Who would hack me like this and why?

[fedup1982]

Sorry in advance if this question is not in the right section. (I guess it counts as off topic or recovery?)

On my first full day in the psych ward, my perplexity AI account was seemingly hacked. But it was the WEIRDEST hacking I can imagine.

I would really appreciate all your opinions on wtf is going on with this "hacking" I was subject to:

Someone that wasn't me asked a number of questions on my perplexity over the course of a few hours, in a single conversation. It happened while I was in a psych ward, on my first full day. They asked questions mimicking me in ways that was deeply disturbing and personal.

Why would someone do that?? I don't know how important the "how" or "who" is but in theory: 1. my gf could have done it because she knows my laptop pin although that would be totally out of character for her. 2. Someone at the psych ward could have done it with my phone out of my reach but they'd need to know both my phone pin and the personal history. 3. Someone remote might have hacked my Google account, phone, laptop or perplexity, but they would also have had to have personal information on me from previous phone calls.

When I got back home from the psych ward, I saw the convo and knew the convo was evidence that someone had hacked me and that perplexity might have logs that could help track down the attacker, so I took a photo of it. A week later when I upgraded my perplexity, the convo vanished. Seems too convenient for the attackers?!

So wtf is going on her?? Please ask any questions, I will try to answer, but the one thing I'll want to avoid is exactly what made the convo so personal, but in short, it would have needed knowledge of very personal things between my gf and I that were only talked about at home or over our phone calls

 

[lament.]

I have no idea what perplexity ai is but type your email address into here and see if you have had any recent compromises or anything https://haveibeenpwned.com/

 

[Praestat_Mori]

Who has access to your Email?

Afaik, upon login with an email address to your perplexity account, you receive a code via email in your mailbox. Then you enter this code and you're logged in. Do you receive email notifications about new logins? A hacker must not necessarily have access to any of your devices. If they have access to your email and know your perplexity email, they can log in from anywhere.

 

[fedup1982]

Who has access to your Email?

Afaik, upon login with an email address to your perplexity account, you receive a code via email in your mailbox. Then you enter this code and you're logged in. Do you receive email notifications about new logins? A hacker must not necessarily have access to any of your devices. If they have access to your email and know your perplexity email, they can log in from anywhere.

Thanks for your response!

I logged in using Google login, not by email and password. I have not received any information about unusual logins around that time.

As soon as I saw the new convo in perplexity AI I changed my Google password and logged out of all devices, yet the convo still got deleted when I upgraded my account

I have no idea what perplexity ai is but type your email address into here and see if you have had any recent compromises or anything https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Thank you! I'll check that out

 

[claracatchingthebus]

Sorry in advance if this question is not in the right section. (I guess it counts as off topic or recovery?)

On my first full day in the psych ward, my perplexity AI account was seemingly hacked. But it was the WEIRDEST hacking I can imagine.

I would really appreciate all your opinions on wtf is going on with this "hacking" I was subject to:

Someone that wasn't me asked a number of questions on my perplexity over the course of a few hours, in a single conversation. It happened while I was in a psych ward, on my first full day. They asked questions mimicking me in ways that was deeply disturbing and personal.

Why would someone do that?? I don't know how important the "how" or "who" is but in theory: 1. my gf could have done it because she knows my laptop pin although that would be totally out of character for her. 2. Someone at the psych ward could have done it with my phone out of my reach but they'd need to know both my phone pin and the personal history. 3. Someone remote might have hacked my Google account, phone, laptop or perplexity, but they would also have had to have personal information on me from previous phone calls.

When I got back home from the psych ward, I saw the convo and knew the convo was evidence that someone had hacked me and that perplexity might have logs that could help track down the attacker, so I took a photo of it. A week later when I upgraded my perplexity, the convo vanished. Seems too convenient for the attackers?!

So wtf is going on her?? Please ask any questions, I will try to answer, but the one thing I'll want to avoid is exactly what made the convo so personal, but in short, it would have needed knowledge of very personal things between my gf and I that were only talked about at home or over our phone calls

Is it possible that there's some sort of time difference that is accounting for this? A browser using UTC for example may push the time forward in certain regions?

Some of these places have suggested questions. The suggested questions would be based on your history. It may not mean that someone who knew you hacked you, it could just be a test.

Usually if someone tries to log in with a different device, a company that sells browser data will know. Perplexity is so annoying they use cloudflare and probably use cloudflare insights javascripts. It's almost certain they know "your" browser fingerprint and would try to warn you if someone used your account with a different device. It would send you an email like "OH NOE! is it REALLY you??!?!?!?!??! We detected a new browser from City, Country with IP we.track.every.thing and we're not sure it's you. If it's you, select YES so we can sell this data. If it's not you, select No so we can sell data about how you selected No."

