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Ask HN: If an unique email-adress receives suddenly Spam

3 points by killerpopiller ↗ HN
Hi,

I create an unique email-address for each web service and suddenly such an email-address started receiving Spam. Does it always mean the provider either sold addresses or was compromised? I am asking to ensure that my systems, e.g. mail server, browser, PC didn't leak such data.

What do you think?

2 comments

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greenyoda
Not necessarily. A spammer may have generated a list of plausible e-mail addresses. For example, if your unique e-mail address is james.wilson1234@gmail.com, it's pretty easy to guess by combining common first names, last names and numbers. But if it's 8fa3b770914ccd14@gmail.com, it has probably been leaked or hacked.
killerpopiller
yeah, thanks. the unique email-address is a number-code-service-provider@mydomain.com and can't be guessed really.

I thought that my system may have leaked such email-addresses, e.g. my own mail-server (horde), or apps uploaded my address book or browser add-ons or LastPass-hack to login with that email into the service provider.