Email Hacking, How Do I Prevent It?

Red1708

Hi

Hoping all you knowledgeable people can help me.

A person I know hacked into my email account and reset my password. This person admitted that occasion after forwarding emails to themselves and others from my account and then gave me the password so that I could reset it.

I have set up a different email address to try to combat this and have made the password and secret question unguessable. However, I received an email from MSN today asking me to confirm that I had requested a password reset. I have obviously informed them that I didn't request this and that I think it is the same person as before trying to hijack my account.

The police have been informed of the previous incident and I have requested that MSN provide me with the ISP address that both incidents. I know this sort of abuse is covered by the Computer Misuse Act 1990 but I wondered how likely I am to get get MSN to cooperate and also if there is any other ways to protect myself so that this person can't hijack my accounts anymore.

Many thanks in advance

bicycle_repair_man_2

go with an email provider that operates a secure sign in page so that your details won't be intercepted when typing them in- try using googlemail.

C_Ronaldo

I take it you have a firewall, how are you connected to your internet, also id periodically change your passwords eg every 3 or 4 weeks change the password, make it longer, add numbers to it, but make a note of the password and keep it in a safe place

Red1708

Yeah I have a firewall and I regularly change the passwords although this account has only been set up maybe two weeks! I know this person has also been accessing other online accounts that I have.

IRT1959

If you are running a wireless router that is not encrypted then anyone can, with the right software, intercept from up to say 100 yards away. Call your IP and get them to talk through a router reset, try that and see if it happens again.

Blacksheep1979

They didn't hack it, you let them in. The simple way round this is not to download/install software that you don't know exactly what it is - even if it says you have a virus and need xyz to get rid of it, don't click on links in emails - ever, use a decent firewall, antivirus and antispyware solution and that should see you pretty good.

Red1708

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

They didn't hack it, you let them in. The simple way round this is not to download/install software that you don't know exactly what it is - even if it says you have a virus and need xyz to get rid of it, don't click on links in emails - ever, use a decent firewall, antivirus and antispyware solution and that should see you pretty good.

How do you come up with the scenario that I let them in? They bypassed or guessed my password to the first email account! Then found out my new email address and is trying the same. I didn't give them permission to gain access to that account. I never hit links in emails (had my ebay account hacked that way so learnt my lesson well). I have antivirus, anti spyware and a firewall

C_Ronaldo

You say he "guessed your new email account", how did he guess the email account, i take it your anti virus and firewall are up to date,

Blacksheep1979

Red1708 wrote: »

How do you come up with the scenario that I let them in? They bypassed or guessed my password to the first email account! Then found out my new email address and is trying the same. I didn't give him permission to gain access to that account. I never hit links in emails (had my ebay account hacked that way so learnt my lesson well). I have antivirus, anti spyware and a firewall

because if they could 'hack' email accounts they would be making alot of money elsewhere and not bothering with you.

tom9980

Yes the question is how he guessed the new email address? only a few conclusions for this can be reached

• He has access to your PC physically.
• He has installed something to allow him to spy on you such as a trojan certain types are available in certain communities on the internet are not in virus databases so dont trust virus software in a case such as this because its not random.
• He has access or control of a friends email address or PC who you have since emailed on the new account.
• He guessed because you used a screen name you already commonly used before he knows about.

Providing us with more information on this situation might help us figure it out but the Police should be involved and you should make sure you talk to an officer who is trained in this sort of crime. Depending on the severity of this i actually suggest you cancel any credit/debit cards associated with online shopping accounts to prevent him doing anything more serious.

chris667

A few thoughts:
1. How did they get into your email in the first place? Do they know you in real life, and have they had chance to physically get to your computer?
2. If this person you know is on the other side of the world, are you running a antivirus/antispyware software? Have you got a firewall running? Is your PC running unusually slowly? If If you do have a firewall, did it detect anything trying to act as a server?
On windows, click Start>Run>, type "cmd", then type "netstat -an" at the command prompt. This gives you a list of every network connection. Is there anything that says it is Listening or Connected with an IP address other than 0.0.0.0? If there is, make a note of it, and the port number. So if you can see 112.1.149.92:199, something is listening from IP 112.1.149.92 on port 199. Write this down. Use something like Active Ports to work out what software is using this address.
Check your hosts file. If you aren't sure what your host file should look like, replace it with this one.
Complicated one, this. Make sure you internet connection is set to use DHCP, instead of a fixed server. If your DNS server is an IP address that is typed in, make a note of it before deleting it and selecting the button that says something like "Obtain my DNS addresses automatically". Sorry about the vagueness, I'm not using windows at the minute, and it's hard to just try to remember offhand.
Download Spybot. Update and run it.
Is your browser set to work through a proxy server? On Internet Explorer, I think you click Tools>Options>Lan settings, again sorry for the vagueness.
I would create a totally new email account on a totally different computer, that isn't on MSN. I like www.fastmail.fm, it has ssl(secure) login.
Definitely do report this incident to the police, and to MSN. And let us know how you get on.