Spam email following site hack

[Dukedog]

I think I must be one of the lucky ones as I have yet to receive an E mail from "anonymous"

 

I feel a bit left out if the truth be known

 

Cheers

Frank

[beast66606]

I guess the recommendation should be to change your password elsewhere if it's the same as the one you use here, and also simple/short?

 

The simplest recommendation is never to use simple/short passwords, full stop, end of.

[GC Jack]

No problems for me either, no extra spam.

 

Jack

[45156]

^{Following on from the recent cyber attack, I decided to run a full scan on my laptop, and when I did, my anti-virus system (AVG) offered me a new version of the internet protection at no charge - it included a one-shot PC cleanup routine - or an option to buy it for a year at no cost. I ran the update and it took ages. I then ran the cleanup, and was astounded to find that my PC apparently had over 12000 errors of various types on the C drive, many were junk files. The cleanup took over fifteen minutes to rectify the errors, but I've got to say that since it did, my laptop is running a lot smoother than it was. For those non computer literates on here, I'd recommend using one of these applications as they do seem to be useful and helpful.}

[PenrithBeacon]

After a nasty experience with the Bluebell Yahoo Group ten years ago I don't give my email address out to sites like this so I haven't been spammed. I have to say that I'm amazed that personal data hasn't been encrypted, I expect that it is now.

 

Like a good many people I have two email addresses, a public one and a private one. It's best to use the public one when involved with e-commerce sites and chat rooms. It's easier to control spam that way.

 

Regards

[Kenton]

Of course those who use email client programs with aggressive junk email filtering will not have been on the receiving end of this email (or the many other similar emails circulating) as they will have been filtered out.

 

One of the best filters is to allow through only emails sent by emails in your own "allow" list. Though that alone only protects you from "friends/sites" who have not allowed their email to be hijacked.

 

Another good tip is to use one of the many free anonymous email sources to "sign up" for all social media. (eg. gmx.com - or similar) these emails can be kept alive as long as you like, even redirected, or just used once to get the usual "signed-up link" and then forgotten about. This means that your real email is never exposed to the world.

[beast66606]

Only allowing known emails to get to your inbox is fine until an old friend changes email address and sends you an email to let you know ..

 

Follow my advice regarding users and you will be largely protected from nasties, additionally don't open attachments unless you are expecting them (even from friends, especially if they have content such as "Hey, look at this great tool" - the tool is then you for opening it), never give out passwords for anything (note, bank account numbers and sort codes are NOT secure details and can be given out for valid reasons such as electronic banking, in the old days this was done on what we used to call "a cheque")

 

A good general tip is to be sensible about what you use and where you use it (information wise)

 

Lets not be paranoid that every email and/or site is out to "get" you as some would have us believe.

[martin_wynne]

Lets not be paranoid that every email and/or site is out to "get" you as some would have us believe.

 

Agreed. I can't understand why folks get so worked up about a spam email which is easily dealt with by a single press on the Delete key.

 

Rogue spam filters losing important emails have caused me far more grief than any spam email ever did. The cure is worse than the problem.

 

The best defence is easy to do -- set your email program to read your emails in plain text, not HTML.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[Kenton]

Only allowing known emails to get to your inbox is fine until an old friend changes email address and sends you an email to let you know ..

 

Odd that, it never causes me a problem. I usually speak to my friends or use other forms of communication as well as email. It is amazing how physically attached some folk have become to their email and mobile phones - there was life before these often annoying gadgets. Useful things they are but I will never allow my life to be dictated by them.

 

Send me an email and if I don't know you or the email is coming then I will not receive it. Phone me and you will get an answerphone, phone my mobile and you will find it switched off.

[Andy Y]

Does the postie have to wait for an invite to come round too?

[Michael Delamar]

[Kenton]

Does the postie have to wait for an invite to come round too?

 

Invite is always open - just has to negotiate the one of two junk mail traps

They are pretty good at recycling junk mail.

[Belsay Lad]

The postman always rings twice then?

[beast66606]

Odd that, it never causes me a problem.

 

Odd that none of the paranoia you seem to have affects me either, but each to their own. I never miss emails because they aren't on a list, so when a very distant relative from Australia emailed asking about my family I could help them, when people email asking for advice about signalling, I can help them, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

[DavidR]

I'm on the list from Anonymous. Got a spam e-mail- didn't open it -deleted it. end of story (one hopes).

[melmerby]

Why not use a program like Mailwasher?

 

You can check e-mails before they get to your inbox and you can have blacklists and whitelists to filter your mail into good or spam.

You don't have to have automatic delete for anything before you check it.

 

Keith

[TheEngineShed]

The simplest recommendation is never to use simple/short passwords, full stop, end of.

 

If you are using a strong password, upper and lower case, plus numerals and characters, and your password is over eight characters, even if they obtained the hash values off of RMweb, the hackers are very unlikely to figure out your password. It is not impossible, just very unlikely they will spend the enormous amount of computing power required to get there. And if that password is unique to this forum, what's it worth? Not much, especially if you have no admin privileges at RM web...