[Olpc-socal] [support-gang] Caryl's Been Hacked. Don't open any messages from her unless the subject is something you know is from her! Maybe me too!

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi...
I doubt it was the password that was the problem... it was probably because I clicked on the link... it was an ad for some type of weight loss product (probably not FDA approved). Then to make it worse, I replied back to the neighbor it appeared to be from, telling her it looked like she had been hacked. If all I had done was open the email and closed it without doing anything else, it probably would have been ok. At first I had thought the email might be something about our homeowners association... that's why I opened it. Live and learn!
I have a new password now and will take steps to switch to a new email provider.
Caryl

> Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:22:07 +1000
> From: quozl at laptop.org
> To: support-gang at lists.laptop.org
> CC: bigenhoc at greenhill.org; wkayers at hotmail.com; olpc-socal at laptop.org; mlbss at hampshire.edu
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-socal] [support-gang] Caryl's Been Hacked. Don't open any messages from her unless the subject is something you know is from her! Maybe me too!
> 
> On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 12:21:00AM -0400, Kevin Mark wrote:
> > On Sun, Jun 17, 2012 at 01:16:54PM -0700, Edward Bigenho wrote:
> > Yup, the first clue with 'no subject' and the content was too short ;)
> > time for a longer password :)
> 
> If you are suggesting that the intrusion was due to a short password,
> I think not.
> 
> The pattern of spread for this intrusion has been clicking on a link
> in mail, being prompted for your password, and typing it in without
> realising that you are actually talking to a third-party web site, and
> not the service you intended to log in to.  The password is then
> captured and abused.
> 
> A longer password does not do anything for that.  I advise against
> choosing a longer password without knowing for sure that it was the
> shortness of the password that contributed to the problem.
> 
> Instead, check that what you are typing your password into ... is the
> site that deserves to be given it.  Looking at the web browser page is
> not enough, one should also look carefully at the location, or URL.
> 
> -- 
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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> OLPC-SoCal at lists.laptop.org
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-socal
 		 	   		  
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