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I've been hacked

General discussion on any topic which doesn't have a natural home on any of the other boards.
Pat Marsden
Posts: 121
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 06:29
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

I've been hacked

Post by Pat Marsden »

Hi All

My email addresses have been hacked, thanks to all who have notified me. If you get any emails from me with a link to a voice call then do not open

Ta

Pat
roo Hawkins
Posts: 557
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 20:12
Location: Northamptonshire

Re: I've been hacked

Post by roo Hawkins »

It seems quite common at the moment. I had my Facebook account hacked 2 times had most of my friends list disappear. Some of my friends have also said there friends have had fake request from them. Lots of email scams around a as well.
Pat Marsden
Posts: 121
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 06:29
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

Re: I've been hacked

Post by Pat Marsden »

It does make you wonder what these scumbags get out of it. It was only my emails that got hacked although I have changed passwords etc. So, all they got was a list of email addresses, as there appeared to be no financial element to the hack what exactly do these scrotes get out of it apart from causing inconvenience
User avatar
mjcp
Posts: 183
Joined: 29 Jul 2015, 08:14
Location: A wind swept hill with no wind, in driving distance of Windsor, UK
Contact:

Re: I've been hacked

Post by mjcp »

*** If anyone wants a hand with enabling MFA, drop me a PM, happy to assist! ***


Sorry to hear that Pat, though I doubt you were "hacked", more probably, you have leaked your credentials somewhere (inadvertently)* or had a weak password in place.

Almost *ALL* compromises of this type can be prevented with the use of MFA (Multi factor authentication).

MFA is *really* easy to enable/use on *most* popular platforms:

https://uk.pcmag.com/encryption/120042/ ... -set-it-up

Both Microsoft and Google produce mobile apps to use with MFA services. You can use the same app for multiple sites, no need to have umpteen apps!


iOS / Apple app store:

Microsoft Authenticator app:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/microsoft ... d983156458
Google Authenticator app:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/google-au ... d388497605


Google Play store:

Microsoft Authenticator app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... n_GB&gl=US
Google Authenticator app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... n_GB&gl=US


As to the question: "What do they get out of it?" There's many things that a compromised account can be used for, and reasons for doing it. Off the top of my head, I can think of:

Bragging rights
Boredom
Phishing (collecting login data)
Blackmail
Old fashioned fraud (two companies I have worked with in the last 3 years have lost an aggregate £600,000 through compromised email chains, in both cases, MFA would have blocked the initial comprise method)
Social engineering (to get bank details, con someone else you know etc)
Click fraud (driving traffic to somewhere they get paid for delivering traffic to)
Delivering a payload (another attack, virus etc to you or a 3rd party)


* Passwords are everywhere, almost everything has a password these days. Its human nature to re-use passwords, or use passwords that are easy to remember - words, names, places with meaning to us etc. Both reuse and guessable passwords make it easier for attackers to breach our accounts. Just last week it emerged that a database of credentials had been released containing some 3.4 billion username / password pairs. Armed with such a trove, attackers don't even need to guess passwords - they just try them on thousands of different platforms until one works... MFA defeats an attacker who has the correct password by requiring you to provide the MFA code at the time of login. If you aren't actually logging in there and then and you get an MFA prompt, you're likely being attacked.


*** If anyone wants a hand with enabling MFA, drop me a PM, happy to assist! ***
m̶j̶c̶p̶ Marc

Hanger -
Some (now) pristine models that are un-flown for a year.
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