Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Once you've hacked into someone else's account you've not only done something morally wrong - you're at risk of being found out.
A friend told me that my boyfriend was on Match.com. After discovering that he was, it was quite easy for me to guess his password and check the emails he sent/received. I didn't send or receive anything in his account or change any of his settings. I simply read them, copied and forwarded them to myself. After asking him about it and his denying it, I then confronted him with the emails (though I said someone else accessed them and sent them to me). So here's the question....Part 1: How much trouble can you get in for figuring out someone's password and accessing their email on say Match.com? Part 2: Is it possible to tell who accessed the account? If he reports the "break-in" to Match, will they be able to discover that it was me who accessed his account?
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I normally avoid these types of questions, because in all honestly they're not about technology or computers - they're about relationships and ethics. And I'm no Dear Abby or Dr. Phil.
The problem is that I get several of these types of requests every day. Seriously.
And it's just wrong on so many levels.
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So let me start by answering the questions asked:
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A lot.
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Possibly.
I've said it before:
Hacking into someone else's account without their permission is wrong.
In my opinion, if you do so, you deserve to get into a lot of trouble. (And yes, if they didn't tell you the password, successfully "guessing" it is still "hacking" into their account.) It's a breach of trust, and it's unethical.
I'm no lawyer, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that it was illegal as well.
So yes, you can get into a lot of trouble with your boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse, you can get booted from the service you hacked into, and in the worst case scenario I'm guessing you could even face legal action.
Can the service track you down? Quite possibly. Match.com, HotMail and other on-line services are, as you might expect, reluctant to do it, but it's possible they can. I would expect it to require a court order, but when served with one, these services would be required to provide whatever records were available.
Here's a hypothetical scenario: you hack into your boyfriends email account, and he finds out about it. He then gets the police involved who then charge you with harassment. As part of the court proceedings, the records of the email provider are subpoenaed, and show that his account was accessed from some IP address. That IP address is tracked down to an ISP - your ISP. The records of that ISP are then also subpoenaed by the court, and they find that that IP address at that time lead to your home.
Each step there is possible. Likely? Perhaps not, but still possible. It all depends on the laws, the courts and the service providers you're dealing with.
Online harassment is definitely getting more attention from the courts, and in my opinion what you've done falls squarely into that category.
The people that write to me attempt to justify their actions by the wrongs committed by the person who's account they've hacked, or are trying to hack. "He's cheating on me, and that makes it OK for me to hack into his account to confirm it" is simply wrong. It's not OK.
No matter what that other person did, or what you think they did, hacking into someone else's account is wrong.
You may not trust him ... but if you're looking into hacking into his account, he shouldn't trust you.
If it's that important, if really you don't trust them - then hire a private investigator to find out - legally.
Or move on to someone you do trust.
Article C2787 - September 13, 2006 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
July 28, 2010 9:52 AM
I have a question, wich no one has really been able to awser for me. my wife and i are goign to be getting a divorce im in iraq and she keeps hacking by guessing my passwords and changing my passwords so i have a hard time going in and changing info like where money goes and all that. I have and am still trying to get with police to report these activities and it seems im getting no where. And yes now i have re done user names passwords and secret and pin's all crazy ass # and letters that i had to write down cuase i wont ever rember all of them lol. But in KS the law stats that whats mine is hers and hers is mine, so she can't steal from me money but hacking into my accounts for bank and the army online stuff is some how agist the law and they dont seem like they know what there doing or dont want to get involved wich is said since my taxes pay there asses lol. please any ideas would help.
March 1, 2011 9:25 PM
changing my email address cause can not access my old account.. cause my boyfriend is very smart when it comes to computers and he has put blocks on me on some parts of the net and he has parent control on me aswell not very happy he access everything i do and write hmmm who can i stop him PLEASE HELP....!!!!!!!!
March 4, 2011 12:47 AM
my ex out did all your ex's by conveincing certain people she knows(that never met meet) that I was the one who was stalking her, how? very easy I trusted her with my computer/equipment/cable internet bill/my phone/my software/password book/ and other stuff. now microsoft thinks im running stolen software, the law enforcement folks think im a evil guy for hacking her accounts,phone carrier wont even think about tracking ware being on the 3G network,my 1500.00 computer is basically scrap because SHE registered it with my receit on my cell phone standing two feet away from me. Ive tried everything LEAGAL to regain whats mine but no one will listen. BTW her dad is IT @hospital,best friend IT @ dept of corrections and her son is a programer/gamer wanna be! tip is her distant cousin is a certain dutch computer guru(no name) who she proudly posted on facebook. goggle "royally screwed" and theres my picture.
November 3, 2011 7:41 PM
It depends on how tech saavy they are. Technically there are ways and tools to be able to do it, depending on the mail client being used (Yahoo vs Gmail). One example is tracking last IP login on gmail. www.unhackableheart.com shows how you can detect if someone has been reading your emails, so it might be worth checking out to see if you did some of the techniques mentioned there.
January 25, 2012 1:36 AM
I have to disagree with you there. In 90% of circumstances, you are correct, it is highly unethical to hack into a spouses account, but if that account is on a dating site, while I can't really say it is. Then again, their presence on the site should be incriminating enough, without the need to "hack."