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Re:Redditor finds list of 47k email addresses with passwords by ell on Friday November 11, 2011 @02:51PM (#3225892)
Is there a reason why the list contains Hotmail accounts only? Does this mean Hotmail users are easier to hack into?
Re:Redditor finds list of 47k email addresses with passwords by bbarthel on Friday November 11, 2011 @03:06PM (#3225950)
According to the op he found the site via a phishing email. So likely it was just a mass mailing to hotmail accounts, or designed to look like it came from the hotmail team - naturally only Hotmail users would be worried about an email them.
Re:Redditor finds list of 47k email addresses with passwords by xenophanes on Friday November 11, 2011 @03:02PM (#3225930)
I'm curious too. If they had a big list and broke it up into pieces to put on different computers, it wouldn't make sense to organize it by email provider. That makes it easier to get caught if all the hotmail access comes from one computer instead of spread around.

Maybe a seller split up a master list that way. "I'll sell you 50k hotmail accounts".

Re:Redditor finds list of 47k email addresses with passwords by CyrusL on Friday November 11, 2011 @03:16PM (#3225992)
Most likely the phisher had a Hotmail-specific method to hit inbox, so their spam was more effective on Hotmail than other providers. The other possibility is that the phishing page emulated a Hotmail login, so only those with Hotmail accounts would believe it enough to enter their info.
Re:Redditor finds list of 47k email addresses with passwords by gglanzani on Friday November 11, 2011 @04:20PM (#3226179)
I think hotmail has serious security flaws. I get almost weekly emails from hotmail user whose account has been spammed. I warn them, they change password (they make it more difficult) and sometimes they hack their account again!! It's unbelievable.
Re:Redditor finds list of 47k email addresses with passwords by omarchowdhury on Friday November 11, 2011 @08:01PM (#3226776)
Hotmail has a higher daily limit on how many e-mails each account can send out than other free services.

For a spammer, there's higher throughput to be had per account than going with Yahoo or GMail.