10,000+ Hotmail Accounts Exposed [Alert] from Mashable!

 by Adam Ostrow

http://mashable.com/2009/10/05/hotmail-accounts-exposed/

It has now been confirmed that the usernames and passwords of more than 10,000 Hotmail users were posted online last week to a website for sharing code snippets.

According to Neowin, who first reported the breach, "the list details over 10,000 accounts starting from A through to B, suggesting there could be additional lists."

The list has since been removed, and Microsoft is now investigating the situation, which impacts users with @hotmail.com, @live.com, and @msn.com email addresses.

All users of Hotmail are obviously advised to change their passwords, as it's not yet known how many accounts may be compromised. Meanwhile, TheNextWeb reports that the site where the passwords were posted – Pastebin – has been frequently used for sharing stolen account credentials.

Once again, the need for strong passwords and a variety of them across services has been brought to light. More on the Hotmail situation as we get it.