Bitcoin Forum

Earlier today I received an email saying that the email address of my bitcointalk account (theta) was changed, and then another one saying that my password was changed.
The only option available was to lock the account and then try to recover it.
I did lock it and then checked the instructions for recovery (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=497545.0). They require signing a bitcoin address or a PGP key that was previously mentioned and therefore is known to belong to the account holder.
The problem is I haven't publicly disclosed either so according to these instructions I can't recover my account.
I find this hard to believe.
First of all, how come an email address change is allowed without confirmation or at the very least time-locking from the previous email address? And how come I can't recover it now, again by returning ownership to the original email address?
There must be another way to recover it. What shall I do?

I've had the same problem today.

Somebody can help me?

I've  lock the account with the option:

then you can visit the following link within 14 days in order to lock the account:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=seclock;u=368688;t=1512321576;o=Y2lnYXJyb3NleGlAZ21haWwuY29t;n=QlRDRGVlRGVlQHlhbmRleC5jb20%3D;c=PEdzKGXBuflStusl1gbGtl%2BTC%2B2MonPKm8tgQOHw02A%3D

Read the sticky in meta.

Hello, I would like to know if my account on Bitkojntolk got hacked, how can I restore it? And do you need documents?)

Can you sign a message from this address?

1DUFbqqEf8PeH2ZpKf7ovLWpVLMh6urP63

https://web.archive.org/web/20140715150836/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=84992

YES!
This is the address I signed and sent the signed message to Cyrus and Theymos in PM.
I'll send it to you too (in about 6 minutes that I will be allowed to with this new account)
edit: it's 1 hour actually, not 6 minutes, so I'll send you the PM later.
edit2: there's another limit, of 2 PMs a day, so your PM with the signed message (that 4 other people including Theymos and Cyrus already have) will arrive later tonight.

PM sent last night

Seems a lot of people got their account stolen :|
Mine was stolen yesterday, only just two weeks to become a full member.
I already reported mine to admin but I'm stupid, I submitted the wrong data.
Now I have to wait for another 24 hour to be able to send another pm.

Message was signed and verified in PM, signed message was dated "2017.11.24", which is after the suspected hack.
I've left feedback to alert others.

Thanks for verifying the message. Can you please clarify what you mean regarding the date.
2017.11.24 is the day after the hack. I received the email about my account's email address and password change on Thu, Nov 23, 2017 at 5:35 PM (GMT), then followed the instructions to lock my account, created this new account and posted this thread on the same day, and then I tried to find a btc address linked to me. I found the one you posted as well, and signed it on November 24th (the following day).
Is there something else that I need to do?

Sorry - that was a typo, and is fixed now.  :-[
FWIW, I believe you've satisfied the requirements for recovery, the archived address goes back to 2013, so it's enough proof. Cyrus or theymos are the only two that can recover the account though, and it can take some time. If you have sent messages to both, waiting is your only next step.

Thank you. That's fine, I can wait, I just don't want to lose the account. I assume it remains locked until further action is taken by the mods?

Hello please help me.
my account was hacked too,
i sent message to @ Cyrus
But i dont know how to sign the message,

Follow these directions.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=990345.0


 You will also need proof of your address from an older post before it was hacked.
Put your address into google search. Hope this helps a little. Goodluck!!!

Bump
Hope a mod will have a look

You will receive a PM that simply says: UNLOCKED. That's all I received when
mine was unlocked last month. My account wasn't hacked so, it could also contain
simple instruction for keeping your account safe.

Oh I just learned something pretty practical. Thanks a lot guys!

Was that a PM in the new account?

Yes, it's in the new account, in which you have sent the signed message.

Bump
Can someone please look into this?

I started this process October 27th. Losing hope on recovering my account. I would pay a small sum to recover it.

How does this happen? Do people simply guess easy passwords? My password for this one includes symbols, numbers and shit.

