Hackers attack Hotmail thru phishing

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Credit: AFP/Getty Images/File/Stephen Brashear
Credit: AFP/Getty Images/File/Stephen Brashear

Phishing might sound like a harmless word uttered by a drunk guy talking about an activity involving some aquatic animals 😉 but the word definitely spells trouble. Microsoft can attest to this because thousands of thousands of email addresses of Windows Live Hotmail users were exposed and posted on a website. These users are victims of phishing.

According to Microsoft, they have learned of the problem over the weekend and concluded that hackers obviously tricked users into revealing their account and access information through email attachments riddled with a malware.

“We are aware that some Windows Live Hotmail customers’ credentials were acquired illegally by a phishing scheme and exposed on a website,” Microsoft said to AFP.

“We have taken measures to block access to all of the accounts that were exposed and have resources in place to help those users reclaim their accounts.”

In addition, the US technology giant said that this attack was not a breach of internal Microsoft data. They further warned users to ” exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments and links from both known and unknown sources, and install and regularly update anti-virus software.”

Well, there you go. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, be wary if you get unsolicited emails, especially if they’re offering access to free access to some er…interesting images of celebrities or some millions of dollars apparently waiting for you to be claimed. You get the idea. 😉

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/hackers-expose-slew-of-hotmail-acount-passwords-1798686.html

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