spam

Getting Hacked: The Story and Aftermath

I was awakened on Thursday morning at around 6 a.m. with a phone call from my friend and business associate Gordon Einstein, a technology guru, who informed me that he had received what was obviously a bogus message, supposedly from my AOL e-mail account.  Apparently, someone had hacked both my e-mail and Facebook and sent out a request for $2500, that I was stranded in England.  It went out to my entire e-mail list, which has over 3,000 names.  He recommended that I immediately change my passwords, which I did.  Somehow this event caused (or this happened simultaneously) all of my saved e-mail folders and addresses to be erased.  We contacted AOL, and he tried (unsuccessfully) to reinstate those functions.  I began to get a very large number of e-mails and phone calls informing me of the problem.  The vast majority of people were sympathetic, and knew immediately that it wasn’t I who sent this request.  I heard from the most random array of people, from very good friends and family, who obviously knew this was a scam and high-jacking, to customers, ex-customers, and even business prospects with whom I have not done business.  I was literally responding to the calls and e-mails all day, non-stop.  Only a couple of people indicated they thought it could have actually been me sending this bizarre request.  The perpetrator had put a return address that had one character which was slightly different from my actual e-mail address.

One of the most interesting aspects of this event was that as upsetting and disruptive as it was, it actually put me in touch with a large number of people with whom I probably wouldn’t have spoken or corresponded.  In a very real sense, it was a networking opportunity, and I even got a couple of referrals out of it.  Only one person was offended by it and chastised me, even though I was not the one who sent the bogus e-mail.  I still haven’t retrieved my files or address book, but I am coping.  There are several disturbing aspects of this event which are obvious, but one that irritates me the most is the possibility that even though I didn’t send the bizarre message, my name was associated with it.  Additionally, I have been doing a lot of promotion of my book events and speaking, so people have already been receiving a number of real messages from me.

In all, the event showed me that there are many people who genuinely care about me, trust me, and will stand by me, despite this cyber attack.  It also showed me that some people are literal and might even write me off because of this event.  No one is immune from this type of event, unless they remain in the last century and don’t use electronic forms of communication.  For those who STILL don’t get it, I am not in England, nor have I been for a number of years.  I don’t need to borrow money from anyone, and I am fully capable of writing a message with proper spelling and grammar, even under great stress.  I feel that I made lemonade out of the lemons I was given, and learned a lot about people in the process.

I recommend everyone have passwords that are at least 9 characters, and have a combination of upper case and lower case letters, and a combination of letters and numbers.  Keep your sense of humor, because that’s what can ultimately get you through events such as this one.

Sorting Through E-Mail

I get a lot of e-mail, and a good portion of it is from people sharing their newsletters, announcements, penis lengtheners, nose shorteners, and anything I might want from Canadian pharmacies. Fortunately some of it goes to the spam file. Some people get on a rant and send multiple e-mails that are all forwarded messages in the forms of jokes, political opinions, and “send this to 20 friends or you will die” messages. Though I often delete some of these unsolicited messages, many of them have value and should probably be read and considered. I have probably deleted or thrown away items of value for the sake of time. But I rationalize that behavior by positing that I will probably see the message again from another person or in another form. Part of the problem is that because of my own state of overwhelm, I hesitate to send out a newsletter for fear that it will be considered a nuisance by others. I don’t have an answer to this situation. I have asked a couple of people to cease with the jokes or political missives with which I heartily disagree. I am old school in the respect that I almost always respond to an e-mail that is written to me and not to the masses. My only real solution is a file called “articles of interest” which I may never read and my favorite button DELETE. I just hope I don’t miss something important. I’ll close with one final anecdote, related to “snail mail.” It was October of 1976, and I received a letter that looked like junk mail. I almost threw it away, but decided to open it up. It was a job offer from the Government of American Samoa. I got the job, and spent a year of my life there, which was a life-transforming experience. My son Billy was born there, as was the idea for my doctoral dissertation. And so it goes…