ebay and hotmail account hijacked - how did they do it?

fad1211

both passwords were changed and secret question changed. managed to get back into ebay, via the live help, but still cannot get into hotmail. Is my computer secure. I am not technical but how did they do it, and could they find out my new ebay password. I am careful not to open anything i dont know or download much, i am just mainly an ebay person. would my banking/paypal details be safe. could they have access to my documents / photos on my computer. please help put my mind at ease, as not sure what to do now.

a_confused_mum

I recently had my email {hotmail} hacked. Someone sent an email to all my contacts a few had bounced back and a few of my contacts replied saying spam etc. I managed to change my password and it's been ok since.

2 of my contacts have also had this done to them.

I do not know the answer to this but would like to know the answer if you get a reply

DCFC79

Do you have anti virus and a firewall and are they up to date, regarding hotmail i dont know, id also chnage any passwords for internet banking 2 be on the safe side as well as paypal

Old_Sherlock

Possible Key-logger or dictionary/brute force attack on your e-mail address.

Make sure you have a good firewall and anti virus installed , along with a decent
real time anti spyware program.

Try to use longer passwords.

aliEnRIK

I second Sherlock. Its either one or the other.

aliEnRIK

I recommend running MALWAREBYTES ~

http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.
• MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue. If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
• On the Scanner tab:
  • Make sure the "Perform FULL Scan" option is selected.
  • Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.
• Back at the main Scanner screen, click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad.
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply and exit MBAM.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you may be asked to reboot your computer so it can proceed with the disinfection process. Regardless if prompted to restart the computer or not, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot normally (not into safe mode) will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware. MBAM may make changes to your registry as part of its disinfection routine. If you're using other security programs that detect registry changes, they may alert you after scanning with MBAM. Please permit the program to allow the changes.

soolin

aliEnRIK Can I use MBAM alongside kaspersky which I already have installed?

fad1211

firewall was turned off and anti virus out of date. my hotmail cannot be accessed because secret question has been changed and alternative email is the very one that is hijacked, so just cannot access it. very frustrated. everything else such as paypal, facebook yahoo are ok.

aliEnRIK

soolin wrote: »

aliEnRIK Can I use MBAM alongside kaspersky which I already have installed?

yes

its just a 'scanner', so no conflicts with any software you may have

aliEnRIK

fad1211 wrote: »

firewall was turned off and anti virus out of date. my hotmail cannot be accessed because secret question has been changed and alternative email is the very one that is hijacked, so just cannot access it. very frustrated. everything else such as paypal, facebook yahoo are ok.

I would highly suggest you set up a GOOGLEMAIL account. Then goto all the main sites (paypal, ebay etc), change the passwords to something fairly cryptic (Lots of random numbers, letters and symbols), and to change the email address to the new google one.

Run MALWAREBYTES as posted above.

totalsolutions

Weak passwords and one that could be ascertained by someone who knows you well enough to work it out / has seen you type it in / you left the pc for a few minutes and it was then changed.

Don't use the security question be wide open to abuse, if asked for your favourite colour say "yellow" but make the real password 10 alphanumeric characters.

Change all your password's today