[oakesy]

my friends are getting hacked like crazy and the hacker keeps saying to me 'who next'- im worried i will be hacked soon. Is there anyway to prevent this?

[dslrocks]

Don't choose obvious passwords.

Don't use Hotmail.

[vanyablue]

There's loads of alternatives here...

http://www.freecenter.com/email.html

Another good UK one is www.postmaster.co.uk

Anything using .com is suspect/liable to spam, use an email provider with a .uk domain.

Good luck.

[Examinus]

If you think you have been hacked email abuse@hotmail.com. Details here:
http://lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.co...sp/ua_info.asp

I was worried i would get hacked at some point as as my account includes credit card information for MSN Premium so it scared me. MSN assured me that it was near impossible for my account to be hacked and if it was they would cover the amount, if any, stolen from the card details.

I think if somebody does hack your account they would be in for it; not only is it against the law here but also against MSN T&Cs which could get the hacker into trouble in the US courts. If MSN investigate and find that you have been hacked and find the hacker, they assured me that their legal team would deal with it efficiantly.

From reading up on past Microsoft law suits I wouldn't mess with Microsoft so wouldn't worry when using MSN.

Obviously don't use obvious passwords and also MSN now requires you have an alternative email address for added security. A new version of hotmail will be coming out in the new year (apparently) so no doubt security will be improved.

Hope this helped .

[ney]

My hotmail got hacked just under two years ago and it tane me a few weeks if emailing hotmail to get it back. I had to get a new hotmail till I got it back. I have since closed my old Hotmail. When I was hacked I lost my MSN for a short time also.

Darren

[0piumDea1er]

How can you tell if your account have been hacked?

[ney]

Originally Posted by 0piumDea1er

How can you tell if your account have been hacked?

MSN will not log you in and Hotmail will not log you in also. It will come up as password not recognized and when you try your secret word it will say no try again and you only get 4 trys. Then your hotmail is blocked and you have to email MSN/Hotmail and when you get a reply from them. You have to reply to the email they sent you and that can take a few days. Even up to a week.

Darren

[0piumDea1er]

You mean someone actually get into your account by using the correct password, and then changing your password and secret word?

or someone trying to get into your account, not typing the password correctly, and msn freezing your email account temporarily....

[Fifth]

The only way for someone to get in to your msn account, is if they know your password, by having a key logger or similar program on your pc, or if they could easily guess your password if it was something like "password", they could not use a program to guess your password lots of times and this would just freeze your account, thats how account freezers work, they guess your password again and again making msn freeze it. So all you need to do is change from password to passphrase, and add some numbers to it and they will not be able to guess it, and if they did get in then they must have a key logger on your computer, which means they wont just have your hotmail account. But this probably isent likely.

[OCTreeHill]

Im on Hotmail and I haven't been hacked yet, Im glad. I hope I wont be hacked anytime soon!!!

[oakesy]

thanks everyone for your help- one of the hacking 'victims' contacted MSN Support and they sorted it out, so I know what to do if the nob head tries to hack me

For the record, 'hacking' Hotmail or any other decent email provider is virtually impossible. If it was possible, everyone would be doing it. What passes for 'hacking' in most cases is someone guessing or knowing the answer to someone's secret question, or guessing or knowing their password. Choose an obscure password and a nonsensical/incorrect secret question answer, and you'll be immune from hacking (but make sure you can remember your password). The exception to this is the odd occasion a very skilled person finds some kind of security hole in the software used to run an email site. Usually this security hole will be publicised widely by the discoverer, Microsoft will move quickly to patch the fault, and although someone will write a script to make it easy for non-experts to exploit the hole, it's patched so quickly very few accounts are compromised.

Basically, if anyone claims to be a hacker, I'd be 99% certain they're talking bollocks. Particularly if they are under the age of 18.

[swiftyme]

another obvious one os set a secret question but put a random answer, prevents mates getting in that might know your answers, might help.

[stickylol]

I used to use postmaster might use them again...good service

[nffc]

Originally Posted by examinus

If you think you have been hacked email abuse@hotmail.com. Details here:
http://lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.co...sp/ua_info.asp

I was worried i would get hacked at some point as as my account includes credit card information for MSN Premium so it scared me. MSN assured me that it was near impossible for my account to be hacked and if it was they would cover the amount, if any, stolen from the card details.

