Suspicious activity on Hotmail account, what could it be?

Over the past few weeks I've had some concerns about whether or not my hotmail account had been hacked. I've seen successful logins from several US cities that shouldn't have any access, and the device/platform is always listed as "Windows" and the Browser/App is always listed as "Exchange ActiveSync".

I use a VPN for my computer, but I don't have one set up for my Q10.

I've changed my password 3 times to very strong phrases, but I still keep getting the same few cities popping up as successful logins. The only device that I have that could have been syncing these emails is my Q10.

Do BB10 devices ever somehow do this? I use a prepaid T-mobile sim. Under my hotmail accounts advanced settings I have the "Use SSL, Use VPN, and Push" features enabled. But I didn't think that this phone has a built in VPN that it uses.

If anyone has nay ideas I'd be happy to hear something. Thanks!

If you have two-factor authentication enable it immediately. Live and Outlook have this, it would stand to reason Hotmail does as well.

Posted by one of the CrackBerry apps.

does anything here help you?

Microsoft Account Security Recent Activity Page

my bad if it doesn't, but it might be worth a read - a hotmail address is the legacy service with live and outlook

Originally Posted by Fret Madden

If you have two-factor authentication enable it immediately. Live and Outlook have this, it would stand to reason Hotmail does as well.

Posted by one of the CrackBerry apps.

Yes, I do have 2 factor authentication enabled. With hotmail, it would seem that even with that on, someone can access your account and view emails, but they cannot go in and change your password. So it's slightly helpful.

But does anyone know any way that a BB device would sync emails through some sort of native VPN? I not sure of any way that someone would be able to crack my password multiple times without any notification popping up as even so much as a security challenge.

Originally Posted by BeeDazzle

Yes, I do have 2 factor authentication enabled. With hotmail, it would seem that even with that on, someone can access your account and view emails, but they cannot go in and change your password. So it's slightly helpful.

But does anyone know any way that a BB device would sync emails through some sort of native VPN? I not sure of any way that someone would be able to crack my password multiple times without any notification popping up as even so much as a security challenge.

They can't get past two-factor unless they've cloned your phone, so it's most likely you logging in and the various locations are because of your VPN. I get login details from a couple different cities as well due to my ISP servers - pay close attention for a spell and note the times being logged in. They'll most likely correspond with you logging in, but if they don't then you have a problem.

Originally Posted by blackberryroughrider

does anything here help you?

Microsoft Account Security Recent Activity Page

my bad if it doesn't, but it might be worth a read - a hotmail address is the legacy service with live and outlook

Right, yeah I've been through all of this stuff pretty thoroughly. Actually, even reviewing it today (10mins ago in fact) I had 2 "successful sign ins" from two locations that both accessed at 8:04pm. One from where I'd expect it, and the other from outside of Seattle. Odd.

Both are "Exchange ActiveSnyc".

Originally Posted by BeeDazzle

Right, yeah I've been through all of this stuff pretty thoroughly. Actually, even reviewing it today (10mins ago in fact) I had 2 "successful sign ins" from two locations that both accessed at 8:04pm. One from where I'd expect it, and the other from outside of Seattle. Odd.

Both are "Exchange ActiveSnyc".

I've got multiple successful sign-in attempts from my phone as well as my desktop even though I haven't signed out of either, at the moment I'm thinking your VPN is the cause for the different locations. By definition it's doing its job. Last-ditch method would be to sign out of everything, wait for a period of time you're comfortable with, then log in again and see what recent activity says.

So I followed your advice of disconnected my Q10 and an iPad I had syncing emails and it seemed to work.

I only have an active VPN running on my computer.

One thing that I found interested once I reconnected my Q10 to the hotmail account to sync emails is that the Bellevue, Washington IP address re-emerged. Pretty easy investigation shows it coming from T-mobile, which is my cell provider. I live out on the east coast, so I found it pretty interesting that the phone seems to sync and log an IP from there.

Any thoughts? Is this normal?

Before all of my security changes, I was also getting successful logins (exchange activesyncs) from an area also not where I'm living, but quite close to where I purchased the T-mobile SIM card. Would that also be a positive correlation?

Originally Posted by BeeDazzle

So I followed your advice of disconnected my Q10 and an iPad I had syncing emails and it seemed to work.

I only have an active VPN running on my computer.

One thing that I found interested once I reconnected my Q10 to the hotmail account to sync emails is that the Bellevue, Washington IP address re-emerged. Pretty easy investigation shows it coming from T-mobile, which is my cell provider. I live out on the east coast, so I found it pretty interesting that the phone seems to sync and log an IP from there.

Any thoughts? Is this normal?

Before all of my security changes, I was also getting successful logins (exchange activesyncs) from an area also not where I'm living, but quite close to where I purchased the T-mobile SIM card. Would that also be a positive correlation?

Par for the course, when on mobile it never seems to come from exactly where you are. Right before I posted this I relogged from my phone and it's showing the attempt 11 miles away from where I am. I'm not entirely sure if it's the carrier or Microsoft themselves since it's showing mine via Bing Maps.

Posted by one of the CrackBerry apps.