Computer Issue
I got hacked…or something. Had a serious problem with email last evening around 10 pm PST. Very personal and very nasty emails went out to writing/reader loops of which I’m a member. They are under my email address. These are not from me. I know I can be clueless and do some jerky things, but I rarely rise to the level of being this much of an ass. Yeah, the content is that bad.
AOL and Yahoo insist all is fine now. Some sort of trace is being run on my accounts. The one thing that did happen is all emails on my system dated before 11pm PST last night are gone. AOL erased them. If you wrote me and are expecting a response, please write again. The email is fine now. No viruses or trouble - I promise! I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Personal apologies to Cindy, Shelley and Darlene - the subjects of the nasty emails.
To everyone else: Check and make sure you have a firewall on your computer. Also, clean out your old email (in your inbox, saved, recently deleted and otherwise) because there can be viruses and other nasties in there. Both the AOL tech person and the Dell guy who entered my system remotely lectured me on this.
Going offline for a few hours while AOL plays…
UPDATE: It had something to do with phishing and MySpace. See, I got an email about a month ago that was one of those “XXXX wants to be your friend” emails you get when you have a MySpace account. At the time, I followed the advice of my lovely webmistress and friend Mica and did not click on the link in the email, notified MySpace, etc. Unfortunately, I ignored the part where she told me to erase the damn email. Common sense, I know, but I didn’t do it. Instead, I saved it in my “saved” file on AOL. Last night while cleaning things out, I opened the email, did not notice which email this was, clicked on the link, went on to MySpace and put in my new password…yeah, dumb. I did not realize what I did until this morning. The damage is done. The upsetting part is that someone I know and someone who is familiar with writing loops did this. I’ve decided not to think about that part. The real problem was me. I messed up. Everything is fine now…except my nerves which are fried!
October 27th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Happy Halloween!
October 27th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I have gotten some wierd emails from some of the loops I belong to. I reported them to the loop owner and haven’t had any since.
October 27th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
A personalized hack is probably the most upsetting of all. Not only were you violated, it was done by someone you know. Needless to say I’m kind of curious…
October 27th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Whoa, that sucks. Hope everything is fixed now, and sorry you had to put up with the aggravation on top of everything else, the fires, you’re dealing with.
October 27th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Thank you all. Really, the people who have received the emails and who were the subjects of the emails were very sweet about all of this. I am so relieved.
Walt - This is why your wife wisely does not let me near anything important on my website. I wish I could blame AOL or some other service provider,but I made the mistake. I have no one to blame but me for not listening to Mica and for opening that email.
October 27th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Glad you got it all worked out. Sometimes those emails are so tempting and worded just right.
Also glad to hear you and yours are safe from the fires.
October 27th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
How horrible. I’m sorry this has happened to you. And I’m not computer savvy. That really sucks. Makes me nervous that something like this could happen.
October 27th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Oh and so glad you got it all resolved.
October 28th, 2007 at 5:15 am
I hope the troubles are all cleared up w/ the emails. Amazing what some ppl will do to others for “fun”.
Happy Halloween!
October 28th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Egad, HelenKay, that’s awful. I can’t be the Cindy you’re speaking of, can I? I haven’t received any nasty emails about myself. Must be some other poor Cindy!
I don’t understand about clicking the link in the email. Aren’t you supposed to click the link to approve or deny the friend request?
The ones I make sure not to respond to any more are the MySpace Messages (as opposed to Friend Requests) that say something along the lines of “So-and-So Friend found this interesting article about you” or something. And if you click the link, you get phished. Been there, done that, ripped up the T-shirt.
I’m reading YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY and enjoying it very much. Good work!
October 28th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
that is awful i will emai u again
October 28th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Oh, HelenKay–I am so sorry this happened! Talk about a situation that sucks. I’m glad you’ve gotten things sorted out now.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:51 am
So sorry to hear this happened, Helen! Glad you were able to fix it
October 30th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I’m sorry your having computer problems I hope things go better for you and you get more writing done than you thought you would
October 30th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
did u receive my email? thank s
October 31st, 2007 at 10:58 am
That is aweful. I am glad you were able to get it resolved.