S of all cybersecurity incidents. And the issue is worse at home. Over-simplified passwords and password reuse, open-access networks, insecure endpoints, and long-dormant accounts. Little surprise, then, that at the beginning of July, Microsoft quietly updated its account activity policy. From August 30, , the company will now delete accounts that have been inactive for two years, a reduction from the previous five-year time period.
Realistically, this is as much about freeing up clutter in the company's own systems and releasing account names—especially within the X-Box Live gaming community—as anything else.
But, still, as of that end of August deadline, the updated Microsoft Services Agreement says " you must sign in to your Microsoft account at least once in a two-year period to keep your account active. Everyone has multiple dormant or little-used accounts clogging up space online, and these actually represent a security vulnerability for individuals and—often—the enterprises they work with and for. Those dormant accounts tend to be unmonitored, retain legacy passwords for far too long, and can sit with personal and private data just waiting for a breach.
For enterprises, in particular, there has been a focus on maintaining good account housekeeping and we have seen a debate around the best ways in which to secure those accounts and keep the data away from compromise. But most of us have multiple accounts from years gone by that were set up when we didn't pay the same level of care and attention to our personal information security. And that introduces vulnerabilities for us and—where linked—our employees as well.
Most of us also, if we're honest, reuse the same passwords or patterns of passwords in multiple accounts to make life easier. How do I stop them?! Subscribe to Confident Computing! NOW: name your own price!
You decide how much to pay -- and yes, that means you can get this report completely free if you so choose. Get your copy now! I also just received an email yesterday evening March from a very old friend of mine who has a Hotmail account. His son wrote to me last August to tell me his father had died in June last year. The email asks me how I am, asks me to write back soon with all my news and sends me kisses from this person. This is freaking us all out.
Strangely, it is written in a similar way to how he would have written to me. And the daughter had also received an email from the deceased father and using a pet name that he had for her! Did hotmail delete my folders because i barely use my old account?
I have a similar problem to query from Bree on March 14th I failed to use my hotmail email account for a number of months. When I signed in after that time the account had been deactivated. I reactivated teh account but all my files had been removed. Is there any way I can retrieve these files? How can i know when an e-mail address is avaliable.. Your account has been closed because it seems to have violated our Terms of Use. To re-open your account, please do the following:.
Google One members who are within their storage quota and in good-standing will not be impacted by this new inactive policy. If you use your Microsoft email account, then you are logging into your Microsoft account regularly. Gmail and many other email service providers have that feature.
I have added my Hotmail and Yahoo accounts to it, and frequently visit them through Gmail. If you use a Hotmail account outlook. Almost all, if not all, programs and services require you to agree to their TOS. Comments violating those rules will be removed.
Comments that don't add value will be removed, including off-topic or content-free comments, or comments that look even a little bit like spam. All comments containing links and certain keywords will be moderated before publication.
I want comments to be valuable for everyone, including those who come later and take the time to read. Search Ask Leo! You could lose everything, forever by Leo A. You can lose your account, and everything in it, if you don't sign in often enough. Here's how often you need to, and other ways to protect yourself. I keep a lot of important emails and contact information in my MSN Hotmail account. I'll see you there! Slow Computer?
Podcast audio. Related Video. I'll walk through one common solution. I Run Anti-virus Software. It's frustrating, because you'd think it would be. While the I'll look at what that really means, and outline some options Microsoft failed to mention.
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