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E-mail Hacked

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Serendipiter

Programmer
Jun 22, 2010
18
US

I would appreciate some help with trying to determine how my e-mail is getting hacked, or, at least, how to prevent it.
I have changed passwords each time and the last password used was very secure (the last password used was something like bHWAs5e@?Ap6UM#d&QQm_T38k5). Once hacked, the e-mail address is being used to send automated e-mails.

- E-mail browser is Mozilla Thunderbird
- Operating system is Windows XP (will not be upgraded until certain applications get modified to run on W7 or W8)
- Malwarebytes and Spybot do not detect any malware
- E-mail is accessed only on 1 desktop computer by 1 person using Thunderbird (as far as I know)

Does it seem likely that there is malware on my computer?


 
I never received (or noticed) receiving an e-mail notification from Tek-Tips about the reply from spamjim on Dec. 1 thus my slow reply.

The way that I knew that my e-mail account was sending lots of mail was that the mail host server automatically changed the password on the account (assuming a hacker) because outgoing e-mails exceeded the host server's (programmed) rate limit of outgoing e-mails. I also spoke to a customer service representative of the server company about it.
 
There is not enough information to answer your question about malware on your computer. It is possible that your password was sniffed externally if you are not using a secure connection to your mail server. Your server support staff can confirm your connection is configured securely.

There is also a possibility that the exploit was on the server's end.
 
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