I'm no expert on SA (and I don't have an SA account) but two solutions come to mind, based on mainstream sites:
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1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication
You might be familiar with the idea already. When you log in to your [bank, investment, email, etc.] account, they send a (usually) 6-digit code to your cell phone as text or your email address as an email message or sometimes a phone call with a computer voice speaking the digits to you. You usually set up that option from your [bank] account Security Options page or sometimes you choose the radio button (o) text (o) email (o) phone call from the login page ... but the phone number and email are already registered in the Account info, not entered during the login.
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The idea is the person logging in ALSO has to be holding your phone in their hand to read the code and type it in to the computer. The hackers probably cannot "steal" or redirect SA's text message to your phone. If you get a text message with the code but are NOT trying to log in, it screams, "SOMEONE IS TRYING TO LOG IN TO YOUR ACCOUNT!! Contact SA with date/time of this text!!"
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Oh ... some messages that pop up on your phone app are more like, "Are you trying to log in? Click [Yes, it's me] or [NO, it isn't me!]" Be careful NOT to hit Yes to allow the log in IF IT ISN'T YOU!!
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DOES SA OFFER A MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION OPTION?
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2. Some companies offer added security using a HARDWARE security key (dongle).
http://www.techradar.com/best/best-security-key
http://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-security-keys-for-multi-factor-authentication?test_uuid=00yyZwi7Jhwj42oJG5A1uwg&test_variant=b
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The big on-line companies offer them at NO COST to customers who have been hacked.
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Roughly, the company [bank, AOL, Omaha Steaks, ...] sends you a thing that looks like a small USB drive to your physical USPS or FedEx address. When you log in to the site, the USB thing must be connected to the computer while you are logging in and are connected. Needless to say, hackers would need an EXACT clone of the dongle which has a lot of encrypted, hard or impossible to crack code on it.
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I know someone who's email was hacked many years ago and the dongle was the best solution for them.
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Hmmm ... it seems like you can create your own USB Security Key device even if SA doesn't offer it directly. You buy one from Amazon or whatever and program it with info relevant to your SA account login. SA has to get the typed in log in info AND the encrypted info from the dongle to complete the login. I think. Can anybody explain that better, please?
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ASK SA TO OFFER YOU A MORE SECURE OPTION, such as (1) or (2) above. It is likely that other users would like it, too, even if they haven't been hacked YET. It would keep SOs, family members, co-workers, et al. from using their computer and "accidentally" logging in. If you let a co-worker use your computer and they snooped around and tried to log in to "Sweetman's Special Account" and they guessed your username AND maybe even guessed your password ("Hmm, ... his childhood pet's name was Rover ... let's try that. ... Aha! I'm in!"), they would still need the text message code or dongle or whatever to access the account.
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Others might know of other current security options for SA to offer.
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Good luck.
Posted By: sweetman
Guys, I'll make this as short as possible. About a month ago the Seeking profile I'd been using for many, many years got hacked in some weird way. Most notably, there appeared overnight about a thousand new entries on My Favorites list of SB profiles all over the country which I had seemingly favorited while I was sleeping! The result was I was banned from the site, with no recourse. Claiming "suspected fraudulent activity", my account was deleted and I was told not to inquire because all inquiries would be ignored. My repeated attempts to contact Seeking Support finally received an apologetic reply saying their policy is to simply delete all profiles suspected of suspicious or fraudulent activity. Also, due to their commitment to customer privacy, they would not, could not, investigate the problem. They acknowledged that sometimes legitimate users get caught in this process and advised me to create a new profile with a new email/username combination. The balance of my unused Premium Membership $ would be refunded and I should pay for the new account with a new credit card. I did all that. My new Premium account went live and I began using it.
I used the new account successfully for about 3 weeks. Yesterday the exact same thing happened. A thousand or so, new additions to My Favorites list appeared! Again my account was deleted and I was instructed to create a new one. I did so. This second new account went live in Standard mode, browsing only, until payment for Premium status was accomplished. This time, Seeking support instructed me to inform them of my new email/username combination and they would simply apply my unused $$ to the new account. I did so. While waiting for them to upgrade my account to Premium, I once again received the dreaded "your account has been deleted" message, "due to suspicious or suspected fraudulent activity." The account was only live, in restricted "Standard" mode, for a few short hours before it got deleted. So I never had a chance to even use it, let alone commit any suspicious or fraudulent activity.
That's where things stand as of now. I have reported all this to Seeking support and asked them for guidance, but I'm not holding my breath. My first profile was in use for nearly 2 decades, my second was in use for 3 weeks, and my third for about 4 hours! Does anyone of you guys know what I should do? Am I being attacked by some malicious person? Is a bot of some sort infecting Seeking's software? Would a professional webmaster take one look at this situation and say, I know exactly what this is? Should I enlist a few Priests and a Rabbi to perform an exorcism on my computer? Maybe a witch doctor too for good measure? I am at a loss. I obviously can't create a new email/password combination every day, especially now that it's proven to be an exercise in futility. As I think you all know, Seeking has been an important part of my life for a very long time. I don't want to lose it.
-- Modified on 4/4/2023 4:31:47 PM