OT - Learn from my mistake (x-post)
Christy Putnam
Cross-posted due to importance, sorry if you get this more than once.
Someone hacked into my cox email account and used it to send out those "I am
from blah, blah blah and represent so-and-so and if you send me $$$ I will
send you $$$$$$$" emails. They also set my account to forward to a
non-existent yahoo account. It was only my email via the web, not my
computer....thanks goodness because that means everyone's email addresses
were safe! The main thing it did to me was prevent me from getting emails
from people. The groups I am on, I can check the archives but individuals,
I have no idea who sent what. I will be sending out individual emails to my
friends for 2 reasons, 1 to warn them of this happening and 2 to see if they
will re-send any emails they sent to me today.
What is hard for me to understand is that no amount of spam/spyware/firewall
protection could have prevented this since it wasn't my computer that was
hacked. It simply comes down to password encryption! I can not caution you
all enough to pick really hard passwords for all your online accounts. If
you encrypt them with symbols and numbers, it will make it harder for this
to happen to you. I *knew* better but had a very easy password. Now it is
hard for me to even remember, let alone someone else to figure out. I will
be changing it every 3-6 months as well. I will have to spend the next
several days tending to my forums and sites that I have visited just to be
sure someone doesn't use my accounts and ruin my reputation. The likelihood
of that happening is slim but right now I don't want to take any chances.
I am so thankful for my computer geek husband because if not for him, I
would not have figured out what happened. We have notified Cox of this
issue but there is little they could do about it anyway. I will be emailing
a word of caution to all my yahoo groups because I do not want this to
happen to anyone else, EVER! Please learn from my mistake...
With Gratitude,
Christy Putnam
Funschooling Mom to Seth (12) and Aden (2)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Someone hacked into my cox email account and used it to send out those "I am
from blah, blah blah and represent so-and-so and if you send me $$$ I will
send you $$$$$$$" emails. They also set my account to forward to a
non-existent yahoo account. It was only my email via the web, not my
computer....thanks goodness because that means everyone's email addresses
were safe! The main thing it did to me was prevent me from getting emails
from people. The groups I am on, I can check the archives but individuals,
I have no idea who sent what. I will be sending out individual emails to my
friends for 2 reasons, 1 to warn them of this happening and 2 to see if they
will re-send any emails they sent to me today.
What is hard for me to understand is that no amount of spam/spyware/firewall
protection could have prevented this since it wasn't my computer that was
hacked. It simply comes down to password encryption! I can not caution you
all enough to pick really hard passwords for all your online accounts. If
you encrypt them with symbols and numbers, it will make it harder for this
to happen to you. I *knew* better but had a very easy password. Now it is
hard for me to even remember, let alone someone else to figure out. I will
be changing it every 3-6 months as well. I will have to spend the next
several days tending to my forums and sites that I have visited just to be
sure someone doesn't use my accounts and ruin my reputation. The likelihood
of that happening is slim but right now I don't want to take any chances.
I am so thankful for my computer geek husband because if not for him, I
would not have figured out what happened. We have notified Cox of this
issue but there is little they could do about it anyway. I will be emailing
a word of caution to all my yahoo groups because I do not want this to
happen to anyone else, EVER! Please learn from my mistake...
With Gratitude,
Christy Putnam
Funschooling Mom to Seth (12) and Aden (2)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Pamela Sorooshian
A good idea is to use a line from a song or poem to create passwords
- "I Like To Eat Eat Eat Apples and Bananas" gives a password of:
<IL2EEEAAB>. Nobody can guess these. Try to find one that has numbers
and letters and if it has the word "to" or "one" or "for" in it, use
the numbers in place of the words.
-pam
Relay for Life
http://www.acsevents.org/relay/ca/longbeach/pamsoroosh
- "I Like To Eat Eat Eat Apples and Bananas" gives a password of:
<IL2EEEAAB>. Nobody can guess these. Try to find one that has numbers
and letters and if it has the word "to" or "one" or "for" in it, use
the numbers in place of the words.
-pam
Relay for Life
http://www.acsevents.org/relay/ca/longbeach/pamsoroosh
On Mar 2, 2007, at 8:20 AM, Christy Putnam wrote:
> Cross-posted due to importance, sorry if you get this more than once.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]