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Ask HN: Someone is trying to break into my Facebook account, what should I do?
For the last six and a half hours I have been receiving regular emails and SMS messages from Facebook stating that I have requested a password reset when in fact I have not.
It seems like some sort of an attack so I am looking for security advice. I don't believe I have any sensitive information accessible through my Facebook account but my concern is anyone using my email to try to break into one of my accounts online may try to break into others. And while the attack does not appear to be sophisticated on the surface, any attack is alarming.
Any ideas as to what the source of the attack could be? And what I can do from here?
- genericone 13y agoThis could be a simple passive aggressive annoyance tactic, perhaps by someone you may have spited recently? Once upon a time I was targeted in the same way, every day I would receive a notice stating that too many attempts were made to login to my account and I would have to reset the password. The frequency of needing to reset my password ramped up to a point where every time I checked my email I would be prompted to reset my facebook password. In the end, their tactics got the best of me, I made a new facebook account, and started adding friends back cautiously. I kept my facebook login email private from that point forward.
- shubb 13y agoThings to worry about - - Have you used a password on more than one site? (if it is guessed on one, perhaps a forum susceptible to rapid brute force, it may be used against every other site) - Do any services you use allow emergency authentication using widely available information like your first school or date of birth (could someone who is friends with you on facebook answer any security questions). The only way to know this is to try the emergency recovery for each service you use. - Could authentication for one service lead to others? Does your facebook auth your spotify account? Could someone with access to your spotify account find out your credit card number, or maliciously buy things? - Are you using strong passwords? In general, not using common passwords if fine if you are not under specific attack, but a determined attacker may use a dictionary attack against some service to discover a password you like using. Random strings of characters and onepassword is a good plan. - If someone is targeting you, they may use phishing attacks, such as compromising a friends email, and sending you a trojan. In general, the less information about you available on the internet, the harder you are to impersonate. This is a bit of a problem, as linkedin and facebook are sort of necessary. Consider setting your security up high, pruning excess friends, and being careful about who you add. Or closing the accounts. If they know your birthday and when you graduated highschool, they know your date of birth.
- munimkazia 13y agoSounds more like a pissed off friend than a sophisticated attack attempt. You can change your facebook login email to a new email account and keep it private to stop it.