Hotmail bans common passwords and introduces hacking alert system .

report to post spam or phishing email to all their contacts," explains Microsoft`s Dick Craddock. The Hotmail team has built a particular feature to fight this. The "note as" menu in Hotmail now contains My friends been hacked!. Hotmail users can also report hacked accounts via the junk mail filing screen.

The sport will charge an alarm to Microsoft which is automatically parsed into the company`s detection system. "When you describe that your friends account has been compromised, Hotmail takes that reputation and combines it with the former data from the compromise detection engine to decide if the story in motion has in fact been hijacked," says Craddock. Microsoft will then make certain the story can no longer be exploited by spammers and activates an account recovery process to leave the proprietor to get back control of the account. Microsoft enabled the feature a few weeks ago. "We got thousands of reports of compromised accounts," Craddock says. Microsoft`s system will also allow Yahoo! and Gmail accounts to find compromise reports from Hotmail. "Those providers will now be capable to use the reports in their own systems to recover hacked accounts," revealed Craddock. "Weve had this feature turned on for just a few weeks, and weve already identified thousands of customers who have had their accounts hacked and helped those customers reclaim their accounts."

Microsoft will also rolling out a sport to keep users from choosing a common password. Common passwords include password, 123456, ilovecats and gogiants. "This new feature will be rolling out soon, and will keep you from choosing a very common password when you signed up for an invoice or when you transfer your password," says Craddock. Hotmail users who currently use a weak and common password may be prompted to convert it in the future.

Report hacked accounts with Hotmail