Thread: email hacked?

  1. #1

    email hacked?

    So I just logged into an old email account and I noticed like 200+ failure to deliver notices sent to people. The message had something to do with WoW accounts and has an attachment on it. I did not open it or visit anywhere which would give me some virus. I do not know if it is just a new way for hackers to trick people into downloading these attachments or that email was actually hacked and is not being used to forward messages.

    I have changed my password but still I am getting this notices.. I check for virus trojans ect and nothing..
    Anyone know what is going on? Should I be worried about my personal information or is the hacked email as far as it would go..

  2. #2
    Moderator Cilraaz's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    PA, USA
    Posts
    10,139

    Re: email hacked?

    Hotmail, I'd assume? If so, then yeah, your email account was probably compromised to be a spam account.

  3. #3

    Re: email hacked?

    Yeah it was hotmail lol. Do I need to worry about someone having the ability to access my passwords ect. if nothing comes up on the scanners?

  4. #4
    Moderator Cilraaz's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    PA, USA
    Posts
    10,139

    Re: email hacked?

    I would doubt it. Go through the keylogger sticky to be sure, though.

  5. #5
    High Overlord
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    185

    Re: email hacked?

    Or its one of those fake bounceback mails.

    Essentially the spammer spoofs the from: as being your email, and sends the email to a known non-existant email address. It then bounces back to the email address in From, and you get the spam.

    One of my friends' work network is experiencing this.

    This wouldn't require them getting into your email address, and you should be able to check by viewing the header of the email.
    US Blizz Tech Support MVP
    Ressie - Medivh-US

  6. #6
    Moderator Cilraaz's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    PA, USA
    Posts
    10,139

    Re: email hacked?

    I would usually suspect a faked bounce as well, but I know multiple people who have had their hotmail accounts hijacked recently. Not all of them were for the purpose of hijacking WoW accounts, though.

    Quote Originally Posted by Resa
    One of my friends' work network is experiencing this.
    The tactic you're describing is called "backscatter". Tell your friend to properly set up their SMTP server to reject with a 550 during the hand-off. That way the email is rejected, rather than stored and later bounced. Unless of course you meant they were receiving the backscatter, rather than being used as the server in the middle.

  7. #7
    High Overlord
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    185

    Re: email hacked?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cilraaz
    I would usually suspect a faked bounce as well, but I know multiple people who have had their hotmail accounts hijacked recently. Not all of them were for the purpose of hijacking WoW accounts, though.

    The tactic you're describing is called "backscatter". Tell your friend to properly set up their SMTP server to reject with a 550 during the hand-off. That way the email is rejected, rather than stored and later bounced. Unless of course you meant they were receiving the backscatter, rather than being used as the server in the middle.
    Yup. Receiving the backscatter.
    US Blizz Tech Support MVP
    Ressie - Medivh-US

  8. #8
    Moderator Cilraaz's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    PA, USA
    Posts
    10,139

    Re: email hacked?

    Quote Originally Posted by Resa
    Yup. Receiving the backscatter.
    That's when it sucks because there's not much they can do. They can check the email headers to see what server's being used to bounce off of, but at that point they can only contact that server's admins and hope the admins are willing to modify their setup.

    I was a victim of having my server used to spread backscatter when I initially set up my webserver. I researched it and found an error in my config that stopped it from 550'ing invalid messages. It's actually a pretty easy fix most of the time, but there are lots of lazy sys admins out there.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •