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General discussion

my mom called me up in a panic this morning

by grimgraphix Sep 17, 2012 3:53AM PDT

she has fallen prey to the infamous yahoo email hack where someone is emailing all her friends saying she is in a foreign country and needs money quick to get home.

I have no clue how this hack occurs. I am assuming she got phished but don't know how to help her cure the problem, other than changing her pass word.

she is running a macbook pro with snow leopard (I don't know if software is up-to-date).

I'm running over to her house tomorrow to see what I can do. in the mean time, I'm headed to my evening job and won't be back until 10:00 am tonight so I can't give y'all more details than this right now (I told you as much as I know).

I will say this. Her password was fairly good, with a mix of upper/lower case and an unusual phrasing including a number. This is why I'm assuming she got phished.

Thanks folks, for any help.

grim

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

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No hack required.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 17, 2012 4:05AM PDT

Let's be honest here. If I wanted to make it look like your mother sent such an email, all I need is her email address.

Then I can use any common method to "spoof" that it came from that address and then use the Reply-To field in the spoofed email or just send bogus links or even malware.

As long as she is using email, there is a risk someone without ethics can use her email address.
Bob

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Thanks Bob

by grimgraphix Sep 17, 2012 3:52PM PDT

I hadn't considered the problem was spoofing, but the again, I had a hard time deciphering what my mum was trying to explain to me over the phone (while in a panic).

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