Phishing attack targets Hotmail:

[Paddy]

Phishing attack targets Hotmail

Thousands of accounts on web-based e-mail system Hotmail have been compromised in a phishing attack, software giant Microsoft has confirmed.

BBC News has seen a list of more than 10,000 e-mail accounts, predominantly originating from Europe, and passwords which were posted online.

Microsoft said it had launched an investigation.

Phishing involves using fake websites to lure people into revealing details such as bank accounts or login names.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8291268.stm

Paddy.. :blink:

[Corrine]

Update: Phishing scheme affecting some Hotmail customers

As of 3pm PT: We want to provide a quick update, that as a result of our investigation we are taking measures to block access to all of the accounts that were exposed and have resources in place to help those users reclaim their accounts.

If you believe your information was documented on the illegal list, please fill out the following form to reclaim access to your account.

To change your password:

• Go to hotmail inbox on the website
• Options –> More options
• Under Manage your account select View and edit your personal information
• Enter your password & on the next page
• Under Password reset information choose change for your password

On the password reset page, you can set it to expire every 72 days. When your password has expired, you will receive a prompt requiring you to reset the password.  To set your password to expire every 72 days, select the "Make my password expire every 72 days" check box on the Change Password page.

Also see How to Create Strong Passwords and the Password Checker

[Paddy]

Looks like they all getting hit with this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8292928.stm

Google's web-based e-mail system, Gmail, has been targeted as part of an "industry-wide phishing scheme".

The firm said that it had immediately safeguarded the affected accounts.

BBC News has seen two lists that detail more than 30,000 names and passwords from e-mail providers, including Yahoo and AOL, which were posted online.

Paddy.. :thud:

[Corrine]

Earlier, BBC also mentioned Comcast and Earthlink. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8292299.stm

[Corrine]

A researcher who examined 10,000 Hotmail, MSN and Live.com passwords that were recently exposed online has published an analysis of the list and found that "123456″ was the most commonly used password, appearing 64 times.

Forty-two percent of the passwords used lowercase letters from "a to z"; only 6 percent mixed alpha-numeric and other characters.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/10000-passwords/