Thats why its so important that they can get it fixed -- because people love their ICQ.

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Close Alert Close Sign In Search Search Backchannel Business Culture Gear Ideas Science Security FAQs Best Face Masks Essentials How to Disinfect Everything Symptoms and Testing Newsletter Latest News Chris Oake s Science 09.09.1999 02:30 PM ICQ Users Get Disconnected ICQ users lose their Net lifeline as their accounts are taken over and passwords changed.

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Imagine picking up your phone to find your line dead and your phone number in someone elses hands.

The cyberspace equivalent happened to users of the ICQ instant messaging system this week.

Approximately 200 ICQ users reported their passwords stolen and their accounts taken over by unknown users.

This is sort of like losing your own phone number that youve had for years and years, said Steve Gossett, an ICQ user in Temple City, California.

Not only do they have the ability to represent you, but theyve stolen that part of your Internet -- that part of your phone.

Gossett uses the system for both personal communications and some business contacts worldwide.

When his account was stolen, he said he had to notify over a hundred other ICQ contacts by email, telling them to ignore any messages sent under his ICQ number, as he no longer controlled it.

Ive had three years of ICQ contacts -- some of them business contacts spread out across the US and a couple foreign countries.

More than 60,000 new users sign up daily for ICQ, which totals 42 million worldwide users.

Members use the system to check if friends and colleagues are online, and send each other instant text messages.

AOL spokesperson Regina Lewis said the company has been aware of the problem for as long as a month and has a mechanism in place so users can get their number back.

Users passwords were obtained by way of simple email trickery, Lewis said.

Over the last month, ICQ users have received an email message containing an attached file disguised as a JPEG.

When users opened the attached file, instead of opening a JPEG image, the attachment loaded a small malicious program.

The program emailed the users ICQ password back to the sender.

In any case, Lewis said users can retrieve their ICQ account numbers by sending email to supporticq.com.

If users indicate theyve had their number stolen, ICQ will return it within 24 hours after the user is verified, she said.

Somebody didnt go in and break into the database of ICQ, Lewis emphasized.

She also reminded users not to open suspicious JPEG email attachments.

Lewis agreed that an ICQ account can be as important as a telephone line.

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