Protection from spoofed emails
I am getting emails from my own email account advising I have been hacked, they have my password (albeit an old one) and will divulge information about me.
I have changed passwords for every single login I use to be sure and confident they are spoofing me somehow but do not have any of this control they claim to have.
On the internet last night I saw references to SPF and DKIM
I have my own basic hosting package with HostGator using cpanel, is it one of these services I need to request from them, do I need to change some of my email settings / security or do I need to change something with 123-reg who hold my domains?
They have both offered me so many diferent things in recent months but not sure which one is required.
I have changed passwords for every single login I use to be sure and confident they are spoofing me somehow but do not have any of this control they claim to have.
On the internet last night I saw references to SPF and DKIM
I have my own basic hosting package with HostGator using cpanel, is it one of these services I need to request from them, do I need to change some of my email settings / security or do I need to change something with 123-reg who hold my domains?
They have both offered me so many diferent things in recent months but not sure which one is required.
McKnife
These mails are fake. They use leaked passwords that they bought. They did not hack you and there is no need for action on your machine but need for action on accounts (mail accounts, web portals, web shops) that you still use the old password on.
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I get these emails on several accounts. But when I look at the headers, they are not actually coming from any of my accounts. I just delete them. You can not stop people from sending emails to your email address. You many be able to create message filters to get rid of them.
The thing about SPF and DKIM is ... if every system on the internet used them, these things would be helpful. Unfortunately most systems either
a) ignore them or
b) let the email go through anyway, sometimes with a vague note about bad SPF or DKIM, but more often not.
There is, alas, no way to request strict enforcement of SPF and DKIM for your domain.
Regarding getting emails from your own account -- as Dave says, if you enable "view full headers" in an email reader and chase backwards through the header chain, you will see that they did not originate from anything you control. It's trivially easy to spoof any email address desired as long as the sender has access to a cooperating email relay.
a) ignore them or
b) let the email go through anyway, sometimes with a vague note about bad SPF or DKIM, but more often not.
There is, alas, no way to request strict enforcement of SPF and DKIM for your domain.
Regarding getting emails from your own account -- as Dave says, if you enable "view full headers" in an email reader and chase backwards through the header chain, you will see that they did not originate from anything you control. It's trivially easy to spoof any email address desired as long as the sender has access to a cooperating email relay.
ASKER
All I can say is wow and thanks for all your input on this, I have things to consider from DNS setup through to email client & config.
Have a great holiday period!
Have a great holiday period!