UNAUTHORIZED E-MAIL ACCOUNT USERS

MY QUESTION AND CONCERN IS THIS: RECENTLY SOMEONE I KNOW HACKED INTO MY "HOTMAIL" E-MAIL ACCOUNT, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? NO ONE IN THE WORLD KNOWS THE PASSWORD BUT ME, AND TO CHANGE THE PASSOWORD YOU NEED TO ANSWER A SECRET QUESTION THAT I MADE UP AND KNOW THE ANSWER TO ONLY. I NEVER ACCESSED MY ACCOUNT ON THIS PERSON'S PC, NOR EVER TOLD THEM THE PASSWORD. THIS PERSON EVEN TOLD ME THAT THEY DIDNT EVEN HAVE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO THE SECRET QUESTION TO OBTAIN MY PASSWORD OR CHANGE IT. HOW IS THIS POSSBLE! THIS IS FRUSTRATING BECAUSE A PASSWORD AND SECRET QUESTION SHOULD BE A PRETTY GOOD MEASURE OF SECURITY AND PRIVACY, BUT THIS INCIDENT PROVES OTHERWISE AND A POSSIBLE BREECH IN SECURITY. IS IT POSSIBLE TO POSE AS A USER WHO FORGOT A PASSWORD AND HAVE MICROSOFT E-MAIL THE PASSWORD TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT(ALTERNATE), I TRIED TO SET UP AN ALTERNATE ACCOUNT BUT THERE WASNT A LINK TO DO SO IN THE PASSPORT PROFILE, CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN HOW THIS MAY HAVE BEEN DONE BECAUSE I KNOW IT MUST NOT HAVE BEEN THAT HARD, AND THIS SO-CALLED POTENTIAL HACKER SAY THAT THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN TO ANY ACCOUNT I MAY OPEN!!!

Bill
Mon Apr 19 12:32:50 CDT 2004

Well, my guess is the person is lying, figured out your
answer, and got into your account. Or some such. As far
as actually "hacking", I doubt it. hotmail and MS would
have something to say about that if there servers got
hacked. Seriously though, just make antoher account and
make up a fake secret questions and write down a fake
answer, and use a hard password to guess. With numbers
etc... And please, in the future, don't write in all
caps, it is hard on the eyes, and is the internets
equivelant ot yelling. I would not listen to someone
yellingin person and a lot of people online and not
inclined to listen to people who "yell" even if it is just
words. Hope this helps.

-Bill

anonymous
Mon Apr 19 13:16:05 CDT 2004

In response to Bil's reply: I appreciate your response and words of help, but you see how can a person be lying if they actually did it once before. You only get so many attempts at an account login before your blocked out, and its not that much guessing in the world to a question that you make up and make up and answer to, its not that simple when it comes to a password combination, if it was that easy it would be a million lotto winners every day! I even started another account and was told by this person that they knew I opened another one, as if there is some kind of global account lookup or something.I know its not that technical of an issue as some of the passages that I read in other responses but it does concern me somewhat. No Bil I think it was a little more than a guess to get into my account and it makes me wonder how!

Bill
Mon Apr 19 13:47:39 CDT 2004

Social engineering is the process of using your social
skills to ascertain your password and or information that
can be usefull during the process of compromising a
system. AKA, I am still very confident that all they did
was guess, knew something about you, etc.. Let me ask you
something. Dis your password reflect anything at all
personal about you? Your likes, dislikes, etc... Same fo
ryour secret question. Is it possible that they saw any
of it written down? Seriously, if they could hack MS or
hotmail they would be making lots of money as a
penetration tester, not wasting their time hacking into
hotmail accounts. Just out of curiosity, about what age
group is this "person" in? Quite honestly I remember when
I was growing up and the internet was all new and whatnot,
and me and my friends messed with each others hotmail
accounts all the time. That was when I was in like 9th
grade, but still. Anyway, just fyi.

-Bill

anonymous
Mon Apr 19 14:18:02 CDT 2004

Maybe you have a keylogger on your computer.

N
Mon Apr 19 16:01:05 CDT 2004

In article <1DDAC1A0-C77B-4D0F-A39D-672E29D9647A@microsoft.com>,
anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com says...

> MY QUESTION AND CONCERN IS THIS: RECENTLY SOMEONE I KNOW
> HACKED INTO MY "HOTMAIL" E-MAIL ACCOUNT, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

Any of a number of ways. If your "friend" had physical access to your
computer, he may have installed software, or even hardware, to log your
keystrokes. (The hardware most likely is a device which plugs in between the
keyboard connector and the keyboard cable.)

Or your "friend" may have sent you an email with an attachment, telling you
it is some sort of slick peep show, but actually installed a keylogger
program.

Or you may have used an easily guessed password, and/or secret question.
Never use a question or password relating to your known personality traits.
Mother's maiden name, favorite pet; that sort of thing is just too easy for
a "friend" to guess.

Hopefully your "friend" didn't trick you by sending you instructions on how
to hack a Hotmail account. The only effective Hotmail hack I have ever seen
is a description of how to get some other account password by giving up your
account password. The method is only effective in getting your password into
the hands of the "helpful hacker". I am tempted, from time to time, to
create a Hotmail account just for the purpose of giving it up to the
"hacker".

By now, I hope you can see what I think of such "friends" as you have. With
"friends" like that, you don't need enemies. (If it were me, such a
"friend" would long ago have been 'X'.)

--
Norman
~Win dain a lotica, En vai tu ri, Si lo ta
~Fin dein a loluca, En dragu a sei lain
~Vi fa-ru les shutai am, En riga-lint

N
Mon Apr 19 16:05:55 CDT 2004

In article <5BAD06C4-1F28-4EDF-B34C-5F487BDF9CED@microsoft.com>,
anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com says...

> ...and its not that much guessing in the world to a question that you make
> up and make up and answer to, its not that simple when it comes to a
> password combination, if it was that easy it would be a million lotto
> winners every day!

Well, if this person knows you well enough, and you are prone to use the
names of your favorite cartoon characters as passwords, or something along
that line, it wouldn't take a lot of guessing.

> I even started another account and was told by this person that they knew
> I opened another one, as if there is some kind of global account lookup or
> something.

Or something. This person has somehow gotten a keylogger onto your computer.
Until you can find it, and root it out, you are pretty much hosed.

--
Norman
~Win dain a lotica, En vai tu ri, Si lo ta
~Fin dein a loluca, En dragu a sei lain
~Vi fa-ru les shutai am, En riga-lint