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Clever computery type needed
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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From this explanation alone, I can't really categorise what exactly may have happened - but I haven't heard of it before.
What type of email is it?
Does it look genuine or not? (Also, see sender email name.)
To be frank, if you're worried - change your password right away though. |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"I've just had a spam mail in my outlook inbox and in it was a password I've used for a while.
How significant is that and what do I need to know?"
Without seeing it, I can't say for sure.
I presume you have decent, up-to-date anti-virus software?
Check your computer for malware.
After you're sure it's clean, or from a computer you know is clean, change the password on the accounts you use that password for.
If you like, I'll give you an email address you can forward the spam message to so I can take a look. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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First off, don't click any links in the email.
Is it a 'good', hard-to-guess password? Do you use it on multiple sites? Have you tried accessing any of the accounts for which you use the password? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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you might be ratted or keylogged? if you are then that's not good and needs sorting out right away.
you need to be off the internet to sort it. don't change your password until you're sure nobody else is accessing your computer, else they will just have the new password.
could also be someone is trying to hack your email and asked for the password then sent it to spam?
could have accidently gone to spam?
first of all find out if you have anything on your computer, and they can hide viruses everywhere, in your tooldbar, search engines, pics, mp3s, anything. |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"Changing password is good and all but if her password was obtain via a key logger then it would be pointless and it would record new passwords.
"
Yes, absolutely! Which is why I said scan for malware first.
However, it has just occurred to me that Topsy uses Apple kit, which is (usually) less prone to viruses and security problems. |
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I use a Mac for everything at home but windows at work (NHS). The password was in one of those messages from a fake account pretending to be a pretty woman for my delight.
I never open mails from any other than known mail addys and the password is an old one, not used for any site where I spend money, in fact, I'm struggling to think of where I do use it now. It is many years old though, from my first usage of the Internet. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I hardly think hackers will send a password of yours they've already hacked to your email so you know to change your password!!.
I'd check the message first of to make sure it's not from a site you've actually joined and forgotten about.
Then run your anti virus and make sure it's up to date. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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With all the mumbo-jumbo that's being advised, we've probably spooked you. Honestly, don't panic. Despite the many things brought up, it may not even be that big an issue.
- DO change password immediately if concerned. Regardless if there is in (a worst-case scenario) fact keylogger - whether you're online or not isn't going to make much of a difference. Even offline, it may 'record' keystrokes and just feedback when you next go online. In reality, it's unlikely to be this serious, but ne cautious.
- I assumed you had already opened it since you detailed the contents. Explain briefly, the content in more details and the sender name. Otherwise, delete it straight away.
- Just to be safe, run a quick scan on your pc. Full scan if necessary.
Mostly - don't panic!  |
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Not panicking, just trying to google what all those names are. I've no idea what a keylogger is, or does, and as for the rest, you may have all been speaking Russian for all I know!
I'm on my iPad at the moment and in all my years of being a Mac user, I've never had to scan anything so I wouldn't know what or how. |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"I use a Mac for everything at home but windows at work (NHS). The password was in one of those messages from a fake account pretending to be a pretty woman for my delight.
I never open mails from any other than known mail addys and the password is an old one, not used for any site where I spend money, in fact, I'm struggling to think of where I do use it now. It is many years old though, from my first usage of the Internet."
That sounds curious. I've not heard of it happening before. I've got a couple of ideas but I'll look into it a bit more.
If it's an old password and not used anywhere important, it's a little less worrying. Do try to think where that password might still be used and change it if you can think of anywhere (from a clean computer).
Do you still have the message. Does it have any attachments or just links?
You still need to check the computers you use for malware and viruses. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I would think in this kind of instance (really old password, married with contact details) it has been pinched from a database from one of the sites on which they were both used way back when.
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By *icketysplitsWoman
over a year ago
Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound |
"They used my password as if it was my name. No attachments but a sneaky link that I obviously didn't open.
I only have acces to the PC at work I use all the time and my MacBook at home. "
Did it come through from work or onto your MacBook?
Is your personal e-mail logged anywhere on your work system?
