The latest security alert online seems to be the work of a Walking Dead fan. Twitter is lighting up with users complaining that long-closed AOL accounts recently came back to life, with phishing emails spreading like a zombie epidemic.
#AOLHacked is trending on Twitter as people are letting their followers know about the phishing emails, and venting their frustration.
Hacked. Sorry. I didn't do it. #AOL #AOLHacked
— Konii Thomas (@KoniiThomas) April 22, 2014
At this rate…I wonder how many emails I will "send" until #AOLHacked is fixed?? Will anyone ever open my normal emails again?
— Chels S. (@carmelitaxs) April 22, 2014
According to the Los Angeles Times, Food Editor Russ Parsons was hit. At the time that story was filed, it was unclear how many users were affected. One user reported that every one of his 2200+ contacts got phished.
I'm a long time AOL user… An old contact list was stolen and spoofs were sent to all 2,225. When will aol come clean #AOLHacked
— Robert A. Picard (@robpicard) April 21, 2014
AOL has now responded to the issue, saying it may be a mix of email spoofing and hacks. They have provided help for users here. According to AOL, the easiest way to see if your email is being spoofed: there will be mailer-daemon error messsages in your inbox. If you’ve been hacked, you will see phishing emails in your Sent folder with simple subject lines (“Hi” and “Fwd: news” are two you might see).
If you had an AOL account in the past, it may have come back to life. Now would be a good time to check. And remember there is no such thing as being too careful when it comes to your email.
