I had my Skype account taken over, and believe me, it was truly horrific. It happened before I got too far involved in IM, so the damage wasn't nearly as bad then as it would be if it happened now.
Here's how it happened:
Someone sends me what looks to be a picture file. Only, the file name is like 255 characters long, something like "picturesofyourmom2833*23...." and you can't see the end of the file extension (.jpg, or whatever) Knowing that it might be an executable that might infect my computer, I download the file with the intention of running a scan on it, renaming it to something else, so I can see the . extension (is it an .exe, .jpg, or what), and I store it in a separate folder.
Then, get distracted and move on to something else.
One week later, I'm doing routine maintenance on my desktop, see this odd-looking folder named "temp", and open it to see this weird file, the name of which I don't recognize. Note: At the time of the download, I wasn't thinking "Hey, I'm going to look at a picture of "your mom", I'm going to see if this is an infected file, and how it might work", however at the time of the maintenance, I'm wondering what your mom might look like, so impulsively I double-click the icon.
The following events took place in about 10 seconds.
1) File executes.
2) Closes Skype.
3) Relaunches Skype
4) Skype wants my username and password.
5) Retard (that would be me) types in my username and password, and wonders when I get to look at pictures of your mom.
6) Skype immediately shuts down.
7) Computer immediately shuts down, and restarts.
8) On restart, my Skype account is inaccessible by my old username and password.
About 4 hours later, after filling out a form on Skype, which involves giving my old username and password, and the credit card number for the last purchase I made from Skype, I get control of my Skype account back. Note: If I had not made purchases using a credit card from Skype, I would NEVER have gotten my Skype account back.
Here's the thing. Any passwords, usernames, website URLs, email accounts, etc... that might have been pasted into a Skype conversation could have/would have been stolen and taken over, and used for whatever purposes the "hacker" might have wanted. This isn't really hacking, IMO. Any dumbass can get a copy of this script and send it to anyone & everyone until they find someone stupid enough to click the file. It takes no special talent and completely relies on the stupidity of the User that:
1) Volunteers to download the file
2) Volunteers to execute the file
3) Volunteers to enter the Username and Password while the program is running.
I think too much credit is given to the power of so-called "hackers", and not enough emphasis being placed on the individuals that participate in their own victimization. In that respect, this very weak form of "hacking" isn't much different than many other blackhat marketing techniques.
Anyways, that's my story. At the time it happened, it was just an inconvenience, and I'm glad for the lesson. If I learned that lesson today, the cost would be enormous. Hope this helps someone else.
