How prone are these phones to bugs, viruses, etc

[streetstrip01]

Last night, I noticed all of the email address that I have in my contacts/phone number area were sent various emails with differing subject lines that directed them to a link with cheap Viagra, Cialis, pain pills, etc.

How common is it for these phones to get the phone herpes?

 

[coolbreeze]

It probably isn't because of your phone. You may need to check your computer out for spyware. I would think it is more than likely to be that. The only thing it could possibly be with your phone is if you downloaded a bad app. Even then, the app would have told you it needed access to your contacts when you installed it. So always make sure app permissions match the point of the app.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[jd07bos]

install LOOKOUT mobile security, its free......

 

[streetstrip01]

It probably isn't because of your phone. You may need to check your computer out for spyware. I would think it is more than likely to be that. The only thing it could possibly be with your phone is if you downloaded a bad app. Even then, the app would have told you it needed access to your contacts when you installed it. So always make sure app permissions match the point of the app.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

I originally thought my laptop was the issue, but the only email adresses affected were the ones I have save in my phonebook.

I can't think of any cross between the two where the laptop would know what contacts my phone had.

Let's see what LOOKOUT has to offer.

Thanks all.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

There are lots of ways things like this can happen.

Usually, all it takes is a "hacker" getting your contact list, then sending emails on your behalf, however, If you can actually see these emails in your "Sent" items bin, that indicates that whomever hacked your account actually has access to your email account.

First thing to do is change your email password IMMEDIATELY.

One example of how I've seen this happen is via phishing. You get an email from what appears to be a trusted source, i.e. "facebook", however you're actually being routed to a fake login page. Next you enter your email address and password to login, however all you've really done is given away critical information. They now have your email address, and if your email password is the same, they can gain full access to your account.

If it is something on your phone, it's time to look very carefully at what apps you've installed.

 

[wildman]

I originally thought my laptop was the issue, but the only email adresses affected were the ones I have save in my phonebook.

I can't think of any cross between the two where the laptop would know what contacts my phone had.

Let's see what LOOKOUT has to offer.

Thanks all.

This is a known issue with online html email clients, if your pc is used to log into your email then it can be infected, my Yahoo account had this issue because my nieces pc sent me a email that was infected by the Viagra item and it then attempted to send out to all my contacts in that accounts. Your PC is still probably the nature of your issue.

 

[streetstrip01]

There are lots of ways things like this can happen.

Usually, all it takes is a "hacker" getting your contact list, then sending emails on your behalf, however, If you can actually see these emails in your "Sent" items bin, that indicates that whomever hacked your account actually has access to your email account.

First thing to do is change your email password IMMEDIATELY.

One example of how I've seen this happen is via phishing. You get an email from what appears to be a trusted source, i.e. "facebook", however you're actually being routed to a fake login page. Next you enter your email address and password to login, however all you've really done is given away critical information. They now have your email address, and if your email password is the same, they can gain full access to your account.

If it is something on your phone, it's time to look very carefully at what apps you've installed.

Yeah, they were in my sent folder. I have my own email addy in my contacts in case I need to send a cell pic to my self or whatever. Well, what tipped me off was that I got an email from myself, so I looked at it, and it was a link saying something like "this was the best time ever, glad you made it..." or whatever. So I checked my sent folder and I had 6 or 7 other email sent to people that I havn't talked with in some time.

What really pissed me off is that I had some personal emails from my patient's in there, and they got an email trying to sell them boner biscuits. Kinda embarrassing, but I sent them out one apologizing and explaining what happened.


Grrrrr.

If I had an iPhone, this would have never happened lol

 

[streetstrip01]

This is a known issue with online html email clients, if your pc is used to log into your email then it can be infected, my Yahoo account had this issue because my nieces pc sent me a email that was infected by the Viagra item and it then attempted to send out to all my contacts in that accounts. Your PC is still probably the nature of your issue.

Wonderful.

I am betting facebook has something to do with this. All of my friends have had their accounts hacked recently, I am guessing I got a little of the splatter.

 

[natehoy]

Wonderful.

I am betting facebook has something to do with this. All of my friends have had their accounts hacked recently, I am guessing I got a little of the splatter.

I'm betting it has a whole lot more to do with Facebook than your phone.

The only two ways the email would appear in your outbox are:

1. Someone violated your Gmail account itself, not using your phone (the "sent mail" folder syncs with yoru phone like all the others).
2. Someone hacked your phone and used it to actually send the emails.

#1 is a whole lot more likely, especially if your Gmail and some other account had a common password.

If your email and Facebook passwords are the same, then you need to change that. Right now.

Having the same password for any two accounts means that if someone hacks one of them, they have ALL of them. Your Gmail account should be very secure and very different from ALL other passwords anywhere. It contains really important data.

It's kinda sorta OK to have the same (or very similar) passwords for things like Androidcentral and Facebook. If someone ends up "owning" one of those accounts, there's (hopefully) very little important data they could mine from it.

But Gmail should still be a separate password having nothing to do with this algorithm, because that's where all your precious personal data resides. Same with your banking accounts and anything that contains data that's truly meaningful to you, and if someone else accessed that account you'd end up with pretty dire consequences.

And, in your case, that could include your Facebook account if you put a lot of data up there you'd rather not have others see (I could go on a rant about Facebook's security, but I use it too).

 

[coolbreeze]

Gmail has the awesome 2 step authentication app that I used after my gmail was hacked. My account got hacked because of my work computer was infected with spyware. Basically you have to enter a code from your phone before your account can be accessed. You may want to look into that if you use gmail.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[coolbreeze]

Your Google account can also tell you the last spots your account was open. Google actually locked down my account because it was logged in at Tallahassee, Florida (where I was) and Norway (where the hackers were).

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[defcon999]

I have also heard that alot of the SPAM messages come from Facebook accounts. It happened to me and a friend told me that I should change my password for Facebook....and voila.....nothing since then (about a year). I change my password about every 3 to 4 months.

 

[FrankXS]

Last night, I noticed all of the email address that I have in my contacts/phone number area were sent various emails with differing subject lines that directed them to a link with cheap Viagra, Cialis, pain pills, etc.

How common is it for these phones to get the phone herpes?

Well, you gonna post the links?

-Frank

 

[streetstrip01]

Well, you gonna post the links?

-Frank

lol.

NO.



And FWIW, it was my AOL account. But I think it all applies to that as well.

 

[Mortiel]

lol.

NO.



And FWIW, it was my AOL account. But I think it all applies to that as well.

Yeah, just FYI it is possible for any operating system to get a virus, but it is rather painstaking to code a virus for anything Linux, on which Android is based.

It is much more common to program spyware and adware for Android, as those as easy to program.

It sounds like your email got phished to me. I would pay careful attention to any website that asks for your email and password. AOL had the "AOL Pictures" scam for a long time, where you got to an AOL clone website that asked you to log in to your AOL account, and in doing so it phished your log in for AOL so it could spam your address book.