K_M

No I won't open it. Don't worry. Thank you all for your help. I Love TCH forums and it's members.

I checked and can only say that it's not from my IP address. It shows an IP of an ISP(local ISP). Maybe a client of that ISP is infected.

Not sure I completely understand the question...but. You can be "infected" by those files, yes. Each can contain a virus or worm or a executable program and there are lots of them currently out there. Can a "hacker" "attack" your PC, maybe...but this is a complicated process. A hacker could send you a specially built that could attack you...my question would be why would someone want to do this. Do you have an enemy with a reason to want to cause you problems? If not you are safe. A .pif is a windows executable file, it normall is a "shortcut" pointing to another executable file and contains instructions on how to "run" or "execute" the file. And a .doc or a .zip is not harmless, there were lots of virus's written for the bugs and holes in the MS Word file format and for its ability to execute program code. A zip file is still used to compress and hide worms and trojans and other types of virus. Thanks Madmanmcp. I think you have hit the target. This is the virus which is causing all the trouble. It's on someone else's PC who knows my email address. The virus sends itself to me and to several other people(don't know how it sends with my name. Maybe you are right, spoofing........). Then those people complain to me that I have sent them a virus. I ask for proof. They forward me the attachment(s). I think I should open it and inspect it. But I come here and post. Hmmmmmmmm Now everything is clear. It's not a hacker. It's a virus! But Yahoomail use Norton 2004 for scanning attachments. Then how did the virus attachment go unscanned? Thanks to all of you again. Rock Sign I :heart TCH and TCH Team

The emails sent have "subjects" like: Mail Delivery (failure myemailID@yahoo.com) Postcard [none] Illegal Websites Approved Bill Your document News These are just 7 emails(there are several more), all having attachments. I do not send such emails to people! Yet they complain! Ok, my next question is, can a virus or a hacker attack your PC if you open .doc or .zip or .pif files? I feel .doc is harmless and .zip can't do anything unless I unzip it and run .bat or .exe file from it. I don't know anything about .pif Any expert opinions are welcome.

Can I trust TCH team and shift my main email account to TCH from Yahoo? Do they apply regular updates and patches? Can TCH servers fight hackers?

Wives and hackers make me yell! Sorry, won't yell again. My Yahoomail account got hacked. It has nothing to do with my PC. I access my account only when I go online(via browser, opera). I do not use SMTP or POP3 services. Also, my norton AV 2005 is set to automatic live update. If it's a virus then it must be on the yahoo servers, right? Even I receive files with attachments from unknown people(maybe a virus or a hacker). I delete such files with one click. But when someone(a virus) sends files to others with my email ID as sender, then it hurts my trust and reputation. If it's a hacker then I must stop him/her somehow. Now tel me how? I emailed Yahoo today. Don't know when will they reply. I am not a newbie. I am a computer expert and am in front of my computer screen most of the time, everyday. This thing bogs me down. Virus/hacker. I am searching for a solution to this problem. And the nearest answer I can think of is using TCH email account. The problem is, i have several websites and so wanted a single main account to manage all the smaller one's. I started using yahoomail heavily since a few months. No problems till this one. Yahoo.com is a lot faster than my site(s) hosted at TCH and at other web hosts. So it's confusing me and I am getting more and more frustrated. Please help!

Password stealing is a sub-domain of hacking. A hacker can access any account even without a password, thanks to vulnerabilities(which remain open for a small period, enough for him to cause havoc). Few years back, there was a loophole in hotmail system, by which one could open inbox of any person WITHOUT a password, just by typing a specific URL associated with that account. All he needed was that URL and nothing else to login. Hotmail patched their system soon. Read this, if you are a Gmail fan: http://www.networkpunk.com/?q=node/view/222

Yes, the 'so called hacker' sends ATTACHMENTS to people in my contacts list. No not just contacts list, but to people, who send me email(the people whose email remains in my inbox). And for that, I think the person should physically login to my account and then send attachments to email IDs in my inbox. A virus can send email to ALL people in address book. But a virus cannot send email to only a few contacts from address book, and to email IDs from my inbox. I hope the point is clear to you. SOMEONE IS LOGGING IN AND MESSING WITH MY ACCOUNT AND I DON'T KNOW WHO HE IS. Spam isn't a problem(one click delete) but a hacker is a BIG problem. And it scares me a lot. I feel uneasy thinking that some one may get into my online bank account and transfer all my hard earned money to his/her account. Or even steal my credit card number. My computer is at my residence. And I use 'lock my PC' software to lock my computer screen when I am away. So it's highly impossible for anyone to do anything to my PC because he needs the password to 'lock my PC' which starts with windows each time and asks password(and i regularly change that password too). I use cable internet connection. Is it possible that someone is sniffing packets sent from my PC in between my PC and yahoo server?

Any other views? Anyone else?

I have already emailed yahoo. Lets see what they say. What else do you recommend Bruce? Which email service or simply TCH email which comes with my normal website hosted at TCH?

Should I be using YahooEmail or TCH-email for commercial purpose, if SECURITY is the ONLY concern? Which one is better? Which one do you recommend? I would like a reply from TCH security expert. I hate sleepless nights, mind you.

The program which you are saying is called keylogger. But I do not have any of those on my PC. I have Wintasks software always running on my PC. Also, I have Trojanhunter and norton antivirus 2005, zonealarm firewall, spybot/adaware always running on my PC. So its not anything from my PC. It's something else. Maybe a server loophole or maybe the hacker is too intelligent. Now what is it is what I want to know.

Share your thoughts.

I got my yahoo email account hacked a few days back. Don't know how! I never open any attachments or click any URLs sent to my emailbox, or even sign in at some unknown site! The hacker seems to have a master password to my account. I changed my password 6/7 times(within a week), yet the hacker sends emails to my 'address book contacts' in yahoomail. What may be wrong, can anyone tell? And are TotalChoiceHosting Servers safe from hackers? As compared with Yahoomail and hotmail severs? Share your thoughts. I deal with $$ and do not want people snooping in my email accounts.

Thanks you all for the info. I am relieved!