Inform work IT to check their systems too.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Keylogger is a programme that records everything you type so the person who downloaded it can read it later.
RAT is remote access tool, someone can access your computer using one if you're online.
I've noticed spam emails tend to pick up on some things that are personal to me, like my friends on facebook names, and put them in the header but never had a password picked up. |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"They used my password as if it was my name. No attachments but a sneaky link that I obviously didn't open.
I only have acces to the PC at work I use all the time and my MacBook at home. "
Ooh interesting. It doesn't sound like you need to worry unduly.
I'm now curious though. I'll look into it a bit. I might ask my MSc group actually. This is an ideal discussion for that.
It'd be better for the forensics section but that's not until later this year. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Another thing, whilst maybe trivial - is if the 'password' is a common word or anything. The email sent to you may not have actually scooped that 'password' from your computer - just some other random place.
However, only you know that. If it's really obviously a special combination of characters that is your password - then that's weirder. Tons of people use really obvious/common words for passwords - just throwing it out there |
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"They used my password as if it was my name. No attachments but a sneaky link that I obviously didn't open.
I only have acces to the PC at work I use all the time and my MacBook at home.
Did it come through from work or onto your MacBook?
Is your personal e-mail logged anywhere on your work system?
Inform work IT to check their systems too.
"
I'm on my iPad at the mo, hardly ever use the MacBook and only use the pad at home.
It's probably from the work PC, I can access all my personal stuff from there. I'll contact IT next time I'm in. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I've just had a spam mail in my outlook inbox and in it was a password I've used for a while.
How significant is that and what do I need to know?"
Send me all your bank account details and I will make sure they are safe.
I will transfer twenty million billion pounds into it as a gesture of goodwill to prove it's not a scam.
Seriously change passwords and delete mail, and empty your spam. |
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By *icketysplitsWoman
over a year ago
Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound |
"They used my password as if it was my name. No attachments but a sneaky link that I obviously didn't open.
I only have acces to the PC at work I use all the time and my MacBook at home.
Did it come through from work or onto your MacBook?
Is your personal e-mail logged anywhere on your work system?
Inform work IT to check their systems too.
I'm on my iPad at the mo, hardly ever use the MacBook and only use the pad at home.
It's probably from the work PC, I can access all my personal stuff from there. I'll contact IT next time I'm in."
Don't access personal stuff from your work PC - your IT team can search everything.
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"Another thing, whilst maybe trivial - is if the 'password' is a common word or anything. The email sent to you may not have actually scooped that 'password' from your computer - just some other random place.
However, only you know that. If it's really obviously a special combination of characters that is your password - then that's weirder. Tons of people use really obvious/common words for passwords - just throwing it out there "
Thanks. It's not a common one but it's not an incredibly difficult one either. Definitely mine though. |
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"They used my password as if it was my name. No attachments but a sneaky link that I obviously didn't open.
I only have acces to the PC at work I use all the time and my MacBook at home.
Did it come through from work or onto your MacBook?
Is your personal e-mail logged anywhere on your work system?
Inform work IT to check their systems too.
I'm on my iPad at the mo, hardly ever use the MacBook and only use the pad at home.
It's probably from the work PC, I can access all my personal stuff from there. I'll contact IT next time I'm in.
Don't access personal stuff from your work PC - your IT team can search everything.
"
I know! Everything other than personal email and shopping sites are all blocked for our use although they have opened up FB, Twatter and YouTube very recently. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Just carry on.
If they had got anything worth while from your PC I very much doubt they would need to send you an email to get more passwords.
It's probably just a phishing scam.
Delete.
Scan.
Move on |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"Just carry on.
If they had got anything worth while from your PC I very much doubt they would need to send you an email to get more passwords.
It's probably just a phishing scam.
Delete.
Scan.
Move on"
That's a slightly naive view.
If someone has someone's password (albeit an old and not very useful password) and has compromised their PC, if they send that person a spam that freaks that person out, causing them to change all their important passwords (which some people do/would do), the cracker then has a lot of important and useful passwords. All from e-mailing a spam with a more or less useless password in it.
