Someone has hacked into my Hotmail account and subsequently, my Facebook account. I am not sure how to solve this. Please help.
Hotmail and Facebook Hackers
We’ve had quite a few reports of Hotmail (and many other online Webmail) users having their accounts hijacked. Accounts can be hacked in several ways including by malware that spreads itself from computer to computer and phishing scams as well as by people who have managed to crack passwords with malware and phishing being the more common problems. In fact, it only takes clicking a single link to become infected!
Account Hijacking
Once the account has been hacked into, what typically happens is that messages then go out to all of your contacts and friends. Of course, these messages are not being sent by you, but to your contacts and friends, it sure looks that way. These messages usually contain links to dangerous sites, putting your contacts and friends at risk for infection as well. Your password may be changed by the hacker, making it difficult for you to solve the problem. In addition, if Hotmail or Facebook notice suspicious activity, the account may be suspended.
Getting Your Hotmail and Facebook Accounts Back
Before attempting to get your accounts restored, it’s smart to run a complete system scan using the latest antivirus and antispyware definitions from your computer security software. Since it’s likely that your computer has malware monitoring it, removing the threat before you change the passwords ensures that the hackers won’t have access to your newly secured accounts.
A recent article, Hotmail Account Hacked, discusses how to get your Hotmail account back. As for Facebook, you have a couple of different options. One is to click the “reset password” link which will send a link to your e-mail account for resetting the password. However, if you used your Hotmail address as your primary address with Facebook and you no longer have access to your Hotmail account because of the hijacking, this won’t do any good until you can get your Hotmail account back.
Facebook has a special page for just such a situation. Go here: Security: My Account was Hacked and click the link that says, “Someone has access to my e-mail address and has changed the password for my account.” This will open a form that you can fill out in order to re-establish communications with Facebook. There are also several other links on this page, including one for reporting the hacking so make sure to read the links carefully and click any that apply.
Many users have let their guards down when using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. While most computer users know better than to open strange e-mail attachments, they don’t think twice about following links that appear in their social media accounts. Real-time anti-malware products and refusing to click on unsolicited links are among your best choices for preventing future problems.
Celeste Stewart | June 8th, 2009
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