I've been hacked!

drkfaery started this discussion · 5/11/2009

Hey everyone. Well after a horrible weekend of my oldest cat having a stroke and not being able to see my son for Mother's Day I have been hacked. Everything is affected, Myspace, Youtube (they removed all my vids and comments!), facebook, and various forums I'm attached to. Fortunately this site was not targeted and I have my facebook and e-mail accounts back. Myspace wants me to send them a picture for confirmation. I'm having trouble finding any help from youtube though. I feel so violated! Anybody know how I can fix this? Please any advice is helpful! (Veena if this belongs someplace else feel free to move it 🙂 Thanks in advance for the help! xoxoxox

9 replies

Veena · 5/11/2009
what?? wow, that's awful 😲 what is wrong with people, don't they have better things to do? Good grief! 😲 I don't know anything about hacking...I'm sure webmaster does 🤓
Foxy_Rei · 5/11/2009
So what exactly did they do? Just erased all your stuff or was there more to it than that? I'm so sorry this happened to you... Hacking your computer has become just as personal as breaking into your house anymore... 😢
drkfaery · 5/11/2009
I know! I don't understand the people that do this sort of thing. So far it's only been erasing my stuff and sending out friend requests. Not sure what else they plan on doing. 🙁 I hope webmaster can help.
Foxy_Rei · 5/11/2009
Ohhh one of those stupid things... I know with MySpace when your account is "phished" the first thing they tell you to do is change your password. Might be something to try. Another thing you may consider is just canceling all your accounts with those various services (since a lot of it is now gone anyway) and making new ones. HOWEVER if it is something in the actual computer then it may just happen again, so I'm not sure how much good that would do. Is it like a virus that's effected your entire computer, or is it more of a phishing thing that's just getting into all your networking-type accounts and playing around? If it's the latter then just doing the things I said may help, if it's more like a virus then I'm not sure what to tell you other than scan the heck out of it and see what comes up. EDIT: I should also probably mention that phishing is more like a computer hacking your passwords and such as opposed to an actual individual sitting at a computer somewhere typing... it's a bit easier to throw off than the person.
drkfaery · 5/11/2009
Well the problem is with my myspace and youtube is that whoever or whatever did this changed the actual e-mail addresses so I can't change my passwords. I'm not even sure what they changed it to are valid addresses since they are kinda funky looking. I don't have a problem making a new youtube since I just got started there anyway, but myspace I have all my family on there and don't really want then spammed/hacked. Grrrrrrr I want to cry and strangle someone at the same time!
azriel · 5/11/2009
Oh my gosh i'm so sorry about your cat and your son, and i can't believe what happened with your computer! i don't know much about hacking/viruses stuff, but it seems that since friend requests have been sent that it's more likely hacking? i don't know, & don't have any advice, but that really sucks.. i can't believe how pathetic some people are. what the he**, seriously. You should definitely change your passwords, and don't have the same password for all your accounts.. good luck i hope you can somehow save as much as possible 🙁
Foxy_Rei · 5/11/2009
Oh that definitely sounds like phishing to me. (although I'm no expert, that's my disclaimer) A computer basically pirates your network-based accounts on the internet and takes them over: sends out friend requests, sends false messages, puts up fake bulletins, etc. They've also been known to do the same thing with Instant messenger programs - sends out messages to your friends or puts up an away message with a link in it that will make the same thing happen with their computer. If you can't change the passwords or get someone from customer service at those sites to reset them for you, then deleting them and starting over may be the only option. I'd send out an email or something to all your contacts to let them know what happened and have them block your old account if possible. Then make a new one. I'd still do some thorough virus and spyware scans on your computer to make sure there isn't something there. I'm kinda hoping I'm wrong so you don't have to go through all that work... :/
Webmaster · 5/11/2009
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!! As a former Engineer and General Manager for the Geek Squad (Standalone stores, much different than the instore tech benches) I am very familiar with the wonkiness that can be visited upon your life by creative hackers. Here are a couple rules that will keep you safe. 1) If you arrive at a web page that expects you to install software, unless you are 100% positive of the outcome the answer is always no. 2) If you receive an email that appears to be from your bank, amazon.com, ebay, myspace or any other online account and they are asking you to click a link and update your info this is phishing, even if the url looks legit 99% of the time it is being masked by HTML. LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES DEALING WITH YOUR SENSITIVE INFORMATION WILL ASK YOU TO VISIT THEIR SITE NOT CLICK A LINK. 3) Always look for your browser's SSL indicator when you are visiting your bank site or any other sensitive site. 4) IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A VIRUS OR SPYWARE GET IT CLEANED IMMEDIATELY, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS VISIT YOUR BANK OR YOUR MYSPACE PAGE ONCE TO HAVE YOUR LOGIN HIJACKED. And since most people use the same password everywhere once your login is stolen most hackers will try it at all major sites. 5) Always use virus and spyware protection. Avast is one of the better products I have used, along with TrendMicro. Avoid Norton, it is one of the worst product out there, I refused to sell it at my store due to the large number of reinfections compared to other products.
Foxy_Rei · 5/11/2009
So Mr. Webmaster, is what I was suggesting to do right??? 😕 I'd feel bad if I gave her bad advice... also it would be nice to know if it happens to me someday, too...