Yes, brute force very likely, aided by very bad forum design, in that they allow a user to change the account's registered email address without requiring approval by the old email or at least giving the option to reject the change! If it weren't for that the hack would be fruitless, as the rightful owner could easily change the password back (whereas right now the only defence is to lock the account).

Yeah, the very weak ones can be broken in seconds. There are websites where you can check how strong your password is such as: https://howsecureismypassword.net/

Try something similar to your password and see what it says, but merely using a dictionary word with a couple of symbols and numbers doesn't make it unbreakable but the longer it is with numerous symbols and numbers will make it much stronger. Ideally it should be some random gibberish with a lot of symbols and numbers and upper and lower case.

the same problem ..
icant sig in my older acount

Bump

The way that you only to recover your account is using your blockchain wallet staking in your account.

Yes, indeed. I have however already signed the required message with an address that was shown in my profile, as you can see from the discussion in this thread. I have sent the signed message to Theymos and Cyrus, and have received no response yet. I will wait for longer, while hoping that another mod /admin will help with action being taken to restore my account.

me too, i have been waiting for long without any response

theta1's signed message is good. I verified it before, but I do not see the other thread it was in.
Probably removed because of this thread. Hopefully someone can look into this soon, and the many other accounts like
this. It would be nice if the forum would allow a "team" of volunteers to work on this issue. I'd sign up for it, and try
to clear some space on this board.

Thank you. Is any mod watching please?

bump

Anyone here have any success? Been waiting since October 27

bump
can someone please take a look?

Hello,
I created this account as my account got hacked. So I PMed theymos with a bitcoin signed message, hoping to get back my access. This message is to make sure that It's me who PMed thymos. My hacked and locked account User name is: arghabd; Hope it helps.
Thanks a lot.

bump

I wonder why your compromised Full Member account theta (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=84992) with only -2 red trust reports to be Last Active on: November 23, 2017, 05:37:28 PM . What made the spammer abbandon it ? https://i.imgur.com/sp2OzuH.jpg
 
Either way, I just ignored your hacked account (however not sure if my current rank makes any difference) once you manage to recover your account you'll have to sign another message to confirm it, so I can remove my red trust.
I believe starting a red trust campaign on those hacked accounts who has been reported + verified successfully will cause a significantly harm on those scammers who bought your hacked account for spamming / shady purposes.

Hi,
I'm not sure I understand the question, but the last activity is in Nov 23, 2017 because that's when I locked the account. I did it immediately as soon as I received the notification that my password was changed, as I mentioned that in the very beginning of this thread. So it's not that the hacker abandoned it, it's that it's locked and can't access it themselves.

I guess you are referring to a case where a hacker uses a hacked account successfully for a long period, in which case reducing their trust would compromise their strategy. In my case the hacker didn't even manage to post a single message because I locked the account immediately.
I would love to have my account back and remove the red trust and go back to where we were. Perhaps as we approach the 1 year anniversary, a moderator will help me recover it!  ::)

Time flees.. no updates so far, very disappointed about staff management and their false promises.  :'(

I see you was lucky enough to lock your account within the 15 days window.. many others (including myself) were hijacked, used their profiles for spam / deceiving others, sold the accounts multiple times and even ignored all recovery & ban attempts from their legitimate owners.
Recovery of hacked accounts should be #1 priority, it is not rocket science and even a single volunteer could revert most of the damage that hackers has been making consistently over the years because of a second market that allows account buying/selling. Admins are well aware of this but they don't care nor enforce the rules or security measures.

One more nudge. More than a year has passed now.

bump

Merry Christmas!

here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5089781.0

Thank you! Email sent, fingers crossed. Happy new year!

Recovery worked, I got my account back, thanks everyone!

Now, I see that I have -2 trust, which was justified while it was under the control of the hacker(s), but can it be reset now? Or should I just contact the people that voted negatively?

Congratulations mate, the recovery speed was quite impressive.

Yep, just contact them to remove the negative tags

Looks like an account recovery has happened according to seclog (https://archive.is/oRxrq#selection-619.0-628.0), I've removed my feedback.