- Thread starter
- #21
A
AlexB
This is my interpretation.
The original documents are in an archive. They could have stayed there for
another three hundred years. However, lo and behold the family with ancient
roots got this obsessive-compulsive and nosy youngster who decided that he
(or perhaps she) should dedicate her life to uncovering everything about the
family history. She (or perhaps he) wrote to the Library of Congress in
Washington DC and asked for some information. They have rows and rows of
boxes nobody ever touched. They said: we don't have stuff.
The youngster went to college and became a licensed historian and got a
permission to peruse some portions of the archive. It took her (or him)
another two years to burrow thru the materials. She found all family related
letters. The Library copied the letters for a fee. She paid quite a bit for
them all plus her time, the whole affair must have cost a bundle.
When she began to read the letters carefully it turned out that some other
figures were mentioned as if they came out alive: George Washington, Adams,
Jefferson and a host of others. Naturally it is a gold mine. She stored all
her files on her HDD and began waiting for a time when she can take a break
from her tedious and hateful job at an office of a computer parts
distributor to start writing a book.
At this curtail moment her machine broke down. The rest is "history."
"RalfG" <itsnotme@ladeda.deda> wrote in message
news:8B68F019-597F-44CC-BCB5-FBAC0B4BF11C@microsoft.com...
> You don't state how your friend acquired these letters in the first place
> or if he has originals or just the .doc file. It is possible that both
> copies of the letters are fakes, sold to assorted people as allegedly
> genuine heirlooms. Genealogy scams are common enough. It is also possible
> that the documents are real but your friend wasn't the only one to
> legitimately receive copies of them. The second party could be a distant
> relative for instance. That's also not unheard of.
>
> "ColTom2" <noemailaddress@nomail.com> wrote in message
> news:%235p%23MIUZIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Hi:
>>
>> Someone else has passed on to me that for really sensitive records
>> i.e.online banking records etc the best way to protect is by storing them
>> on
>> a "Jump or Flash Drive". This way you use it and remove it when you are
>> through.
>>
>> However, in this case, as I originally mentioned these were not really
>> sensitive records per se, but records of a personal nature. Therefore
>> it's
>> hard for me to believe they were accessed from the internet, but from
>> possibly a local source (repair shop).
>>
>> As someone has stated sourcing from the internet appears mainly to be
>> targeted towards passwords, user names. etc to access financial data. Doc
>> files of 1800's letters seems out of context for internet sourcing, but
>> then
>> I certainly could be all wrong.
>>
>> I am just trying to determine at this point what would be the most
>> logical
>> source of this compromise and any other pertinent info in this regards.
>>
>> Thanks for all the "constructive" comments....
>>
>>
>> "ColTom2" <noemailaddress@nomail.com> wrote in message
>> news:e8x5XUSZIHA.5896@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi:
>>
>> I have a friend who had some old letters of one of his kin in a .doc
>> file
>> in his My Documents folder in his computer. The letters were enough to
>> have
>> formed a book about the 1800's written by this kin.
>>
>> He Googled the letters info and found some data applicable these letters
>> which he has never shared with anyone. Also the .doc file string is
>> exactly
>> as that in his computer. In fact, he has found a copy of these letters
>> for
>> sale on the internet and the seller appears to be from the same area of
>> the
>> state where he lives if not the same city. His name is referenced in as
>> the
>> author of these letters.
>>
>> So my question is how did someone acquire this data from his computer,
>> as
>> apparently his computer has been compromised. It would appear to me that
>> it
>> had to happen in one or two scenario's. First someone somehow accessed
>> his
>> computer through the internet or second when he had taken his computer to
>> a
>> shop for repair. Since it appears that the seller is from the same area
>> of
>> state as he is, then my first inclination would be that this info was
>> taken
>> from his computer during a repair. I just really have don't have the
>> expertise in this area to try and make a good determination.
>>
>> If anyone has any comments, suggestions, and/or recommendations as to
>> how
>> all this could have happened I would be most appreciative to read them.
