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Thread: hotmail

  1. #1
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    Exclamation hotmail


    I have reason to believe my hotmail account is being tampered with. I have e-mail messages I've never read marked as opened and my contact list as well as the options on my account appear to have been altered. I guarantee no one is using my secret question to gain access and I'm the only person who knows my password. So I want a second opinion, is someone hacking into my account, how?, and how do I stop it?.

  2. #2
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    ..is someone hacking into my account, how?, and how do I stop it?.
    Possibly. They may have picked up your password over the net or gotten access to cookies that might be storing that information (although, IIRC, hotmail stopped that practise). Where do you access hotmail from? Home? work? school? It's possible that someone is "sniffing" the password if you access hotmail in a public place. Do you use wireless?

    And to stop it we'd need to figure out how it's happening. One step might be to alter/file a complaint with hotmail itself and alert them to the problem.

    Generally, I use hotmail for my "spam" account. Basically, nothing that is important to me is sent there. I have a seperate private email for those I trust (and some I don't trust.. )
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
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  3. #3
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    First, change your password.
    Now that thats out of the way, run an (updated) virus scan, if you dont have one, heres a free one: Free Virus Scan
    If that comes up clean, run a spyware / malware checker. If you do not have one, download a free one here (dont forget to update it before scanning!): Ad-aware
    If that comes up clean, you should be fine now that you've changed your password. Make sure to use an alpha-numeric combination!!!
    Ron Paul: Hope for America
    http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

  4. #4
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    First, change your password.
    Why would you change the password before doing AV scans and such to determine the root cause of the problem of someone getting unauthorized access? If you don't know what the cause is, then changing the password may be futile because something like a keylogger or packet sniffer would pick up the change and you are no better off.

    Eliminating the threat would be first priority, IMHO, and determining the source and extent of the threat before putting in fixes/safeguards.
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
    Extra! Extra! Get your FREE copy of Insight Newsletter||MsMittens' HomePage

  5. #5
    A second opinion aside from the keyloggers/hackers.
    Do you often use a "public computer" to open your email account? Stealing passwords is a common problem in these type of cases wherein people often forget to "sign out" completely. Other users of that computer will try sniffing out for your cookies.

  6. #6
    Junior Member
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    I'm sorry I'll stop reading your e-mail. It was just so much fun.


    I didn't have anything really useful to add. I support the information you have been given above.
    Tim Potts
    Network Analyst

  7. #7
    I never liked hotmail. They got this bunch of spam messages. I dont know where do they get my email.

  8. #8
    HeadShot Master N1nja Cybr1d's Avatar
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    Why is wedjar getting negged? Asside from the given advices, I got a couple of thoughts. Maybe you left your "session" active as mentioned above, or, when a public comp you might have used has asked you wether or not u want it to remember the password, you clicked yes by accident. I'd start off by cleaning up my PC. Use AV, ad-aware, spybot S&D, and thecleaner. Use all 4 of those programs and make sure they're up-to-date.

    www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ - for adaware

    http://security.kolla.de/ for spybot s&d

    www.moosoft.com/updates.php for TheCleaner.


    Let us know how it goes. maybe we could help you further.

  9. #9
    HeadShot Master N1nja Cybr1d's Avatar
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    Amp girl, The reason why have been getting so much spam is because you mights have signed up for something online, such as a sweepstake or something. They share your email with many other services and they all start sending you emails. Also posting your email in forums, could be picked up by e-mail bots which are all over the net. I'm not sure if any are swimming around AO, but the best thing to do is not post your email in a public forum. If u must, you could PM it to the other user.

    cheers,

  10. #10
    Senior Member
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    i dont use hot mail but doesn't it delete read messages unless they are marked as unread?

    Amp girl
    people that send you funny or touching stories in these fwd;fwd;fwd;fwd messages are getting your address placed on spammers lists without them even knowing it. thats the reason for them being started in the first place. email addresses are collected with viruses and sold to spammers. a type of brute force is also used where email is sent to every possible name that they can generate. those that are not returned are added to their list. theres big money to be made in harvesting addresses the list of ways they get you goes on and on. personally i think spammers should be hung in public places
    Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”

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