• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
brandiD

brandiD

Making the Web More Personal

  • About
  • Work With Us
    • Personal Branding & Platform Building
    • Business Brand Platform
    • Website Design & Development
    • The Dig®
  • Our Work
    • Case Studies
    • Testimonials
  • Blog
    • Resources
  • Podcast
  • Contact
  • Schedule a Call

My Email Got Hacked, Now What??

The other day many of the contacts in my email account received an email from me that simply had a link in it. Some people followed the link and it led to information about Viagra and a “click here” if you want to buy it.

Hacked?

Many friends emailed me letting me know that they got a “strange” message from me. I assured all that I wasn’t moonlighting as a pharma rep selling Viagra online.

Some realized I had been hacked.

Help, Please Send Me Some Cash

Several months ago my friend Laura “sent” an email to her entire contact list informing everyone that she and her husband were on vacation in Scotland and that she had been mugged. In the email she asked that we send money to her and her husband because theirs had been stolen.

Laura’s phone rang off the hook and her blackberry didn’t stop buzzing for the next day as a result of many worried friends checking in on her and her husband. In fact, some friends nearly sent money to her!

What do you do if you’re victim to this kind of behavior?

In my case I contacted AOL (yes, I still have an AOL email account) directly despite the fact that their site clearly states that their phone support is ONLY for customers who have paid accounts. I was lucky enough to get a kind person on the phone that assured me that all I needed to do was change my password.

He went on to explain that this was an Internet virus that gets sent to everyone in my address book. If you click on the link you can contract the equivalent of an e-STD so don’t ever click on those links. Luckily, I have a MAC and they somehow manage to stay virus free. (knock on wood).

What he couldn’t tell me is if my emails had been compromised which didn’t really worry me because I typically never give out my social security number, credit card numbers or any other sensitive info out over email. You shouldn’t either.

Gone Phishing

Laura’s intrusion was a bit more serious and referred to as “phishing.” Phishing is when someone sends an email from you to all your contacts tricking them into emailing back sensitive information. You may have seen similar ones from your bank or other companies you do business with claiming to be a representative and asking for information such as your social security number.

Don’t EVER give your social security number or any other personal information out via your email account. EVER. Even if you are 100% sure who is requesting it don’t put it out there in cyberspace or for someone to find in your “sent” folder of your email account.

Here are some additional pointers from AOL’s site on how to protect your computer from these types of viruses

o Make sure you have antivirus protection on your PC. (If you have not installed any antivirus software, go to
safety.aol.com to find the latest McAfee software provided by AOL).

o Ensure that your antivirus software is up-to-date.

o Run a complete scan of your computer using your antivirus software.

. Remember, strong passwords are a combination of upper case and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters (e.g., @, #, and &).

o Review your “Away Messages” for both your AOL Mail and Instant Messages to ensure that they have not been modified to include spam or other inappropriate content. Please check the articles listed to the right of the article under Related Resources for instructions to set your Away Message for both your AOL Mail and Instant Messages.

o Review your “signatures” for AOL Mail, message board posts, and comments to ensure that they have not been modified to include spam or other inappropriate content. Please check the articles listed to the right of the article under Related Resources for instructions to set your signature for AOL Mail and Message Boards.

Filed Under: General

Primary Sidebar

Insights

& Tips

to build your brand
+ business

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Blog Categories

  • brandiD Spotlight
  • Case Studies
  • Client Launches
  • Content Marketing
  • Copywriting
  • Email Marketing
  • Entrepreneurship
  • General
  • Personal Branding
  • Podcast
  • Social Media Marketing
  • StudioPress / Genesis
  • Website Design
  • WordPress

Uncover your

Personal Brand

"Build Your Brand:
The Distinctive Guide to Soul-Based Marketing"

buy now

What’s your

brandpersona?

Take the free Personal Branding Quiz and uncover what makes YOUR brand memorable.

take the quiz

In the

media

Listen to brandiD founder Rachel Gogos on EOFire.com

listen now

Build a
business that gets noticedonline

Download the free SOULiD Framework guide to Personal Branding and start building your
brand today.

grab the guide

Footer

724.260.0026 — info@thebrandiD.com

John 3:16

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

Copyright © 2023 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service

Smiling People

Book a FREE consultation call with one of our Brand Navigators.

Name(Required)

Smiling People

Congratulations explorer, on completing your Personal Branding Journey!

Your journey doesn’t have to end here, though. Book a FREE consultation call with one of our Brand Navigators. On the call we’ll dig deeper into your personal brand, answer your questions, and provide you with valuable feedback on your journey thus far.

Name(Required)

Ready to uncover your personal brand

Subscribe to get a FREE copy of “Build Your Brand: The Distinctive Guide to Soul-Based Marketing”

Name(Required)
Name(Required)

Get the Editorial Content Calendar

Our editorial calendar serves as a system for scheduling, planning, and outlining the content you want to share across your connection platforms over a given length of time.

  • Enter your information below to get the link sent directly to your email!

  • If your business, organization, or project already has a domain or website, please share the URLs here or put "none" if you don't yet have a domain.
  • Tell us as much as possible about your challenges, goals, and what we can help you with (Personal Branding, Logo Design, Web Design and Development, Copywriting, Online Authority Building, etc).
  • If your budget is under $5,000, check out do-it-yourself options in the the brandiD Themes
  • Please provide best number to reach you at.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.