That's just one potential scenario. I can think of others. |
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Download and run the free programme malwarebytes. It will find most harmful stuff on your computer that antivirus software misses. It's good to be doing this anyway, without the email you've got.
After scanning, which would detect anything harmful, you'd delete the problem with it. Then change your password. I would not change the password whilst your PC may be infected with something that's monitoring for passwords. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Just carry on.
If they had got anything worth while from your PC I very much doubt they would need to send you an email to get more passwords.
It's probably just a phishing scam.
Delete.
Scan.
Move on
That's a slightly naive view.
If someone has someone's password (albeit an old and not very useful password) and has compromised their PC, if they send that person a spam that freaks that person out, causing them to change all their important passwords (which some people do/would do), the cracker then has a lot of important and useful passwords. All from e-mailing a spam with a more or less useless password in it.
That's just one potential scenario. I can think of others."
.
Do you play chess!.
Sometimes a move is made purely to obtain a response.
Your response should be not to respond. |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"Just carry on.
If they had got anything worth while from your PC I very much doubt they would need to send you an email to get more passwords.
It's probably just a phishing scam.
Delete.
Scan.
Move on
That's a slightly naive view.
If someone has someone's password (albeit an old and not very useful password) and has compromised their PC, if they send that person a spam that freaks that person out, causing them to change all their important passwords (which some people do/would do), the cracker then has a lot of important and useful passwords. All from e-mailing a spam with a more or less useless password in it.
That's just one potential scenario. I can think of others..
Do you play chess!.
Sometimes a move is made purely to obtain a response.
Your response should be not to respond."
That's not the point.
We're talking about whether there could be a reason for a cracker to mail someone's password to them. You said there would be no point.
Since the average computer user may well not know what the correct response is, it's entirely possible, likely even, that some respond exactly the way the cracker wants them to. And that is the point of mailing a password back to someone.
What the response should be is completely irrelevant. It's what people actually do that matters. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Just carry on.
If they had got anything worth while from your PC I very much doubt they would need to send you an email to get more passwords.
It's probably just a phishing scam.
Delete.
Scan.
Move on
That's a slightly naive view.
If someone has someone's password (albeit an old and not very useful password) and has compromised their PC, if they send that person a spam that freaks that person out, causing them to change all their important passwords (which some people do/would do), the cracker then has a lot of important and useful passwords. All from e-mailing a spam with a more or less useless password in it.
That's just one potential scenario. I can think of others..
Do you play chess!.
Sometimes a move is made purely to obtain a response.
Your response should be not to respond.
That's not the point.
We're talking about whether there could be a reason for a cracker to mail someone's password to them. You said there would be no point.
Since the average computer user may well not know what the correct response is, it's entirely possible, likely even, that some respond exactly the way the cracker wants them to. And that is the point of mailing a password back to someone.
What the response should be is completely irrelevant. It's what people actually do that matters."
.ohh
I thought she'd asked for advise on what to do  |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"Just carry on.
If they had got anything worth while from your PC I very much doubt they would need to send you an email to get more passwords.
It's probably just a phishing scam.
Delete.
Scan.
Move on
That's a slightly naive view.
If someone has someone's password (albeit an old and not very useful password) and has compromised their PC, if they send that person a spam that freaks that person out, causing them to change all their important passwords (which some people do/would do), the cracker then has a lot of important and useful passwords. All from e-mailing a spam with a more or less useless password in it.
That's just one potential scenario. I can think of others..
Do you play chess!.
Sometimes a move is made purely to obtain a response.
Your response should be not to respond.
That's not the point.
We're talking about whether there could be a reason for a cracker to mail someone's password to them. You said there would be no point.
Since the average computer user may well not know what the correct response is, it's entirely possible, likely even, that some respond exactly the way the cracker wants them to. And that is the point of mailing a password back to someone.
What the response should be is completely irrelevant. It's what people actually do that matters..ohh
I thought she'd asked for advise on what to do "
She did. And then you dismissed some of the advice she was given because there would be no point in a cracker emailing her password to her in a spam. And I outlined one potential scenario in which there would definitely be a point. And you disagreed because doing what the cracker wanted is not the right response. And I pointed out that's irrelevant because some people won't know that and will do it.
