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My iMessage has been hacked

I went into the messages app on my computer recently and found out that more than 20 messages had been sent. The messages were all to Chinese numbers, and the messages in Chinese. User uploaded file


Has anyone experienced the same? is my account hacked?

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Mar 7, 2016 2:39 PM

Reply
188 replies

Oct 19, 2016 5:17 AM in response to perr_mike

Probably. There have been more major data leaks like this. LinkedIn took a big (similar) hit and, again, all passwords were stored hashed with SHA1, which is never recommended. The increasing confidence I have is from the fact that both victims I spoke to only appeared in the MySpace DB (according to (potentially outdated) leaked source search engines). It'd be impossible for me to guess what else they're using.

Oct 20, 2016 8:41 PM in response to CADIVA69

That's too bad you got somewhat unhelpful advice there. Considering someone used your password to sign in a device in another country and send out Messages from your account, updating your own device at home would be unlikely to have any affect on that. Secure your account instead. Try two-factor authentication. Now if you're devices aren't yet updated to support two-factor, you might want to do that.

Oct 20, 2016 11:29 PM in response to CADIVA69

ssorry but no. Cadiva69; if you enable 2FA after you are hacked (actually sometimes you can if account changes) then you are done for, cooked, you've handed over control.

APples 2FA will not challenge an already authenticated device. So the moment that happens they can use a device that they're signed in on to change your password, add phone numbers to your 2FA, remove your email address and lock out your other devices.

HOw do I know? When I enabled 2FA I wasn't asked to challenge or auth my Mac or iPad. Not until I changed my password and signed them out.

ENabling 2FA when you're already hacked could be a suicide pill

Oct 21, 2016 12:49 AM in response to iZian

The first step is obviously to change your password. That challenges your messages registration for all devices and locks the hackers out. That's what I meant about "secure your account" in my above answer. However, to prevent people from guessing your password in the future and going through all of this again, you can turn on 2FA. Someone else then wouldn't be able to sign into your account and add a new device to messages without access to one of your existing trusted devices.

My iMessage has been hacked

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