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A very mysterious thing happened today: my avatar changed to an upload image that I have never seen before.

I did not upload this icon, I didn't change my avatar. What is happening?

I found this same behavior in My Avatar Changed. I didn't change it

Coincidentally, the avatar has some relation with the content I have in my "about" description.

Is it a bug? Or a new power feature?

screenshot

previous avatar

Edit 1: It happened for the second time, only at StackOverflow account. Again, it is an upload image! WOW!

Maybe if I forget this account logged somewhere a long time ago, and someone is making a joke with me, is it possible? In this case, how to force this remote account to logout?

enter image description here

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  • I see i.sstatic.net/31WfZ.jpg (buddha oil painting); what do you see? Screenshots?
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 2:45
  • Note that that's a uploaded avatar, not a Gravatar image.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 2:47
  • yes, I put the screenshot
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 2:54
  • The screenshot shows you uploaded the image yourself; did you use a Gravatar image before? You should be able to select that in the menu you have open in the screenshot. Or did you have a different image uploaded before? What was your previous avatar?
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 3:00
  • added a screenshot with my previous avatar (which was a gravatar one)
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 3:34
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    Witchcraft! Sorcery!
    – bjb568
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 4:03
  • Is it possible to see the exact time of avatar change in system?
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 4:18
  • Only mods can see that. Without being too exact, it looks like the change was made about two weeks ago.
    – BoltClock's a Unicorn
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 4:48
  • @BoltClock any chance his account was hacked? Can you see different IP addresses being used in there? Daniel, maybe you changed the avatar on a different site, then copied to all accounts?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 8:55
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    No, I didnt change the avatar, I swear! :-) It could be good to look the system logs, find the IP from where the avatar came from, the exact date and time, so I could eventually remember where I was in that occasion (and see if it is possible if someone could have accessed my personal computer and did this plank)
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 13:26
  • HEY!! My avatar changed again! Did someone hacked my account??? What is happening! Please help! It is happening only at StackOverflow version of the platform...
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 2:36

1 Answer 1

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+25

I haven't dug deep into the logs yet, but from the logged information we expose on the site itself, I don't see anything immediately suspicious about how your account is accessed. Are you signing in from a shared computer? Does anyone else have access to your account?

If you need specific information about how and when your account was accessed, the best thing to do is drop us a line via the "contact us" link at the bottom of any page.

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  • I only sign from my personal computer. Nobody have access to my account
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 12:38
  • I noticed that stack exchange does not use HTTPS. So, theoretically, wouldn't be easy for a hacker to sniff the network and parse the sessionID from my cookies?
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 12:42
  • @DanielCukier it will be useless, there are other required things to log you in. Maybe your OpenID account (e.g. Google, Facebook or whatever you chose to use) was hacked. Try changing password just to play it safe.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 13:22
  • Password changed... :-) lets see
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 13:37
  • Avatars are not being changed anymore after changing my password in google OpenID. Maybe there is a security here...
    – Daniel Cukier
    Commented May 14, 2014 at 13:47

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