Microsoft has confirmed that hackers were able to read email from Microsoft's Outlook, MSN and Hotmail email services, Motherboard reported this week.
Motherboard's source suggested that hackers could access accounts for six months, though Microsoft is standing by an email it sent to affected users between January 1 and March 28.
Article continues below“We addressed this scheme, which affected a limited subset of consumer accounts, by disabling the compromised credentials and blocking the perpetrators’ access,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard.
It is unclear exactly how many accounts were affected. Users should change their passwords out of an abundance of caution.
“Our notification to the majority of those impacted noted that bad actors would not have had unauthorized access to the content of e-mails or attachments," a Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge. "A small group (~6 percent of the original, already limited subset of consumers) was notified that the bad actors could have had unauthorized access to the content of their email accounts, and was provided with additional guidance and support."
