Scrutable

I just got an email and a message when I went to the Google homepage to say that someone had tried to access my Google account about an hour ago and that I should change my password, which I have done. It said the activity came from somewhere in the Ukraine. Is that likely to be genuine? I have changed the password now. Should I do my other ones as well to be safe - webmail etc?

This is what it said:

Suspicious sign-in attempt prevented
tessa@(my email).co.uk
Google prevented someone who knows your password from signing in to your account. If this wasn’t you, you should change your password immediately.

Unrecognised device
Opera (Browser)

1 hour ago

Near Ukraine
185.247.211.18 (IP address)
Were you recently prevented from signing in to your Google Account?

Did you open your own browser window to change your password? If not, I'd change it again.

If there are any 'commonly used' web services that you use the same password on (Outlook, Facebook etc) then I'd change them too.

Gfamily wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 02, 2020 6:12 pm

Did you open your own browser window to change your password? If not, I'd change it again.

If there are any 'commonly used' web services that you use the same password on (Outlook, Facebook etc) then I'd change them too.

Yes, I didn't go from the notification email in case that was dodgy. It's never happened before so I thought I'd check in with you guys. Thanks.

Probably your username/password combination was stolen from a hacked site and someone is running a big loop to see if it's still valid. Definitely worth changing the password.

If you got the notification as an email, then it's probably fake. It couldn't hurt to change your password just in case, though, so long as you don't do it by clicking on a (probably bogus) link inside the email.

I would recommend turning on two factor authentication on your Google account, it's fairly simple to do.

I've changed the password to something I'll probably forget in a few weeks (yes I have written it on a bit of paper. Old school but hacker-proof).

My first guess would be that the email itself was bogus and would have offered you a dodgy link.

It claimed Google stopped a login attempt by someone who knew your password. If they knew your password and you don't have 2 step authentication turned on, why would it stop them?

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:09 am

My first guess would be that the email itself was bogus and would have offered you a dodgy link.

It claimed Google stopped a login attempt by someone who knew your password. If they knew your password and you don't have 2 step authentication turned on, why would it stop them?

They also do IP geolocation, blacklisting, and other things to attempt to detect odd behavior.

That makes sense. If "you" try to log on in Ukraine half an hour after you were logged in at home, something's probably not right.

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:19 am

That makes sense. If "you" try to log on in Ukraine half an hour after you were logged in at home, something's probably not right.

Unless I have a Tardis or a worm hole.

Tessa K wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:41 am

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:19 am

That makes sense. If "you" try to log on in Ukraine half an hour after you were logged in at home, something's probably not right.

Unless I have a Tardis or a worm hole.

Or a VPN (which is the telecomms equivalent of a bidirectional wormhole)

I had one where (I forget who they were impersonating) identified by internet connection as a threat to the universe, and advised that money was required or they would shut it down, for the good of everyone. You can imagine the words I used. So the nice lady said she would shut it down. I used some more words.

Ten minutes later my connection dropped.

I thought...no. No. Come on, no. Not possible. Is it...then I phoned my ISP and it turned out my connection had been in and out for 2 weeks while I'd been on holiday, so it was on the verge of going any time all on its own.

GeenDienst wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:02 pm

I had one where (I forget who they were impersonating) identified by internet connection as a threat to the universe, and advised that money was required or they would shut it down, for the good of everyone.

We had a similar call at my MIL's while we were clearing her house. I kept asking how the caller had got the phone number and pointed out that it was probably illegal and that she ought to consider whether scamming vulnerable people was an honourable job to do; before putting the phone down.

The team leader phoned us back to complain that I'd 'been very rude'.

Gfamily wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:11 pm

GeenDienst wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:02 pm

I had one where (I forget who they were impersonating) identified by internet connection as a threat to the universe, and advised that money was required or they would shut it down, for the good of everyone.

We had a similar call at my MIL's while we were clearing her house. I kept asking how the caller had got the phone number and pointed out that it was probably illegal and that she ought to consider whether scamming vulnerable people was an honourable job to do; before putting the phone down.

The team leader phoned us back to complain that I'd 'been very rude'.

I tell the ones who phone that I'm signed up with the telephone preference service. That gets rid of some of them. The rest I swear at a lot.

I sometimes jolly the younger ones along a bit ("event viewer you say...blimey, that looks serious, and all that's really malware?") and then ask if their mother knows they're a thief.

Some other times I say I'm getting the computer owner/account holder and put the phone off hook and leave it. Trouble is, I usually forget to put it back and it's off all day.

GeenDienst wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 2:09 pm

Some other times I say I'm getting the computer owner/account holder and put the phone off hook and leave it. Trouble is, I usually forget to put it back and it's off all day.

I'm failing to see the trouble there.

dyqik wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:11 am

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:09 am

My first guess would be that the email itself was bogus and would have offered you a dodgy link.

It claimed Google stopped a login attempt by someone who knew your password. If they knew your password and you don't have 2 step authentication turned on, why would it stop them?

They also do IP geolocation, blacklisting, and other things to attempt to detect odd behavior.

Yup, I've had alerts when something odd has happened to my account but which I instigated.

Got a call the other day from an Indian sounding woman who told me there had been suspicious activity on my Amazon account. I said, "thanks I'll check it online" and hung up. There had been no suspicious activity on either mine or MrsFF's accounts. I couldn't be bothered to get into all the asking for personal details stuff and then an argument.

FlammableFlower wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 4:09 pm

Got a call the other day from an Indian sounding woman who told me there had been suspicious activity on my Amazon account. I said, "thanks I'll check it online" and hung up. There had been no suspicious activity on either mine or MrsFF's accounts. I couldn't be bothered to get into all the asking for personal details stuff and then an argument.

I've had a few calls saying there has been suspicious activity on my credit card, can they please check my details.... I say I'll go to the bank to check it out and they hang up immediately.

Tessa K wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:51 pm

I've had a few calls saying there has been suspicious activity on my credit card, can they please check my details.... I say I'll go to the bank to check it out and they hang up immediately.

My bank actually called me once about suspicious activity on my credit card. Fortunately I recognised the person's voice, and she just proposed to order me a new card, without needing all the numbers from the old one.

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:06 am

Tessa K wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:51 pm

I've had a few calls saying there has been suspicious activity on my credit card, can they please check my details.... I say I'll go to the bank to check it out and they hang up immediately.

My bank actually called me once about suspicious activity on my credit card. Fortunately I recognised the person's voice, and she just proposed to order me a new card, without needing all the numbers from the old one.

Someone claiming to be from my bank rang me saying there was suspicious activity. And they were actually from my bank, asking if I was taking out a mortgage. I wasn't: was a victim of an ID theft. Every few day there were further reports of someone trying to take out loans etc. in my name.

dyqik wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:11 am

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:09 am

My first guess would be that the email itself was bogus and would have offered you a dodgy link.

It claimed Google stopped a login attempt by someone who knew your password. If they knew your password and you don't have 2 step authentication turned on, why would it stop them?

They also do IP geolocation, blacklisting, and other things to attempt to detect odd behavior.

Yes, I've often been asked to provide additional information in order to log in from interesting locations.