Could my e-mail accounts have been compromised?

[DubLogic19]

I have had the same yahoo and AOL Instant Messenger e-mail accounts for basically a decade and have had the same passwords the entire duration (bad idea I know)

Yesterday when I tried to sign into my Yahoo email account it said that my password was incorrect, I'm %1000 sure that the password I used was SUPPOSED to be correct. I went through procedures and tried to access my password through my AIM email account, lo and behold when I tried to sign into it the password for it was seemingly incorrect. My passwords have been changed on my two main email accounts.

Have I been compromised?
What other signs should I look for?
How can i know for sure?
What precautions should I be taking from here forward?



Sorry if this isn't the most appropriate section of the forums, I couldn't find one that seemed fitting so I just posted here.

 

[DubLogic19]

Google is your friend.

Obviously I'm doing my own research at the same time.
I don't see where it hurts to ask the opinions and advice of actual people, maybe someone who has gone through experiences like this before.
Why post something so unhelpful?

 

[mohsy90]

Obviously I'm doing my own research at the same time.
I don't see where it hurts to ask the opinions and advice of actual people, maybe someone who has gone through experiences like this before.
Why post something so unhelpful?

Do you realize how many people have their passwords compromised? They're are tons of articles and guides on steps you should take. Just google it.

 

[Mrbobb]

Could my e-mail accounts have been compromised?

If you have any contact with Jill Kelley, then YES.

Seriously...

If u haven't used the account for a long time, it's possible the provider has some sort of automatic reset. U got something in there u don't want your wife to see?

If it's indeed compromised, it's too late. All u can do now is to give it another password and off u go. While u are at it, ur machine may have a spy virus, so perhaps this is a good time to re-install OS from scratch.

 

[tau101]

Do you realize how many people have their passwords compromised? They're are tons of articles and guides on steps you should take. Just google it.

Wow!

Do you realize that many of the most useful google results are from forums such as these where a helpful community hasn't been put off or thwarted by individuals with attitudes like you?

What precautions should I be taking from here forward?

I would suggest you look into using a service like LastPass or 1Password going forward.

 

[switon]

RE: password management...

Hi,

I recently read an article discussing the idea that several password storage/management systems are sometimes not all that secure, and, if compromised, then you loose all of your passwords. For example, having a user's password grants access to all of the passwords stored in the Keychain. Therefore I never store sensitive passwords in my Keychain.

Personally, I use an open source public key system where I generated my public and secret keys and use a strong passphrase for encryption/decryption. Since this system is not as popular (requires a little more effort) as some of the commercial password managers, there is less risk of known ways to circumvent it. (For instance, some password managers leave plaintext passwords in memory that may then be compromised.) Maybe I'm fooling myself, but it "feels" more secure to me (i.e., it's just my unfounded personal opinion). But, being less widely used, at least there are fewer hackers attempting to "break" the system.

In addition, I worry about keystroke recorders, and so I also run one of the "reverse firewalls" that detect any outgoing network traffic and ask for permission before it is allowed. I haven't found any malicious outbound traffic yet, so either I've not been compromised or the outbound firewall doesn't work, hopefully it is the former. I also scan using clamav routinely, and I actively scan all security logs for suspicious activity.

Good luck,
Switon

 

[takeshi74]

Have I been compromised?

Impossible for us to tell based solely on what you've posted. I know Google offers tools to show you IP addresses that have been used to access your account. You'll need to take some initiative to see if Yahoo offers something comparable. I don't use Yahoo and can't answer for you. It seems like you have been.

What precautions should I be taking from here forward?

You seem pretty well aware of the first one. Change your password frequently and use complex passwords. Review your security questions to ensure that they aren't easily guessed by others. What you should do is really subjective and depends on how secure you want to be and what hassles you're willing to deal with to improve security.

There are plenty of articles out there on the internet (usual caveats apply: i.e. always consider the source, corroborate, etc) if you want to educate yourself on security practices.

Sorry if this isn't the most appropriate section of the forums, I couldn't find one that seemed fitting so I just posted here.

Most forum sites have a catch all forum for topics that don't fit in any other subforum. The Macbook Pro isn't what I'd select if I couldn't find a fitting subforum for this topic.

 

[DubLogic19]

It seems my AIM e-mail password has been changed again, this time my Facebook password was also changed.

 

[DubLogic19]

Does anybody have any idea what the main sources of becoming a victim would be?

 

[alphaod]

Change all your passwords at the same time. Also make sure to check that mail forwarding is not enabled in your email account.

 

[DubLogic19]

Change all your passwords at the same time. Also make sure to check that mail forwarding is not enabled in your email account.

Well when I originally had this problem (when I first made this thread) I did change all of my passwords at the same time, they were all brand new and more secure, and now it's happened again. How can I find out if someone has given me malware and is tracking my moves?

 

[DubLogic19]

A friend of mine told me that it could be a keytracker? Something that is tracking my moves and even the keys that I type on my keyboard? Is this a real concept? If so how could I confirm and get rid of it?

Are there any reliable malware detection software for Mac? I really can't seem to find any.

 

[saberahul]

A friend of mine told me that it could be a keytracker? Something that is tracking my moves and even the keys that I type on my keyboard? Is this a real concept? If so how could I confirm and get rid of it?

Are there any reliable malware detection software for Mac? I really can't seem to find any.

