Help - think I have been hacked!

[Jen Red Purple]

Heard yesterday about the password thefts so have tried to change my aol pw (webmail only, not my ISP).

I couldn't do it - got a page about cookies. So I tried again and was asked a security q, got in and wandered about looking for help to change the pw.

At one point, the corner of the screen said Sign out flibble7 - this is the problem: flibble7 (not real btw) is my pw, NOT my screen-name. I know pws are not meant to ever show on screen.

So have I already been hacked or is this another problem? AOL help seem to be working on something at the moment.

Please help put my mind at rest. My PC seems slower already although I may be imagining that!

Thanks for looking.

[Jen Red Purple]

Been googling and aol have had probs with email changes before so it may be ok.

Would still appreciate help from someone knowledgable please. Going offline now to run a scan.

Thanks for looking.

[modem]

Jen - had similar problems starting from lunchtime yesterday. Finally got back in about 11am today. Maybe AOL had shut down the service whilst they were checking it out?

It seems that the problem is only for people who provided their details to one of those scam e-mails asking you to provide e-mail addreses etc. So if you have never fallen for the one of those you should be ok.

[Jen Red Purple]

Thanks for that info - no, I have never knowingly provided email addresses so it is probably just a glitch.

Good of you to take the time; thanks again. :smilee:

[Mary from Italy]

It seems that the problem is only for people who provided their details to one of those scam e-mails asking you to provide e-mail addreses etc. So if you have never fallen for the one of those you should be ok.

No, the experts are now saying that the passwords may have been detected automatically by a keylogging program, which can get into your system through certain times of malware.

[Jen Red Purple]

Oh no! Thanks Mary.

So I am in danger. Anybody got any ideas please? It's alright being told to change your pw but all the time you can't you are open to more problems.

Please help me, someone - is Dave, Wendy or Ron around?

Thanks.

[Grimsqueaker]

Seems very odd that it should display your password rather than your screen name...

TBH I would be contacting AOL's own technical helpline as they should be able to perform a password reset for you (thus protecting your account) and then send you details of how to set your password to something memorable...

[Jen Red Purple]

Thanks for replying.

I will try to contact them.

[Jen Red Purple]

Phew, managed to find a way to change it by pretending I had forgotten it. An d in the instructions page it did say that some items may not display properly (I think to do with cookies) so hopefully that explains the pw showing.

Thanks again Tim. x