The most likely option is your girlfriend just wanted to know what was going on with you and used the pin. It may have been sort of like "Is s/he cheating? On drugs? Talking with an ex?" Sometimes people want to do this to just reassure themselves. It's possible she saw your suggested questions on perplexity and was trying to learn more.

It's almost certainly her and it would be hard to ask, because she'll deny it. Your laptop may contain user logs showing last login times, etc. I would try to find where those logs are and read them.

It's very likely it's your girlfriend just making sure you aren't cheating or lying to her. When you date someone and they cheat or lie, it's a huge waste of time and energy and really upsetting. Maybe someone cheated on her in the past. I would check the logs, confirmed a person logged into your laptop while you were in the mental place, then just change the pin and don't mention it to her, ever, no matter what.

if logs show no entry into your laptop at that time, then you were breached, probably by someone who bought a password from a data breach.

 

[fedup1982]

Is it possible that there's some sort of time difference that is accounting for this? A browser using UTC for example may push the time forward in certain regions?

Some of these places have suggested questions. The suggested questions would be based on your history. It may not mean that someone who knew you hacked you, it could just be a test.

Usually if someone tries to log in with a different device, a company that sells browser data will know. Perplexity is so annoying they use cloudflare and probably use cloudflare insights javascripts. It's almost certain they know "your" browser fingerprint and would try to warn you if someone used your account with a different device. It would send you an email like "OH NOE! is it REALLY you??!?!?!?!??! We detected a new browser from City, Country with IP we.track.every.thing and we're not sure it's you. If it's you, select YES so we can sell this data. If it's not you, select No so we can sell data about how you selected No."

The most likely option is your girlfriend just wanted to know what was going on with you and used the pin. It may have been sort of like "Is s/he cheating? On drugs? Talking with an ex?" Sometimes people want to do this to just reassure themselves. It's possible she saw your suggested questions on perplexity and was trying to learn more.

It's almost certainly her and it would be hard to ask, because she'll deny it. Your laptop may contain user logs showing last login times, etc. I would try to find where those logs are and read them.

It's very likely it's your girlfriend just making sure you aren't cheating or lying to her. When you date someone and they cheat or lie, it's a huge waste of time and energy and really upsetting. Maybe someone cheated on her in the past. I would check the logs, confirmed a person logged into your laptop while you were in the insane place, then just change the pin and don't mention it to her, ever, no matter what.

Thanks! Yeah sadly I came to some similar conclusions but I'm sorting of in denial. Unfortunately by the time I decided to do anything about it, laptop login details were overwritten. I left it too damned late

 

[claracatchingthebus]

Thanks! Yeah sadly I came to some similar conclusions but I'm sorting of in denial. Unfortunately by the time I decided to do anything about it, laptop login details were overwritten. I left it too damned late

Do you know what logs are? Most computers have logs somewhere. You can ask AI where your logs are for your operating system showing log in dates and times.

If you can't find it, check the password breach site listed above but also just change all passwords since you can't know who or what hacked you, just that you've been hacked.

do you use a browser that is hardened that uses utc? if you don't know what i said, the answer is no

 

[fedup1982]

Do you know what logs are? Most computers have logs somewhere. You can ask AI where your logs are for your operating system showing log in dates and times.

If you can't find it, check haveibeenpawned but also just change all passwords since you can't know who or what hacked you, just that you've been hacked.

do you use a browser that is hardened that uses utc? if you don't know what i said, the answer is no

Yes I asked AI how to find login logs for windows 11 and it took me to a GUI and there were only about 3 months worth of logs, none stretching back far enough. I assumed that was the extent of logs my computer kept but admittedly I haven't done more digging, maybe more are stored in some file, or maybe for security reasons it truncates them after a certain date?

No given what you said I don't use a UTC hardened browser since I don't know what that hardening would be or how it would be important here! I'm a programmer but not a good one.

I saw quite a lot of entries in haveibeenpwnd which is worrying, but I did change all my password and pins with a even stronger ones since all this happened

 

[claracatchingthebus]

Yes I asked AI how to find login logs for windows 11 and it took me to a GUI and there were only about 3 months worth of logs, none stretching back far enough. I assumed that was the extent of logs my computer kept but admittedly I haven't done more digging, maybe more are stored in some file, or maybe for security reasons it truncates them after a certain date?

No given what you said I don't use a UTC hardened browser since I don't know what that hardening would be or how it would be important here! I'm a programmer but not a good one.

I saw quite a lot of entries in haveibeenpwnd which is worrying, but I did change all my password and pins with a even stronger ones since all this happened

i'd move on, people get hacked, it happens, if your girlfriend is jealous it's not necessarily bad if you like her. that's probably what it was.