You could use iantivirus on the Mac store its free. Anyways, I doubt you have a key logger on your Mac. My aim and Facebook have been hacked before too - from Jamaica! Just make your password long with numbers and characters that would make it hard to crack

 

[DubLogic19]

You could use iantivirus on the Mac store its free. Anyways, I doubt you have a key logger on your Mac. My aim and Facebook have been hacked before too - from Jamaica! Just make your password long with numbers and characters that would make it hard to crack

I've been scanning with Clamxav, it hasn't found any threats the previous scans, my current scan is still in progress at the moment. Like previously stated I had made all new passwords that were between 12 and 15 characters and had lower case, upper case, numbers, and symbols! This is very disheartening.


EDIT: No threats were found with an up to date Clamxav scan.

 

[GGJstudios]

You could use iantivirus on the Mac store its free.

iAntiVirus has a bogus malware definitions list, making their detection accuracy untrustworthy. They also make inaccurate claims about the existence of Mac malware, in order to hype the need for their product. This post will give details.

If any antivirus is to be used, I recommend ClamXav, which is also free and has a good reputation.

I agree that it's extremely unlikely there's a keylogger (or any malware) installed.

 

[DubLogic19]

iAntiVirus has a bogus malware definitions list, making their detection accuracy untrustworthy. They also make inaccurate claims about the existence of Mac malware, in order to hype the need for their product. This post will give details.

If any antivirus is to be used, I recommend ClamXav, which is also free and has a good reputation.

I agree that it's extremely unlikely there's a keylogger (or any malware) installed.

I scanned with Clamxav and no threats were found. I have one item quarantined from a previous scan [install-pear-nozlib.phar] I googled that item and it is supposed to be a false flag item.

I was running a Sophos scan and the app quit before the scan was done...it was about halfway done, very strange. I started the scan again however. Awaiting results.

 

[GGJstudios]

I was running a Sophos scan and the app quit before the scan was done...it was about halfway done, very strange. I started the scan again however. Awaiting results.

I recommend that you avoid using Sophos, as it could actually increase your Mac's vulnerability, as described here and here. While detection rates aren't 100% with any app, they're as good with ClamXAV as with any other. You don't need to scan with multiple apps and you should never have more than one antivirus app installed at the same time, as they can conflict with each other and produce false positives.

 

[DubLogic19]

I recommend that you avoid using Sophos, as it could actually increase your Mac's vulnerability, as described here and here. While detection rates aren't 100% with any app, they're as good with ClamXAV as with any other. You don't need to scan with multiple apps and you should never have more than one antivirus app installed at the same time, as they can conflict with each other and produce false positives.

Well, out of curiosity I'm going to let the scan complete. If Clamxav isn't showing anything are there any alternatives to find out what's going on? Maybe an online solution?

 

[GGJstudios]

Well, out of curiosity I'm going to let the scan complete. If Clamxav isn't showing anything are there any alternatives to find out what's going on? Maybe an online solution?

Your problem has nothing to do with malware. Email accounts are frequently compromised, especially those in spam-laden domains such as hotmail, aol or yahoo. Your email passwords can be hacked even if you don't own a computer. Scanning your computer is useless for this issue.

My first recommendation is get a Gmail account and stop using the others. If you want to keep the accounts (or even if you set up a new account), choose passwords that are long and complex, including numbers, special characters and upper and lower case letters. Change your passwords more frequently, such as every few months.

 

[DubLogic19]

Your problem has nothing to do with malware. Email accounts are frequently compromised, especially those in spam-laden domains such as hotmail, aol or yahoo. Your email passwords can be hacked even if you don't own a computer. Scanning your computer is useless for this issue.

My first recommendation is get a Gmail account and stop using the others. If you want to keep the accounts (or even if you set up a new account), choose passwords that are long and complex, including numbers, special characters and upper and lower case letters. Change your passwords more frequently, such as every few months.

I do have a Gmail account. So you're saying I should make this my main email account, what makes it superior?

 

[GGJstudios]

I do have a Gmail account. So you're saying I should make this my main email account, what makes it superior?

There's nothing inherently superior about Gmail. It's simply a case of yahoo, hotmail, etc. having reputations for becoming a haven for spammers and hackers over the years. I have yahoo accounts and Gmail accounts. The amount of spam I get on yahoo is easily 30+ times the amount I get on Gmail. In addition, most of the threads I've seen posted about email accounts being compromised have involved yahoo, hotmail and aol. Relatively few have involved Gmail.

 

[DubLogic19]

There's nothing inherently superior about Gmail. It's simply a case of yahoo, hotmail, etc. having reputations for becoming a haven for spammers and hackers over the years. I have yahoo accounts and Gmail accounts. The amount of spam I get on yahoo is easily 30+ times the amount I get on Gmail. In addition, most of the threads I've seen posted about email accounts being compromised have involved yahoo, hotmail and aol. Relatively few have involved Gmail.

Even so, say somebody is singling me out for whatever reason is there anyway possible to catch onto them?

 

[GGJstudios]

Even so, say somebody is singling me out for whatever reason is there anyway possible to catch onto them?

Highly unlikely. If you change your passwords as I suggested, they shouldn't be able to access your accounts.

 

[DubLogic19]

Highly unlikely. If you change your passwords as I suggested, they shouldn't be able to access your accounts.

Well I've changed my passwords before, guess I'll do it again.
I really do appreciate your replies, I've decided to drop AIM altogether. If my yahoo account is compromised again, I'll be dropping it as well.
It seems to me if they could figure my passwords out in the first place, they could do it again, but oh well.

Wow!

Do you realize that many of the most useful google results are from forums such as these where a helpful community hasn't been put off or thwarted by individuals with attitudes like you?



I would suggest you look into using a service like LastPass or 1Password going forward.

Is it dangerous to have my web browser remember my passwords, does it put me at extra risk?

 

[GGJstudios]

Is it dangerous to have my web browser remember my passwords, does it put me at extra risk?

Only if someone gains access to your computer.