Some tips to avoid getting your e-mail hacked, and what to do after.

[calliopeoracle]

Lately I have been getting a rash of spam emails from my friends, and I thought that this may help!

Before you get hacked:

• Change your password. Technology is changing and classic wisdom of hard to remember passwords are less secure than we used to think. This XKCD comic sums it up nicely! http://xkcd.com/936/ Your email password is probably the most important password you have, having something strong is vital. Most of the sites you will visit will use your email to reset their passwords. If someone gets to your email, they get to every other site that you have linked to it.  Pick something long with random words that you will remember. Birthdays, loved ones or pet names, or annaversaries are all still bad ideas!
• If your email offers it, enable two factor authentication. Not sure if you can? This link can help: http://lifehacker.com/5938565/heres-everywhere-you-should-enable-two+factor-authentication-right-now
• Erase your contacts. Most spambots that hijack your email perpetuate by sending bad links to everyone on your contacts list. It’s not too much harder to search for an email address, create a document on your own computer with addresses, or write it down on paper, and it saves your friends the hassle of dealing with potentially dangerous links.
• Don’t log on to e-mail/facebook/etc on unfamiliar computers, especially public computers. You don’t know what kind of software is installed. If you cannot live without logging on to those sites when you don’t have access to familiar computers, either invest in a smart phone (and you still have to be careful when using wifi), or get a usb drive and try using portable apps. http://portableapps.com/ It’s not foulproof, but it helps.
• Don’t fill out memes or questionnaires that ask for your maiden name/childhood pet/where you grew up/birthday/etc. These things are what your security questions are to reset your most commonly used passwords! Don’t post that stuff publicly!
• Know your friends/Don’t click on strange links! It’s always been easy for me to identify dangerous links from friends, because my friends never email me links without some text. If something seems off or strange, don’t click it! You can always ask them later if they meant to send that link.
• Watch out for emails from companies/games that want you to respond via a link conveniently provided in the email. My inbox was absolutely flooded with emails pretending to be from Blizzard, and with spoofing they were almost impossible to tell from the real thing. If in doubt (and always be in doubt) TYPE IN THE WEBSITE DIRECTLY. Don’t follow their link. DON’T FOLLOW THEIR LINK. EVER. If you go directly to their website via a new browser page, you can verify if they need something when you log in, or you can always call the company. They don’t want you to get hacked either, and will help you verify the email.

After you get hacked: So you did all this and it still happened. Don’t worry! It happens to us all sometimes. Here’s some things you can do to minimize the damage.

• Change your passwords. See above, but now you really want to go through and change all of the passwords to sites that send their password reset info to that email address. Especially your social networking sites, and any site that has access to bank account or credit card info. I’m talking paypal, bank sites, shops, etc. If you find the passwords on any of those have already been changed, immediately reset them, contact the site owners, and your bank/credit card.
• Warn your friends. Let people know that there was an issue and while you’re working on fixing it, they should be wary of anything sent by you previously.
• Run a malware scanner. This will pick up malicious software like keyloggers, trojans or anything other than a virus, things that will make it easier for you to get hacked again. Malwarebytes is a good free one. http://www.malwarebytes.org/
• Run your virus checker. You probably didn’t get a virus, but it is always better to be safe. If you don’t have antivirus and do have a PC, you can get free antivirus from Microsoft: Microsoft Security Essentials http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download

On a side note: if you seem to be getting a lot of spam from emails claiming to be your friends, using your name and theirs, but the email isn’t theirs, it is probably from a social networking site that uses that email as a log on. Change your passwords!

I know a lot of you are already savvy, but feel free to pass this on to family and friends who may not be as technologically inclined. Also, feel free to add more tips and tricks, I’m sure I haven’t come close to covering everything.  Originally posted @ http://calliopeoracle.dreamwidth.org/14541.html