This is SCARE-EEY!!!!

Not sure where to put this one, it could go in so many different sub-forums, so I'll just put it here in 'General'.

The other day my laptop crashed and burned. Not sure what happened, but I think the motherboard fried. I managed to get it working enough to attach an external hard drive and mirror off all the data files. Most of it I already had backed up, but I just wanted to get the most recent data. Because many of my keyboard keys were not working I had to use some more global commands to get all the data. Last Sunday I went out and bought a new laptop. I wasn't too mad because my old laptop was 4+ years old and had given me pretty good service. I got the new laptop set up, installed all the software and copied all the data from my old laptop (now on my external HD) over to my new computer. Everything was working great, no problems.

So last night I was busy canning some spicy pickles and eggs and decided to listen to some music from my new machine. I clicked on my normal music directories and all these weird files showed up. At first I just ignored them thinking I would just go back and clean them out later. There were a bunch of them, hundreds even. I was searching for a particular song I wanted to listen to, but all these extraneous files kept getting in the way. What are these files???

The new files were .MP3 files and they had titles like 170901_1554. Always 6 digits with an underscore and then 4 more digits. Okay, so it's an .MP3 file, so let's play it and see what it is, right?

So, I played one of the files. ............ It's a recording of ME, in a conversation I was having with someone else. I hadn't recorded that conversation. So then I listened to a whole bunch of these files, and they were all recordings of conversations. Hundreds of conversations!! Me talking with my wife, me talking with a business colleague...even one of me talking to my dogs! Some of them were just 2-3 minutes long. Some of them were 45 minutes long. Hundreds and hundreds of recorded audio of conversations. WTF??? Like seriously...W...T...F??????

Now, I'm pretty computer saavy (lord knows, I work in the industry) so I'm pretty good about turning stuff off. When I set up a computer I spend hours turning off all the bloatware, all the recording and video. I'm kind of obsessive about turning off all the "big brother" stuff, and I frequently check to make sure updates don't add or turn something back on again. I run pretty damn good security on my machines too. That laptop was tight as a drum...or so I thought. Yet, there are hours and hours of conversations recorded on it. Probably hundreds of hours!!!! Absolutely unbelievable!

I have no idea what software recorded these files. I have no idea what triggered them to be recorded. I equally have no idea what or whom they were sent to. The good news is, there wasn't much of anything particularly notable in the recordings, but the simple fact they exist at all is a SERIOUS WTF moment!!!

Pretty scary!! Pretty scary that something like this could happen to someone like me, and it makes me wonder how much other EVIL-WARE is out there on other people's machines, recording everything they're doing!!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
...even one of me talking to my dogs!

What did they say?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

They are fluent in multiple languages. "Dog" is particularly troublesome.

I can read it, but I can't speak it (as they say).

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The NSA had a hiccup. They let you see just what they do.... either them or Google.
Or Facebook.
Ro Amazon.
Or any one of a bunch of apps you may have.

Try some mp3 analyzing tools, they might give you some insights into the files.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Now I want to know where to look on my Surface to make sure it isn't recording me having discussions with my dogs as well.

a reply to: butcherguy

I don't do Failbook...at all.

Don't use google...well, rarely.

Don't game, don't chat, don't skype, or any of that social media kind of stuff. I have used Amazon though.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Were these recordings made by your new laptop or the old one?

Do you have camera's and use NVR software?

Peace

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Well, a good place to start would be searching on improper verb conjugation in "Dog".

We (humans) always get it wrong.

But seriously though, it's pretty spooky I never saw any of this stuff on my old laptop, it was hidden somehow. It wasn't until I copied off all the stuff to my external HD that it showed up.

a reply to: operation mindcrime

The old one. But they were hidden somehow. It wasn't until I copied all the data files off the old HD to the external drive that they showed up.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Sadly, I'm not surprised. I figure someone is recording just in case, so if they ever have to listen to my conversations, they'll hear some good stuff. I just don't care anymore, f* em all.

If you back up your phone onto your laptop they could have come from there for sure...... Just an idea

Did you mirror the drive or merely transfer files over to the external HDD?

If you mirrored the drive, take a look at the file structure and see if you can determine where they were saved. If you merely transferred the files, think about where you transferred them from.

Maybe you could remove the drive from the original drive and use an external enclosure to access the original drive and determine where these files were stored and perhaps what program caused them to be recorded in the first place.

I also wonder if there are any videos hidden on the laptop's HDD?

But that is seriously creepy.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

WTF man!?!?! That is some freaky stuff. The only logical think that I can think of is that the Cortana program on Windows 10 (assuming thats what you run) has recorded everything you ever spoke near your laptops mic. It is always hot, listening for you to ask Cortana something. Perhaps these MP3 files are stored somewhere on every Windows 10 machine, and with the unique circumstances of your crash and recovery, you accidentally copied them over? IDK man, this is a weird one.

The only other thing I can think of is that you have been seriously compromised and somehow have discovered the evidence. Im not sure which is better actually - either you got hacked and are being spied on, or you didnt get hacked and youre still being spied on.

EDIT: I just did a search on my entire machine for all MP3 files and absolutely nothing even close to what you talked about came up. I am on Windows 10 with Cortana, so you would think the same thing would show up for all of us if it was for Cortana.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Evil-Ware! ...its out there! 😉 (sorry, I just like that designation... EvilWare. Sounds... evil)

You said you had the laptop only 4 years?

Ok, so this:

170901_1554

Isnt the 17th of September, 2001 @ 3:54PM then?

Or do you change the internal date for further security so if someone does break in all the data will be mis dated?

Sorry, I don't know that much about computers and stuff... But when my phone takes pics and audio recordings, the date & time stamp is usually in the filename is why I wondering...



Uh oh. maybe you shouldn't have given out that number. I just Google searched it and clicked a link and it gave me full access to all of your accounts. I think...yeah I think that was seriously your account password... Not the password you made up, but the people who work for The Mainframe, I imagine they have their own password for your secret file that, uh... gives control over your accoun-, no... entire life. This thread is going to quickly turn into an episode of Enemy Of The State, my fav drama starring Will Smith as the troubled youth from Philly... And Gene Hackman as Uncle Phil.



I'm just goofing around a little, no offense intended. That IS very spooky... emphasis on the "spook"... IF you catch my drift. 😉


If this happens to someone like you, I may as well not even try... My best hope is to protect myself from common (cyber) criminals.

Sounds like Windows Sound recorder.

a reply to: 3n19m470

Perhaps September 1, 2017 at 3:54? That would line up with the 4 year range.

A few weeks ago the wife bought a new desktop and backed up everything from the old one on an external. She was setting up the new one and called it a day external drive not attached.
Next morning she opened it up to find all of her files on it. Sh is not in a cloud saving thing but???
Now every night the power gets shut off to the computers and modem and i mean on a timer shutoff.

Not sure if a larp , as you say you are in the industry and frequent a conspiracy site and live in the US but...

I thought most people desoldered cams and mics and used plug ins.

Not me of course, I watch porn and swear a lot, oh and I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE.

Go to article, scroll down, click link "Vault7"
www.cbsnews.com...