Hotmail Passwords Stolen
By Riva Richmond
NYT
Someone posted login details for thousands of Hotmail e-mail accounts online over the weekend, in what appears to be only part of an enormous haul of stolen passwords netted in a phishing scheme.
Neowin today reported that on Thursday an anonymous user posted login details for more than 10,000 Hotmail accounts on pastebin.com, a site where software developers often share code. The list has been removed, but Neowin said the list showed accounts starting with the letters A and B, suggesting it is only a small slice of a much larger list. Addresses used @hotmail.com, @msn.com and @live.com domains.
Microsoft confirmed the list’s authenticity and said the details were stolen in a phishing scheme—not in any security breach of the company’s own systems—and is now scrambling to protect affected users. Phishing is large and growing problem on the Internet in which users are tricked into handing over their login details to unscrupulous actors. These schemes have become extremely sophisticated and often involve e-mail messages and Web pages that look like they come from legitimate companies but are entirely faked.
“Over the weekend Microsoft learned that several thousand Windows Live Hotmail customers’ credentials were exposed on a third-party site due to a phishing scheme,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. Spokeswoman Kate McGillem declined to provide details on the phishing attack the company believes caused the theft.
(More here.)
NYT
Someone posted login details for thousands of Hotmail e-mail accounts online over the weekend, in what appears to be only part of an enormous haul of stolen passwords netted in a phishing scheme.
Neowin today reported that on Thursday an anonymous user posted login details for more than 10,000 Hotmail accounts on pastebin.com, a site where software developers often share code. The list has been removed, but Neowin said the list showed accounts starting with the letters A and B, suggesting it is only a small slice of a much larger list. Addresses used @hotmail.com, @msn.com and @live.com domains.
Microsoft confirmed the list’s authenticity and said the details were stolen in a phishing scheme—not in any security breach of the company’s own systems—and is now scrambling to protect affected users. Phishing is large and growing problem on the Internet in which users are tricked into handing over their login details to unscrupulous actors. These schemes have become extremely sophisticated and often involve e-mail messages and Web pages that look like they come from legitimate companies but are entirely faked.
“Over the weekend Microsoft learned that several thousand Windows Live Hotmail customers’ credentials were exposed on a third-party site due to a phishing scheme,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. Spokeswoman Kate McGillem declined to provide details on the phishing attack the company believes caused the theft.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
2 Comments:
damn...thats why I stick with G G G Mail...
I think its so messed up how people spend time sabotage large websites its not cool I can't stand people who that I had a bad experience when someone got my password to my email account they found my checking information the whole deal it was a nightmare that was not called for.. .
Post a Comment
<< Home