Malicious “Windows Live alert” email targets users

Windows Live account owners are currently being targeted with an email purportedly coming from the Hotmail Security Team, threatening them with an account suspension due to having exceeded their sending and receiving limit.

The email instructs them to verify their account and “lift the suspension limit” by following an embedded link:

As it can be expected, the destination URL is that of a spoofed Windows Live login page whose goal is to harvest the login credentials that unsuspecting users are tricked into sharing.

When faced with unsolicited emails containing embedded links such as this one, users are advised never to follow the link, but to check their account with the service in question by enter the correct web address into their web browser or following their own bookmarks.