Hacked!
My relaxing Sunday afternoon went up in smoke when I discovered that my ebay, yahoo and gmail accounts had been taken over. I came home on Saturday night and Outlook was rejecting my passwords. I assumed it was a problem on their end so I went to bed. It's not til I tried to leave feedback on my ebay account yesterday and couldn't sign in that I realised there could be a serious problem. I searched for my ebay ID name and a different name came up. Someone had changed my name and ID! So I deduced that this mystery person had changed all my passwords.
I could not work out how it had been done. My passwords were unguessable but once you get into one of my accounts, you simply have to look through my emails and there's lots of old ones that include the password details for various accounts I have. Organisations should never send passwords in an email and I should have deleted them straight away. Never thought it would be an issue though. Anyway I created a new email account and emailed ebay, gmail and yahoo. ebay were slow off the mark but gmail returned my account to me straight away without any hassle. I was so relieved that I sent them a little love letter. This enabled me to see that this hacker person had changed the email address associated with my ebay account and had changed my security question. That explained why when I had tried to go through the "forgotten password" security questions on Saturday night I could not for the life of me work out the answer to "What was your first boyfriend's surname?" I would never have chosen that question because I'm vague about who my first boyfriend was - does primary school count? does it count if I never slept with them? does it count if I hate their guts and refuse to acknowledge their existence? etc - I just would not have chosen that question. I changed my password and security question in ebay but I can't change my ID until 30 days have passed so I'll have a 30 day reminder of this nonsense.
The hacker changed my name but did not change my address. And they did not get into my paypal account. They didn't make any listings or bids. They didn't delete my emails. So what the fuck was their end goal? Yahoo finally returned my account to me this morning and I saw that the mystery hacker had added an alternate email address which was ddisart@yahoo.com. I looked it up on google and only found evidence of them being on an Indonesian money making forum so they have covered their tracks pretty well. *sigh*
I hope that's an end to it. I don't think they'll have found anything in my email inboxes that will help them get into my bank accounts but I've changed those passwords too just in case. I've now got about 10 passwords instead of my manageable 4. How, pray tell, am I supposed to remember all those!?
Other than that, life is moving along slowly. I've been playing a PC game called New York City Tycoon a lot, just because I miss New York. I went out for a curry with a friend and her mates on Saturday night after a psychic reading. I turned down an offer of working in my current school in September (floating/doing what I'm doing now/free-wheeling). I had to give them an answer so that they could ask their second choice. Burning bridges is scary but I think I'd just hate myself if I continued working in this job that does not stretch my talents so this will give me the push I need to start looking for something more challenging. Maybe in the nutrition field or maybe in something different altogether. The school said I am welcome to come back anytime if I need help and I suggested doing an after school club. I'd love to do an after school nutrition club. Obviously that would be on a voluntary basis so whatever paid work I do will have to be flexible enough so that I can still link up with schools whenever I want. We shall see. I just wish people would stop asking me what I plan to do. When I know, they'll know. I know people are just trying to make conversation sometimes but it's a bit irritating.
Thanks for the LJ nudge zoefruitcake ;0). My May resolution: I will try to have a more interesting life so that I can have something to blog about!
I could not work out how it had been done. My passwords were unguessable but once you get into one of my accounts, you simply have to look through my emails and there's lots of old ones that include the password details for various accounts I have. Organisations should never send passwords in an email and I should have deleted them straight away. Never thought it would be an issue though. Anyway I created a new email account and emailed ebay, gmail and yahoo. ebay were slow off the mark but gmail returned my account to me straight away without any hassle. I was so relieved that I sent them a little love letter. This enabled me to see that this hacker person had changed the email address associated with my ebay account and had changed my security question. That explained why when I had tried to go through the "forgotten password" security questions on Saturday night I could not for the life of me work out the answer to "What was your first boyfriend's surname?" I would never have chosen that question because I'm vague about who my first boyfriend was - does primary school count? does it count if I never slept with them? does it count if I hate their guts and refuse to acknowledge their existence? etc - I just would not have chosen that question. I changed my password and security question in ebay but I can't change my ID until 30 days have passed so I'll have a 30 day reminder of this nonsense.
The hacker changed my name but did not change my address. And they did not get into my paypal account. They didn't make any listings or bids. They didn't delete my emails. So what the fuck was their end goal? Yahoo finally returned my account to me this morning and I saw that the mystery hacker had added an alternate email address which was ddisart@yahoo.com. I looked it up on google and only found evidence of them being on an Indonesian money making forum so they have covered their tracks pretty well. *sigh*
I hope that's an end to it. I don't think they'll have found anything in my email inboxes that will help them get into my bank accounts but I've changed those passwords too just in case. I've now got about 10 passwords instead of my manageable 4. How, pray tell, am I supposed to remember all those!?
Other than that, life is moving along slowly. I've been playing a PC game called New York City Tycoon a lot, just because I miss New York. I went out for a curry with a friend and her mates on Saturday night after a psychic reading. I turned down an offer of working in my current school in September (floating/doing what I'm doing now/free-wheeling). I had to give them an answer so that they could ask their second choice. Burning bridges is scary but I think I'd just hate myself if I continued working in this job that does not stretch my talents so this will give me the push I need to start looking for something more challenging. Maybe in the nutrition field or maybe in something different altogether. The school said I am welcome to come back anytime if I need help and I suggested doing an after school club. I'd love to do an after school nutrition club. Obviously that would be on a voluntary basis so whatever paid work I do will have to be flexible enough so that I can still link up with schools whenever I want. We shall see. I just wish people would stop asking me what I plan to do. When I know, they'll know. I know people are just trying to make conversation sometimes but it's a bit irritating.
Thanks for the LJ nudge zoefruitcake ;0). My May resolution: I will try to have a more interesting life so that I can have something to blog about!