Nobody likes spam or spammers and that includes the companies who host email services like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s Hotmail. Recently, Microsoft has unveiled two new security features for its flagship Hotmail email service to help battle the latest rise in spam.
Image by liako, flickr
For several years now, spammers have operated by buying time on botnets and pushing their junk email to the masses via that mechanism. Botnets are computers that have been taken over via software hacking tools, and their owners are often unaware of the software’s existence. However, using botnets is tricky because you have to deal with shadowy figures in the internet’s underbelly over antiquated mechanisms designed for chat and not command and control. There is also a level of uncertainty because you never know when a botnet would have its plug pulled and go dark. So, spammers have begun a campaign aimed at locating email accounts with weak passwords that can be easily cracked. This is where Microsoft comes in with its new Hotmail campaign.
The first security measure addresses the weak password. Too many internet users use short passwords like p4ssword or rover. Hotmail intends to enforce more stringent rules to make users come up with more complex passwords. This is not meant to inconvenience anyone but rather to focus on getting users to become more aware of their logins and protecting their accounts.
The second tool Hotmail is using helps those with compromised accounts understand that their accounts have been hijacked. Microsoft’s team said in its blog that friends and family members of the compromised account holder regularly notice the problem long before the victim does. Because of that, they’re putting into place a new tool as part of the Mark As drop down menu. Users can now tell Microsoft that “My friend’s been hacked.” This starts an investigation that can help your friend get his or her account back and protect the email account.
However, if you’re the kind of person who used password or 123456 as your password, then we frankly wonder how managed to find this site to begin with.
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