I Think My Email Account Was Hacked And I Want To Know How To Fix It.

[email protected] notification.i never sent out these emails,which leads me to believe someone hacked my email account.maybe a virus or something of that nature.

I Know the Answer!

I have the same question
Request More Information

Current Answers

Answer #1: Posted by kcmjr on September 15th, 2011 12:47 PM

This answer was accepted by the poster of the original question.

kcmjr

Member since:
May 5th, 2011

Points: 4,254,245

1,110
points

Odds are you have not been hacked or have a virus.

Your email address was more likely harvested by a spammer. Anywhere your email address is visible on the Internet you can be harvested.

It is a trivial matter to spoof the sender on an email. Spammers send bulk email using lists of known (harvested) email addresses to try and get past the spam filters on email servers. If the server rejects the destination email it will reply to the sender (spoofed as you). The result is you get a ton of odd emails about things you never sent emails about that look like they came from you.

There is nothing you can do to stop this.

Now, there is always the chance that you did have a virus. To be sure change your email password ASAP and use a secure password.

My standard "password security" speech...

For secure passwords you should follow these guidelines.
- No less than 8 characters.
- Mix upper and lower case.
- Include numbers and non-alpha characters such as !, [, &, and #.
- Don't make it so complex to be easy to forget.
- Use a phrase, pick first or last letter of each word.
- Swap letters with number, o = 0, s = 5, i or l = 1 or !, q = 9, etc.
- More is better up to a point, 10 to 18 characters is a good size.

Viruses are nasty buggers and some can hide from anti virus programs. If you did have a bug it may have already been purged (check your AV logs) or it may have been an email script that has already been deleted.

Best thing to do is use a secure password, only leave a visible email address on web sites that cant be harvested (like bob AT bob.com, no @ symbol), and keep your AV software up to date.

Personally I like http://www.lastpass.com. The site stores my password and logs me into sites. I can have a 20 character random password different on each site if I like and never need to remember them, only the master password.

You can go to this link to recover your Hotmail/MSN account: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-hotmail-security-checklist-faq

Licenses & Certifications: Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, Novell, FCC RF & Amateur Radio licensed.

Hotmail Knowledge Base Results

We have determined that the information below may contain an answer to this question. If you find an answer, please remember to return to this page and add it here using the "I KNOW THE ANSWER!" button above. It's that easy to earn points!

Search Results
..., 2010 4:29 PM I am not receiving Email sent by friends/family Start Using Hotmail with Entourage Trouble Accessing Hotmail from sending email messages'. koru76, Tuesday, August 17, 2010 1:54 PM "Your account has been temporarily blocked" I cannot send any emails out due to error message 'blocked from Mail Programs 1 - 10 of 513 results Blocked...
Search Results
... 1:12 PM Spam sent from my hotmail account; Windows Live Celeste G, Wednesday, March 24, 2010 4:58 PM Can I use Windows Live Mail I want to visit this link to secure your account: /solutions/safety/archive/2008/10/24/protecting-your-identity-you should and how to do it I am receiving emails meant for your e-mail account: why you -can...
Search Results
...stating that an unauthorized person has used your Windows Live ID to you can resolve your account. If you already know your account has been stolen. When we are the instructions: All you need to do in case you...change... Oct 25 2008 62.00 62 What to do if you think your password, and all you want to do I Reset my Password? Symptoms: Users might encounter one of a...