I suspect my Twitter account has been hacked!

[Mr Allen]

Topic.

I received an email from Twitter this morning saying that my account had been accessed from an Android device in Ilford, London. I emailed my Brother, even though I know he doesn't do Twitter, to see if he'd accessed it as I know he knows my password for most things and he says not.

I can't find the email on my Gmail or Hotmail to post it up, might've been deleted.

Is there anything, without just telling me to Google it, that I can do? I will of course change my Twitter password.

 

[tree]

Did you look in your Trash for the email?
Things that get Deleted generally can still be
accessed if you know where to look for them.

 

[Mr Allen]

Did you look in your Trash for the email?
Things that get Deleted generally can still be
accessed if you know where to look for them.

I just checked my Trash folder, it wasn't there, it may have been a text but I don't have my phone to hand, it's on charge at my Parents'.

 

[Judge]

If the original message had a link for you to conveniently click, there's a good chance it was a Phishing attempt. Where once you click the link, they've got you. Though even if such a message was legitimate, it's a good idea to NEVER click on such a link involving that kind of message.

And if the message didn't contain any links, then it well may have been legitimate. Though sometimes I've also heard people send such messages just to harass others with no real intent to hack their accounts.

Either way, the most prudent thing to do is to delete the message and change your password as a security caution. Making sure to use many digits involving random upper/lower case letters, numbers and characters. A pain to recall and use, but it may mean the difference between getting hacked or not.

I once received such a message with such a link on one of my accounts years ago. I just changed and strengthened the password, and haven't heard anything since.

 

[Mr Allen]

If the original message had a link for you to conveniently click, there's a good chance it was a Phishing attempt. Where once you click the link, they've got you. Though even if such a message was legitimate, it's a good idea to NEVER click on such a link involving that kind of message.

And if the message didn't contain any links, then it well may have been legitimate. Though sometimes I've also heard people send such messages just to harass others with no real intent to hack their accounts.

Either way, the most prudent thing to do is to delete the message and change your password as a security caution. Making sure to use many digits involving random upper/lower case letters, numbers and characters. A pain to recall and use, but it may mean the difference between getting hacked or not.

I once received such a message with such a link on one of my accounts years ago. I just changed and strengthened the password, and haven't heard anything since.

I changed my password on Twitter anyway earlier.

 

[Mr Allen]

If the original message had a link for you to conveniently click, there's a good chance it was a Phishing attempt. Where once you click the link, they've got you. Though even if such a message was legitimate, it's a good idea to NEVER click on such a link involving that kind of message.

And if the message didn't contain any links, then it well may have been legitimate. Though sometimes I've also heard people send such messages just to harass others with no real intent to hack their accounts.

Either way, the most prudent thing to do is to delete the message and change your password as a security caution. Making sure to use many digits involving random upper/lower case letters, numbers and characters. A pain to recall and use, but it may mean the difference between getting hacked or not.

I once received such a message with such a link on one of my accounts years ago. I just changed and strengthened the password, and haven't heard anything since.

There was no links.

I suspect I've deleted the message as I suspected it MIGHT be spam.

And no, it's not in my trash folder.

 

[Judge]

There was no links.

I suspect I've deleted the message as I suspected it MIGHT be spam.

And no, it's not in my trash folder.

Sounds good. If you don't receive another such message any time soon, either way with a new and more robust password I wouldn't give it any more thought. After all, no matter what really happened that's about all anyone can do.

 

[pjcnet]

This advice is for all.

Use a password manager such as Lastpass which is free and ensure all your passwords are different, ensure your master password is extremely secure, keep it safe and also make sure all other passwords are random characters of at least 8 characters that are unique (I'd use at least 9 characters), preferably containing a combination of upper case, lower case and numbers (you can also include symbols, but not all systems support all of them). Don't ever use names, words from the dictionary, words with numbers at the end or similar combinations as your password as it is not secure (watch the video).

If you think your passwords are secure, think again after watching this:

And this video was from 2016, password cracking will have advanced even more since then and there is even more powerful hardware available.

Now check whether you have been pwned, E.g. has your information been already leaked? You will be very surprised that a high proportion of people are on this database and this is only known leaks, while many are discovered long after. If you have been pwned, then even if your username and password information is hashed on the leaked database, hackers can use the techniques shown in the video to crack passwords, that's why a secure password is important.

Have I been pwned? Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach

Note: The above site is safe and doesn't actually reveal anyone's password information, it only tells you if your information has been leaked and by what company.

Yes it is frightening to be on this list and many people here will be, but it's meant to be so people will learn. Many companies don't store their password information securely and hackers often will steal people's usernames and passwords, and then test them against various other sites they want to hack into. When data is compromised lots of companies don't even publicise it or warn their users, so even if you're not on this list don't take it lightly.

Also ensure you have adequate antivirus software installed that is kept up to date, there are free ones available if necessary such as Avast or AVG on PC, but paid is usually even better. Windows 7 and above comes with basic antivirus protection, but it's not the best despite some reviews to the contrary and I recommend better. Ideally you will have antivirus protection that also protects you from keyloggers that basically record your keypresses including passwords and send the information to a hacker without you knowing. For a free independent antikeylogger solution there is KeyScrambler that will protect you in most browsers with additional protection for paid users. Some broadband provider subscriptions come packaged with licences to paid antivirus / security software that maybe worth checking out if you haven't already, well they do in the UK at least. I'm not a smartphone expert, but Lastpass is available on Android too as well as antivirus software, obviously only download apps from reputable sources.

Best of luck!

PS: Even social media passwords are worth hacking because spam bots will use accounts to make money, occasionally accounts can be used for worse crimes.

PPS: I see clicking on external links and the dangers has already been discussed and that you need to ensure the message really was from Twitter, not a phishing attempt which is very common.