Virgin NTL Webmail HACKED Virus

[JohnD]

I mostly use Outlook Express, but occasionally sign into Webmail to empty my bin and check there is nothing in the spam folder that I need to read.

Yesterday a couple of spammy messages went out from my email account. Curiously, they didn't go to all my contacts, and some of the contacts were people I seldom mail. There was no mention of these spam emails in my outlook express sent folder.

I have Norton Internet Security, and the Virgin securitry package, on my PC, and run frequent scans. I did a quickscan when I heard about "my" spam emails, and have done a Full scan today, with nothing found.

I went into Webmail to change my password, and noticed that I had two "sent" emails in the deleted mails bin, which were the two spam emails sent from my account. I looked at the addressee list, and realised it was only to people that I have emailed, when away from home, using Webmail.

I therefore deduce that the virus or whatever iis "inside" webmail, rather than on my PC, and is using the webmail address book, rather than my PC address book.

Has anyone heard of such a thing or got any suggestions? I have been roaming around the Virgin "help" pages but they try to send you to FAQs and instructions, they obviously don't want anyone to try to speak to them.

p.s. On further consideration, I suspect that someone had hacked into my account, so I have changed the password

 

[Monkeh]

Just because it 'came' from your address, doesn't mean you or Virgin ever sent it.

Viruses don't get 'inside webmail'.

 

[JohnD]

I have changed the title to say "Hacked"

I have discovered that there has been a lot of it in the last few days. One of the people who got a spam from my account said he had received them from two other people.

search "virgin email hacked" and you will see a lot.

e.g. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/371347/mysterious-spam-attack-hits-virgin-subscribers

one of them says the same as me

"The people it was sent to matched precisely my webmail contacts list, which is different to the local contacts, so the list was definitely from there.”

However, Virgin doesn't believe it's been hacked, claiming the issue was part of a wider problem across the web. “It can't really be a server-based issue as our servers are run by Google, as are lots of ISPs, and if our servers had been compromised then the whole farm would be compromised,” a spokesperson for the company told PC Pro"

Yeah, of course Virgin say it's not them. But it was my webmail someone got into, not my PC (the address book is different, and I found the "sent" mails filed in my Deleted bin in Webmail)

 

[Monkeh]

Is/was your webmail password the same as your Virgin account password?

 

[JohnD]

yes, I think it has to be, you only log on once.