Somebody hacked my email account last week.
I was sitting in the canteen. Sipping my tasteless coffee. Logging in to check my mails. And just like that! Access Denied! I tried again… Access Denied!! again… This time typing each letter carefully… Access Denied!!! I closed my laptop.
I couldn’t tell what was wrong with my gmail. After a while, just to check, I logged into an alternate email account. I was let in. But now, a chat window popped out, flashing nothing but 3 weird smileys at me. I looked at the sender. It was me!!! The chat was being sent from the account that I couldn’t log into. I closed the chat window.( I don’t know why, it was just an impulse.) Unable to believe what I just saw, I opened the chat history. And well… there… I could find not even a trace of what I just saw … or I thought I saw…
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I was really scared of the misappropriation of all my sensitive data in the account. But more than that, I was pissed at the thought that somebody has stolen my identity, my name! It wasn’t my actual name; rather it was a special name (fancy names that teenagers use when they open their email account for the 1st time… ) But, over the years, my virtual identity had become synonymous with this name (‘thefountainhead’, it was called – named after a book that I call my bible.) And it meant something to me – something that my official name didn’t. It was the only face of my social presence!!! And wherever I went (twitter, fb, digg…) it came along. We shared some invisible bond. (“Don’t spoil my name!” it used to tell me.) And now, I was mad that some inconsiderate SOB had stolen my name & he was going to screw with it!
I had started preparing for damage control plans – asking my contacts to ignore any inappropriate messages n take my new address, Change all my social networking n other passwords…, and a hell lot of other stuff! ( I even googled for WTF emoticons to express my shock, anger, and all other rushes of emotions…)
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When I pulled myself together and looked back, I saw that I had it coming… I should probably have done something when my orkut profile one day became fan of ‘I Luv BIG Boys’ community – without telling me!!! Because in no time I became friend n fan of hundreds of such queer groups n individuals. But I just… ignored it.
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Hours after …
I got my account back. Don’t ask how. It’s a little dumb and grossly embarrassing…(it started with requesting my tormentor to give back my identity!)
The 1st thing I did was to check my ‘sent mail’ .The 2nd – I took a deep breather…