Facebook email that I never received before

[aligator12]

Hi, today I got an email that said "You have notifications pending" I have never received this email before. But I am pretty sure it was legit because it:

1) had my name in the email

2) correctly stated the notifications that were pending

So I know it wasn't a mass emailing fishing attempt. I was wondering do you guys think I might have gotten my passwords stolen if it was a malicious email? BTW I was using my iPhone.

[archery]

I may be giving you info you already know but the settings on Facebook allow you to turn off/on e-mail notifications for various features, mine are all off, I'd suggest you change/check yours to ensure you know what e-mails you should be receiving. Was there a link in the email that worked correctly?

I occasionally get spam/phishing emails that in Thunderbird come up with a friend's name in the from column but the email address is bogus. In this case it is more likely that a friend's FB account has been compromised at some point and the bogus sender has details of this friend's names and e-mails.

If you're concerned about security, take all the usual steps. Make sure your using a strong password (upper case, lower case, numbers, symbols) and avoid signing in on machines with poor security. I use an old e-mail address for sites like Facebook, for the reasons mentioned in the second paragraph.

[whatthefunk]

Hi, today I got an email that said "You have notifications pending" I have never received this email before. But I am pretty sure it was legit because it:

1) had my name in the email

2) correctly stated the notifications that were pending

So I know it wasn't a mass emailing fishing attempt. I was wondering do you guys think I might have gotten my passwords stolen if it was a malicious email? BTW I was using my iPhone.

I get these all the time. Facebook auto sends them if you have been inactive for a while and have a few notifications pending. Nothing to worry about.

[Paqman]

Yep, Facebook does get quite naggy if you don't check it for a while.

[alexan]

Hi, today I got an email that said "You have notifications pending" I have never received this email before. But I am pretty sure it was legit because it:

1) had my name in the email

2) correctly stated the notifications that were pending

Be careful with the first point... facebook communicate openly to everyone the name of the restraint given the simple email andress.
As for notifications number... may it be the most commonly number (3 or 7)?

(yeah, I know ther's no such thing like "common number": was just trying a little psychological trick )

[aligator12]

Was there a link in the email that worked correctly?

I didn't follow a link, I just checked into my account manually.

I occasionally get spam/phishing emails that in Thunderbird come up with a friend's name in the from column but the email address is bogus. In this case it is more likely that a friend's FB account has been compromised at some point and the bogus sender has details of this friend's names and e-mails.

The sender of the email was "facebookmail.com". But I know this could be spoofed.

If you're concerned about security, take all the usual steps. Make sure your using a strong password (upper case, lower case, numbers, symbols) and avoid signing in on machines with poor security. I use an old e-mail address for sites like Facebook, for the reasons mentioned in the second paragraph.

Well, I always use a secure password and the device I was using is the iPhone 4 (but with the outdated iOS 5), do you think it is secure?

I get these all the time. Facebook auto sends them if you have been inactive for a while and have a few notifications pending. Nothing to worry about.

But I had only been inactive for 4 hours, and I never receive that email when I am inactive for only 4 hours.

[archery]

I've no idea if your account is secure as it is, if you're only using it on your iphone and Ubuntu then it's more likely to be.

If you really are concerned do the following:

1) Ensure your iphone app is up to date
2) Ensure Ubuntu updates are installed
3) Change your password and in facebook go to account settings, notifications and email, and change it to an option your happy with, you'll then know what to expect.
4) Alter the facebook security settings. You can select to receive login notifications when your account is accessed from a computer/device not used before or require login approvals when an unknown browser is used to access your account.

[mike acker]

{snip}

I occasionally get spam/phishing emails that in Thunderbird come up with a friend's name in the from column but the email address is bogus. {snip}

Gentlemen: you are dealing with, in my view, is the No.1 problem in online computing today: lax authentication

i can sign this message
/mike

or even add a graphic:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

but what have i presented that you could not copy with your computer in a few seconds?

nada

attached is a PGP signature

you cannot produce a pgp signature like this for you message that will appear to be from me that will verify.

but you can verify it and when you do it verifies that you have a correct copy of my message

why havn't people been taught to insist on pgp(gpg) ? a very good question .

you can help . get ENIGMAIL plug-in for your Thunderbird; learn to use it . anyone wantiong help it's one of my favorite topics . it will allow you to verify that message are from the person who says they sent them .
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJQ/wJ1AAoJEGzxM/HQiIDDsJsIAMlsm/PZ+gfDS4KxljpcECih
K+oCbrfftL74lazTobV7kq/JZFbtM3950UyszS4fOG/n2JM6t6nG4WPz5TcQJ9j+
KkAyI4owplTEuqATzmUkPus5WftQcVoqWngp6MVDsWoVypPi06 kaW0Mb3SDn32UR
QyW/LymkWJ1pTFkPf8uYq4aiYK4zzKfBm4i7z1obvR3r5RC0iSggpU 50T+GNv+Gt
L2lbeXiUCPSsBDl0Q3Cpamrjkx91KzsFq5EvQ2dSMHys4yyUD2 IIiVZ1+KbZgTC7
t/BONp46Knd2kYCwu+mh4kFTTh8WjtrG/K2BsWTUZegqHt8XdU7bsbdgrHDFsA0=
=LKXk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

[archery]

Thank you for the info, I've had a quick search and read of the Mozilla page and Enigmail site. Not something I'd consider at the moment, given I'm only slowly moving non technical friends/contacts across to e-mail clients (for the myriad of addresses they've collected). I didn't know that SSL server connections were routinely intercepted!

[forrestcupp]

It's common for Facebook to change things and your notification setting gets changed. If they sent you an accurate email about your notifications, then it's most likely legit. If you don't want to keep receiving the notifications, go to your settings and change them.

If you go straight to Facebook and not through an email link, there's really no harm done anyway. But what you're describing is a normal notification email that can be changed in your settings.