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Hotmail repeatedly Hacked

I have a Hotmail account which I use for a lot of my communications due to convenience. Lately, it has been getting hacked on a regular basis. I change the password every time, but it's happened at least a few times in the last two months.

Basically it sends out mass email spam links to all of my contacts from my account (not a spoofed reply-to message). As these are friends, family, and business contacts, this is embarrassing and I would like to put an end to it and hopefully retain this email account.

This happens when I am not on any of my computers. All of them have anti-virus software installed. Am I leaving some sort of door open for these attacks?

Thanks in advance!

SOLUTION

athomsfere

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Paul MacDonald

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chrisyano

ASKER

According to Hotmail, each successive password is "Strong". I do use wireless internet but on secured networks (ie, password-protected routers). My PCs all have either AVG or McAfee running.

Admittedly, the scans may not be up to date on my McAfee machines because these are work machines and they take forever and slow down the machine. Unless this is an indication of a virus?

I do have a Macbook Pro, which runs Parallels (also with AVG). The Mac side, however, is not secured as running AVG for Mac caused too many problems with other devices.

Thanks!

chrisyano

ASKER

@paulmacd

I don't know much about rootkit detectors, but I am open to trying that.

As for financial work--I check those fairly regularly and haven't had issues to date.

I'm not 100% certain about it not being a spoofed header, however, the emails do seem to be generated from my account (there are "sent" messages in my sent mail folder).

The password recovery email addresses are still correct.

Paul MacDonald

A rootkit (a low-level hack of the operating system) won't show up with a typical antivirus scan, so I advise running something like Rootkit Revealer (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897445) or its ilk.

Also, if you can just use one machine or the other for a week or two to see if the problem disappears, that will go a long way toward determining if the problem is machine specific.

chrisyano

ASKER

@paulmacd

I will run the one you linked.

Unfortunately, there are two machines that I must use for work purposes (each serves its own purpose in my business), and the third is my personal laptop which gets some usage as well. That makes using only one machine for a couple of weeks basically impossible--unless you are referring to internet usage only.

Paul MacDonald

I mean only access HotMail from one machine. If the hacking stops, that machine is probably not a suspect. Move on to another and try it for a while. If the hacking still doesn't repeat, it's likely the last computer is the issue.

chrisyano

ASKER

Oh, OK. I can limit Hotmail to one PC without too much difficulty. In the meantime I will be running those rootkit detectors on two PCs and perhaps my Macbook's Windows as well.

SOLUTION

madunix

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chrisyano

ASKER

I am currently running the rootkitrevealer on one machine.

@madunix
I do change passwords frequently, but I will admit that I use a handful of them for multiple sites. Thing is, it seems only Hotmail gets hacked so I haven't been all that worried about the others to date. Thanks for the input.

chrisyano

ASKER

Thanks. I am going to post my results from the Rootkit Revealer once it finishes its scan. So far it doesn't look like any issues, but I will repost another question with a fresh point award for more help.

Thanks!