Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Webmail Accounts Exposed

Earlier this week, an as yet unidentified person posted 10,000 usernames and passwords for Windows Live accounts to a public website. This was followed by the discovery of a second public list containing an additional (estimated) 10,000 usernames and passwords for Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and other webmail/online services accounts.

Exactly how the webmail usernames and passwords were stolen isn't known; both phishing and keylogger trojans are possible causes. One thing is for certain - now that the lists were made public (however briefly), scammers and spammers have undoubtedly harvested those lists for their own use. As a result, victims face a double whammy - not only were their login credentials exposed to the original attackers, but now potentially are in use by scammers and spammers across the globe.

It goes without saying that if you suspect your webmail account (or any other account has been compromised, you should change your password(s) immediately). For more details on compromised mail accounts and how to protect yourself, see Help! My Email was Hacked!