Microsoft have revealed to PC owners that a whopping 44 million account details have been leaked to cybercriminals and hackers.
Has your account been compromised?
If your details were one of those published online, you will need to make sure that you change any other accounts that use the same email address and password combination as hackers will be able to login with the same details.
This could leave users’ social media accounts, email address or even bank details vulnerable to hackers.
The exposure of the records was discovered by Microsoft’s threat research team who were carrying out a routine scan of all Microsoft accounts between Jan and March & comparing these details against a database of more than 3 billion sets of leaked login credentials. When this comparison was completed, Microsoft got 44 million matches. At this stage, it remains unclear as to how these details were stolen and published online.
In light of this, it is important to note that over the last few years, hackers have resorted to this form of attack. An example of this was seen at the beginning of this month, where Android users were informed about a new malware strain called Strandhogg.
Microsoft have revealed further details about the leak by stating that the 44 million accounts are formed by a combination of consumer and enterprise accounts in the form of Azure logins.
After the leak was revealed, Microsoft provided further clarification in a statement by stating: “For the leaked credentials for which we found a match, we force a password reset. No additional action is required on the consumer side. On the enterprise side, Microsoft will elevate the user risk and alert the administrator so that a credential reset can be enforced”
The first port of call if you want to know if your details were leaked is to check your emails to see if Microsoft has emailed you about doing a hard-reset on your Microsoft account password which essentially means that your details were leaked.
Microsoft went on to make some recommendations on what you can action now to protect your details: “Given the frequency of passwords being reused by multiple individuals, it is critical to back your password with some form of strong credential. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an important security mechanism that can dramatically improve your security posture. Our numbers show that 99.9% of identity attacks have been thwarted by turning on MFA.'
If you would like to get the multi-factor authentication method implemented on your Microsoft account to safeguard your business then please get in touch with Advantage today.
In addition to this, if you want to take this opportunity to review the online security in your business with Advantage, we offer a number of security options to help you protect your business such as our tailored Tiered Security Support packages, a Cyber Security Certification, leading IT audits for your existing IT systems, free Dark Web reports on your business domain and much more. For more details on these please call 020 3004 4600 or fill in our contact form.
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