Hacked email a/c - any advice?

[horses4courses]

When I opened my email this morning, I noticed a bunch of failed delivery notices in my inbox.
They pertained to addresses that I hadn't used in years, and I wondered what the hell was going on.
Then it dawned on me - my email a/c had been hijacked.

Looks like whoever has compromised it is sending out phishing, or spam email via my a/c to all my contacts.
I'm sure they contain all kinds of spyware and nasty stuff. I'm dreading hearing from someone who actually might have opened a link.

Today, I've been taking some steps to curtail the damage. Changing my password was the first step, but I doubt that is enough. I exported all my contact info to a new a/c at gmail in the event that I have to close my existing email a/c. I can empty out saved email and files quickly if I need to.

My question is for those who know about this process, and/or have been through it. Any tips for making this less painful?

[JustRalph]

Jump into your 'sent' folder and see what it's sending out.

It's normally a virus. Get busy with a reputable anti virus

You dont say what email app you are using, so cant tell you much more? Is it pop mail, web mail ? What kind of account?




Version of windows would help too

[johnhannibalsmith]

On the less technical side, you may want to send an email to those in your contacts warning them of what has happened in the event that they have not yet opened the sinister email.

[horses4courses]

Jump into your 'sent' folder and see what it's sending out.

It's normally a virus. Get busy with a reputable anti virus

You dont say what email app you are using, so cant tell you much more? Is it pop mail, web mail ? What kind of account?




Version of windows would help too

Spam plugs for "work at home" schemes. Not sure what else.
My email a/c is with at&t, but I access it via yahoo.
We run Windows 7. I'll do a run through with malwarebytes tonight.
Thanks for your help.

[HUSKER55]

just a couple of thoughts and I am not a guru. change your wireless connection password. Someone could be parked out in front of your house and could raise cain with you and your identity. Make sure it is a bitch to get right.

Second, neighbor girl says that if you buy a password manager it will scramble addresses and make it really tough to hijack because it encrypts everything so only the program knows who goes where.

Don't know if that will help but security is security and you can't be too careful.

Good luck!

[PaceAdvantage]

My hotmail account got hacked a few months ago...sent out emails to everyone in my contact list...

These emails appeared in my SENT box...the way I found out was that someone emailed me and told me...

Then I started freaking, thinking my PC was somehow compromised...I thought something strange was up because when I logged into hotmail earlier in the day, it was ACTING WEIRD...was taking me to some error screen I hadn't seen before...

Then I couldn't change my password until I contacted hotmail after jumping through hoops to find out exactly how to contact them.

After I changed my password, no more unauthorized emails were sent out.

I would have saved myself a lot of stress if I had looked at the MESSAGE SOURCE of one of the SENT emails...when I did that, I saw the sending IP address was from somewhere in Croatia or Serbia...can't remember which.

When I saw that, I knew my PC wasn't compromised (anti-virus checks were turning up NOTHING)...somehow, these guys got my password, or were able to get into my account some other way.

My password was VERY secure...half of it wasn't even in English, and the other half was a word I had made up...

But I see a LOT of people's email getting hacked lately in this manner, which makes me think these scumbags are getting help from the inside (Microsoft employees), OR places like hotmail aren't very secure on the Microsoft side of things...

[wilderness]

I've seen numerous folks that have had their AOL and FaceBook address books hacked.
Guess it's possible with any online service.

Most users NEGLECT to log off when leaving a web page and simply close the browser, which is a bad practice and in some instances leaves the account open for hacking.

Yahoo Groups logs you off when you close the browser. I've never had Yahoo email.
I always log off gmail, why take a chance.

[JustRalph]

On the less technical side, you may want to send an email to those in your contacts warning them of what has happened in the event that they have not yet opened the sinister email.

not until you fix it. you may be contaminating them with any email.

[johnhannibalsmith]

not until you fix it. you may be contaminating them with any email.

I should have made a point to clarify that. :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:


I was assuming that he was using another account already that was considered "clean".

[Uncle Salty]

This happened to me as well. Had to change the password and adjust some settings...haven't had much of problem since then.

I've since started using a program called 1Password which you can use to create and store all of your password and sensitive information and it will automatically fill them in when you go to log in to your different sites. It makes it pretty safe from keyloggers that way so you don't have to worry as much about people getting into your email and stuff...

[horses4courses]

It's been over 18 hours since the last spam attack.
Maybe the password change has cured the problem. I'll know over time.

Computer scoped clean on a malware scan, and I'm near certain that our wi-fi broadband password is intact.
So, fingers crossed....

Thanks to all of you for your help.
I will update here if the problem returns, otherwise all is good.