someone tried to hack my gmail

[ghostjmf]

Usually when gmail reports this stuff they're reporting my own login from a new location. Not this time. I was not in NJ this afternoon. I was in Maine, & my tablet was in Mass (not by intention, but it got left behind, kind of like a character in that religious series).



To make life even more fraught, gmail tells you that after a password change, you can't get into an Android device running system 5.0 or above for 72 hours.


Apparently tablet is running an earlier system, because it prompted me for new password & did then let me in. (I had already changed password on a real computer I was able to get to.)


Since google owns Android, you'd think they would fix this for system 5.0+ people.

[ghostjmf]

Tablet is Android 4.2.2. Lucky me.

[Jeemie]

Tablet is Android 4.2.2. Lucky me.

Yes- the odds you would have had Lollipop are very small- only about 12.5% of all devices have upgraded as of June.

I still have KitKat and have heard some horror stories about Lollipop that will make me hold off doing an upgrade until it tries to force me to do so.

Besides, M, that is coming around August time, is supposed to be much better- supposed to address a lot of those power issues and apps running in the background that you were complaining about earlier. M is also rumored to fix a lot of the Lollipop issues that left Android device owners smarting (hopefully this password issue will be one of them).

Wonder what the name for "M" will be?

[ghostjmf]

Its amazing, in a bad way, the things you can't do with gmail from Android tablets; can't, as far as I can tell, check that "last logged in from" feature that shows you hacks. At least I can't get to it. And I thought I was unable to log in & out because the person who set tablet up for me set it up that way; no, Android gmail has a "help" menu item that says the only way to turn off email on this tablet is to disconnect it entirely.
It recommends you set up a complicated tablet lock instead, but I've read reports of people locking themselves out with them, & I don't need that stress right now.

[ghostjmf]

Jeemie mentions my data drain from background apps issue:

Since I turned off everything that doesn't say "you will be so sorry if you turn this off" my data drainage is way down. But remembering "I no longer have that unless I turn it back on" takes, well, remembering.

[Jeemie]

Jeemie mentions my data drain from background apps issue:

Since I turned off everything that doesn't say "you will be so sorry if you turn this off" my data drainage is way down. But remembering "I no longer have that unless I turn it back on" takes, well, remembering.

When M comes, it will have a setting called Doze which will shut those apps off and on as you choose, without you having to remember.

[Bob Juch]

Tablet is Android 4.2.2. Lucky me.

Yes- the odds you would have had Lollipop are very small- only about 12.5% of all devices have upgraded as of June.

I still have KitKat and have heard some horror stories about Lollipop that will make me hold off doing an upgrade until it tries to force me to do so.

Besides, M, that is coming around August time, is supposed to be much better- supposed to address a lot of those power issues and apps running in the background that you were complaining about earlier. M is also rumored to fix a lot of the Lollipop issues that left Android device owners smarting (hopefully this password issue will be one of them).

Wonder what the name for "M" will be?

My work phone has Lollipop and I've had no problems on it. It looks much better than KitKat. I still hate it though. My Windows Phone 8.1 is so much better!

[ghostjmf]

One creepy repercussion of this is that gmail is screwing up itself; it mailed me a "make your account more secure" message to the account which was not hacked, but when I open up the message, it thinks it is the account that was hacked. I went ahead & made, via my tablet, the unhacked account the "recovery" account should a future hack of 1st account be successful, & gmail dutifully sent me an "someone changed your recovery account; was it you" message. Now I'm wondering should I change it back, & should I change the password on the as-yet-unhacked account, since gmail itself is getting them mixed up? I'm sure security people would say "yes" to both. But I wonder if the screwup is only because the hacked account was set up 1st on the tablet, & somehow tablet-world considers 2nd account a subsidiary of it.


gmail also recommends a 2-step login, which involves them sending a code to your phone. Every time you login, apparently. Too many variables, not to mention too many steps. In the variables column, there are places I have access to real computers but where my phone just plain doesn't get a signal. I also don't always get text messages the instant they were sent.

[Jeemie]

I can't really tell from your description what's realy going on, but this seems like SOP with GMail, and not that it thinks your other account was hacked.

Unless the message you got from GMail actually says words to that effect.

[ghostjmf]

Jeemie:

What I'm asking is why, when I open a message to sent to an account we'll call "notheraccount@gmail.com", the message turns out to be talking about "myrealname@gmail.com". "myrealname" is the account that was hacked, or was attempted to be hacked, anyway.


But "notheraccount" got the e-mail message from gmail.


I could understand gmail sending this message to the account that was hacked. Sending it to the 2ndary account is chilling me.


The original "someone is trying to log in as you from New Jersey" message got sent to my cell phone as a text message, not to the email account, "myrealname@gmail.com", that the hack was attempted on.

[Bob Juch]

Jeemie:

What I'm asking is why, when I open a message to sent to an account we'll call "notheraccount@gmail.com", the message turns out to be talking about "myrealname@gmail.com". "myrealname" is the account that was hacked, or was attempted to be hacked, anyway.


But "notheraccount" got the e-mail message from gmail.


I could understand gmail sending this message to the account that was hacked. Sending it to the 2ndary account is chilling me.


The original "someone is trying to log in as you from New Jersey" message got sent to my cell phone as a text message, not to the email account, "myrealname@gmail.com", that the hack was attempted on.

When you setup your Gmail account it asked you for an alternate account to send email to when necessary. It was necessary. Why would it send email to an account it thinks might be compromised?

[ghostjmf]

I didn't give it "notheraccount" as my alternate account when I set up "myrealname". Just didn't.


In fact, what I did when I went I got the message in question is use this opportunity to set up "notheraccount" as my alternate account, figuring it would be a good idea. So then "myrealname" gets a message saying "someone changed your alternate account; was it you?".


I'd like to set up "myrealname" as the alternate account for "notheraccount", but I can't get the stuff to show up acknowledging "notheraccount" actually exists in the eyes of gmail. Except it does exist, of course, as I use it every day.


And in a completely unrelated instance, my sister, who does not want any part of facebook, had a facebook account set up for her by a mistaken friend. But I was using sister's computer at the time, & at some point logged on to facebook, & now if you look up sister on facebook you get stuff her friend set up plus some of my stuff. Computer World is weird. I just somehow expected gmail, owned by google & all, to work more professionally.

[Bob Juch]

I didn't give it "notheraccount" as my alternate account when I set up "myrealname". Just didn't.


In fact, what I did when I went I got the message in question is use this opportunity to set up "notheraccount" as my alternate account, figuring it would be a good idea. So then "myrealname" gets a message saying "someone changed your alternate account; was it you?".


I'd like to set up "myrealname" as the alternate account for "notheraccount", but I can't get the stuff to show up acknowledging "notheraccount" actually exists in the eyes of gmail. Except it does exist, of course, as I use it every day.

Okay, so you added it later, after Google added that feature.