In the midst of a maelstrom of cases that reveal the movement of user accounts and passwords for various network services (in recent weeks have leaked passwords LinkedIn or Yahoo) Microsoft has stated that it is a large-scale problem, that can affect a wide range of services, including accounts of Windows Live. According to the official blog of Microsoft, these lists of compromised accounts would mean success in the user data and password for Windows Live 20%. This means that hackers could get to enter one of five Microsoft account through the data are revealed.
The real problem goes beyond hackers from entering a particular service. The problem is in regular use by the users of passwords. Although always strongly recommended that users use a single password for each service using the Internet (or, at least, a different password for sites that may have a poor safety measures) the reality is that many Internet users repeat the password across all or many services they use.
The danger comes when hackers are able to compromise the security of one of these services (for example, in recent days have violated various forums) that generally have a weaker protective barriers. Once stolen, the account information is transferred to other services to try to undermine other services accounts that contain more personal information such as Gmail, Google’s own accounts or Microsoft. Typically, these accounts are used to perform breached sending spam or malware.
The path of Microsoft in cases in which this activity is seen to block the account, notify users that their data have been violated and give the steps to return to reset your password. As stated from the company, provided the levels of security over any inconvenience this may have on the Internet, for example if you discover a list of data committed to evidence that violations may result in account but you can not find specific users to whom this attack affects .
The security problem is long, and becomes increasingly complex as cybercriminals refining their methods of attack. Some of the tips should be followed to avoid security problems are the use of a single password for each of the services we use, try to avoid as much as possible use our data to access accounts on public computers and open WiFi networks (there are programs capable of “stealing” data entry accounts very easily) or exercise extreme caution when sharing personal information through the mail or messaging programs. Are some tips that can help the dangers, but always present, are minimal.