Email account possibly compromised?
(I apologize if this has already been covered. I searched this forum and found a similar but not identical issue.)
I am worried that my Hotmail account has been compromised. This morning I received four emails that appeared to be from a friend. I know better than to open links/attachments in emails from strangers, but I clicked on one link because I thought it was sent by someone I know well. I clicked on the link but could not open it. Then within ½ an hour, it was brought to my attention that emails with the same subject lines as the ones I thought were from my friend, were being sent to many --everyone?--on my contact list but now under my name.
I’m worried because the messages that appear to be from me are not being sent randomly (as was the case in another thread I found on this forum). They are being sent to my entire contact list. Furthermore, after receiving the emails with my name on them, the same emails are then sent on, appearing to be from my contacts who received them from me.
After doing multiple scans, I contacted Norton Antivirus and was told that it is unlikely this problem was caused by a virus or some other nasty thing. The rep suggested that merely changing my email password would solve the problem. I’m not sure I trust that advice. If changing my password will solve the problem (I did change it after speaking to the guy), that seems to suggest that someone figured out my password, which I find unlikely, since it would have been a hard one to figure out and I didn’t use it for any other purpose other than my email account. Incidentally, I always remove senders’ names before forwarding emails.
So, my questions are: Is it likely that the Norton rep was correct and that just changing my password will solve the problem? or …Is there something else I should be doing? Having gotten excellent and much appreciated advice in the past from those who frequent this forum, I trust you guys more than I trust Norton.
Thanks in advance,
LA