Who the hell would want MY identity?

[swede]

I got a marketing spam today at work from an e-mail account of mine that I had abandoned for close to six months. It was obvious that the spam had been sent to every contact that was available in that old account, so the church deacon, the contractor that quoted me a bathroom re-do and all of my relatives and friends now know--courtesy of me--that they can earn thousands running their own internet business with no money down.

Should I be concerned that my password has been compromised or can this daemon mailer hack my address without it? Do I let Mr. Yahoo know there is a problem? Do old e-mail accounts need to be formally closed? If an intruder enters my house and threatens me with a baby thermometer and a jar of vaseline do I tell him my mother's maiden name or strip to my shorts and wrestle him?

Any advice you can offer will be helpful, though I can probably expect one good answe to every five smart remarks.

[Freak Out]

Dude..... you're a greedy, overpaid teacher with a Cadillac pension....lots of people would love to be walking in those shoes.

[SkinBasket]

I would just close the account. As far as your info being hacked, I doubt it was. My wife, even with their "crack" IT team who spent most the day sleeping in the basement at her previous job, would get several e-mails from herself each day with similar offers. They claimed there was nothing they could do except to tell her to use the spam filter. So you could complain to Yahoo that someone used your address to spam your contact list, but they probably won't do anything.

[swede]

Smart asses are dropping the ball.

[Scott Campbell]

Use a stronger password when you sign up for your freaky circus porn.

[MadtownPacker]

Your account probably wasnt hacked your contacts just got jacked. Wanna know the truth? It was your fucking fault, probably reading some shit racist joke email from one of your cracka buddies.

[SkinBasket]

Please don't be him. Please don't be him. Please don't be him.

[3irty1]

The biggest problem with internet security isn't the strength of a password but rather that most people use the same password for multiple things. If you sign up for any web account (even Packerrats) your password is stored in a database along with an email, if that password is the same password as that email, its just too easy. However, a nerd who wants to send an email from you doesn't need your email password, but I would think they need it to get your contact list.

My advice is to keep different passwords for things that are important from now on.

[swede]

Dang!

I never had any trouble remembering 123456. This is going to be inconvenient.