Wife's email hacked? But how?

Horlock

Do not under any circumstances click the link below - I've tried to make it so that it wont happen if you try to click it.

**

Earlier today my wife's email account appeared to get hacked and send out a message with her name as the title to all of her contacts (including me). The body of the message was simply the above link.

This was not her main email address, but is one that she uses regularly.

I have changed her email password to something more tricky.
I have not added to the spam by emailing everyone she sent it to with an appology.

So my questions really are:

Did her account really get hacked or is it simply a trick to pretend it was?
How did it get hacked? Would it be a robot simply trying repeated passwords?
What would clicking that link actually achieve.
Once hacked does the email become safe again by changing the password.
Is this likely to be a spotty teenager or foreign !!!!!?
What else should we do now that we have changed the password?

waddler_8

Edit out the link.

In the reply box, uncheck the option "automatically parse links in text"

cajef

Is it a Yahoo account there has been reports of hacking which Yahoo claim to have fixed however people are still complaining of spam being sent to their contacts.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/01/07/yahoo-mail-users-hit-by-widespread-hacking-xss-exploit-seemingly-to-blame/

imoneyop

Horlock wrote: »

Did her account really get hacked or is it simply a trick to pretend it was?

Since the mail went to all her contacts then she has been hacked, rather than someone just spoofing her email address for their spam.

Horlock wrote: »

How did it get hacked? Would it be a robot simply trying repeated passwords?

Most likely she has used a computer that is infected with a keylogger, or has been the victim of a phishing attack.

Horlock wrote: »

What would clicking that link actually achieve.

Probably install malware on the computer of whoever clicked it.

Horlock wrote: »

Once hacked does the email become safe again by changing the password.

Only if you ensure that the way that the password was breached is fixed (see below).

Horlock wrote: »

Is this likely to be a spotty teenager or foreign !!!!!?

Could be anyone

Horlock wrote: »

What else should we do now that we have changed the password?

Read the thread on removing malware and check any machines that she has logged onto her email from to see if they are infected.

waddler_8

As if you needed conformation the link was malicious but...

schaartven.com/uzivp/innez.rdtln

A Known Russian Business Network IP, on a network hosting malware, with other sites on the same IP serving exploits.

aerostar

Apart from changing your password, you should also change any security questions, as the hacker could still gain access by answering these correctly,

macman

I'd run a full scan with Malwarebytes.
And (if you are using McAfee), ditch it and use Avast, Avira or MSE instead.

Iconic

Exact same thing happened to someone who only uses Apple computers.

I thought things like this didn't happen to Apple

macman

Any computer is vulnerable to malware. Mac's are targeted less often because they are only about 10% of the desktop market.

grumpycrab

cajef wrote: »

Is it a Yahoo account there has been reports of hacking which Yahoo claim to have fixed however people are still complaining of spam being sent to their contacts.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/01/07/yahoo-mail-users-hit-by-widespread-hacking-xss-exploit-seemingly-to-blame/

That's an old article.
The current Yahoo account hacks are covered here
http://community.bt.com/t5/Other-BB-Queries/BT-email-accounts-hacked/td-p/796762
(now running at 37 pages)

agrinnall

Is it really her email account that has been hacked though? Can she see the sent mails? If she uses Facebook then it's at least as likely that the hack has been done there, in which case she should change her FB password. The same may be true of other social networking providers such as Twitter, although I'm not really familiar with how they work.