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.

This has happened to me and others I've known. Sending out ads to people from me to those on my contact list. Generally, I just change my passwords and those problems go away after a while.

I have strong passwords on all my accounts and given all the work passwords as well, have been using a password safe for a while now.

I still do not do online banking. Call me old fashioned or call me paranoid, but there is no need for my account to go whizzing about public networks.

You kids stop Whizzing on my lawn !!!!!

I sympathize, I've had this happen a few times. The worst ones are when your company's 3rd party vendors screw up and their databases are compromised. That's happened a few times.

I also use a password locker called SplashID. I prefer this to 1Password since it's local password storage. Don't really trust putting all my passwords in the cloud.

Also, something to consider, though it's a pain to manage (but easier with a password manager). I used alias emails for different services like forums, shopping, financial sites, etc. That way, I can tell which of my emails are breached and I can also compartmentalize any possible damage.

I have authenticator on my google account. Don't know why every service doesn't offer this.