Hotmail Valids Stealer Log Explained: 3,070 Accounts Leaked

On December 12, 2024, a Telegram user uploaded a stealer log file named "3k hotmail_valids" containing 3,070 verified Hotmail login records harvested from infected devices. The file included email addresses, plaintext passwords, and the URLs those logins were captured from. This is not a breach of Microsoft's own systems. It is a batch of credentials stolen from individual users' computers by malware, then filtered down to only the logins confirmed to actually work, and shared on Telegram under that "valids" label.

What Makes a "Valids" Stealer Log Different

Most stolen credential dumps are messy, full of outdated passwords, typos, and dead logins that no longer work. A "valids" file like this one has already been through a verification step. Someone tested each email and password combination against Hotmail before uploading it, which means the 3,070 records in this leak are far more likely to be active, working logins than a random unverified list would be.

That verification step is exactly what makes this kind of file so valuable to criminals and so dangerous to victims. It removes the guesswork and hands attackers a ready-to-use list of accounts they know they can get into.

What Was Exposed in the Hotmail Valids Log

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords (stored and shared with no encryption)
• URLs showing where each login was captured

Why This Matters for These 3,070 Accounts

A verified email and password pair gives an attacker immediate access to an inbox, no trial and error required. From there, criminals commonly use the access for account takeover of the email itself, and for credential stuffing against banking, shopping, and social media sites where the victim may have reused the same password. Since email accounts are often used to reset passwords elsewhere, a single compromised inbox can cascade into identity theft or financial fraud across several other accounts.

How Stealer Logs Get Turned Into "Valids" Lists

It starts the same way most credential theft does: malware infects a device through a fake download, cracked software, or a malicious attachment, then quietly copies saved passwords and autofill data out of the browser. From there, whoever holds the raw stealer log runs a checking tool that automatically tries each stolen email and password against the target service, in this case Hotmail, and keeps only the pairs that successfully log in. What is left is a smaller, more dangerous file of confirmed working credentials, which is then sold or shared for free on channels like Telegram.

Check If You Are Affected

If you use Hotmail, Outlook, or reuse passwords across multiple accounts, it is worth checking whether your details ended up in this log or in any of the thousands of other breaches and stealer logs out there. HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email against a database of more than 400 billion leaked records, so you can find out fast and change any exposed passwords before someone else uses them.