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August 6, 2005 at 5:55 am #19289FirefoxManMember
I’m using Adium on my mac to talk to my friends on AIM. All of a sudden, my AIM account disconnected then reconnected, but I got a message saying that I was signed on in two locations! I immediately signed off, then on again, but didn’t get the message saying I was signed on in two locations… What caused that, has my account been hacked. I don’t give out my passwords, and I’ve only got people I know in my buddylist. Any ideas?
August 6, 2005 at 2:17 pm #127023Jon8RFCMemberFrom the EXACT details you have given to me, I can confidently say that, no you account hasn’t been hacked or compromised in any way whatsoever.
If you want an explanation, it will be boring and long, but don’t say I didn’t warn you:
What has happened is that your internet connection went out, but when it came back up, your modem was assigned a different IP than you were previously using.
The AIM servers are configured to alert all logged-on accounts that the account is in use in two locations, but only when those locations are from a different IP address. This is why you can sign on your own screen name twice within your own home network; the only IP the servers ever see is the one your router/gateway is holding on to, not the internal 192./10./etc IP your computer has.
When your AIM client is disconnected from the server, the connection stays active for a few minutes; I’m not sure how long, but it’s more than 1 minute and less than 5. While you’re disconnected, the clock is running on the server and eventually times out; the server no longer considers your screen name and IP active.
When you get disconnected and then are reassigned a new IP from your ISP–if you’re still within that small timespan before the connection has timed-out on the AIM servers–the server will see TWO active IPs for one single account, and alert you appropriately.
This is why it nearly never happens when the power goes out during a storm, because the connection has timed-out on the AIM servers’ end. By the time you get up and running again, the server sees your fresh instance of signing on, and has no reason to alert you.
Here’s a little tidbit that will really make you feel comfortable and confident in my response:
Keeping in mind what you’ve read above, since you voluntarily disconnected and reconnected a second time after being given the scary IM, you were disconnecting from your new IP, then reconnecting from that same new IP; it didn’t alert you again because there wasn’t another new IP being used to connect to the server.Hope that puts your mind at ease, Mr. Man.
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