But your not so daft that you didn't already know all of that. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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FFS, Just download the Sophos anti virus app, its free, let it update and scan your MACBOOK, just incase anyone missed that its a MAC!
If it comes up with anything just delete it, as you have said its rare that we get anything but I have had a few lately so worth installing now |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"FFS, Just download the Sophos anti virus app, its free, let it update and scan your MACBOOK, just incase anyone missed that its a MAC!
If it comes up with anything just delete it, as you have said its rare that we get anything but I have had a few lately so worth installing now"
I don't think anyone missed that it's a Mac. In fact, it was mentioned before Topsy confirmed it.
In case you missed it there was also the question of the problem being with the work PC and the question of how it happened rather than just what to do about it.
I'm not sure why you think the discussion warrants a FFS. Nobody suggested sacrificing goats to appease the god of binary or anything daft. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"They used my password as if it was my name. No attachments but a sneaky link that I obviously didn't open.
I only have acces to the PC at work I use all the time and my MacBook at home. "
Might you have typed the password in as your username at some point by accident? Sometimes I tab to the next field and start typing without looking up and realising the tab didn't work correctly and it moved to the wrong box. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"FFS, Just download the Sophos anti virus app, its free, let it update and scan your MACBOOK, just incase anyone missed that its a MAC!
If it comes up with anything just delete it, as you have said its rare that we get anything but I have had a few lately so worth installing now
I don't think anyone missed that it's a Mac. In fact, it was mentioned before Topsy confirmed it.
In case you missed it there was also the question of the problem being with the work PC and the question of how it happened rather than just what to do about it.
I'm not sure why you think the discussion warrants a FFS. Nobody suggested sacrificing goats to appease the god of binary or anything daft."
The FFS was because there are so many people (doesnt include you or anyone else with a techy based point) that are chirping up with their "I had a virus once on my PC and this is what I did advice" The truth is the reasons they have this old password are endless and all just guesses, you cant do anything about the work machine, it will have all the AV managed by IT and anything on that will be flagged up to them so its only the Apple products to worry about! |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
"FFS, Just download the Sophos anti virus app, its free, let it update and scan your MACBOOK, just incase anyone missed that its a MAC!
If it comes up with anything just delete it, as you have said its rare that we get anything but I have had a few lately so worth installing now
I don't think anyone missed that it's a Mac. In fact, it was mentioned before Topsy confirmed it.
In case you missed it there was also the question of the problem being with the work PC and the question of how it happened rather than just what to do about it.
I'm not sure why you think the discussion warrants a FFS. Nobody suggested sacrificing goats to appease the god of binary or anything daft.
The FFS was because there are so many people (doesnt include you or anyone else with a techy based point) that are chirping up with their "I had a virus once on my PC and this is what I did advice" The truth is the reasons they have this old password are endless and all just guesses, you cant do anything about the work machine, it will have all the AV managed by IT and anything on that will be flagged up to them so its only the Apple products to worry about!"
That isn't necessarily true. Not all work networks are well managed and adequately protected.
I've known an entire network of a few thousand computers, at a government organisation, taken down within minutes by a virus. The reason? The o/s on the desktop machines hadn't had any security updates or patches installed since they were built.
It's worth mentioning it to the IT department if there's any chance at all that the problem originated there.
Work networks and desktops are often protected by anti-virus products but not checked separately for malware. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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It could be worth doing a search on the email address it came from, i have done this in the past on spam email addresses and quite often you will find forums, discussions from others that have experienced the same and how to deal with.
Your first point of call should be the PC at work as Macs are reknowned for good security and very difficult to hack.
A keylogger on a work network would be pretty difficult to deploy if its a secure network but would also depend on how the network is set up ( adhoc, cloud , server, virtual machine )
My advice check the work PC out and speak to the IT team and then search the email address or keywords from it on google and check out the advice on reputable forums etc.
Good luck and let us know how you get on as would be interested on the results
Jamie |
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