I found out about this early this afternoon when pbuko (Pete) sent me an email asking if I had sent an email to him (it was of a suspicious mal-intent nature).

Some quick research showed that someone/something from India got into my email and sent out emails to a large number of my Contacts at 3:54 AM.

I just finished up with the research, changed the passwords/security questions for all of my and my wife's email accounts AND the user ID and password to my bank (no suspicious activity there).

Next will be replacing the old email accounts with new ones and the addresses will be something that a bot will have trouble working out.

Because we have a smart phone, an iPod, an iPad, An android tablet and 3 PCs, I have been using xmarks to sync all of our passwords for access by all of those devices. It's been excellent and the premium version is only $12/yr.

I have been dragging my feet about a password manager, but when xmarks came up for renewal last month, the company offered a combo of xmarks and LastPass (a highly rated password manager). Normally $12/each, but a combined $20/yr. I signed up for both and as of today, I am starting to deploy/use LastPass.

What a PITA! Looks like I got off light. I now have a better appreciation for folks who lose their identities or get their bank accounts emptied. What a feeling of being violated.