Question about hacked email

[Powers11]

I received a "delivery failure" notice for a message that I never sent.  This delivery failure email included the sent message, so I was able to see that it had been sent to about 10 email addresses that I had most recently sent legitimate email to.  I confirmed with a few of those people that they did receive that message, although it did not appear in my Sent folder.  I would never have know about it had I not received the delivery failure notice.  The sent message was clearly SPAM aimed at getting recipients to click on a link.

I DO NOT keep a "contacts" list or an addressbook., so it seems to me that someone hacked into my account and was able to examine my "sent" emails to get a list of recipients.  

I have changed my email password but am not sure what additional measures I need to take to prevent this from happening again and to ensure that my email is adequately protected.   Again, my case seems different because it does not involve "stealing" a list of contact or an addressbook.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.   

[applepar]

My son had a similar situation on 12/3 and it sent out naked pictures.

[tns]

Still possible you have a virus on your machine.  Is your Antivirus up to date, and have you done a scan?

Did you look at the headers of the spam to see if it looked like it was coming from inside verizon (or worse from your machine).

Its possible your mail was harvested at one of your recipients.  Considering using BCC  (blind CC) if you send to lots of people and don't need everyone to know who you sent the message to.

[Powers11]

Thanks for the helpful reply.  I didn't send any batch email, and certainly nothing that included all the recipients  of that email. 

I think our antivirus is up to date, but then again I thought it was up to date when this happened.  I did scan the machine after I received the email.  How do I look at the header to determine whether it came from my machine?  All I can tell is that the email appeared to originate from my email address, and even included my name in quotes, which is included with all legitimate email from me. 

After having run virus scan and changed my Verizon webmail password, I just want to know what other steps I need to take. 

[diakonos1]

I am having the exact same problem.  Spent 1 hour on phone this morning with Verizon.  They were no help.  Solution may be to dump this e-mail address and start anew.  However, I was told by the "helpful" Tech rep today that I could not change my e-mail address 🙂   Very bright person 😛

[tns]

It is very hard but not absolutely impossible to get Verizon to change your primary Email account.  Usually not worth the trouble to go through the hoops it takes to get to someone who can do it. 

However it is easy to create a secondary id for your email.  And start using it for all your email.  Even if you get Verizon to change your Primary id, I suggest you use a secondary email.  Then if you have problems with it you can just drop it and set up a new secondary.

One bad thing about email protocols is that it is very easy for anyone to pretend they are anyone else.  Absolutely no access to your password is and no hacking to your email on Verizon servers is needed.  They just need your email address.  Some services that you might use even do it legitimately so that messages they send out for you will reply to you rather than to them.  Spammers and Phishers do not care and do it all the time.

[PSulse]

Hello,

I am having the exact same issue.  I have removed the contacts from my address book and still the **bleep** are sending emails in my good name.  Have you been able to restore you email security?

I know I do not have a virus, so that is not an issue.

Regards

Paul

[KT99]

This has happened to my verizon email account as well (began on 12/23).   I scanned for virus (none) with McAffee and changed my password.  I think the messages I'm still seeing may be from a few days ago (failed delivery attempts).  Should I change the outgoing mail port (email settings) from 25 to something else.  I was on the phone w/ verizon support last night and they said I did not need to do that.

[tns]

As far as changing ports, it is a good idea to follow the latest instructions to change the two ports and activate SSL.  Particularly important if you are using a laptop and are not always using a Verizon Network

• Incoming (POP3) Server Port Numbers: 995
• Outgoing (SMTP) Server Port Numbers: 465
• Make sure "This server requires a secure connection (SSL)" is checked.

It will help prevent someone from catching your password when you launch your email app, as well as preventing some one from seeing the content of your emails.

[retiredme]

Spoiler

My email was hacked yesterday and whatever miscreant did it has sent out a link to some some dispicable and disgusting material. I am outraged that such a thing has my name on it. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Ken, the tech guru, who reset my account , gave me a temporary password for 24 hours, and I established a new password today. Hopefully that will be the end of it. Thank you, Ken, for the help. I do not know if any other action is required, as my computer checked OK after I ran a suite of antivirus and malware programs. Additionally, the Northeast apparently had some server problems last night which precluded me from logging into my account at all; I even tried different computers. Ken was able to log in from his location for the reset. The two problems were not related, but nonetheless the coincidence of the events had me pinging off the walls for a while. I do not know if one of the automated features, like Home Agent, would have been able to reset the account, as Ken explained that sometimes these miscreants create a new password of their own which locks out the rightful owner. I guess time will tell. A secondary account seems like a prudent option.