The AOL email system has been hacked by spoofers, causing thousands of people to unknowingly send spam to their friends, family, and coworkers.
The problem started cropping up on Monday, with many people taking to Twitter to complain that their AOL email was hacked. The drumbeat of complaints eventually grew loud enough that the company responded to assure users that the issue was being addressed .
“AOL takes the safety and security of consumers very seriously, and we are actively addressing consumer complaints,” AOL said in a statement. “We are working to resolve the issue of account spoofing to keep users and their respective accounts running smoothly and securely.”
The company also noted that the hacked email messages do not come from AOL itself.
“These emails do not originate from AOL and do not have any contact with the AOL Mail system – their addresses are just edited to make them appear that way,” the company said. “The message actually originates from the spammer’s email account and is sent from the spammer’s email server.”
The hack caused users to send mass messages with subject titles like “How are you?” Inside, the email contained links that could lead to malware or phishing attacks aimed at gaining personal information from users.
AOL did offers some help to people affected, with recommendations to change passwords.
“If you do find email in your Sent folder that you did not send, your account has been compromised (hacked),” AOL’s help page on spoofing states. “If you do not find any strange email in your Sent folder, your account has most likely been spoofed.”
The company is also taking a proactive stance, giving users more power to reject hacked messages.
“AOL Mail is immediately changing its policy to help mail providers reject email messages that are sent using forged AOL Mail addresses,” the company said. “By initiating this change, AOL Mail, along with other major email providers will reject these spoofed email messages, rather than deliver them to the recipient’s inboxes.”
More information about AOL email being hacked is available at the company’s blog .