>>
>> I apologize if I have posted this in the wrong newsgroups.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
The original documents are in an archive. They could have stayed there for
another three hundred years. However, lo and behold the family with ancient
roots got this obsessive-compulsive and nosy youngster who decided that he
(or perhaps she) should dedicate her life to uncovering everything about the
family history. She (or perhaps he) wrote to the Library of Congress in
Washington DC and asked for some information. They have rows and rows of
boxes nobody ever touched. They said: we don't have stuff.
The youngster went to college and became a licensed historian and got a
permission to peruse some portions of the archive. It took her (or him)
another two years to burrow thru the materials. She found all family related
letters. The Library copied the letters for a fee. She paid quite a bit for
them all plus her time, the whole affair must have cost a bundle.
When she began to read the letters carefully it turned out that some other
figures were mentioned as if they came out alive: George Washington, Adams,
Jefferson and a host of others. Naturally it is a gold mine. She stored all
her files on her HDD and began waiting for a time when she can take a break
from her tedious and hateful job at an office of a computer parts
distributor to start writing a book.
At this curtail moment her machine broke down. The rest is "history."
"RalfG" <itsnotme@ladeda.deda> wrote in message
news:8B68F019-597F-44CC-BCB5-FBAC0B4BF11C@microsoft.com...
> You don't state how your friend acquired these letters in the first place
> or if he has originals or just the .doc file. It is possible that both
> copies of the letters are fakes, sold to assorted people as allegedly
> genuine heirlooms. Genealogy scams are common enough. It is also possible
> that the documents are real but your friend wasn't the only one to
> legitimately receive copies of them. The second party could be a distant
> relative for instance. That's also not unheard of.
>
> "ColTom2" <noemailaddress@nomail.com> wrote in message
> news:%235p%23MIUZIHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Hi:
>>
>> Someone else has passed on to me that for really sensitive records
>> i.e.online banking records etc the best way to protect is by storing them
>> on
>> a "Jump or Flash Drive". This way you use it and remove it when you are
>> through.
>>
>> However, in this case, as I originally mentioned these were not really
>> sensitive records per se, but records of a personal nature. Therefore
>> it's
>> hard for me to believe they were accessed from the internet, but from
>> possibly a local source (repair shop).
>>
>> As someone has stated sourcing from the internet appears mainly to be
>> targeted towards passwords, user names. etc to access financial data. Doc
>> files of 1800's letters seems out of context for internet sourcing, but
>> then
>> I certainly could be all wrong.
>>
>> I am just trying to determine at this point what would be the most
>> logical
>> source of this compromise and any other pertinent info in this regards.
>>
>> Thanks for all the "constructive" comments....
>>
>>
>> "ColTom2" <noemailaddress@nomail.com> wrote in message
>> news:e8x5XUSZIHA.5896@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi:
>>
>> I have a friend who had some old letters of one of his kin in a .doc
>> file
>> in his My Documents folder in his computer. The letters were enough to
>> have
>> formed a book about the 1800's written by this kin.
>>
>> He Googled the letters info and found some data applicable these letters
>> which he has never shared with anyone. Also the .doc file string is
>> exactly
>> as that in his computer. In fact, he has found a copy of these letters
>> for
>> sale on the internet and the seller appears to be from the same area of
>> the
>> state where he lives if not the same city. His name is referenced in as
>> the
>> author of these letters.
>>
>> So my question is how did someone acquire this data from his computer,
>> as
>> apparently his computer has been compromised. It would appear to me that
>> it
>> had to happen in one or two scenario's. First someone somehow accessed
>> his
>> computer through the internet or second when he had taken his computer to
>> a
>> shop for repair. Since it appears that the seller is from the same area
>> of
>> state as he is, then my first inclination would be that this info was
>> taken
>> from his computer during a repair. I just really have don't have the
>> expertise in this area to try and make a good determination.
>>
>> If anyone has any comments, suggestions, and/or recommendations as to
>> how
>> all this could have happened I would be most appreciative to read them.
>>
>> I apologize if I have posted this in the wrong newsgroups.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
