My email has been hacked. Does this mean that the hacker can get into all of my computer or just the email? I am assuming that Hacker has access to any accounts that have been emailed.
HELP
If someone got into your email account (such as hotmail.com or yahoo.com or gmail.com), it means that they know your password.
They're not in your computer, most likely, but just know your password for that email account.
Changing it is usually all that needs to be done, but they have already captured your contacts list (friends email addresses). They may send emails "as" you to your friends, who may assume that they are safe to open. (and attachments within could then infect your friends, to repeat the process)
If you use the SAME password anywhere else, as you do for that email account, those other places are in danger. Any place that used that same email address and password combination, for registration, should be changed ASAP. Hackers will often try that email and password at popular banks, forums such as this one, etc.
The question then becomes "How did they get your password"? Was a site hacked that used that same combo? Did they just guess it randomly? Is there spyware on your computer that is logging keystrokes and forwarding all of your passwords to hackers? It might make sense to do a quick and free SCAN of the computer, to make sure it is clean of malware, keyloggers, or spyware. A decent free scanner is at
www.malwarebytes.org The free edition is sufficient for a one time scan.
I hope this is helpful,
Mike
PS: Would you like this moved to the computer forum?
