This morning I awoke and as I usually do, I checked my e-mail on my phone. One of my messages happened to be from Facebook. Instead of informing me that I had been tagged in a picture or that someone was requesting to be my friend, the e-mail detailed that my Facebook account had been logged into from a computer that had never accessed my account before. It instructed me to log in as soon as possible and answer a couple of questions on whether the source that attempted to log in was legitimate or not.
I immediately thought that the unfamiliar computer source could have been my personal lap top that I keep at my house. I had logged into Facebook from it the night before to perform some NFL Draft updates. But this would have been strange as I have logged into my FB account from this computer many times before, just not with the frequency that I do on my phone or from my desktop computer at work. I tried accessing my account from my phone but all it would say was that an unfamiliar source tried to log into my account and I would need to verify if it was a trusted source. However, I did not have the option to verify it on my phone which was quite frustrating. Although a little miffed at this inconvenience, I was already on my way to work as I was covering our cheerleading tryouts today. I got to my office and logged into Facebook.
When I logged on, I got the same message about an unfamiliar source attempting to log into my account. This time, however, I actually had a link that I could click on to see the location of where the source was that tried to log in. As I clicked on the link and I saw where the source had come from, I was shocked.
After I clicked the link, Facebook displayed a map that was focused on Central America with an arrow pointing at Leon, Nicaragua. This was where the source was that logged in as me, knowing my e-mail address and password. I immediately clicked the link indicating that this source was not my own activity. Facebook then pulled up a message explaining that an outside party had managed to intercept my information. They told me that in addition to my Facebook information, any other account that I use that has the same password could also be implicated. As I use the same password for my e-mail, bank account, twitter, and many other different services, I started to freak out a little bit. After I followed the directions to change my Facebook password, I went through and changed the password on all my other accounts.
I don’t know if you realize how hard this was for me to do. I have had the same trusty, unguessable password for probably the last ten years. I could type this long password in a half second…with one hand…with one finger…with my eyes closed. To get rid of a password that I had identified with for so long kind of hurt.
But what hurt more was the fact that someone or something in Nicaragua had access to my Facebook account and quite possibly all of my other accounts as well. I mean I guess I have to thank Facebook for identifying this right away and for not allowing the source to delve deeper into my profile but something just seems a little off. I am wondering if people are now going to start seeing that ridiculous “Crazed fan stabs Justin Bieber” headline under my name. Are people going to start getting Twitter direct messages from me saying “Someone got real personal about you in a blog?” Worst yet, am I going to wake up tomorrow morning and discover that my bank account is overdrawn?
This was very unsettling news. The last thing I want is for some untrusted source in a third world country messing around with my most personal and most important information. If anyone has had this happen to them, please let me know. Don’t Blink.
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