Bad News for Hotmail Account Holders – 10,000 Accounts Breached

October 6, 2009 – 12:42 pm

msn_password The world’s most popular email service had a massive security breach last week. Over 10,000 accounts from the Hotmail, MSN and Live email systems — all run by Microsoft — were posted publicly online, including passwords.

If you use an email ending in @hotmail.com, @msn.com or @live.com please go and change your password immediately. Although only emails starting with “a” or “b” were posted online, it is thought that the hacker or hackers has a full list at their disposal. The majority of emails were from Europe and thought to be obtained by a newer phishing attempt that has been circulating the net.

It’s always a good idea to change your email passwords every 90 days or so to protect yourself from email hacking and identity theft. It is also beneficial to have an identity theft prevention service like LifeLock to help protect yourself from the many types of identity theft out there.

Always be aware of emails that ask for to much personal information even if they look official. Most companies will never ask for your password or social security number through email or websites. Also be cautious when answering questionnaires or surveys from Facebook or Twitter. Some contain questions that are very common security questions like what was your first pet, your mother’s maiden name and what high school you attended.

Phishing attempts are always evolving so if a message sounds even the slightest bit fishy be cautious and don’t click or comment. Make sure you have a good antivirus and email scanner program as well as some viruses will record your personal data and send it to a hacker.

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