Have your friends been telling you that they have been getting emails from you with links to unscrupulous websites? It is likely that your email account has been "hacked." Yahoo email accounts seem to be a prime target as of late. Here's a little information on passwords and what you can do to combat the situation and get control of your Yahoo email once again.
It seems that more and more people are having their email accounts with Yahoo taken over by spammers who send out email after email from your "hacked" account with links that are likely to get the recipient infected with malware. I use the term "hacked" here a bit loosely, as more than likely some computer program has guessed your "weak" password. Programs have been designed that will go through a list of top passwords people use and see if they work for your account. If you have been one of of those unfortunate people to use an easily guess-able password, then "Peggy" in the Ukraine now has control over your account and can easily use it to send their spam to everyone in your address book. What's an easily guessable password? Well for starters, if you password is on this list of top passwords used, you might want to change it.
- password
- 123456
- 12345678
- qwerty
- abc123
- monkey
- 1234567
- letmein
- trustno1
- dragon
- baseball
- 111111
- iloveyou
- master
- sunshine
- ashley
- bailey
- passw0rd
- shadow
- 123123
- 654321
- superman
- qazwsx
- michael
- football
If yours didn't make this list, you're not necessarily safe. Strong passwords are the key to good online security. Here's another example of what not to do:
If you have been the victim, specifically of a Yahoo email hijacking, you can do the following to confirm and address the problem.
Step 1
Log into your Yahoo email and click on your profile name.
Step 2
Then, select Account Info from the drop down menu. You may be prompted to re-enter your password to confirm your identify. This is normal.
Step 3
In the next screen, select View your recent sign-in activity.
Step 4
In the next screen, you will see a list of when and from where you have signed into your account.
Step 5
If you see entries that look suspicious, follow the recommendations in the lower part of the screen.
Other web based email systems are likely to have similar ways of reviewing your security options. Good luck. Stay safe. And, Happy Computing!
