# My email+facebook has been hacked, I REALLY need some help!!



## Graeme Edwards (9 Jul 2008)

Hi all,
Ive just got back from holliday to descover my email and facebook acount has been hacked. 
Ive been having a funny thing with my emails, every months about the 5th of each month, both facebook and hotmail reject my passwords, so i have to reset both, and then carry on as normal. I cant find away of stopping this. 
Then i get home today, same has happend, yet all my old inbox emails, all my saved and sorted emails and all my contacts have been deleted. ON my facebook, it seems every possible aplication has been added to my account.
Can any one help me fix the password problem for both FB and hotmail, and is there anyway fo retreiving all my contacts and saved emails.
I cant beleive its happend, im so angry its untrue.
Please please, help me if you can, or point me to a forum that can help me.

Cheers.


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## Dan Crawford (9 Jul 2008)

Sounds heavy dude, afraid i can't help ya, i'd have just suggested what you have already done although i'd suggest not using your internet banking or paypal for a while until this is sorted.
Good luck mate.


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## Mark Evans (9 Jul 2008)

again i cant help, but certainly stop using online banking for a while until sorted.

ive recently been done for Â£50 out of my acount, thankfully barclys spotted it. but know one knows how they got my details. one thing though im getting emails (30 aday ) that i never got before. porn related.... and no its not me!

so somehow from my email address someone has managed to take money from my account. i have new acount details now.


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## aaronnorth (9 Jul 2008)

Just to inform everyone aswell incase you didnt know:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080709/t ... bba4a.html

EDIT: The older your email address you start to get more spam through, i changed mine and just recently i am getting a few theough again


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## LondonDragon (9 Jul 2008)

As far I am aware this is no way to get this stuff back off hotmail, once deleted its gone for good.
I always use Outlook Express for my email, so that I can move them to the local Inbox folder and create my contacts there also, that way I have a local copy which I can back up myself.
Also make sure you have some good Anti-Virus software on your machine, I recommend Kasperky. Its picks up most virus other scanners miss, I have tested 10 for my work, that came out tops.


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## spaldingaquatics (9 Jul 2008)

There was an article released today, not sure of all the details, but it said that there's a flaw in the internet where hackers can re-direct you to any web address they like regardless of the address you type in, so if you were checking your online banking then the hackers redirect you to a fake site that looks just like the one you were suppose to be going to and you enter your account details as usual but obviously the hacker gets it all. 

I change all my passwords for everything every month but even doing that probably isn't enough.


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## spaldingaquatics (9 Jul 2008)

Der! sorry aaron just checked your link. didn't realise, sorry mate


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## aaronnorth (9 Jul 2008)

spaldingaquatics said:
			
		

> Der! sorry aaron just checked your link. didn't realise, sorry mate


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (9 Jul 2008)

Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> Ive just got back from holliday to descover my email and facebook acount has been hacked.
> Ive been having a funny thing with my emails, every months about the 5th of each month, both facebook and hotmail reject my passwords, so i have to reset both, and then carry on as normal. I cant find away of stopping this.
> Then i get home today, same has happend, yet all my old inbox emails, all my saved and sorted emails and all my contacts have been deleted. ON my facebook, it seems every possible aplication has been added to my account.
> ...



I believe you can email Facebook and report the issue.. but Im not sure what they can do about it from there.  Facebook is a bit of a nightmare in the fact that you cant delete an account to replace it with another.

As far as hotmail goes, the others are right.. theres nothing you can do about it I dont think other than create a new account.  It might still be worth emailing hotmail customer support to see if theres anything they can do!

sorry im not more help mate.


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## Thomas McMillan (9 Jul 2008)

Have you got a wireless internet connection?


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## LondonDragon (9 Jul 2008)

Thomas McMillan said:
			
		

> Have you got a wireless internet connection?


Good point! If so what sort of encryption you use?


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## spaldingaquatics (9 Jul 2008)

I have wireless, but you've lost me there, what types are there?


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## Thomas McMillan (9 Jul 2008)

spaldingaquatics said:
			
		

> I have wireless, but you've lost me there, what types are there?



Your wireless connection should have a password to stop other people from connecting to your router.


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## spaldingaquatics (10 Jul 2008)

Yes, sorry, I know what you mean now


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## Graeme Edwards (10 Jul 2008)

Morning all,
Thanks for all the comments and advice.
Ive emails hotmail and told them about the possible hacking and the loss of important emails, but i don't hold out much hope for a response.
Ive also contacted Facebok and told them my account has be compromised too.
It seems to be a web problem and not my PC. The passwords getting wiped happens work too.
I had a funny moment last night when the mouse started moving round by its self, which suggested to me some one is controlling it some how.I don't really know,but its what i thought at the time.
I have my PC linked via an eather net cable to my dads BT hub, but im not sure that is configured for wiless, and im not sure how to tell if its open for people to access. Is there a way of doing this?
Im going to run every virus and addaweare checker I have and delete cookies etc, see if it brings anything up.
I might just have to create a new emails address, which is just inconvenient rather than damaging, and its going to take me about 6 months to remove all the thousands of unwanted applications on facebook.

