Hacked email or what?

[cmayna]

Wife is getting emails from a few of her friends with the typical "Hey, check out the attached" in the subject and then "you got to check this out in the body and yes there is a link. She knows better than to click on any such attachment.



What I see when looking at the details is that the name of her friends is correct but the actual email address associated with the name is different, typically from Europe. So my question is, what's been hacked? Her friends name? or my wife's email address? What do you suggest?

 

[janschutz]

usually the sender account has been hacked. I recently got an email from one of my accounts (along with several family members). A quick change of that accounts password prevented more emails form the hacked account.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Starts in the sender's account, then it spreads using their address book. They don't even need to send it. It'll do it on its own. Pretty much anyone in that sender's address book that has opened that attachment has been compromised.
Run a malware scan and change the email password.

 

[1497]

email address harvesting by bots and then spoofing the sender's name. the hacked account is like the 6 degrees of separation, it could be anyone deep into linked associations.

 

[cmayna]

Starts in the sender's account, then it spreads using their address book. They don't even need to send it. It'll do it on its own. Pretty much anyone in that sender's address book that has opened that attachment has been compromised.
Run a malware scan and change the email password.

So my wife needs to tell her friends to change their email password?

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Just to be on the safe side, yes.

 

[opentrackerSteve]

I bet it's porn related.