Re: Fw: ✉ something new, don't miss up-- spam watch

[Dale H. Cook]

At 10:07 AM 6/7/2016, Donna Halper wrote:

>... when someone else (not me) got their account hacked, at which point anyone in that person's address book (and I _was_ in that person's address book) got used as the name on the spam messages that suddenly began being generated.

That is the usual MO. A computer gets infected with a spammer's virus that hijacks the contents of the email address book, and the hijacked addresses are spoofed in spam emails.

>I'm not sure what to do about it

There isn't anything you can do about it, as the problem has nothing to do with your computer or accounts. It is a problem, however, that many of us have to cope with as a result of other people who do not properly safeguard their computer security. I have three layers of security on my machines that prevent infections and protect my data including my address book. In addition, it is not likely that my address book could be stolen as I use an email client that has not been supported for a decade, and most hijack programs nowadays are looking for an address book in a current client such as Outlook or Thunderbird.

Dale H. Cook, Contract IT Administrator, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA
http://plymouthcolony.net/starcityeng/index.html