cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12063839
Someone keeps trying to access my MS account
Like the title says, I’ve got yesterday an email with a code to access my Microsoft account and that made me suspicious because I wasn’t trying to login to my account. When I looked at the login attempts I saw that someone else was trying to access my account, I changed my password, activated TFA. Thinking of going through and buying a physical key like yubico to further secure my account. Any tips are appreciated.
This is normal. All of my accounts have looked like this for years. So I imagine every account with Microsoft will see this bombardment of someone trying to get in.
It’s not just Microsoft - every server on the internet with an open port gets bombarded all of the time. It’s just the way of the internet. So if you move your account to another platform it’ll see the same bombardment as it does now.
that has never ever happened to me. it is not normal.
Do you use your email addresses on websites? I find it hard to believe you don’t see this when you look at it in the security page of Outlook if you use your email address for more than just emailing friends and family.
dear god, no. I try to use tempmail wherever possible
Personally my hotmail account is nearing 25 years old. I both get this and godawful amounts of spam. I’m not sure if its entirely due to age, or due to historic leaks including the email address. I would say it’s normal if you have the same email as you did in the 90s.
c/privacy and you keep a 25 year old hotmail account, yeah checks out.
Oh sorry I didn’t realise we were supposed to be living off grid entirely to be allowed to browse this sub.
You should probably stop going to work and school, too much exposure.
Use 2FA
Enable GPG verification. Only 2FA I trust.
Activated tfa? So does that mean u didn’t have 2fa activated?
Activated yesterday, using MS Authenticator now, before I would get code on my email to verify and authenticate.
👍
Probably change that email password too
I have this also all the time on my Microsoft account. All un-successful of course (long password and 2FA activated). So stopped looking at this.
First time it’s happening to me, makes me feel uncomfortable.
Encrypt everything pre-upload and you won’t have to care about the security of individual cloud providers ever again.
With how there’s been multiple breaches in Azure, I’d move away from Microsoft-based products if I were you.
I’ve been getting in the habit of using per service emails and rotating them like my passwords (if the service allows). MS allows this (assuming the account is not for your email). I’ve changed it 5-6 times. Except for Skype which I don’t use. Can’t seem to change that one myself.
Others mentioned YubiKey. Another alternative I use is both an OnlyPass and Mooltipass, interchangeably. They act as keyboards and work with any device I’ve tried that supports USB keyboards without some agent always running. With it I’ll add an extra 56 random characters on top of my memorized passphrase for critical systems (disk encryption, system login, password manager).
So there are several successful attempts peppered in with the failures. Were those you logging in or is your account compromised?
The successful ones are mine, I have logged in just to check on attempts.
my stupid ass would still piss myself for a sec if I saw the most recent successful attempt even after I just logged in
I was surprised to see that while I was logging in they were still trying, unsuccessfully.
I have an account that has been having that same behaviour for years. I changed my password multiple times after and have 2fa. I was uneasy at the time but realized the best I could do is move on from those accounts as main accounts and just keep them locked tight.
Kind of happens everywhere to be honest, the best defense is to have a good and unique password and MFA enabled.
Had this issue with a gmail account about 7 years ago. It has/had 2fa. Haven’t used it much since then.
If you have 2FA enabled they won’t be able to get in, but if you change your password and they’re still trying, that means that somehow they have your new password, which means you probably have a credential stealer in your PC or one of your devices. I would reinstall windows immediately then change EVERY password.
I’d say ignore it, or if you’d like it to stop, create a new email alias and change your login settings so it only allows you to sign it with the new alias (and don’t use that email for anything)
Edit: I just noticed there are some successful sign ins. Make sure to change your password, add 2fa, and log out of all devices
I would contact Microsoft support immediately
Why reach out to them when they call me every few days about my computer having a virus?
Im glad they called, too. These log in attempts started around the same time. If i wasnt connected to their secure server with my pc regularly saying its updating, id be really worried that someone would try and log into my online banking!
(/s if you dont get the references, watch some kitboga - or any of your preffered scam-baiters)
I have the same issue. For me it’s mainly some ip address in Russia but it bounces around. I’ve had the 2FA enabled on my account for at least a year now. I have a unique, random password for it. Recently (like a month or two ago) the 2FA app popped up with a message to click on the number to verify or deny. I knew it wasn’t me so I denied it.
I was worried someone had managed to guess my long ass password but I fiddled around with it and it’s possible to get that 2FA prompt when you are trying to do a password recovery. So I just let it ago and haven’t gotten any others since. I still feel like I should chang my email but based on what others are saying it doesn’t seem like it will make a difference.
Buy two ubikeys, one for you and one for your safe or lockbox.
Also use a password manager and don’t reuse passwords.
Might be a dumb question but can I use a yubico key for more than one device?
Yes!
In fact, I have an NFC one which id highly recommend and just scan my phone on it and log into my password manager.
Two is one, one is none though. You need to set up both keys on each website or app. Then lock one away.
