[Aacee]

Hi,
It appears someone has been accessing my hotmail account for a while and sending out emails from my address but I have never seen this. Is it possible to find out for definite if this has happened? This is a serious matter as I am being accused of harassment when I have not done anything.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

[smoothy]

Depends on WHO you use for email...

If it's a free service you are out of luck.

Try changing your password to something secure after you get the keylogger off your machine IF you have followed secure passord guidelines.

[Aacee]

Hi,
Thanks for that. It's the free hotmail account. Can't I even find out what emails have been sent from my account if I request the information under the Data Protection Act? Surely all emails sent out must leave a record somewhere?

Sorry I'm not exactly a wizz on IT.

[Aacee]

Plus, what is a keylogger?

[smoothy]

Well, look at it this way... you get what you pay for with a free account. The only way you are going to get someone to do that is with a court order... because lets be honest... they make how much providing you a free email account?

You would have to prove beyond any doubt you are who you claim you are. That is assuming you could get them to do anything at all.

Incidentally... you can spoof emails. Where to the average person it appears to be coming from someone it isn't. If the email is made public anyplace... thats likely what happened and nobody but you has been in it.

A key logger is a piece of spyware

That literally logs every keystroke you make and it forwards (or makes it availible) to a party who had a hand in getting it on your machine. Literally anything you type is captured.