Keep feeding me the ideas please, any info will really help.

Many thanks.


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## JamesC (10 Jul 2008)

Sounds as though you may have a remote control trojan on your pc. Not all anti-virus catch these. If you have, your whole pc has been compromised. This may also mean that if you have any microphones or webcams attached people may even been able to listen to you and watch you. Do you store bank account details on your pc, as I'd change these el pronto. The moving mouse may have just of been a dodgy mouse playing up, but if it looked like someone was moving your mouse then I'd be worried.

James


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## LondonDragon (10 Jul 2008)

spaldingaquatics said:
			
		

> I have wireless, but you've lost me there, what types are there?


You have WEP and WPA, then you have different strenghts of encryption, 48bit, 128bit.
I wouldn't recommend anyone using WEP, anyone can crack that in no time. Use WPA at the highest encryption supported by your router.


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## Graeme Edwards (10 Jul 2008)

JamesC said:
			
		

> Sounds as though you may have a remote control trojan on your pc. Not all anti-virus catch these. If you have, your whole pc has been compromised. This may also mean that if you have any microphones or webcams attached people may even been able to listen to you and watch you. Do you store bank account details on your pc, as I'd change these el pronto. The moving mouse may have just of been a dodgy mouse playing up, but if it looked like someone was moving your mouse then I'd be worried.
> 
> James



 :?  Dont scear me dude, jesus.
I dont store any info of any importance, ie bank details on my PC, just pictures, the odd word dock etc.
Ive ran all virus checkers AVG,Spybot surch and destroy, Addawear SE personel, and supper anti spywear, and nothing bad came up, just the usual tracking cookies and thats it.
The mouce just did like a funny wobble, move across the screan and then stopped. But it did get me worried.
How am i going to know im all cosha and safe then????

Ive had a responce off MSN..................


> Hello Graeme,
> 
> Thank you for writing to Windows Live ID technical Support. My name is Coni and I am pleased to provide you with assistance. I read that your Windows Live Hotmail account rejects the password every month. I understand the importance of your issue. Allow me to be of help today.
> 
> ...




Cheers for any advice, all is very welcome, so please keep it coming.

Regards,
Graeme.


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## LondonDragon (10 Jul 2008)

Lets see what the Windows Live Hotmail support group have to say about your lost email and contacts, maybe they can do something about it. In the mean time you just have to make sure you computer is protected and clean


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## JamesC (10 Jul 2008)

Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> :?  Dont scear me dude, jesus.
> I dont store any info of any importance, ie bank details on my PC, just pictures, the odd word dock etc.
> Ive ran all virus checkers AVG,Spybot surch and destroy, Addawear SE personel, and supper anti spywear, and nothing bad came up, just the usual tracking cookies and thats it.
> The mouce just did like a funny wobble, move across the screan and then stopped. But it did get me worried.
> ...


If that is all the mouse did then I'd guess you are ok, especially if you've used all those programs to check. The way you said how the mouse looked like it was being controlled got me thinking, that's all.

James


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## LondonDragon (10 Jul 2008)

JamesC said:
			
		

> [If that is all the mouse did then I'd guess you are ok, especially if you've used all those programs to check. The way you said how the mouse looked like it was being controlled got me thinking, that's all.
> James


Mice with a scanner rather than a ball underneath have a tendancy to do that sometimes!


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## Graeme Edwards (10 Jul 2008)

This ones a ball mouce, it didnt move with conviction, more with hesitationa dn randomness, and only lasted a second or two.
Im just down loading CCcleaner, and one sugested by L-dragon ( cheers ) and ill see if the PC is clean, after that, then I guess its just wait and see from MSN and Facebook.

Cheers.


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## aaronnorth (10 Jul 2008)

my mouse sometimes move left or right


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## Graeme Edwards (11 Jul 2008)

Hi all,

MSN have got back to me and here is what they said. 



> Hello Graeme,
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thoughts? Ive replyed.


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## Graeme Edwards (12 Jul 2008)

Hi all,

Well done to MSN, they have recovered all my lost contacts and all my lost emails, well done that man 8) 
As for facebook, well bit poo, they just reset my password and said ill just have to manually delete all the dodgy applications by hand, really a pain.

Just want to publicly thank LondonDragon for the help via PM, cheers mate.

Thanks all!


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## LondonDragon (12 Jul 2008)

Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> Just want to publicly thank LondonDragon for the help via PM, cheers mate.


