Safeguarding Client Information - It is important to keep our email accounts secure. Hacked is not a nice word!

It is very important to keep our email accounts secure, not only for us, but for our clients.  Hacked is not a nice word.

It is very important to keep email accounts secure, not only to protect ourselves but to protect those people that have entrusted their contact into to us. 

Have you read about Carl Harris, a Collinsville, Oklahoma Church of Christ minister had his email account hacked.  Whoever hacked the account sent out messages to all of his contacts saying that he had been robbed and was stranded in London, needing money. 

He says that he received about 300 calls wanting to know how he got to London and where could they send money to help him.  He wasn't in London.  He was in Idabel, OK. The hacker deleted his contacts after that and Mr. Harris then had to try to re-establish all of the account info so he could tell everyone he was alright. 

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been accused of hacking into the email accounts of rivals and journalists.  A Business Insider investigation  and more is detailed in this article and it should be very interesting for all FACEBOOK users...all 400 million plus... it is alleged that he used FACEBOOK accounts failed log-ins to try the failed passwords on their email accounts to hack the email accounts.

The best article that I've read on the subject is Daniel Carter's article about his experience of having his email accounty hacked, it is a must read.  When he tried to log into his email account, the hacker had changed his log-in information.  He believes that it's because he used a public computer while traveling, which had spyware on it.

  "A guy sits out in the Mediterranean Sea (or somewhere on the ocean) in a luxury yacht filled with all kinds of computers and and hacking devices, floating around so no one can get a permanent fix on him, using spyware planted on computers all over Europe. When he hacks an account he's interested in, he sends out the scam email to everyone in the owner's address book, and then if he gets a bite, he instructs one of his "flunkees" on the continent somewhere to pick up the money via Western Union."   .....read more.  This article has a list of things to do, places to report the hacking, links to helping to choose a secure password, etc. 


Everyone loves a free email account, right?   We all need to remember though that with free email accounts, there's usually no phone support and very slow email support if any at all.  If someone hacks your email account that becomes very important as you will need to get in touch with all of your contacts.  If your password has been changed, you will have to prove the account is yours to do that.  Sometimes that can be difficult because when the hacker got your account, he/she may not have only changed your password but your security questions, your address, etc. 

I've received emails from my own email address...  never understood how that could happen.  I've had my real estate website hacked more than once. 

Finally, It happens and it's important to keep those accounts as safe as we can, to protect not only ourselves but all the people that entrusted their contact info with us.

Photo courtesy of taliesin

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Judi Barrett

Broker, Integrity Real Estate Services,

Office Address:  1280 Brown Addition  Rd., IDABEL, OK 74745  580-212-5946 

Judi Barrett, B.S. Edu., 

 

Integrity Real Estate Services 

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