Details of a Hotmail security breach emerged early yesterday, with approximately at least 10,000 confirmed accounts having been compromised.
While the exact number of accounts has not yet been confirmed, the breach was likely the result of a phishing campaign -- a different kind of hack that uses fake web pages in order to acquire all kinds of sensitive information, from login data and passwords (such as in this case) to credit card and social security numbers. (Source: cnet.com)
"We determined that this was not a breach of internal Microsoft data and initiated our standard process of working to help customers regain control of their accounts," said a Microsoft representative through email to Computerworld. (Source: computerworld.com)
"Over the weekend Microsoft learned that several thousand Windows Live Hotmail customers' credentials were exposed on a third-party site due to a likely phishing scheme," the spokesperson admitted.
Update: Microsoft blocked access to all accounts that were listed as compromised. So for all those worried if their account was on the exposed list. If you were able to login normally with your account then your login details weren't exposed. I would recommend everyone to change their passwords after logging in in the case that there were more accounts compromised that weren't listed.
