I Need Some Internet Smarts

Snowman999

Snowman999

Active member
I have a good main password I use for a lot of accounts. I'm not on the net that much. But, I do have accounts with many sites.

About two weeks ago, I received an email from twitter (I'm there about a minute a day, what a cesspool that site is) that someone logged into my account and changed my password. If it wasn't me, I should change my password. At first I marked it as spam. That night when I went to twitter it didn't allow me on. Someone had changed my password. Because I was logging on from my home computer, it allowed me to change the password. It's been fine ever since.

If the person was able to change my password. Do they now know my password?

A few days ago I received an email from ebay saying someone in LA had tried to enter my account. They were blocked. So, I changed that password. Which happened to be the same password as my twitter account.

On the few important sites I visit I've now changed the password. So, if someone is using my old password it won't work.

Today I tried to go onto two of my normal sites and both have 403 errors. This computer is split, so I logged in as the other account and was able to get onto those forbidden sites.

Does it seem like someone has access to my computer? Is there a way for me to check?
 
Man, that's some scary $#!+. I would assume someone has assumed control of your system at some point. Can't do much after the fact that you haven't already done to contain the immediate problem. I must get 400-600 spam emails every day, minimum. I don't click on or otherwise open any of them - straight to the trash bin. Unsolicited emails are spam and may very well contain the malware allowing remote takeovers. Unsolicited "urgent" email or text notifications from any institutions you do business with in any way should not have their links clicked or opened. If your bank says your password(s) have been compromised, don't open the email, immediately email or call them to verify the problem. Likewise for any other business you deal with.

If malware has installed itself on your system(s), it may also allow a remote user to track your keystrokes, which will give them all of your passwords, even after you've changed them. They can get screenshots of all sites you visit - pages displaying bank account routing numbers and such. You may need to have your devices "cleaned", removing all malware. I had an infested laptop 15 years ago and I took it into a local computer shop where they cleaned it of all malware and viruses at a reasonable price.
 
There is a remote chance someone is in your home pc... more likely is once they got into your one account using bot software they searched your username profile and went in where they could and tried to change your passwords. On many sites that's no big deal because they have the check and balance and will send to your e-mail for you to verify it is you...Make sure your main e-mail account has a STRONG password. I have a dozen or so gmail accounts and they all had the same password...mistake..several years ago they got into one and then went into all of mine and started changing the passwords...shit...

Fortunately I have a paid business gmail account where I was able to actually talk to a human and figure out how to try and recover the others...
In regular gmail if you don't know the month and year you established your account you're shit out of luck...consider it gone...it's all AI verification no human interaction and no way to get to a human to try and resolve a stolen account ...no way...

First things first...someone out there knows the password you used
Change every online account you have that is important like bank or credit card or medical to a strong password with a Capital letter in it a symbol like @ $ % ! and a numeric number or two.

That stops them from getting into those accounts..

Long ago someone here advised members here to always have two users on your PC one that has administrative privileges and and one that doesn't. For regular daily use, use the non administrator log in whenever you are on the internet. Yes it is a PITA when your are trying to install a program because you will have to enter the admin password but for that minor inconvenience it 100% stops malware and virus's from getting into your registry where they can own you in a heartbeat.

Change the password on your computer and I encourage to do the above two user thing... a hassle to get set up but worth the effort... Good luck hopefully they are not already in your PC. Based upon what you have told us I don't think they are.
 
Go get a free Bitwarden account.
Then use it to generate a very long/complicated password that is different for each site/account you have.
Reason being that you are not the only one who is vulnerable. Every site you login to/visit has the ability to get breached.
If that happens at least they only know the password to that particular site, and that password is never used elsewhere.
 
Thanks everyone.

I got the sites back. There was something in the "brave" preferences I had to check off. What I don't understand is how it got unchecked. I don't dig on this computer. Thankfully, with the exception of paypal (that password is hard and unique from everywhere else) I don't have any kind of banking online. I still go to the bank. Though it seems like tellers might be a thing of the past sooner than later.
 
Glad you got it worked out. My bank's branches went from crowded lobbies with long wait lines to ghost towns with one teller. I only go inside when I have a paper check or cash to deposit. They have some good security cameras which can I.D. me instantly as I approach the teller. I no longer need to verify my ID, just present the check with a deposit slip to the correct account.
 
dogooder said:
Dump windows and apple operating systems and go Linux and don't worry about it.
Click to expand...
I still have Windows 10 on one laptop {some things won't work without it} but my main tipple is Linux's Zorin OS Lite. Linux has been a revelation 3 years down the line.
 
grimtraveller said:
I still have Windows 10 on one laptop {some things won't work without it} but my main tipple is Linux's Zorin OS Lite. Linux has been a revelation 3 years down the line.
Click to expand...
I haven't had a hack, a crash or a blue screen in over ten years.
 
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