Email Malware :(

[Mytical]

Ok so I do not use my email a lot, so if you are getting email from me..do not open it unless I send you a PM with the subject of the email. My personal email was somehow hacked (not sure how since I don't use email, so couldn't have opened an infected email..and the password even the person closest to me couldn't figure out in a million years) so .. if you get an email from me..do not open it until I can find the malware (malwarebytes showed nothing) and cleanse it.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Was it Yahoo? Cuz they were hacked a little while ago; my Yahoo address ended up being used by spammers and all Yahoo suggested was changing my password. I did better than that; I deleted it and opened a google email instead.

[Mytical]

Yeah. I will probably have to find a better email address. Just hate giving up my spam email...have had it for years..and it is the one I always give to anything I sign up for that requires an email addy. That way if they blast me with spam..doesn't matter *laughs*

[Zapper]

Spybot's another good one to use, even requiring permission from the user to allow changes. That an stop some of those auto-loaders before they have a chance to start installing themselves.

This has happened to me once or twice. Changing to a more complicated password usually stops it immediately.

[ArcticChicken]

You can always make yourself a new spam account. I have three email accounts, a spam account, a 'professional' account (for job applications and the like), and a personal account.

[Barracuda]

Try changing your password. I had my email account hijacked and used to send spam and junk and I changed my password and that stopped it. If they hacked your password, changing it will make them have to do it all over again. Some won't bother. And you can run an antivirus cleanup before you change it to get rid of any tracking software that might allow them to get your new password.

[Mytical]

*nods* Already done. Nothing was found by malwarebytes..so thinking it is all clear now.

[Zapper]

This is the kind of thing that disappears after changing the password. I wouldn't worry too much.

[Barracuda]

Keep an eye on it for a few days, especially your "Sent" folder. If nothing crops up, you're probably home free.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I changed my password with my old Yahoo account; did jack shit so I just deleted the account. I do have another Yahoo so that I can comment on articles etc, but my new secondary account is the google.

[PepperElf]

fyi ... i don't know about yahoo, but i do know some web-based emails now allow you to set up extra security.

for example, my job-hunting email was accessed from poland twice. Each time I changed my password, but then I set up the extra security. (gmail). Now, once a month - or when I log in from another IP address - the gmail system calls me up and gives me a code.

Ever since then I haven't had any logins from odd areas etc.

[Andara Bledin]

One thing to be aware of is that in some cases, the more spammy of the freemail options (mostly Hotmail and Yahoo) the security breach is actually internal to them, which is why changing passwords doesn't do any good.

I switched over to Gmail ages and ages ago and have never looked back.

^-.-^

[Mytical]

Well according to my access history I've checked my email from Brazil and New York (the New York one was recent). So..changing the password seems to have not helped. Guess that email will just have to not be used any more, and probably deleted. Since I know I have been to neither Brazil or New York.

[Andara Bledin]

If the new password isn't strong and the hijackers have access inside the host site (Yahoo, in this case), then the new password wouldn't last. If, however, you changed it to something of at least 12 characters with both capital and lower case letters and at least one number or special character, then the vulnerability is within your system.

Another option for checking your own system for things that shouldn't be there would be to download and run a log with Hijack This.

However, it's important that you not fix anything without being absolutely certain you know what you're doing, as the program is insanely powerful and can easily be used to strip out vital operating system components, leaving you with the fun of having to re-install everything.

There are a variety of forums out there that cater to people who use Hijack This and can help to determine of a certainty that you do or don't have a keylogger or other nastiness hiding deep in your system, and will assist with the methods required to excise anything found, up to and including nuking it from orbit and starting over.

And if you do find a keylogger or other rootkit, you will want to change your passwords to everything you've ever visited once you have it cleaned out, or do so from another system that you know to be clean.

^-.-^