Why So Many Hacked Accounts ?

[foggy]

Hi,

I'm curious just why there are so many Hotmail accounts being locked and/or hacked. I realize there is a certain degree of limitation (vulnerability ?) with Live's security features (e.g only 16 character passwords allowed as compared to other services that allow well over 20; no special characters permitted in the answer to the security question whereas Gmail and other DO allow such, etc.),so as a result I have done my best to make those two items as complex as possible.

But I would imagine most people try to create strong passwords and hard-to-guess security answers. So, why are so many people having hacking issues ? Is it their own fault (however unintentional) ? E.g. not creating strong passwords ? Not logging out properly when using a public computer ?

Or is it the result of some aggressive hacking job of which they are an unfortunate and random victim ? Would just about anyone be just as much a victim if one of these aggressive types targeted one's (strong) account ? A search on YouTube for "hotmail," for example, will reveal video after video after video teaching how to hack a Hotmail (or Gmail) account or offering software to accomplish such ! I've only ever viewed one of these kinds of vids because I was curious as to what the people are 'selling.' I don't know how good these programs are. Are they really successful at hacking any 'strong' account ?

I guess with all these problems people have (here and at other forums) regarding hacked accounts, I'm wondering just how safe my own Hotmail account is. As intimated above, I use the full 16-character password limit, have a very long, alpha-numeric answer to my security question, access my account only on my own home computer, scan my computer regularly (monthly) and find no keyloggers or anything.... So how 'at risk' is someone like me ?

Am I safe because of my safe practices ? Or am I safe (right now) because I just haven't yet become the target of someone's successful hacking activity against me ? And why are so many other people NOT safe ?

 

[foggy]

Whoa ! My apologies !! I distinctly remember clicking on the Hotmail link and intended this thread to be in that forum. I don't know how it ended up in the AOL forum. Sorry about that, Ray !

 

[EQ Admin]

No problem, easy enough to move the discussion to the Hotmail forum. (done) I've been asking around for over a year now but it doesn't seem possible to get stats on how fast the amount of known hacked Hotmail accounts is increasing. I'd think most compromises are from phishing (responding to emails asking members to confirm their account details including passwords) and secondary concerns would be spyware on computers etc.

 

[foggy]

Thanks, Ray

It would be nice if here at this forum some/all of the many people asking for your help in resolving hacked/locked Hotmail accounts (and Gmail or Yahoo accounts, for that matter) would be willing to offer some background information to help produce a reliable statistic for EQ members/viewers at least; information like: do you use a public or private computer ? or cell phone ? how long/strong a passcode ? how long/strong a security question answer ? have they ever responded to emails asking for email information ? Etc.

I certainly wouldn't want to have anyone feel embarrassed about revealing an unwise decision that led to their compromised account. It would be nice if there would be a way to 'anonymize' their information and not reveal their username.

Just wondering out loud.....

 

[EQ Admin]

You should have enough permissions to create a poll and set it so that responses are anonymous. It would also require replying to threads you're interested in feedback on and directing them here, and then hoping they make the effort to respond with a poll vote and/or replying directly to the discussion with more information.