There are many ways to get an addresses, as I’m sure we are all aware. Some are even randomly made up using dictionaries and lists of domains. Another way to create relational emails, meaning being able to send a message to you from someone you know is when the senders computer gets compromised. If someone were to gain access to my computer, for instance, and access my Microsoft outlook contact list, the hacker would then be able to see everyone I ever sent a message to, and everyone I received a message from. They would also be able to see my contact lists, my group list, etc.

Another way is for a hacker to gain access to anyone’s computer who has received email as part of a group distribution where the group was not hidden in a BCC field, but rather sent to a list of people in the CC field. A hacker who gets this, see that all of us are associated with each other, and create any number of Emails from and to all of the members in the list

Bottom line, don’t click links in emails. You are not absolutely positive are coming from a trusted center. I know that sounds obvious, but I run a male server service for thousands of domains, and I can’t begin to tell you how many calls and support emails we get for this type of thing.

My apologies for any typos or grammatical errors in this post. I am using voice to text while drinking cocktails at a rooftop bar . Anything is possible to show up under the circumstances.

— Barry