Inside HOTMAIL VALIDS: How 897 Verified Logins Were Compiled

In May 2026, HEROIC analysts identified a combolist labeled "HOTMAIL VALIDS" circulating on Telegram that exposed 897 records containing email addresses, plaintext passwords, and the URLs tied to each account. The "valids" label is significant: it typically means the credentials in the file have already been tested and confirmed to work, rather than being an unverified raw dump.

Why This Is Dangerous

A standard combolist may contain outdated or incorrect passwords, but a "valids" file has already been checked, meaning the 897 email and password pairs here are more likely to log in successfully right now. Combined with the URL for each account, this file effectively hands an attacker a pre-tested list of working Hotmail logins with no guesswork required.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords
• URLs linked to each account

Why This Matters

Because these credentials have been verified as working, the risk of account takeover is higher than with an unchecked list. If any of the 897 exposed passwords are reused on other services, attackers can move from a Hotmail inbox into banking, shopping, or social media accounts through password resets, opening the door to identity theft and financial fraud.

How a "Valids" Combolist Works

Criminals build combolists by pairing emails and passwords from sources like phishing pages, malware logs, or older leaks, then run automated checking tools against the target service, in this case Hotmail, to test which pairs still log in successfully. Only the working pairs are kept and labeled "valids" before being shared, which is why a file like this is considered more immediately dangerous than an unverified list of the same size.

Check If You Are Affected

If you have a Hotmail account or reuse the same password elsewhere, checking now matters more than usual, since this list has already been confirmed to work. HEROIC's free breach scanner searches a database of more than 400 billion leaked records to show whether your email and credentials appear in this leak or any other, so you can change your password before someone else logs in first.