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A few days ago, I got an email reporting that one of my online accounts has been accessed by a new IP Address. Someone used my email address and the account's (quite strong) password to access the online account.

I've checked whether my email address has been compromised using these websites: https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and https://hacked-emails.com/ and apparently my address has not been compromised.

How is this possible to know how someone got an access to my email address?

Should I change my email's password? Should I change an email address?

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    "my address has not been compromised" - no, that your account details have not been published gives you no information at all relevant to the question of whether your account has been compromised.
    – symcbean
    Mar 1, 2017 at 13:01
  • HaveIBeenPwned doesn't have all data breaches that ever existed, so it is possible that your password is in some data dump without them knowing about it.
    – Anders
    Mar 1, 2017 at 13:01

1 Answer 1

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Definitely change your password, no matter what.

  • are you sure the email you received is legitimate? Or could it have been spoofed somehow?
  • if you can review logins, then check if what you see is what the email says
  • is there an explanation involving your own activity? Did you use a new network, your phone, something else, which you don't normally do?
  • could this be a matter of your connection having changed IP (possible if your were on a consummer-grade ISP) - and if so, do you still have that IP?
  • could this be a case of your re-using a password, for example between [email protected] and [email protected])?

If you can enable 2 factor auth, do so.

You might also consider using something like KeePass if you don't already, and go around to change all your passwords to something totally random, and unique per service.

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  • First of all, I'm sure the email I received is legitimate, though it appeared to be in Spam (for some reason). Secondly, I've checked - and I have no option to review logins, only the last one... Thirdly. I don't use a new network. I don't re-use a password. If I had an option of enabling 2-FA, I would have done it straight away.
    – N Even
    Mar 1, 2017 at 13:11
  • OK - what makes you sure the email you got was legitimate? It sounds like you have good reason to believe your account is not compromised (or easy to compromise), which is why I questioned that aspect of things. In this case, short of contacting the support for that site and asking them to help, I'm not sure how much more we could find out.
    – iwaseatenbyagrue
    Mar 1, 2017 at 13:18
  • I checked the source, and the email is indeed legitimate. (I checked the IP Address)
    – N Even
    Mar 1, 2017 at 13:25
  • Fair enough. In that case, indeed, not totally sure what to do next. I do get your concern isn't necessarily that specific account, so much as how this could have happened. If you are totally sure there is no way this happened by chance/guessing, then I guess the two possibilities are that the service's DB could have been compromised, or that you may have been - I would see if you can do anything to rule the second one of those possibilities out.
    – iwaseatenbyagrue
    Mar 1, 2017 at 13:28
  • Although, one quick thought: was this an attempt, or a successful login? I've been assuming it was a successful login, but if not, then there are a whole lot more possibilities here, and possibly less to worry about.
    – iwaseatenbyagrue
    Mar 1, 2017 at 13:30

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