Microsoft has revealed that hackers were able to access some Outlook.com accounts for a few months earlier this year. The company discovered that the credentials for an Outlook.com support agent had been compromised which provided unauthorized access to some accounts from January 1st through March 28th, 2019.
The company has confirmed that the hackers were able to view account email addresses, subject lines of emails, and folder names but they’re see the content of the emails or their attachments. Microsoft hasn’t detailed precisely how many users have been affected by this breach or who was involved in this act.
“Our data indicates that account-related information (but not the content of any e-mails) could have been viewed, but Microsoft has no indication why that information was viewed or how it may have been used,” Microsoft says in an email sent to affected users.
The security breach didn’t let hackers steal login details or any other personal information but out of an abundance of caution, the company is still recommending that users change their passwords. Microsoft adds that its internal security and privacy teams are conducting an investigation and that the company is also further improving its systems and processes to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.