I have had each of my email accts & Facebook attacked this past month
This is getting OLD

Received this wk from cnet

From cnet news:
dated September 28, 2010 5:55 PM PDT

Fake LinkedIn e-mails lead to Zeus Trojan

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20017971-83.html?tag=nl.e757#ixzz113bZyhpp

Thanks for the heads up katbear, seems as if there is always some threat or other on FB.

katbear,

What you have to do right now is change your passwords. That's the key to protecting yourself in this situation. Phishing links are showing up in emails to the Yahoo lists I moderate so I'm very aware of the problem. This page on Passwords has some really useful links down at the bottom on how to create a good password and ways to test yours to see how strong they are.

Gil.

"we simply continue to fly on a broomstick...."

katbear, that is absolutely precious!!!! I love, love, love it.

For the last 45 years or so, each of my cars or vans has had a large bright red & black bumper sticker that says-

"MY OTHER CAR IS A BROOM"

Hi Traveler, do you mean all passwords or only the password to your computer??

Thanks in anticipation.

Every password that was ever stored on your computer, and every password that was ever used on your computer while you had the Trojan. If you're not sure when you got the Trojan, assume the worst, and that it's collected every password you ever typed into the computer and sent it out to the hacker.

The Facebook hack is everywhere right now. I've had to help 2 people in just the last few weeks with it. Facebook has a separate place to report this hack, it's happening so much. They steal your email address and your passwords, then use your email to sent out pleas for money and links with embedded Trojans and Viruses and other nefarious things. I told my sister-in-law to get rid of her Hotmail account and open up a new one. Then I told her to do exactly what Jenny says. Change every password you've ever used on the computer. But make sure if a Trojan was installed that your get rid of that first. In both of the cases I recently dealt with, it was just a hack of the Facebook accounts and Hotmail accounts, not the computers themselves, but I would assume the worst.

Someone told me that the Facebook games can open you up to these hacks, but I don't know if that's true. I know I don't touch them with a ten-foot pole.

And never, never, never click on a link in an email just out of curiosity. If you know the person who appears to have sent it, ask them if they sent it first.

If the link is sitting there all by itself without a message and the subject line is blank, delete the email right away.

You'll do yourself a favor, too, if you enable the email scan in your antivirus program.

Draclvr, talking about ten-foot poles, I wouldn't touch Yahoo's email or Hotmail. As for Facebook or Twitter or any of those social networking sites, IMO, they are trouble waiting to happen.

Gil.

I couldn't agree more, traveler.

Hi, traveler!

My SIL's email account was hacked last week, and the only reason I knew it wasn't from her is because it was an account she hasn't used in over a year, and I thought it had been cancelled. It is now ! I called to let her know because included in the email was a link to what I assume was a porn site, and I wanted to give her a heads up because the email was sent to everyone in her Address Book.

These bozos who have nothing better to do with their time are definitely not playing with a full deck because they have no idea who falls for whatever it is they're trying to accomplish and who doesn't. What's the point?

Susan

Hey, Susan,

Now tell your SIL to change all her passwords! And send her the link I included in a previous post so she can use the links at the bottom of that page to find out how to make her passwords as near un-hackable as possible.

As for why they do it? I dunno. Maybe they just feel superior because they can do it and they're showing off to other jerks like them who don't care how much harm they cause.

Gil.

They can get money from it. When they have all the contact information in a person's address book, they can sell the information. They also collect credit card numbers and can sell those too.

Once agaiin, I recommend Mailwasher obtainable at mailwasher.net and it's FREE. I quote from the Mailwasher page:

"Introducing MailWasher, the leader in spam filter software, and the easiest way to check and manage your e-mails before you download them.

MailWasher is free to use and won't ever expire. It works with Outlook, Outlook Express, Incredimail, Thunderbird, Windows Mail, GMail, Hotmail and every other email program.

Use this powerful spam blocker software to effectively stop email spam. Discover the safe way to stop unwanted e-mails before they get to your computer.:

We used this program for years and can't recommend it highly enough.

I also recommend Mailwasher to people who don't have a good spam filter. Unfortunately, it wouldn't have helped katbear when her Facebook account got hacked and the hacker hijacked her email account.

Hi, Gil!

I'm sure my SIL changed all of her passwords, but I'll remind her just in case (just for my own info, how would someone who hacked an old inactive email account obtain her other passwords?). She did cancel the email account that was hacked and prepared for the onslaught of phone calls from people who received the spam. Many people in her address book are senior relatives who wouldn't understand what "hacking" is and would believe the email was from her.

