WARNING, passwords compromised

[tehuti88]

Just a heads-up, it looks like some users' passwords may have been compromised by a data breach of some sort.

 

Earlier in the summer I got warning e-mails from a "hacker" that he'd gotten into my account on an unrelated writing site and had infected my computer with a self-deleting virus, took control of my webcam, and now had compromising video of me which he intended to release to my friends/family if I didn't pay him in Bitcoin. Now--the only part of that which was true was that he had my password. My webcam's been taped over for years and I never do anything compromising like he'd mentioned. There wasn't even any evidence my account had been logged into. Many others on the site received the same message and the webmaster notified us of the data breach. We changed our passwords and aside from another threat e-mail with the old password in it, nothing more happened.

 

Well, I just got the same message today--with my AFF password in the subject. Meaning AFF has been breached at some point and other users may have their passwords compromised. I haven't been here in years so I don't know how active site administration is, but I got no warning e-mail from site admins, so maybe they're unaware of the breach. :/ I thought others should know, though. THE E-MAIL THREAT ITSELF IS FAKE. You are NOT infected with anything, there is NO compromising video, they probably haven't even logged into your account. But you should still change your password since there's obviously been a breach of some sort.

 

If you get an e-mail from a sender name like "I Know" or "Save Yourself" or something like that, with a subject like "Seen everything [your password here]" or "Video of you [your password here]," you know your account info has been compromised. (Check your Spam and trash, it may be in there--mine was.) Please change your password immediately. Make it a strong one. (To be safe, do so both on AFF and here on the forum.) Don't click any weird links. You don't even need to open the e-mail threat, just ignore/delete it.

 

Sorry if I'm overstepping here but I couldn't see a general help forum or any official notification about this and I really think everyone should be safe. :/ And I do hope admins look into this immediately.

 

EDIT, I finally saw some comments on an admin's page that indicate this may in fact be related to a "hack" that occurred a year ago, and others have been getting this message since July. I got no e-mails regarding that, so I wasn't aware it had happened. There may be some other users still out of the loop like me.  Please move my thread to a more appropriate subforum if needed since this one is rather barren, thank you.

Edited September 26, 2019 by tehuti88

[BronxWench]

You can always file a report about the Bitcoin wallet here: https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/

Beyond that, we always encourage members to change passwords if they feel there is any risk. In fact, it’s recommended by most reputable security sites that you change passwords regularly—at least once a month if possible—and make sure your antivirus/malware protections are up to date at all times.

This thread might also be helpful.

Edited September 27, 2019 by BronxWench

[JayDee]

“We have video of you playing with yourself at your computer!”

Camgirl: “Oh NO!”

 

[BronxWench]

Does anyone actually leave their webcam uncovered these days?  

Oh, wait. InstaSnapGramChat, or something...

[JayDee]

I certainly leave mine covered. Unfortunately my Twitch livestreaming hasn’t taken off as a result.

[Guest SisterWine]

Just got one. I WANT TO CHANGE MY PASSWORD, NOW!

[BronxWench]

2 hours ago, Guest SisterWine said:

Just got one. I WANT TO CHANGE MY PASSWORD, NOW!

This topic has been addressed previously in this thread. Without restating what’s already been said, there is no current breach. 

Moderators do not have access to passwords, and cannot see or reset your password for you. You need to do that yourself, using the password link and the same email address as is associated with your account. The issues with Microsoft email clients, including Hotmail, were resolved, according to our tech admin, @DemonGoddess so you should be able to reset your password. Keep in mind it is case sensitive, and must be between 8-12 letters and/or numbers long, NO punctuation or special characters allowed.

If you are still having an issue resetting the password, please let us know with as much detail as possible. I’d suggest doing it via email, since the forums are public and can be crawled by searchbots, and scammers looking to harvest email addresses. You can reach us at tos_team@adult-fanfiction,org. 

If the scammer emailing you asked for a Bitcoin ransom, you can report the Bitcoin wallet to this site: https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/