We Found 1,423 Hotmail Logins Sitting in a Telegram Channel

The filename said 1.311 hotmail, likely shorthand for however many thousand lines someone counted when scraping it together. Once actually parsed, the real total came to 1,423 records sitting quietly in a Telegram channel since 18-Jun-2025, waiting for anyone curious enough to open the file.

Why This Is Dangerous

Hotmail addresses are old enough that plenty of people still use them as a secondary or recovery email, which makes a leak like this one worth taking seriously even if the account itself doesn't feel important day to day. If an attacker controls a recovery email, they can potentially reset passwords on other, more sensitive accounts tied to it.

What Was Exposed

• 1,423 email address records tied to Hotmail accounts
• Passwords stored in plaintext with no encryption
• URLs identifying which sites each credential was captured from

Why This Matters

It would be a mistake to asume an old or rarely used Hotmail account isn't worth protecting. Attackers don't care how often you check an inbox, they care whether the password works. A neglected account with a reused password is often an easier target than one you actually pay attention to.

How Stealer Logs Work

Logs like this one commonly originate from a fake browser extension advertised as a productivity booster or ad blocker. Once installed, it silently reads through saved logins and autofill entries stored in the browser, then quietly uploads that data to a remote server controlled by whoever built the extension, eventually surfacing in dumps like this.

Check If You Are Affected

Don't guess, check. HEROIC's free scanner compares your email against a database of more than 400 billion leaked records collected from breaches and stealer logs, including the exact one this Hotmail data came from. If a match turns up, update the password right away and consider retiring the account if you no longer use it actively.