Susan

Hi, Jenny!

That's why I set up a separate free email account for purchases I make online. If the site is hacked and I start to receive an unusual amount of spam, I can simply cancel the account and open another one. I've had my main email account for almost 20 years, so I don't want anyone messing with that.

Susan

We're talking about different things in this thread. Hacking old email accounts that aren't used anymore is not the same as having Facebook accounts hacked.

With an email account, you are probably limited to having your email and those of everyone in your address book compromised, and your email and theirs can be used for spam -- both to send you spam and to send spam to your friends with your email address as the source of the email. Also any email messages in the hacked account can be scanned for personal information if the server they are stored on is compromised. And if you use an email client and store messages on your computer, then those messages can be scanned if your computer is hacked.

If an email account is old and not used any more, no old messages are being held on an email server, there is nothing in the address book, and no messages are being saved on the computer, then there's not much that a hacker can do with that old email account other than use it as the source email for spam.

Hi, Jenny!

Thanks for the clarification. My SIL's email account that was hacked is one she hadn't used in over a year, but it hadn't been cancelled so her address book was probably still intact. I receive lots of emails from her so, when I saw the sender's name, I assumed it was from her and opened it, but the link looked rather suspicious so I checked the sender information and realized it was from her old account. She has since cancelled it, but she's worried that some of her elder relatives might think she's lost her mind !

Susan

To get rid of this stuff fast download and install Malwarebytes (it's free), run the program update then do a complete scan. When the scan is finished click on show results and remove anything it found. This is the best app for getting rid of trojans and other spyware.
I run a scan every week. Don't choose the other I've had nothing but problems with it, never installed.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Regards,

Barry

I've had a different threat and its happened 3 times now. A man with a strong accent rings, gives a very english sounding name that does not go with the accent, which raised alarm bells with me, he says he is from microsoft and my comuper is about to crash unless I switch in on and follow his instuctions.When asked for a phone number to ring him back he rings off.I knew it must be frudulent because all dealings with microsoft are in my partners name. Please warn any one you know who might be taken in by this

Hi, Barry!

Thanks for the link! I downloaded and installed the free version and then ran the scan, and both of my drives are clean.

Susan

Hi, old lady!

It's nice to know that we North Americans aren't the only ones plagued with scammers ! The first clue for anyone should be the fact that I have never known Microsoft to call any of its customers. Any updates to your operating system, browser or other hardware are done through "Windows Update", and you have the option of rejecting any updates you don't want.

I am able to block 20 phone numbers both through my telephone company and 40 phone numbers through a function on my Panasonic telephone. I also have Caller ID and never answer calls if I don't recognize the number. Of course, they never leave a message, so I google the number and, if it's a scam, I block the number so they can't get through again.

Susan

Unfortunately, scammers are everywhere in various forms. Even my university calls me whenever there is an event that frankly i couldn't care less about but since they have my phone number on a list they just decide to use it. I have set up my e-mail as exclusive so that unless the sender is on my safe list the e-mail is going to junk. I have had this e-mail for quite some time now and everyone knows me by this address so as you understand i am reluctant to change it.

I recently changed my password to a long and complicated one to prevent it from being hacked but that doesn't stop spammers unfortunately. The safest way is to change your password often and maintain a high level of complexity about it so that it's harder to find it.

Recently some of my contacts started "sending me" e-mails which i know don't come from them and i immediately delete them and notify them.

Unfortunately no-one respects privacy anymore in the 21st century and this situation will likely worsen rather than improve.

Spyros

I got hacked either by my space or someone else that is why I am using my xp home, my vista is at my tech's and it is a mess. I cannot play anything. They have opened or whatever you call it my firewall, also my anti virus they turned off. their are lots of virus's on it and two trojans (spelling?)so I turned it quicky off and took it to my tech today. I will never go on my space again, had not been on in several years............

maggie

Maggie, it's always better to have a system restore point or do what i do which is more effective, use an image utility like Acronis to make an image of your hard drive once you install windows. I can't remember the last time i actually had to re-install or install windows since my failed attempt at 7. It takes about 10 minutes to switch back to a fresh windows installation without having to actually go through the installation process. It will restore your hard drive to the point where you created the image file. No viruses to worry about, no spyware.

Spyros