Help......question about password stealing..

First off, I'm going to flatly state that EMAIL for the most part is passed about in PLAIN TEXT over the internet and if you tap into the right places, you can in fact read other people's email.

Worse, SMTP and POP3 in most implementations use a non-secure method to supply the name and password of the user's account. If you want to have secure communications, you have to encrypt some attachment. Got it?

"Is this software that must be loaded to my computer and if so can that be detected? Is this something that can be done remotely? Anyone with info on this would greatly be appreciated."

How deep down this rabbit hole do we want to go? At the office, I demonstrated this issue with the use of a nice software suite called NeoBoy (a collection of tcp/ip packet sniffers.) "IT Boss" Willy Sherman was shocked at what one could see on the network. We could watch what web sites were being browsed from what workstation, capture an email transmission and more.

A fine equivilent is noted on most cable modem "neighborhoods."

In closing, most internet applications do not use a secure transmission method. For some, this is a rude shock.

Bob

The PWL file which is on your machine might be interesting to some.

http://www.securiteam.com/tools/5BP0C2A55Y.html

Bob

One means of obtaining information is that you receive an e-mail that "in all aspects seems perfectly legit" -- your ISP, e-Bay, or somewhere else that you're well aware of membership, and ask that you verify something to ..... You even check out all the links reflected on the Web site page and every aspect seems perfectly clear. However, when you click the hotlink in the e-mail to furnish the requested information in their "fill-in boxes" and click "Send", more than likely that information isn't going where you'd expect.

Any request from a supposed ligitimate source should be verified first with either a personal phone call or another appropriate route before filling out and sending any information.

Do you trust the people (if any) that have access to your PC? Do you execute attachments from friends? One spam that comes to mind required that you install a trojan on the PC or email a trojan to the PC (that the victim then executed). I believe that some reporter sent in the money and never received anything - it was a fraud.

Spam should be deleted unread. It gives you more peace of mind. There's a good chance that a graphic in the email is letting them know that your email address is valid so even opening spam is not a good idea.

Get Mailwasher or ePrompter to nuke your spam without having to read or download it.