Advice Req'd Email hacked?
Discussion
A female friend of mine sent me a text, warning me that she thought her email could be the victim of hacking. She believes the hacker is another one of her male friends who in all honesty is a bit of a stalker. He offered to hack someone’s (ex-husband) email for her before (she declined) and has done some other “tracking” of computer usage, so is not adverse to this behaviour and seems to have knowledge of subjects from private emails between me and her, and her and her other friends. Since that we put together a few emails as testers, to see if he was viewing but no feedback as yet.
Since this conversation I’ve noticed my email behaving strangely. When I open my BT Home page there is a box with a little mail icon. When I have new mail this icon usually comes up with “2 new” or something similar. This is removed when the inbox page is opened and viewed. Recently when I’ve opened my Home page there has been nothing displayed regarding new messages but when I check my inbox I’ve found there have been several new messages. Does this mean someone is viewing my inbox page? Nothing gets opened but it seems weird my Home page is ignoring new mail. My computer is running a little slower than usual and seems to be having trouble with internet explorer. I am currently using Mcafee virus protection. Also when I’m in my inbox the icon keeps rotating like it’s updating instead of remaining as an arrow.
For the computer people out there, is there cause for concern in what I’ve wrote? Is there a way of checking when email inbox’s are accessed? Are there any programs that I could check for in my computer that shouldn’t be there? Are there ways to counter it if it is being hacked?
Mods have put this in The Lounge for a wider audience/expertise but feel free to move it.
Thanks in advance.
Jim
Since this conversation I’ve noticed my email behaving strangely. When I open my BT Home page there is a box with a little mail icon. When I have new mail this icon usually comes up with “2 new” or something similar. This is removed when the inbox page is opened and viewed. Recently when I’ve opened my Home page there has been nothing displayed regarding new messages but when I check my inbox I’ve found there have been several new messages. Does this mean someone is viewing my inbox page? Nothing gets opened but it seems weird my Home page is ignoring new mail. My computer is running a little slower than usual and seems to be having trouble with internet explorer. I am currently using Mcafee virus protection. Also when I’m in my inbox the icon keeps rotating like it’s updating instead of remaining as an arrow.
For the computer people out there, is there cause for concern in what I’ve wrote? Is there a way of checking when email inbox’s are accessed? Are there any programs that I could check for in my computer that shouldn’t be there? Are there ways to counter it if it is being hacked?
Mods have put this in The Lounge for a wider audience/expertise but feel free to move it.
Thanks in advance.
Jim
Not helpful but phone her up and then tell her you're going to send an email that's made up.
Then send her, "Are we still on for playing the trick on X? He'll hate it but it'll be so funny." and she replies with "Yes, can't wait. Revenge will be mine. He'll know not to mess with me ever again."
It'll keep him guessing for months.
Then send her, "Are we still on for playing the trick on X? He'll hate it but it'll be so funny." and she replies with "Yes, can't wait. Revenge will be mine. He'll know not to mess with me ever again."
It'll keep him guessing for months.
Might be worth asking BT to see if they can give you a list of the IP addresses that have accessed your email account in the last 7 days or so? All legit ones should be in the BT subnet (ie you logging in), if there are some from say Virgin Media, or Be Unlimited or something like that, then you've got fairly reliable proof someone has been logging in from outside the BT network.
Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Frederick said:
Might be worth asking BT to see if they can give you a list of the IP addresses that have accessed your email account in the last 7 days or so? All legit ones should be in the BT subnet (ie you logging in), if there are some from say Virgin Media, or Be Unlimited or something like that, then you've got fairly reliable proof someone has been logging in from outside the BT network.
Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Normally it doesn't give you a reminder without you entering more personal data to stop things like that. I know my Yahoo doesn't do it, you have to change the password before you can log in again.Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Nickyboy said:
Frederick said:
Might be worth asking BT to see if they can give you a list of the IP addresses that have accessed your email account in the last 7 days or so? All legit ones should be in the BT subnet (ie you logging in), if there are some from say Virgin Media, or Be Unlimited or something like that, then you've got fairly reliable proof someone has been logging in from outside the BT network.
Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Normally it doesn't give you a reminder without you entering more personal data to stop things like that. I know my Yahoo doesn't do it, you have to change the password before you can log in again.Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Frederick said:
Nickyboy said:
Frederick said:
Might be worth asking BT to see if they can give you a list of the IP addresses that have accessed your email account in the last 7 days or so? All legit ones should be in the BT subnet (ie you logging in), if there are some from say Virgin Media, or Be Unlimited or something like that, then you've got fairly reliable proof someone has been logging in from outside the BT network.
Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Normally it doesn't give you a reminder without you entering more personal data to stop things like that. I know my Yahoo doesn't do it, you have to change the password before you can log in again.Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Deva Link said:
Frederick said:
Nickyboy said:
Frederick said:
Might be worth asking BT to see if they can give you a list of the IP addresses that have accessed your email account in the last 7 days or so? All legit ones should be in the BT subnet (ie you logging in), if there are some from say Virgin Media, or Be Unlimited or something like that, then you've got fairly reliable proof someone has been logging in from outside the BT network.
Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
Normally it doesn't give you a reminder without you entering more personal data to stop things like that. I know my Yahoo doesn't do it, you have to change the password before you can log in again.Of course, you could just change your password and 'secret question', and that will probably stop the illicit access in it's tracks.
Most e-mail hacks are done through lucky guessing and knowledge of the person rather than 'hacking' in an old-skool manner. Lets say you have a secret question like "My dog's name" and you have emailed your friend about your dog, it's concievable that you or her has used the dog's name. All he has to do is click the "forgotten my password" link, entered the reply to "What's my dog's name" question and there he has access to your email.
There are many ways to do this, here is what I would check in this situation
1. Check for any USB devices connected that shouldnt be - keyloggers can be disguised as a memory stick (for example)
2. Download and run a full scan with Malwarebytes
3. Change the password used to logon to the PC (if there is one) and change the email password to something obscure.
1. Check for any USB devices connected that shouldnt be - keyloggers can be disguised as a memory stick (for example)
2. Download and run a full scan with Malwarebytes
3. Change the password used to logon to the PC (if there is one) and change the email password to something obscure.
Edited by bigdods on Monday 22 March 10:00
Thanks for the advice guys. Have reset my password and email is working back how it did before. Also ran a spybot check and it found 7 problems within my pc, but pressed delete before writing them down. So can't find out where they came from. The guy suspected has no physical access to my pc, and we've never met. Will definetly keep more of an eye on things in the future.
Thanks
Jim
Thanks
Jim
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