How to approach keylogging/hacking by STBX

[newsecretidentity]

In July of last year, I discovered my H had been reading my emails. I discovered because the account kept spontaneously logging me out and because I saw that some of my sent mails had been forwarded to his account. He admitted to having read my emails as far back as the previous December. He admitted to having read my Skype chats with friends at that time and I also saw SatNav's recent history had been tampered with. He also made sarcastic references that eerily tied in to conversations I had with friends at home in his absence.

I changed all my passwords and moved out at the beginning of September. On Christmas eve, I discovered that he had been monitoring my Mumsnet posts. My username and passwords had been changed numerous times since moving out, but somehow he still knew it was me. The same day, I also noticed suspicious activity on my email, spontaneously logging me out like before. He admitted to having read my Mumsnet posts but not to how he had managed to do it.

I took some advice from various online software forums, and downloaded Spyshelter software and a KL (Keylogger detector) software. The keylogger detector immediately flagged up suspicious activity, but I'm not tech-savvy enough to understand it all. Everytime I start the computer, it tells me that:

1. A program is trying to turn on my webcam
2. A program is trying to record sound
3. A program is trying to record my keyboard actions.

Although I've changed all my passwords and deny any actions that the antispyware program red flags, I still can't be sure my computer is clean.

I'm worried my husband may be seeing, hearing, and recording what I do or say online and I'm concerned about what his purpose in doing so would be. If he is doing it, is it illegal? How can I prove it? What would be my next course of action?

Where are you posting from now? Is he reading this???

I would assume that he is seeing/getting record of everything you do from that computer.

1. Take your computer to be rebuilt if you cannot do this yourself. Back up all documents onto an external hard drive and then have the computer entirely rebuilt from scratch
2. Drastic action but I would close all previous email accounts and open new ones. However if you do not want to do this I would not access any of your mail accounts from the above computer until it has been rebuilt. Using a different/public computer, check each of your email accounts for mail forwarding (ie where he has set up an automatic forward of all emails to his own email account) and them change the password on each mail account

Again, until the computer has been entirely wiped and rebuilt I would assume he will be able to see everything you type on it, including emails, passwords, web searches etc.

It could very well constitute harassment. It could also be a criminal offence under RIPA (what Rebecca Brooks et al are currently charged with) as it is an offence for anybody who is not government intelligence to intercept phone or email communication and this applies to keyboard tapping too.

If he is doing it in order to prove that you have more assets than you actually have then there is a torturous case which introduced rules known as the Hildebrand rules, which may or may not have been overturned by a case called Tcheguiz v Imerman, and means that it may or may not be reasonable to secretly copy (including electronically) documents where you think that your ex is hiding relevant information. If he tries the secret copying and finds nothing, he will end up liable for your legal costs as secret copying is a tort. (massive oversimplification of law alert)

If he has no motive beyond spying on you then he needs a) some help and b) a police report for harassment / RIPA breach.

Hello if you're reading this, Mr Ex-Newsecretidentity!

Sorry to hear about your situation but just wanted to say that wiping your computer immediately might not be the best idea if you want to prove anything. Though in the long run, it's the only real way to know you've got rid of anything. I'd get proper technical/legal advice and use a different computer if you can for now. Any chance of borrowing one?

Change all your passwords on another machine and don't enter them again on the one you're using. Back up all your documents etc too.

Hope you get this sorted!

I haven't wiped the computer yet, as I didn't want to remove any evidence. At present, I assume he can see anything I type on it. So instead I accessed my accounts from a work machine to change passwords and then only use them from other machines.

I don't have any assets for him to find-- I assume he's just being nosy.

I personally would report this to police with your suspicions (it's definitely stalking, might be harassment, could be some type of cyber crime... depends what they can make stick). There may be a way for someone to find where the information is being sent (ip address/email address for example) and maybe even set up some sort of trap for him.

I would stop using that machine all together and use a different one. I would unplug the machine (and the webcam) and contact the police to deal with it.

It's a tad creepy isn't it!

If he has spyware installed on your computer then changing your passwords won't do anything, he doesn't need them as you'll have logged in for him! The programme he's installed needs to be removed, I'd take it to a computer store after you've removed anything you need from it.

Yeah, I assume I'm going to have to get a different computer, but it will take quite a while to save up. I'm keen to preserve any evidence of the hacking because I'm worried about what he intended to use the information for.

Yeah I would be too... What emails was he forwarding to himself? You said ones that you sent.

My concern is that he could try and send himself emails from your email account pretending to be you sending them. Like pretending you'd promised him things. Or pretending you were being rude/uncooperative.

Or maybe he was sending himself proof that you'd sent certain emails to people (but he could change the words in what you'd sent so it looked like you'd said something you didn't).

As I said before, I think you need to report this asap. He is stalking you and he's committed a crime by putting spy software on your computer. If you can somehow get proof, he could get into a LOT of trouble.

It could also be a criminal offence under RIPA

I think that RIPA only applies to organisations, not individuals although not 100% sure.