Forum: Web service providers can do more to stem hacking

Recently, I received a notification through MSN’s authenticator app to grant access to my Hotmail account. This was the second time it happened in two weeks.

Suspecting this was because someone was trying to hack my account, I checked the login activity and was horrified to find that this had been going on for some time. On some days, there were as many as 15 hacking attempts, from places such as the US, Mongolia and Egypt.

There was detailed information provided on each attempt, like the device platform, browser, IP address and approximate location.

I believe that all Web service providers, not just e-mail providers, should e-mail notifications to users over all failed login attempts. Users can then take the necessary precautions, like changing their passwords.

A more important function could perhaps be for users to be able to report all hacking attempts to their service providers. The hackers can then be taken to task as their detailed information is already known to the service providers.

Robin Lo Weng Yew