Phishing Scam Compromises 30,000+ Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Comcast, and Earthlink Accounts

According to reports from the BBC (via Mashable), a massive industry-wide phishing scheme has compromised over 30,000 accounts on some of the web’s most popular e-mail providers, including Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Comcast, and Earthlink. The phishing attack is purported to have begun yesterday and was originally only thought to have affected Hotmail accounts.

A Google spokesperson told media that the company has taken swift action to protect its users, saying “As soon as we learned of the attack, we forced password resets on the affected accounts. We will continue to force password resets on additional accounts when we become aware of them.” At this time, it is unclear how many total e-mail accounts were affected by the attack. Also, it is impossible to say how many cyber criminals accessed the information it was before taken down from the Internet.

In order to protect yourself from a phishing attack, make sure to have a strong and secure password that you change frequently. Also, you should not use the same password for multiple web applications. If a scammer gets a hold of your e-mail password and figures out that is also the password to your Facebook account, your Twitter account, and your online banking, you could be in real trouble.

For more tips on cyber security, check out ReputationDefender’s How-To Guide to Avoid Falling Victim to a Phishing Scam.