Kevin's Watch

I originally thought Gmail was a fairly secure platform for email but my third Gmail account has been compromised. Going forward I won't be receiving email from any of my old accounts.
Until I decide on a more secure provider If you need to contact me just send me a kevinswatch message.
Also if you have any suggestions on an alternative email provider let me know.

BTW I change my passwords pretty frequently and they are fairly $uNiqUe%

Tom

I am worried that you are entering your google password somewhere you should not be.

In the space of 12 months, it found 788,000 login credentials stolen via keyloggers (tools that secretly record every key you press), 12 million stolen via phishing (a method of tricking you into giving up your personal information), and 3.3 billion exposed by third-party data breaches.

Of these, you want to hope you've fallen prey to phishing.

I'm sure I've never fallen victim to phishing. I couldn't guess about the other two. Although, if anyone has got my passwords in those ways, I've seen no sign of it. Could be someone got into my account, realized there is nothing of value, and moved on.

I did have one of my gmail passwords exposed in a data breach at some point, but haven't ever had an issue otherwise and no sign that my account was ever accessed or anything like that.

--A

I don't think a data breach explains it happening 3 times, unless it's being stored somewhere that is very, very insecure.

Well, my fault was using that same PW somewhere else. (I know, I know...)

Not saying that was TOM's issue.

--A

I'm with WF.
3 times is really odd.


I like to keep a lot of my login/password information on a google sheet.
So convenient.
I have 2 factor authentication to log into my account but google doesn't allow me to password protect or encrypt Sheets.
WTF????
There are ways to do it but it's a pain.

To clarify with the 3 times thing.
Each time was separated half a decade or more with 3 completely different Gmail accounts.
I am not ruling out the possibility that I may have had a lapse in password diligence each time causing a vulnerability.
This latest issue is accompanied by a report that my email address is compromised on the dark web.
Nothing very troubling has ever come from these issues and I have instantly changed the credentials when discovered but with so much of my finances accessed digitally it seems prudent to take steps to mitigate possible weaknesses in my personal security.



Whatever the cause I feel it's time to give another service a try.
Looking closely at protonmail.

aTOMiC,

Our records show that we owe you $2,037.21 for undelivered merchandise.
Click here to collect: Get Money

Sincerely,
Amazon

Dear auto owner,

This is the last time we will be contacting you regarding your automobile warranty, which, as we have stated in our previous communication, is about to expire.

Please press one to speak to a warranty resource agent.

This will be our final communication...until the next time.

Your pals at

Warranty services department.

Yes WF. You caught me. My last post sounds like I am the author of my own scam now that I have read it a second time.

I got this in my email this morning:

CHASE bank
Payment Amount: $214.39
Payment Method: Quickpay
Payment Date: June 11, 2021
Please approve the payment by clicking “Approve payment" or click "Decline Payment" to stop the payment immediately if you do not recognized the transaction and money will not be debited from your account.
Set up your automatic payments on payalerts-chase.org or on the mobile app.

Its to make me think someone is fraudulently trying to get my money. That way I click the links to stop it, not realizing I am falling right into their trap. I just delete them as they show up.

This one was new. Usually its Paypal or Amazon.

I think the Nigerian Prince finally retired.

I use apple everything and never had a solitary problem over the past umpteen years.

I also have an icloud account which is 100% reliable and for the business I use outlook.

No one ever hacked an icloud account... except for all those times.

Well Ive never been hacked and I know nothing of other iCloud accounts ..

Im a big apple fan and find their devices are so much more rigorous from a security AND diversity pov.

SoulBiter wrote:I got this in my email this morning:

CHASE bank
Payment Amount: $214.39
Payment Method: Quickpay
Payment Date: June 11, 2021
Please approve the payment by clicking “Approve payment" or click "Decline Payment" to stop the payment immediately if you do not recognized the transaction and money will not be debited from your account.
Set up your automatic payments on payalerts-chase.org or on the mobile app.

Its to make me think someone is fraudulently trying to get my money. That way I click the links to stop it, not realizing I am falling right into their trap. I just delete them as they show up.



This one was new. Usually its Paypal or Amazon.

This!! A lot of people do not realize when you click unsubscribe you are actually notifying hackers/scammers/marketing/etc that your email is real and now could be sold /used by another website/service/company. Scammers/hackers send out a wide net of email names knowing that some are not good emails and will be rejected but if they catch your email in their net ...well of they go.

As Soulbiter states delete emails you do not want.

Skyweir wrote:Well Ive never been hacked and I know nothing of other iCloud accounts ..

Im a big apple fan and find their devices are so much more rigorous from a security AND diversity pov.

Pfffft to Apple.

--A

A few years ago, someone tried to collect a fast refund from the IRS using my SSN. It could have been a problem if I was owed a refund. Every year since, IRS sends me a new pin #.

That’s brilliant Damelon that they do that

Avatar wrote:

Skyweir wrote:Well Ive never been hacked and I know nothing of other iCloud accounts ..

Im a big apple fan and find their devices are so much more rigorous from a security AND diversity pov.

Pfffft to Apple.

--A

I see your “Pffffft” and raise you a double “Pffffft” lol

I’ve never had an issue - and all my devices synch to each other!! I rarely use my laptop as the phone can do pretty much everything it can

I'm too into customising and tweaking and upgrading my setup. Although apparently Apple is getting better at that, I prefer systems that are user-serviceable.

--A