got hotmail hacked...anyone help me?

by Aussie Oz 26 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  smiddy

  Aussie Oz /Transhuman68

  I`m still laughfin

  smiddy
• 

  jookbeard

  exactly the same happened to my hotmail account after 12 years with the same user name and password, sent spam to all of my contacts, then hotmail make it virtually impossible to reactivate the account so I gave up.
• 

  Scully

  You may have opened an email from one of your contacts that led to a link or had a file to open, without any other message, which contained a trojan horse type virus.

  The virus would then send a similar email to all your contacts.

  A long time ago, I read a suggestion (I can't recall where) to protect your friends from being inadvertently virus-spammed by you: you add a fake email contact at the beginning of your contact list (alphabetically speaking), so I created a fake email address with lots of aaaaa's in the name part and a fake domain (test it to make sure it's fake). Apparently the virus will launch a test on that first email address and when it bounces back, the virus shuts itself off and does not proceed to your other contacts.

  As another precaution, I'm always suspicious of receiving email

  • from people I don't hear from very often
  • from people I don't know
  • when they contain attachments or links without any other text in the message - I never open / follow these
  • if the subject line is blank
  • if the message/subject line is out of character for the sender
• 

  GromitSK

  It may not have been hacked. Some phishing scams seem to use Email addresses stolen from someone else's account then disguise where they are sent from, so I looks like it has been sent from you but actually it could have originated from anyone else who has your email address or shares some of your own email addresses. if you have a decent firewall and antivirus and keep up with the MS updates you can't really do much more, other than change your hotmail account or change to Mac as they do seem to have fewer vulnerabilities.
• 

  NomadSoul

  Gromit is right, it might be just a phishing attack. If it was just simple, then just changing your password and secret question and answer should do it. (That's if you're using the web version and not the POP version).

  If you're not comfortable with the results of the malware scans, the last resort is to backup files that you want to keep and do a factory restore if your computer came with that. It's a hassle but it will give you peace of mind.
• 

  Honesty

  You need TREND MICRO TITANIUM MAXIMUM SECURITY 2012
• 

  JAFO

  A long time ago, I read a suggestion (I can't recall where) to protect your friends from being inadvertently virus-spammed by you: you add a fake email contact at the beginning of your contact list (alphabetically speaking), so I created a fake email address with lots of aaaaa's in the name part and a fake domain (test it to make sure it's fake). Apparently the virus will launch a test on that first email address and when it bounces back, the virus shuts itself off and does not proceed to your other contacts.

  A long time ago, this used to work.. but it depended on a weakness/flaw within Micro$oft Outlook Express, whereby it would abort on sending to a non-existent email address. Virus writers caught onto this trick very quickly, and created their own email-engine routine within the virus itself (it's very easy), so as to avoid depending on Outlook Express to do the job for them.

  Result: modern viruses do not abort if email errors are encountered.. they will send to everyone in your contacts list regardless.

  Instead of such simple stunts, you are far better off relying on a good anti-virus such as Avast! or AVG (personally I prefer Avast!) and making sure it updates at least every day. You should also install a good anti-spyware program such as Malwarebytes Anti Malware. The free version needs to be manually updated and run at least once a week. If you buy it (a lifetime subscription, so it's good value), it provides real-time protection, the same as anti-virus software. It is safe to run an anti-virus and an anti-malware together, but you should not use two anti-virus or two anti-malware programs together, as there can be conflicts between them.

  @ Gromit: no, it wasn't just a phishing attack.. somebody had gained access to his accounts and had messed with his passwords.

  @ Honesty: I've never seen a paid-for anti-virus at the top of the scoresheet of independent AV tests.. the best of the free ones (see my recommendations above) consistently out-perform the commercial offerings.

  Oh yeah.. for those wondering, I helped Aussie check that his machine was truly cleaned of all traces of virus/trojans (using some much more powerful tools than AV & AS, but which are too dangerous for use by the non tech-savvy), then helped him get into his locked Hotmail accounts. We next transferred all of his contacts and important emails to his new gmail account. After which I helped him send a warning & address update notification to all his contacts. Right now he's busy updating every website etc where he has a membership, with his new email addy..