Anytime Graeme, we are here to help anyway we can  Did the AV find anything else?


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## jwrage (12 Jul 2008)

I recently had my Live account stolen(long story and the fault was with me). The clever so and so's changed my recovery details, and eventually the windows live association so they could steal my Xbox live account. I found Microsoft support really helpful, although they couldn't get me my account back.

I would recommend that you remember the details you use when you setup your hotmail account. I know alot of people make up postcodes/phone numbers but when I was trying to get my account back they wanted these details. Also just make sure you know your secret question and have an active alternative email supplied so you can try and recover your account. 

Did they send any emails from your account?


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## swackett (12 Jul 2008)

Hi,

Just read this post, you also need to ensure you have firewall software running (if it's not included on your BT hub), this will stop your PC being "attacked" from the internet, a good free one is Zone Alarm.  Also I find AVG 8.0 is a very good free AV software suite.

Steve


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## bugs (12 Jul 2008)

Do you ever access Facebook and/or Hotmail from another computer (e.g. work, internet cafe, etc)??? As these are both web apps, you need to consider security beyond your own PC.


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## Graeme Edwards (13 Jul 2008)

LD- I havnt ran the AV yet, but i will do, ran CCcleaner tough, dont know what it did, but im sure it did something.

Swackett, yes i do, they use Mcafie ( ? ) I think its called, I dont know how good it is though, but what i must remember to do is log off rather than just close the box's.

Ive got AVG 8.0 running at the mo, I ust to have Zone alarm, but it started playing up causeing me problems, so got rid. I use Spy bt surch and destroy, addawear SE and Super anti spy wear too. So i think im quite secure in that sence, i think i just need to improve my passwords etc.

Cheers for every ones help!


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## LondonDragon (13 Jul 2008)

Graeme get rid of AVG and install what I sent you, it has a built in hacker prevention (firewall) and trojan detection


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## swackett (13 Jul 2008)

Hi LD,

You said you did a test on AV software for work, I'd be insterested if you could post a bit more on your findings?  I've been using AVG for a while now, but if there is a better AV out there I'd be keen to know.

Cheers


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## LondonDragon (13 Jul 2008)

swackett said:
			
		

> Hi LD,
> You said you did a test on AV software for work, I'd be insterested if you could post a bit more on your findings?  I've been using AVG for a while now, but if there is a better AV out there I'd be keen to know.
> Cheers


I tested about 10 different packages as I need to buy a large quantity of licenses every year to give to the students at the Halls of Residence of the University I work at, this to ensure a secure network.
We had Symantec/Norton before and it was hopeless, plenty of viruses go unoticed and only finds the virus when we send the virus files to Symantec and then they decide to update the defenitions, why should we be paying for something and we doing the work for them?
From the tests I did I wanted something that would find most viruses, find the most dangerous trojans, scan the registry for virus/trojan keys, block malicious codes on webpages, and block network/internet attacks from reaching the computer.
The one that came on top was Kaspersky, I would recommend this to everyone, well worth the license money.


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## jwrage (14 Jul 2008)

Do they offer a free version like AVG do, or is there just a free trial?


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## LondonDragon (14 Jul 2008)

jwrage said:
			
		

> Do they offer a free version like AVG do, or is there just a free trial?


They offer a 30 trial: http://www.kaspersky.com/trials


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## jwrage (14 Jul 2008)

I think I might try it out. I currently use AVG 8 free version and then NTL Netguard which drives me mad. 
James


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## LondonDragon (15 Jul 2008)

jwrage said:
			
		

> I think I might try it out. I currently use AVG 8 free version and then NTL Netguard which drives me mad.
> James


Just found out that PC World are doing a 3 user licence, so you can install it on 3 PCs on the network for Â£19.99
Its the 2007 version, but they offering a free upgrade to 2009.


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## jwrage (15 Jul 2008)

I think I might just do that, and the 3 user license would do just nicely seeing as we have two PC's and a laptop.
James


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## Steve Smith (15 Jul 2008)

We use Kaspersky at work on all our staff machines and also our student work areas.  It does an OK job.  We don't use kaspersky 7 (home edition) as it causes problem on our network (it's very anal about security!)

Graeme, hope everything is working better, I'd strongly advise using secure passwords.  Numbers, capital letters, even spaces make it difficult to guess.  I tend to use special characters like any of the number keys (with shift held down) such as !"Â£$%^&*().

Also, consider substituting letters for numbers, such as using "0" (zero) instead of "o" and "1" instead of "i" etc.  An example might be:

4qu4t1c_pl4nt5 (aquatic_plants).  You get the idea   It might be best to change any passwords on a completely different PC, that way any spyware on your own PC won't grab what you change it too.  Obviously it helps to do it on a "clean" PC that hasn't got any problems.

Did any of the AV/Anti spam scanners find anything?


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