Hotmail Combo Leak: 6,508 Email Accounts Targeted by Attackers

In December 2024, HEROIC analysts identified a combolist named Hotmail Combo circulating on Telegram, uploaded by an anonymous user. The file contained 6,508 records, each pairing an email address with a plaintext password, with many entries also including the URL of the account the credentials belonged to.

Why This Is Dangerous

The name of this combolist signals who it was built for: people using Hotmail and similar webmail accounts. Because the passwords are stored in plaintext, no cracking is needed. An attacker can log straight into an inbox, and once inside, they can reset passwords on any other account tied to that email address, from banking to shopping to social media.

What Was Exposed

Based on verified data from this listing, the following information was included:

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords
• URLs linked to the associated accounts

Why This Matters

Email accounts are the master key to a person's digital life. When a webmail login like this leaks in plaintext, criminals use it for credential stuffing against other sites, betting that the same password was reused elsewhere. If that bet pays off, it leads to account takeover, and an inbox takeover in particular can open the door to identity theft and financial fraud through password reset emails alone.

How Combolists Are Built

A combolist like Hotmail Combo is assembled by pulling email-and-password pairs from earlier leaks, phishing pages, or malware logs, then filtering and packaging them around a theme, in this case webmail accounts. The person uploading it did not necessarily hack anything new. They compiled data that was already stolen elsewhere into a focused, ready-to-use list, which is exactly what makes combolists so easy for even low-skill attackers to exploit.

Check If You Are Affected

If you use a Hotmail or similar webmail account, it is worth checking whether your address appears in this leak. HEROIC's free breach scanner searches a database of more than 400 billion leaked records, including combolists like this one, so you can find out in seconds and change any reused password before it is used against you.