Hijacked email program

This waters down the CTA -- and the performance. Stand your ground and keep primary messages primary. Less-compelling stories should be slotted as separate secondary messages. Satisfying multiple constituents often means sending emails containing multiple messages -- sometimes totally unrelated to one another.

To combat this scenario, limit the number of secondary messages that can be included in a given mailing through clearly defined program guidelines and agreed-upon creative templates. This happens when messages with limited mass appeal are sent to your entire subscriber list.

Irrelevant messaging often occurs when an enthusiastic advocate of a niche product assumes everyone who reads or hears about it will love it as much as they do. Instead, niche messages should be sent to targeted lists, or promoted as dynamic submessages within your mass mailings. I recently signed up for an airline loyalty program, and the first email I received from the airline was a discount incentive for a clothing retailer.

Some recipients might have enjoyed the deal, but the tie-in was a definite stretch, particularly as it came so early in the communication stream. Resist the temptation to accept and promote partner messages when they are not relevant to your program or your recipients. In the long run, such practices will do your program more harm than good.

Remember the wise words of old Smokey Bear: "Only you can prevent forest fires. Be sure to secure your account with strong passwords, 2-factor authentication, or use a secure password manager. Encourage friends and colleagues to do the same. If you know the sender personally, ask them about the message in person or via phone. Or, if you receive a message from a company, look up their publicly listed phone number do not use the number provided in the email and call them.

Kelvin is a Senior Threat researcher with Webroot and specialises in P. Webroot Follow. About the Author Kelvin Murray Sr. Tag Cloud android antivirus artificial intelligence backup brightcloud threat intelligence cloud computing cryptocurrency cyber resilience data breach data protection dns protection endpoint protection endpoint security https identity theft infosec insurance ios mac machine learning malware mobile protection personal data phishing podcast privacy ransomware real-time anti-phishing remote work security awareness training small business security social media threat intelligence vpn web classification and reputation wifi security windows.

Twitter Feed Webroot Follow. That way, chances are you won't notice that the account has been hacked for a while longer. But whether they changed your password or not, they may very well have gone in and changed the recovery information. The reason is simple: when you finally do get around to changing your password, the hacker can follow the "I forgot my password" steps and reset the password out from underneath you using the recovery information that he collected or set.

The hacker erased them all and all of my email as well! That happens sometimes. It's often part of a hacker not wanting to leave a trail — they delete everything in the account: everything they've done along with everything you've done. If you're like most people, you've not been backing up your online email. All I can suggest at this point is to see if your email service will restore it for you. In general, they will not. Because the deletion was not their doing, but rather the doing of someone logged into the account, they may simply claim it's your responsibility.

Hard as it is to hear, they're right. Start backing up your email now. Start backing up your contacts now.