[Vision2020] compromised email accts?

[Wayne Price]

Picked this up out of the UK Daily Mail:


Hotmail passwords security breach spreads to Gmail and Yahoo!
By KATE LOVEYS and GRAHAM SMITH
Last updated at 3:53 PM on 06th October

The massive security breach that led to millions of Hotmail customers  
being advised to change their passwords has now spread to users of  
email services including Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.
Up to 21million people and businesses who use the Hotmail service in  
the UK were warned they are potentially at risk of being defrauded  
after passwords were acquired illegally.
Around 10,000 passwords were obtained by hackers who created a fake  
website identical to Hotmail's to fool users into entering their email  
address and password in a 'phishing' scam.Now the BBC claims that  
another list of over 20,000 email addresses and passwords is  
circulating, which contains the details for Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL,  
Comcast and Earthlink accounts.The latest list was posted on  
Pastebin.com, the same website to which the Hotmail list was  
originally uploaded. The site, which is intended for web developers to  
share code, has since been taken down for maintenence.Hotmail's list  
of users was posted anonymously on to Pastebin.com on October 1.

It is feared that the information could be used by fraudsters to  
access email accounts and steal personal information such as credit  
card account details.
A spokesman for Google, which runs Gmail, said: 'We recently became  
aware of an industry-wide phishing scheme through which hackers gained  
user credentials for web-based mail accounts including Gmail account.

Breach: Around 10,000 Hotmail passwords were obtained by hackers using  
the same 'phishing' scam that has now spread to other email services
'As soon as we learned of the attack, we forced password resets on the  
affected accounts. We will continue to force password resets on  
additional accounts when we become aware of them.'
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: 'We advise people to  
take a commonsense approach and change their password. It is early  
days but we have yet to receive reports of fraud linked to this breach.'
A Microsoft spokesman added: 'We are aware that some Windows Live  
Hotmail customers' credentials were acquired illegally and exposed on  
a website.
'Upon learning of the issue, we immediately requested that the  
credentials be removed and launched an investigation to determine the  
impact to customers.
'We are working diligently to help customers regain control of their  
accounts.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218272/Microsoft-Hotmail-accounts-hacked-posted-online.html#ixzz0TAV0apH1

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218272/Microsoft-Hotmail-accounts-hacked-posted-online.html 
)




On Oct 6, 2009, at 1:30 AM, keely emerinemix wrote:

> Has anyone else gotten a notice that email accounts ending in  
> MSN.COM or Hotmail.Com have been compromised and that holders of  
> such accounts need to reset their passwords to avoid all manner of  
> catastrophe and distress?  I got one today, but I'm wary of  
> resetting my password and making any changes until I know it's true.
>
> I'm 90 percent sure this is bogus, but has anyone out there heard  
> anything?
>
> Keely
> www.keely-prevailingwinds.com
>
>
>
> Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.  
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20091006/3f5b6fbf/attachment.html