Sonic Data Breach??????

General discussions and other topics.
8 posts Page 1 of 1
by mustangc » Sun May 14, 2017 5:31 pm
My Sonic email accounts are NOWHERE "out there", but yet recently I am receiving SPAM on my main email (where I've NEVER received SPAM before). And not just SPAM, but a TON of SPAM - more SPAM than I've ever received on ANY email account. And no, I do not have any malware, etc., on my computer. I use Outlook 2016, and am entering header info (.xxx and IP addresses) into the "block" SPAM interface. This is getting ridiculous!! Anyone else having the same issue? What gives????
by virtualmike » Sun May 14, 2017 11:26 pm
Have you ever used the account for sending email to anyone else? A current spammer trick is to get into others' web mail accounts and download the address books (including the addresses of people who've corresponded with the compromised accounts (even if not in the address books).

Spam comes and goes in waves. One of my email addresses, which I've had for a while and used only for occasional business correspondence, started receiving a bunch of spam of spam this month.
by dane » Mon May 15, 2017 6:56 am
Have you used the email address to send any email to anyone, or when registering as a username at any website?

How about forums, elsewhere or this one? Your email address is available via this forum now, to anyone who looks at your registered profile.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by mustangc » Mon May 15, 2017 1:33 pm
Thank you, Dane, for your response (and virtualmike). I've never used it online, and never posted w/it to a forum, until now. I only use the email with my husband (who is an ISM/ISSM), so I know it isn't in his address book(s) anywhere. I also NEVER put any emails in any address books/lists because I know better. But . . . considering the unending possibilities of breaches/hacking, it could even be via his company in Silicon Valley. I just wanted to ensure there hadn't been a breach at Sonic. Inputting the header info into Outlook blocking is a tedious task, but well worth it - since it is all is sent to the "black hole" for analysis/processing. I also noticed with the 45+ SPAM that they was all from the same site/email, but multiple IP addresses (hence the blocking of the IP addresses). Hopefully that will cut down on the amount I've received. Thanks!!! :P
by drew.phillips » Mon May 15, 2017 4:42 pm
I've spoken with a few customers in the past who've had similar experiences and were concerned that somehow their email addresses/usernames leaked and we were the source.

The simple answer each time was that someone who had their same mailbox name at a different provider (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo) had their email address exposed from a data breach at another site, and the spammer simply replace @gmail.com with @sonic.net.

For example, if your Sonic mailbox is no.one.knows.this@sonic.net and it's private, there's a good chance someone has no.one.knows.this@gmail.com and is on a list somewhere. Spammers then want to bulk send to Sonic so they take that list and replace @gmail.com with @sonic.net, and suddenly your private email is getting spam.

The site https://haveibeenpwned.com/ is a good place to look for such situations. It looks like one of your account mailboxes @yahoo.com are shown in that list.

Feel free to PM me directly with any questions.
Drew Phillips
Programmer / System Operations, Sonic.net
by SonicUser » Tue May 16, 2017 10:33 am
Is it possible to change the main email/username associated with everything? I didn't see an option in member tools. Just wondering if you can call in to support and have done. Thanks.
by drew.phillips » Tue May 16, 2017 10:42 am
SonicUser wrote:Is it possible to change the main email/username associated with everything? I didn't see an option in member tools. Just wondering if you can call in to support and have done. Thanks.
We can change your primary username/email address if you'd like. There is a $5.00 charge to make the change.

If you'd like to do that, you can call in or email support@sonic.net. Typically username changes take 1 business day or less.
Drew Phillips
Programmer / System Operations, Sonic.net
by dane » Tue May 16, 2017 10:54 am
FYI, we really really really don't recommend changing your username, because it affects many things related to your account. Many settings end up lost in the process, and it's a huge disruption for us here, re-pouring the foundation of everything your account, services and settings are built on top of.

It'd be much better to just add a new email box to your account, and begin using that if you'd like a new email address. You can ask us to send Sonic communications to that address too, and then just stop using the old address - or perhaps check it from time to time for old correspondents you may have not informed about the new address.

Any email address which is ever used, or which is guessable as a set of names or words is likely to get spam. We block a ton of spam for our members, but some does leak through, it's a constant arms race of sorts.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
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