Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

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retired jerry
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Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by retired jerry » August 7th, 2012, 5:49 pm

I got one other yahoo email from someone else that had been hacked - "help, I was mugged in Lisbon, please send money"

Is this a Yahoo email problem?

Is it sufficient to have Macafee or Norton or whatever?

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Koda
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Re: Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by Koda » August 7th, 2012, 7:09 pm

retired jerry wrote: Is this a Yahoo email problem?
yes. Definitely.

retired jerry wrote: Is it sufficient to have Macafee or Norton or whatever?
wont prevent a yahoo (or any) account from receiving the email. But might if you click on a link inside the email body...
lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2

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Grannyhiker
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Re: Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by Grannyhiker » August 8th, 2012, 1:34 am

I haven't been hacked, but am really concerned because Frontier Communications (who bought out Verizon DSL and phone services) recently dumped all of us onto Yahoo mail. Scary! I'm seriously considering switching to Comcast, which is at least faster (I'm paying for 1,000 bps (hope I have the units right) but getting only about 300, which is ridiculous, little better than dialup).

I remember getting a bunch of the Nigerian bank scam letters ("send us your bank account number so we can help an unfortunate refugee get their money out of Nigeria," ha ha) after I made the mistake of posting my then email address on the Rick Steves travel forum back in 2000! They were quite funny, but after a while I got rather tired of deleting them.

Any time anyone sends an email wanting your personal info, promptly delete it and never respond, no matter how heart-rending the plea! Never click on any links, either. They just want to empty your bank account or spend up to the limit on your credit card! It doesn't hurt to report it to the state or US Attorney General's office, either--might even help them tracking down the offenders!

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retired jerry
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Re: Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by retired jerry » August 8th, 2012, 7:32 am

I always assume anything on yahoo mail is public - no financial info

I have resigned myself to getting spam emails - easily deleted

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kepPNW
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Re: Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by kepPNW » August 8th, 2012, 3:17 pm

Grannyhiker wrote:I haven't been hacked, but am really concerned because Frontier Communications (who bought out Verizon DSL and phone services) recently dumped all of us onto Yahoo mail. Scary!
Good grief! I guess I would be too! There's no good excuse to be tied to a ISP for email, though. For about $8 a year you can own your own domain, and be free of that ball and chain.
Karl
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Don Nelsen
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Re: Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by Don Nelsen » August 8th, 2012, 4:31 pm

I got hijacked a couple of years ago too. I got jane's e-mail early the morning it was sent and called her right away as I knew exactly what it was. I could see the Nigerians were getting a little better with their english but still no cigar. Here's the E-mail send ostensibly by me a couple of years ago:

Sent: Thu, March 18, 2010 5:10:05 PM
Subject: Help !!!

Hi,

I am in a hurry writing this mail to you.I had traveled to London for an urgent situation and unfortunately for me all my money was stolen at the hotel where I lodged. I am so confused right now and I do not know what to do or where to go.and my phone has been stolen by the muggers but thank God I still have my passport saved and the hotel's telephone lines was disconnected during the robbery incident so I have access to only emails. Please can you send me $1,740 today ? so that I can get my hotel bills settle and get myself back home.As soon as I get home I would refund it immediately.

I'm looking forward to reading from you soon.

Thanks and Regards,
Don Nelsen.


One of my nephews who is very internet savvy called and said it originated in Lagos, Nigeria and he sent a message to the scammer just to see what would result. I'll post that when I find it.

Anyway, lesson learned and I changed all my passwords and made them more difficult. How they got me was through Facebook though exactly how I don't know. (I mostly am still pissed at Facebook and very, very rarely go there). My bad, too, because my Facebook password was the same as my yahoo password so once they had that they sent that e-mail went out to about 400 people - some of my business associates in europe and Asia don't have the english skills to see the language was obviously not mine and e-mailed and even calld to see if they could help! (to my chagrin, no one sent money, though.)

My work associates started calling me "Nigerian Don" for awhile but thankfully have forgotten it by now! :D

dn
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"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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TJ_T
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Re: Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by TJ_T » August 9th, 2012, 10:17 am

I have been contacted a couple of times with the Nigerian Scam when selling cars on craigslist. At first I strung them a long for a while to waste their time. Then it got boring.

Another time on Facebook chat I was contacted by my friend who had also been robbed in some far off country and was asking for money. I also stung that person along by saying how surprised I was that they were in another country when I was with them last night.. and how they got the plane ticket because I knew they were struggling with cash. It was amused with their responses. Eventually I told them they weren't fooling me and asked them if many people fell for this scam and I got into a lengthy discussion about it with them! At the end s/he offered me a 'job'. Ummm.. no thanks.
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Jane
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Re: Any lessons to be learned from Jane's hacking incident

Post by Jane » August 9th, 2012, 12:39 pm

Well....it was an interesting learning experience ;) I did contact Yahoo (a live person on the phone) immediately that morning, and he got me to an online report form that I filled out (as well as immediately changing all passwords and security question/answers). What happened with that email account (I have two others that were not affected) is "everything" disappeared - all stored emails, folders, and contact list. Over a number of days and intermittent contact with them, my "folders" (where I had most of important stuff anyway) were restored - but other emails were not and was told could not be restored. :( My contact list in its entirety was restored, though.

So...I know I need to run a malware or some such detection scan (i do have virus scans on my pc already of course). And, just keep more up to date and cautious with everything. And, feel thankful I had so many people concerned and contacting me!

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