Sphinn - How my Gmail account got hacked and my domain was stolen

50
Sphinn It!

How my Gmail account got hacked and my domain was stolen

Went Hot: December 24, 2007 - 9:20 pm
Posted By: patrickaltoft 295 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.davidairey.co.uk)
Category: Google Other

I’m going to tell you my story. I will detail everything I know about the web pirates who are threatening my livelihood, and tell you what you need to know in order to avoid the same thing happening to you.

13 Comments

Who Desphunn This (0)

Comments

from Hobo 295 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

+ -

This is shocking.

from sphinndr 295 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

+ -

I agree that is shocking. Thanks to david for giving us the insite into his problem with his domain. That was one sneaky mofo.

from davidairey 294 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

Thanks for the Sphinn, Patrick.

Shaun, again, that's very kind of you to offer a few links from your site.

Dr, you're very welcome for my story. I hope that a few people will learn from my experience, so the same thing doesn't happen to them.

from wheel 294 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

+ -

Doesn't this seem like the kind of thing the Sphinn community might get behind with some sort of legal fund? Out of the occassional 'SEO social issue' fund that's been set up that I've kicked into in the past, this is absolutely one that I'd love to pay something into.

from IncrediBILL 294 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

I'm not sure I can believe that the google email hack was the only possibility as I'd put my suspicion on some internet cafe or wherever you accessed your email from in India that someone sniffed your password, especially if you accessed email from any computer other than your own.

This will give you a reason to have 2 email accounts in the future.

One for personal conversation that if hacked, has no value.

The second for critical business communications like banks, registrars, etc. that is only used from a (reasonably) secure location.

from DianeV 294 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

This is one of the reasons why I can't understand why people use external email addresses. I can't in a million years imagine storing personal or business emails on anyone else's server, let alone for years on end.

If you have a website, you have email -- why use a Yahoo or Gmail account? And if webmail is your thing, many web hosts include that functionality with hosting accounts.

That said, why not *log out* of gmail before you start surfing around?

Anyway, I hope he gets his domain back.

from halomark 294 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

The exact thing happened to me in 2005. I lost about 4-5 domain names and had to shut down one business. All thanks to Gmail. In addition, I lost a few thousand dollars because the hacker got access to one of my online money accounts.

from davidairey 294 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

Wheel,

Thanks for your support.

Bill,

If you re-read my article, you'll notice that on the day I left for India, the hacker posted the support ticket to ICDSoft. Therefore, keylog software in India was certainly not the issue.

Diane,

My initial reason for switching to GMail was because I use a laptop and desktop for work, and I wanted to have all my emails available on both. No doubt there was another way around it, but at the time a webmail service made most sense to me. Hindsight's a wonderful thing though eh?

Halomark,

Sorry to learn of your loss. I've been reading up on GMAil issues, and realise there have been a few others dating back some time.

from iBrian 292 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

I think this underlines all the more why you should never rely on third-parties for essential business services.

A big mistake is relying on a hosting company to register domains - you should always register them directly yourself. Many of us have learned that the hard way when a host has moved on, taking any domains down with them.

Either way, here's hoping you get the .com recovered.

from corey 292 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

i don't think a personal registration would have prevented this. my understanding is that the gmail filter was put in place without obtaining the gmail password, and the scumbag clicked a "forgot my password" link on the web host's website to gain access to the control panel. this could have been done to a domain registrar in just the same fashion.

from MattCutts 292 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

+ -

I haven't heard of something like this before (targetted attack on someone's domain like this), but I'll pass it on to the Gmail folks; they might have more information.

from rishilakhani 291 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

+ -

Sorry to hear about the cracker (hackers are actually nice people ;-).
I see that the .com domain is redirecting to your .co.uk site?

If you have recovered the domain name, start the FULL SEO process to get the .co.uk juiced up for your SEO positions - the below should help. Good luck.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/hey-google-im-over-here-a-301-experiment
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-movin-on