IMPORTANT! Have you received an email to your forum username?

tinkerbell28

Bloody furious. I have got truck loads of spam, and I mean loads since this email I got. I wondered why as I couldn't figure it out, I'm pretty good with spam and I was wondering if one of my accounts had been hacked for details. Now I know there was a hack it was here, come across this by chance after logging in and getting a PM, I got an email and then a shed loads of spam, coincidence? Think not.

Haven't read the thread but this is disguting for such a big site.

mikeyk_2

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

Haven't read the thread but this is disguting for such a big site.

Chances are the spam isn't from this breach. I've been keeping an eye out on any spam mail to my specific email account set up for MSE and the email alert telling me that you posted a reply to the thread was the first one received on that email address for a few days now. I've also received no unwanted email to that address since the original incident.

tinkerbell28

mikeyk wrote: »

Chances are the spam isn't from this breach. I've been keeping an eye out on any spam mail to my specific email account set up for MSE and the email alert telling me that you posted a reply to the thread was the first one received on that email address for a few days now. I've also received no unwanted email to that address since the original incident.

I think it is linked I had truck loads of spam since getting that email, I knew, just knew something had been hacked by spammers somewhere as it was an unreal level of spam coming to my inbox.

I reported them all as phishing scams and junk and it's slowed down now, the site I presume has been shut down. Don't forget I opened it so the spammers would have known it was an active address with a read notification even if I didn't download the virus by clicking on the link. (Which I didn't). They harvested active addresses.

nilrem_2

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

Bloody furious. I have got truck loads of spam, and I mean loads since this email I got. I wondered why as I couldn't figure it out, I'm pretty good with spam and I was wondering if one of my accounts had been hacked for details. Now I know there was a hack it was here, come across this by chance after logging in and getting a PM, I got an email and then a shed loads of spam, coincidence? Think not.

Haven't read the thread but this is disguting for such a big site.

I must say that so far this issue has made no difference to my spam level, if anything for some reason I have had less Spam this week, perhaps I am just lucky!

jimmo

I have PMs switched off on this forum for my own reasons but suddenly I have received a PM about this issue. So, can MSE override my wishes and send me a PM I do not want or have the hackers gained more control than anybody already knows?

StumpyPumpy

jimmo wrote: »

I have PMs switched off on this forum for my own reasons but suddenly I have received a PM about this issue. So, can MSE override my wishes and send me a PM I do not want or have the hackers gained more control than anybody already knows?

vBulletin (The software that runs these forums) has an option to allow the Admin to override the users' "Disable PM" setting for specific Private Messages. This is so that critical messages that need to go to all members, such as one highlighting a security breach or notification of rogue emails for instance, will reach everyone. If I remember correctly, this is the first time, certainly since I have been a member, that the MSE Admin has done this. Unlike some Forums I know where it has become a regular (and annoying) occurrence.

Sue-UU

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

I reported them all as phishing scams and junk and it's slowed down now, the site I presume has been shut down. Don't forget I opened it so the spammers would have known it was an active address with a read notification even if I didn't download the virus by clicking on the link. (Which I didn't). They harvested active addresses.

I opened mine too, but have had no spam whatsoever as a result. Yours honestly sounds like a coincidence.

Sue

joe134

Sue-UU wrote: »

I opened mine too, but have had no spam whatsoever as a result. Yours honestly sounds like a coincidence.

Sue

Hi, I too have not had any spam at all in my g-mail, so what was the hacker after, if it,s not a spammer? They don,t normally hack in for fun, unless you are the Pentagon.That,s why I keep asking "WHAT TROJAN "has anyone found, and how did they find it.I,ve no doubt if this warning was posted on the Techie site, as in my mind it should have been, the wizzers on there would have the answer in no time.This is too serious a topic to be on site reply, how many people use it.?It,s my first time in 4 years of being a forumite.

The_Gerbil

Sue-UU wrote: »

I opened mine too, but have had no spam whatsoever as a result. Yours honestly sounds like a coincidence.

MessageLabs http://www.messagelabs.co.uk/resources/mlireports produces regular interesting statistics about Virus, Spam and similar rates.
If you notice you are getting an increase in Spam received it's often a good place to go to see if Spam in general is on the increase or if it is just you.

They also list the top 10 specific threats every month. Looking at this months and recent months I can't see the bamital.c virus that StumpyPumpy said was contained in the email which makes me think our outbreak is not part of a more mainstream malware event.

joe134

The_Gerbil wrote: »

MessageLabs http://www.messagelabs.co.uk/resources/mlireports produces regular interesting statistics about Virus, Spam and similar rates.
If you notice you are getting an increase in Spam received it's often a good place to go to see if Spam in general is on the increase or if it is just you.

They also list the top 10 specific threats every month. Looking at this months and recent months I can't see the bamital.c virus that StumpyPumpy said was contained in the email which makes me think our outbreak is not part of a more mainstream malware event.

Not according to Microsoft. This Virus comes in various aliases and is classified by MS as severe.Just google it, it,s there;Now it,s been ID,d, I missed Stummpy,s post, one knows what ones dealing with.It,s a Dropper, and they are not to be ignored.