Need assistance: E-mail been hacked

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 31 Mar 2007, 05:52

Well, not my e-mail but my Dad's.

He couldn't get into his Yahoo account yesterday after numerous attempts and so today changed his password so he could gain access and found in his inbox messages from e-bayers demanding payment for goods.

My Dad thinks his mails may have been read (why else hack?) and is worried about what information can be used against him or correspondants. Can the addresses of others be used to hack them or is the effect limited to the person originally hacked? Does my Dad have to warn anyone about this?

My Dad called his card companies and thankfully there doesn't appear to have been any unauthorised activity.

But when I tried to logon to ebay for him again the password was invalid so I had to chanmge it to regain access. Once in we found ten seperate purchase of mobile phones made by this hacker and some angry messages from people wanting paid. All of the items were still listed as Pay Now so clearly nothing had been paid for by them (the hacker) or us (the victim).

My Dad sent a mail to ebay asking for the account to be suspended, which it has, though they've yet to respond and offer any advice on the matter.

What does my Dad do now to protect from further misuse and are we liable for any of this ebay bidding?

Any advice or tips are extrememly welcome, guys.

Thanks.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 31 Mar 2007, 11:47

Hey Mark, Sorry to hear this

My Dad thinks his mails may have been read (why else hack?) and is worried about what information can be used against him or correspondants. Can the addresses of others be used to hack them or is the effect limited to the person originally hacked? Does my Dad have to warn anyone about this?

Possibly the hacker would use an exploit techinque which would be, the dad emailing people saying open this attachment, once they open it, they got a trojan virus, which means hackers have got a remote access to their pc, and can check the content of their pc. So it would be worth for you or your dad to say, if you recieved any emails from myself saying open this, then please do not open it, it is a virus. Most virus scanners can detect and clean trojan virus.

Make sure you also scan your dad pc with a virus scanner, and also run a spyware checker, i use AVG and Adware,
Download these, update, so you have the latest patches and updates, then do a full scan of the PC. You never know you may have a keylogger s/ware installed on the PC, which is how the hacker know your dad password. Once you have scanned it, and everything checks out, change your dad password again, and this time uses a series of random letters and numbers, the reason for this, is so a hacker cannot use a dictonary attack on the email address, so they will try to use brute force which is pretty hard especially if you have a long password

These are just my tips on how to proceed, if I think of anymore i will write it down

Hope this helps you

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 31 Mar 2007, 12:58

Hey Slasher,

Thanks for the response.

We actually have AVG (two programs) and Adaware and scans have shown the PC is clear.

I also scanned with Norton (last updated a few months ago as the initial period has run out).

I try to keep Adaware updated and also use CCleaner to regularly wipe temp and cookie files.

The AVG updates itself upon startup.

I asked my Dad and he's sure he hasn't clicked on any dodgy links (he's very cautious about this sort of thing).

I suspect that the hacker got into the mail from ebay -- is this possible?

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 31 Mar 2007, 14:19

Hey Mark, Excellent good tools to use

I suspect that the hacker got into the mail from ebay -- is this possible?

The only way this would be possible, is if the hacker used a phishing method, which is, they had sent you Dad an email with the layout of Ebay saying there is something wrong with the account, please click on the link which may look a link to ebay, but it redirects to another link eg an ipaddress instead, in which you Dad didn't realise as the page layout is exact same and to be honest, some people do not notice the address url, or they may be using a frame forwading method, which concels the true ip address. So you Dad put in his username and password and volia, the hackers have got your ebay account details. This has happened to many bank customers using the same method

This is the only way I think it could be done

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 31 Mar 2007, 15:46

Hmm... maybe it wasn't ebay then?

But that appears (so far) to be the only thing other than the Yahoo address to be tampered with.

Also you don't need a credit card to win bids on ebay.

My Dad has a paypal account but it was clear. No recent purchases. He's taken off the card details now to be sure.

It's so frustrating not knowing HOW the hacker got into his account and from WHERE?

Should my Dad be worried about further repercussions? Should he warn anyone he's corresponded with? Can e-mail addresses alone be used to hurt other people with hacks etc?

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 31 Mar 2007, 21:19

Markgway wrote:Should my Dad be worried about further repercussions? Should he warn anyone he's corresponded with? Can e-mail addresses alone be used to hurt other people with hacks etc?

Email can be used only if the attachment has a trojan virus, so email everyone you dad uses with email to say if someone from this email you a document you don't reckonise, just delete it, and poss get them to email you Mark, at least you will know if they are striking again. I would recommend in just keeping an eye with your email/ebay/paypal account for the next month.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 31 Mar 2007, 21:53

slasher13 wrote:Email can be used only if the attachment has a trojan virus, so email everyone you dad uses with email to say if someone from this email you a document you don't reckonise, just delete it, and poss get them to email you Mark, at least you will know if they are striking again. I would recommend in just keeping an eye with your email/ebay/paypal account for the next month.

I'll pass that onto my Dad, thanks.

Who should e-mail me though? My Dad? I didn't get that bit?

The Paypal account is safe, ebay has been suspended, but will keep an eye out.

Do you happen to know how to delete an ebay account?

The suspension notice says he has to confirm his identity because of the fruad to regain control of the account but my dad would rather close it completely.

Also are we liable for any rogue bids?

My Dad hasn't received any response from ebay so we don't really know what they're doing with regards to the defrauded sellers?

Ebay sucks.