Outlook, popularly known as Hotmail by its former name, is one of the most widely used email services in the world along with Gmail. Precisely for this reason, it is one of the most recurrent targets for hackers and hackers in general, although Microsoft has integrated a series of barriers to improve the security of the service. To this we must add the tools that the platform provides us to know if our Hotmail and Outlook accounts have been stolen . On this occasion we have made a compilation of all these to know if the password of either of the two services has been stolen from us.
Be wary if you cannot access your account with the usual password
The first test to know if someone has accessed our account without our consent is to verify that the account is not accessible with the password that we have previously registered.
There are two reasons for this, and both are related to an impersonation attempt. The first reason may be due to a repeated attempt to access our account . By default, Microsoft blocks access for a limited period of time to prevent possible attacks. The other option may be because the user in question has changed the access password.
In this case, we will have to resort to Microsoft's recovery options, which we will discuss in later sections. It may also be the case that we have forgotten the password. Recovering it is as simple as clicking on Have you forgotten your password? and follow the traditional process.
Check the recent activity of your Hotmail and Outlook account
Microsoft has enabled a page that allows us to know the connection history of our Outlook and Hotmail account. We can access through this link.
After accessing the page in question, the web will show us a list with all the logins made with our email. In each of the registers we can know the type of device used (computer model, operating system ...) and the time and date of the session, as well as the IP address and the exact location of the equipment . We will also be shown the type of session (correct, incorrect, automatic synchronization ...), in addition to the browser used.
If we detect any anomaly in the data shown by Microsoft, it is very likely that they have accessed our account without our consent . The solution? Change Password.
My Outlook and Hotmail account have been stolen, now what?
If we have been victims of an account theft, the process to recover it begins by clicking on the option Have you forgotten your password? The first method that Microsoft will propose to us is to send a verification code to the email number that we have previously registered . Once received, simply enter the number in the wizard and enter a new password.
If we have not registered any phone number, the next step to regain access to the account will be to click on I do not have any of these tests . Then, the application will display a form like the one we can see below:
Now we will only have to indicate the information requested by Microsoft, such as the name and surname, the date and place of birth and the postal code of our town. Together with all this data we will have to answer the secret question that we have selected at the time of registering for the service. Otherwise, we will not be able to recover the account in any way, unless we directly contact Microsoft customer service.
Microsoft customer service numbers
- Spain : 917 547 010 (national number) and 902 197 198 (special rate number with added costs).
- Brazil : 11 4706 0900.
- Uruguay : 000 4054 083.
- Venezuela : 0 800 100 4610.
- Colombia : 1 587 0300.
- Ecuador : 1800 010 288.
- French Guiana : 0 805 51 0101.
- Falkland Islands : 305 418 9137.
- Chile : 56 2 2599 4914.
- Paraguay : 009 800 542 0049.
- Argentina : 0 800 222 9467.
- Bolivia : 800 100 714.
- Peru : 51 1 7097831.