So I downloaded TOR and ever since Im pretty sure I've been on someones radar for a good minute. Noticed weird things but neverpaid any mind to them.
I never even got on the dark web because my computer acted and tails wouldn't download at all. Every pgp program I tried to learn never worked. Mind you I never talked to anyone about it or even new about forums. I now see how it could have been someone disabling those programs so they wouldn't work and make me look like a paranoid freak.
Couple years go by. My is about 10 or11 then. I ran some spyware detector and it blew up. I took pictures with my phone. Took a shot of my phone info which had a IP address I had never seen and my phone was enforcing lollipop or sometging I cant remember. So I go back to the spyware program and everything had disappeared. Looked like a clean computer. Went back to the phone info page and that was all back to normal ( well as normal as someone naive like me) But I had evidence! I picked up my phone and began scrolling thru the photos when my gallery locked then my entire phone looked me out. No way to get back in and even so the gallery was locked and probably erased by now.
So now I'm super paranoid. Closed my Facebook account and only go on the net briefly or with someone elses device. Sweet of me I know.
That is the short version. I'm sorry but you told me to tell about myself and i rarely get the opportunity now that i don't have Facebook. And things are getting worse. My husband thinks Im crazy even though someone stole his identity and bought some nice new cell phones but the internet is safe to him.He believes that if we don't break the law were safe.Ugg! The router is new after he saw my phone scrolling away in front of his eyes. But everything else is from me opening files and trying to trace this asshole(s).
But it is a security nightmare. Password same as it came with. He knows nothing about leaving ports open ( I dont really either) I asked him to check his computer on GRC.com and he refused.
Sorry bout the rant but it good to get it out. That is the reason I want to switch to Linux and learn coding.
My son wants his phone back! Thanks!

1. Phones sometimes scroll on their own, especially if there's some weird moisture-humidity stuff around it.

2. If you don't fully know what you're doing, Spyware "detectors" could be spyware themselves. Also, was that policy enforcement buried in your settings? It's a good thing when it says enforcing Android policy of whatnot.

3. The FBI or any type of agency going after you, in a free country or not, probably wouldn't be showing you their spying on them in a cryptic way so pervasively.

4. Welcome to LQ! Here are some tips about this forum: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...#faq_welcomelq. Note that this topic would probably go under the "General" forum, since it isn't really Linux related.

My guess, although I don't know what you're up to, is that you're fine. Just avoid that dark web, especially anything you might download from there. Security patches are helpful too. You can learn more about Linux and become a privacy/security guru if you so wish.

So, the evidence you have of being hacked is: an anti-spyware program 'blew up', and your android phone started scrolling and locked you out by itself.

Unfortunately, that's pretty thin. The touch screens on phones sometimes can operate without touching them. Phone software can mess up and lock you out. If you don't know what you are doing, it can be difficult to get back into the phone.

Anti-spyware programs are not reliable, because they generally--and purposely--always leave some of the spyware intact.

Windows machine are nearly always infected with something or another. Usually it doesn't do any harm. The evidence you presented is subjective. I realize some disturbing things have occurred. But you cannot demonstrate any data loss or other objective evidence that could lead me to even know what the problem actually is.

If you want to switch to Linux, download one the latest versions of Linux Mint. If you have any user files in Windows, copy those before you blow Windows away. Write the Mint ISO to a USB flash drive and boot with it.

Tell it to install over the Windows installation. Then, see how far you get with that. When you have a problem, you can always come back here, and we'll help you.

I just rated the post of AwesomeMachine as helpful. It is rational, correct and to the point. And then, just before hitting the "back" button I noticed the signature. Ubuntu is spyware.

Ok, I know it is a citation, but especially in the context of this thread: Ubuntu is not the spyware you'd regularly see in Windows. And on top of that: what is in Ubuntu is not in most other distributions.

jlinkels

Moved: This thread is more suitable in General and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

I'd also recommend you read the book, The Cuckoo's Egg.

The concept of hacking is not new. The concept of hiding within the WWW is also not new.

If this 14 year old is your child (sorry you weren't clear if they were your kid or younger sibling), I would advise you to not give them full license to modify your systems, and in fact go the other way and learn what you need to do to monitor their web activities. Because this is no different than using the oven, lawnmower, or car. You can teach your kids to use these things and be responsible, sometimes they listen, sometimes they do not, and sometimes they do wrong with them. Same with the web.

If there are alarming things happening with your phone, a first place I would go for assistance would be the cell phone store where you obtained it from.

Hello Lippy445 and welcome to LQ... also kudos for being concerned with security and considering Linux. First off I think I should say that you can do it pretty easily these days. My Mother is 92 and has a Linux PC as her only PC. if you wish to "just get yer toes wet" you can try a Live CD/DVD which is a bootable Linux system on a portable disk ether optical (CD/DVD) or USB Thumb Drive. My favorite is --- Live-Slack --- because it is a complete system you can use right away for the common tasks but also development and coding work. In USB form it is persistent and with just minor tweaks and a little free hard drive space even the CD/DVD versions can store your work and any customizations as well.

There are lots and lots of "distributions" to choose from which basically means what software they come with and how it is managed but it's all Linux. Opinions vary but I'd like to recommend you start with one of "The Big Names", RedHat (CentOS), Debian, or Slackware, for ease of install and excellent track record and documentation. You really don't need any extra software for anti-malware/virus if you just watch security updates, but it, too is out there.

One thing your husband might be interested in realizing is that when you clicked "OK, I've Read and Agree" to the Win10 Users License Agreement you gave Microsoft the right to among other things, read your email and track all online activity. it's not that nothing like that exists at all in Linux software but it isn't built right in to the system and there are alternatives. You'll learn all about that by learning Linux and how to actually own, and not just lease, your own PC just by checking Linux out and posting your experiences and questions on this great Forum here at LQ.

Best Wishes and, possibly, welcome to The Linux Community

I doubt there is any security with Android. Most devices are simply out of date and can't be updated. People hate me because I think MS mobile is more secure but I'd never say it is secure. At least you can get to root easily now.

Any program on Android is suspect. There generally is no open source for people to look at and examine.

There is little security on the web. No OS is immune to data issues. Period. You have no reasonable expectation of security on the web. (my humble opinion)

It is difficult to remove yourself from a web presence. Many items are considered public information because laws are lax.

Many people offer too much information at places that don't need it. Your doctor doesn't need to know your SSN. Their computers are hacked most likely.

Credit cards have been a favorite of criminals forever. They will continue to be. Every time you hand out your card or even flash it for a second to run it in a reader you expose it to a camera.

The best advice is to learn and use as many best practices as you can. Remove web access from any bank account if possible. (that isn't as easy as you'd think)
Use different passwords for every account. Many many other ideas exist.