Summary: 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.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - How do I hack into someone's account?
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Ask Leo! - Are free email services worth it?
Article C2787 - September 13, 2006
I don't agree with hacking into anyones e-mail accounts (or hacking into somebody's privacy), but I keep wondering, why are these people using passwords so easy that someone can access their e-mails by just guessing what the password is?
Make yourself a system for creating passwords (e.g. every password contains some letters you choose and some numbers - which you will use for every password, then 3rd and 5th letter in the address of the site you're registering at and 4th and 7th letter of you're user name).
Nobody can guess it and if you remember those random numbers and letters you will never forget your password - no matter how many sites you register at.
Posted by: chmacka at September 15, 2009 10:43 AMYou should have "DONE UNTO HIM BEFORE HE HAD A CHANCE TO DO UNTO YOU". Had you done so, you wouldn't have any reason to turn into a sneaky "HACKER". All's fair "IN LOVE and WAR" baby.
Posted by: BAHMAN at September 15, 2009 11:36 AMwhat if lets say you use like a service like Skydeck which is free and downloaded app on her phone to see if shes cheating by seeing her text and she is the account holder on cell phone service and have been living seprated for 4 months but still married and not legal seprated and are still involved in relationship together.Could you still get in trouble for that?
Posted by: nammy at October 28, 2009 9:44 PMBull. If you have probable cause you have the right to get solid proof for your own sanity. Not doing it is not "moral" as you say it. Anyways if the dude was trying to pick someone else up online when he already had something who cares he's a loser move on. But really in a relationship there shouldn't be any guessing of passwords. My SO and I know all each others passwords hell some are the same as each others. Get real in these days of mistrust it's impossible not to snoop. End of story good bye.
Posted by: nicole at January 9, 2010 2:56 PMI completely agree with the last comment.. and not everyone can afford a private detective.. and it is NOT JUST so easy.. to just end things and move on.. if you have no solid proof.. they will just deny it and you will look like the jealous bad guy to everyone.. and ps.. does sky deck really work? how much is it.. and do they have to know your using it???
Posted by: BoB at January 14, 2010 4:04 AM