I noticed several emails sent from my gmail account that I didn't create or intend to send. Each of these emails was sent to the list of emails that I have stored in my Google email account.
The contents of the emails were a link to a non-existent web site and that's about all that was there (probably a test). The first clue that they were from my gmail account was the signature that each contained. I have a separate signature for each of the important email accounts that I use. Another clue was that there were some emails that were no longer active and responded with domain failure to deliver messages. I checked those out and discovered once again that it was from my gmail contact list.
Doing some research on what was going on while my computer was doing a full and complete virus security scan, I found a few references to this type of hijacking and the lack of response from Google. One of the responses was to go back into your Gmail account settings and change the password.
Well I have talked about password strength and security in the past and fall prey to my own lack of follow through. I've since changed my Gmail account password to a stronger one with eight characters rather than the one I used to use with only five characters and easy to guess.
So if you were one of the people that got the errant email, I apologize and want to let you know that I have taken steps to make sure it won't happen again anytime soon.
As always, safe surfing,
Darrell
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