Hotmail passwords leaked online

Thousands of Windows Live Hotmail passwords have been leaked online, Microsoft has confirmed. The news was first reported on by Neowin.

According to Microsoft, it "learned that several thousand Windows Live Hotmail customers' credentials were exposed on a third-party site" at some point over the weekend. Neowin originally reported that the credentials were posted to a developer forum on Pastebin.com on October 1.

After learning of the breach, Microsoft "immediately requested that the credentials be removed and launched an investigation to determine the impact to customers," it wrote on its Windows Live blog.

The company was quick to point out that credentials were stolen through what was "likely a phishing scheme." The company said that it "was not a breach of internal Microsoft data." It's currently "working to help customers regain control of their accounts."

:story: Full story: c|net