I think if somebody does hack your account they would be in for it; not only is it against the law here but also against MSN T&Cs which could get the hacker into trouble in the US courts. If MSN investigate and find that you have been hacked and find the hacker, they assured me that their legal team would deal with it efficiantly.

From reading up on past Microsoft law suits I wouldn't mess with Microsoft so wouldn't worry when using MSN.

Obviously don't use obvious passwords and also MSN now requires you have an alternative email address for added security. A new version of hotmail will be coming out in the new year (apparently) so no doubt security will be improved.

Hope this helped .

Trash, if your secret answer and/or password are guessable you can be hacked.

MSN are hopeless combating it and even preventing it.

The only way is to use a random string for your secret answer, write it down and store it away from your PC.

And the alternative email thing is crap as it still uses the secret answer first as opposed to the alternative address.

[Examinus]

Originally Posted by nffc

Trash, if your secret answer and/or password are guessable you can be hacked.

MSN are hopeless combating it and even preventing it.

The only way is to use a random string for your secret answer, write it down and store it away from your PC.

And the alternative email thing is crap as it still uses the secret answer first as opposed to the alternative address.

Yeah but really, guessing somebody's password isn't really hackning into an account. Hacking is defined as "[size=-1]attempts to circumvent or bypass the security mechanisms of an information system or network."

If you ask me, its people's own fault for having obvious passwords. Mine consists of random letters and numbers....have i said too much?!
[/size]

[nffc]

Originally Posted by examinus

Yeah but really, guessing somebody's password isn't really hackning into an account. Hacking is defined as "[size=-1]attempts to circumvent or bypass the security mechanisms of an information system or network."

If you ask me, its people's own fault for having obvious passwords. Mine consists of random letters and numbers....have i said too much?!
[/size]

I think it is... because the security mechanism could be defined as the password.

And if it's not- what IS it called then?

[Examinus]

Originally Posted by nffc

I think it is... because the security mechanism could be defined as the password.

Hmm, never thought about it that way so i spose you're right.

[eddieh]

I would say not to give out your email to be showed

[Davester]

Use Gmail Instead I've got 8 invites if anyone wants one...

[leo]

me too
Leo (this line is to make the vbulletin happy for min word post length)

Originally Posted by nffc

I think it is... because the security mechanism could be defined as the password.

And if it's not- what IS it called then?

Finding out someone's password is not 'hacking' in the real sense because hacking is the use of computer skills to programmatically break a window in the system and climb in. This could be by writing a virus that infects the system, or exploiting a buffer overflow, or injecting instructions into database requests. Guessing the password requires very little in the way of skill. Hackers call this 'social engineering'.

[flagpole]

Oh please, calm down.

Hotmail can't be hacked. It's happened a couple of times over the years and was fixed immediately.

If your friends are having their account compromised then you need to think of something other than 'hacking'

Do you all check your e-mail from the same computer??? Could this computer be running a key logger????

What is your secret question??? Something that could be guessed????

But there is not some guy out there who can hack all hotmail accounts and happens to be targetting you guys.

[sparra]

The best way to stop this supposed 'hacking' is to write a completely meaningless secret question to anyone but yourself. A secret question with just the simple word 'tarmac' won't be answerable by anyone but yourself, so long as you remember the secret answer. Sounds weird but it's the only really sure fire way to stop anyone getting into your account. If the question is real, there's always the chance someone might guess, especially if they know you and/or your family.

[Longboy]

Originally Posted by Fifth

The only way for someone to get in to your msn account, is if they know your password, by having a key logger or similar program on your pc, or if they could easily guess your password if it was something like "password", they could not use a program to guess your password lots of times and this would just freeze your account, thats how account freezers work, they guess your password again and again making msn freeze it. So all you need to do is change from password to passphrase, and add some numbers to it and they will not be able to guess it, and if they did get in then they must have a key logger on your computer, which means they wont just have your hotmail account. But this probably isent likely.

So if I am using a mail client (say Hotmail) You are safer than going through a web browser. I am just thinking of the Keystroke logger