Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

AIM hacked???

I opened up AOL Instant Messanger just now, and my entire buddy list was gone, all that was there were two buddy lists. The first one said, "I know what you did" the second one, "did last summer!" Was I hacked into or something??? I have dial-up! Why would anyone hack into a computer with dial-up? Did this happen to anybody else?

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-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

Nothing happened to me...

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

I checked some other screen names that I don't use, they weren't effected. I put up a poll about whether dial-up customers need firewalls here.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

If a friend (or enemy) figured out your password, they would be able to modify your Buddy List since the data is stored in AOL's servers, not your local machine.

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: May 2000
Location:
Posts: 209

To further build on Mark's comments...

If your AIM handle is well-advertised, then it's like anything else that requires a username and password... someone will try to hack into your AIM account, not your physical computer. All one needs is a copy of AIM and they're good to go.

Of course, if someone has access to your computer (or if you installed and used AIM on a public computer), then no firewall can help you there. Best way to overcome that liability is not to have AIM save your password and not to auto-log you on. And in the case of the public computer scenario, I don't think we need to go into details on that.

And: If your AIM password was pretty simple, programmatic-wise, it's time to change it to something longer and complicated.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

No one else knows my password and it is not at all easy to break.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

Well, did you kill anyone last summer?

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We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
-David Byrne

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Not that anyone would know about.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Oops. You didn't hear anything. Or read anything.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Apr 2000
Location:
Posts: 266

After you launch your buddylist, see if you have a program running called buddylist.exe (press CTRL-ALT-DEL and check the list).

I know there is a virus called buddylist.exe that will lauch with AOL and log keystrokes then will mail your password to others....I'm not sure if it affects AIM or not.

Hope it's nothing serious..........

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Ryan Clayton
www.girlandgeek.com
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