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Neowin.net is reporting that over 10,000 usernames andpasswords were publicly disclosed from users of hotmail.com, msn.com, andlive.com email services.All of the accounts initially posted begin with theletter a or b, suggesting that this may be the tip of the iceberg.BBC Newscontacted Microsoft and was able to confirm the validity of the accounts thatwere released.Microsoft has released a public statement saying theirinvestigation determined the IDs were stolen through a phishing attack.Part oftheir statement said As part of that investigation, we determined that this wasnot a breach of internal Microsoft data and initiated our standard process ofworking to help customers regain control of their accounts.This raises thequestion of how many people fell victim to this attack, and is it stillunderway? I may not be able to answer these questions, but with over 10,000accounts exposed from the first 2 letters of the alphabet the scope of thisfraud could be very large.Users who have followed Grahams advice about usingseparate passwords for each site they use will minimize their exposure to just Microsofts online services.Anotherquestion is what Microsoft means by due to a phishing scheme.Was this anotherview your blocked MSN friends website, or was it a direct phish of an impostorHotmail login page? SophosLabs blogged about these attacks early in September,and it seems likely this may be related.Computer World reported that this maybe a similar attack to the one that disclosed private emails of vicepresidential candidate Sarah Palin during last years U.S.election.I find thisto be highly improbable.To compromise 10,000 or more accounts in an apparentlyserial manner would not be practical by guessing security questions.It is farmore likely an that users were duped into providing their passwords to afraudulent website posing as Microsoft or an affiliate.My recommendation forusers of Microsofts online services is to change your passwords immediately.Youare better to be safe than sorry, and password rotation is something we areoften too lazy to do.This is a great time to log into those Facebook, Twitter,Gmail, and Yahoo! accounts and do likewise as a simple best practice to preventyourself from becoming a victim of habit.Password rotation is not fun, but itis a great preventative to these types of disclosures.If you are an ITadministrator this would be a great time to remind your users to change theirMicrosoft Live!, MSN, and Hotmail passwords.Additionally, as always, be sureyour anti-spam protection is current and educate your users about phishing and clickinglinks in email.Sophos Web Appliance customers have been protected against theMSN friends scam for some time nowArticle Submission, however technology andeducation are always the best solution.
Hotmail,passwords,heisted,hack