Phishing attack targets Hotmail

**koala** · 10-05-2009, 04:01 PM

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

Quote:

Thousands of Hotmail accounts have been compromised in a phishing attack, Microsoft has confirmed.

...........

Technology blog neowin.net was the first to publish details of the attack. It said the accounts were posted on 1 October to pastebin.com, a website commonly used by developers to share code.

Although the details have since been removed, BBC News and Neowin has seen a list of 10,028 names beginning with the letters A and B.

BBC News has confirmed that the accounts are genuine and predominantly originate in Europe.

The list included details of Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail accounts with email addresses ending hotmail.com, msn.com and live.com.

Mr Cluley advised Hotmail users to change their password as soon as possible.

"I'd also recommend that people change the password on any other site where they use it," he said.

**Glaswegian** · 10-06-2009, 01:01 PM

A massive phishing attack, which originally impacted Hotmail, could also have impacted Gmail, Yahoo and AOL users, according to a report on the BBC.

A list of more than 20,000 usernames, passwords and email addresses from Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and other web email service providers has been leaked online, the BBC reports.

The list was published on the same website as the original list of 10,000 Hotmail login details.

"Some of the accounts appear to be old, unused or fake. However, BBC News has confirmed that many - including Gmail and Hotmail addresses - are genuine," BBC's report stated.

It is not clear whether the list was part of the same phishing attack that collected the Hotmail addresses or a separate scam.

Microsoft yesterday confirmed that thousands of Windows Live Hotmail account usernames and passwords had been leaked to the Internet. Microsoft denied reports that its service have been hacked, but said the credentials were "likely" stolen in a phishing attack.

Neowin.net was the first to publish details of the original attack. It said the accounts were posted on 1 October to pastebin.com, a website commonly used by developers to share code.

The website, pastebin.com, was down at time of writing. A message on the site read: "Pastebin.com is getting an unprecedented amount of traffic due to a news story in which some leaked Hotmail passwords have been pasted on this site."

The message, which is signed by the website owner Paul Dixon, continued: "Pastebin.com was intended as a tool to aid software developers, not for distributing this sort of material. Filters have been put in place to prevent reoccurrence, but the current traffic level is unsustainable. Pastebin.com is just a fun side project for me, and today it's not fun. It will remain offline all day while I make some further modifications."

http://news.techworld.com/security/3...ports/?olo=rss

10-06-2009, 01:01 PM	#2 (permalink)
Glaswegian Moderator/ Rangemaster TSF Academy; Analyst, Security Team; Oor Wullie; TSF Surgeon and Resident Comic Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Glasgow Posts: 25,408 OS: Win XP Pro SP3 / Win 7 Pro My System Blog Entries: 10	Re: Phishing attack targets Hotmail A massive phishing attack, which originally impacted Hotmail, could also have impacted Gmail, Yahoo and AOL users, according to a report on the BBC. A list of more than 20,000 usernames, passwords and email addresses from Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and other web email service providers has been leaked online, the BBC reports. The list was published on the same website as the original list of 10,000 Hotmail login details. "Some of the accounts appear to be old, unused or fake. However, BBC News has confirmed that many - including Gmail and Hotmail addresses - are genuine," BBC's report stated. It is not clear whether the list was part of the same phishing attack that collected the Hotmail addresses or a separate scam. Microsoft yesterday confirmed that thousands of Windows Live Hotmail account usernames and passwords had been leaked to the Internet. Microsoft denied reports that its service have been hacked, but said the credentials were "likely" stolen in a phishing attack. Neowin.net was the first to publish details of the original attack. It said the accounts were posted on 1 October to pastebin.com, a website commonly used by developers to share code. The website, pastebin.com, was down at time of writing. A message on the site read: "Pastebin.com is getting an unprecedented amount of traffic due to a news story in which some leaked Hotmail passwords have been pasted on this site." The message, which is signed by the website owner Paul Dixon, continued: "Pastebin.com was intended as a tool to aid software developers, not for distributing this sort of material. Filters have been put in place to prevent reoccurrence, but the current traffic level is unsustainable. Pastebin.com is just a fun side project for me, and today it's not fun. It will remain offline all day while I make some further modifications." http://news.techworld.com/security/3...ports/?olo=rss __________________ Iain - Defender of the Haggis and all things Scottish. I don't help by PM - post in the Forums. PC Safety & Security::PC running a bit slow?::Donate::Photographers Corner