Denied MSN passport sign-in by hacker.

what is the error you get when you try to sign in?

if you change your password, and all your password reminders (to something TOTALLY different) then unless they have a keylogger on your machine you should be safe.

you can go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and do a system scan for viruses or to http://beam.to/spybotsd to download spybot and do a spyware scan.


i would recommend doing the scans first, i doubt you have been targetted specifically by someone with a keylogger, but you never know.

once you are clear of viruses, change your msn details and you _should_ be all clear

-red

Thank you for that response. I am at work right now so I haven't got my PC in front of me but I'm pretty sure the message I get is: "MSN were unable to sign you in", or something very close. In fact, I have been specifically targetted by this one person in the past since he tells me beforehand he's going to prevent me from signing in and it does indeed happen. The trouble is, as they have my e-mail address they can just pass it around and anyone who chooses to is able to shut me out.
Anyway, I will follow your advice and scan for spyware.

Much appreciated.

I have just eliminated all spyware on my system and yet am still unable to sign into my MSN account. I assume, therefore, there must be some method by which a hacker is able to manipulate MSN's networking protocols to block my signing into my account.

to be able to manipulate MSN would be complex - very complex.  If someone could do it, they would do a lot of damage, not just mess with you account.

it is far easier to manipulate your pc than the msn server

if you are now spyware free, get your password for msn reset and see if you keep having problems

-red

OK. Many thanks.

red - one final thought. Why not just set up some kind of system that continuously attempts to sign into someone's account using the incorrect password? That way a malicious person could permanently suspend an account.

Thanks.

i didnt think that hotmail or msn accounts could be locked out, they would have to have some protection against this (ip address based maybe?) otherwise this would be a far more widespread problem.

don't like someone and know their hotmail email address - just keep failing signins

but i could be possible, have a look at the terms and conditions of msn.com it will have something there about security - i really doubt it locks out accounts

anyone else know?

-red

A bit more info. When I try to change my secret Q and A using IE I get: "You have made too many unsuccessful sign-in attempts with an incorrect password for:
 
************* (My e-mail).
 
Your account is temporarily unavailable. This is a temporary delay that helps prevent someone else from guessing or obtaining your password.
 
You can:
 
   
• Wait a few moments and then try to sign in again.
• Reset your password, if you can't remember it."

This is why I'm led to think someone is constantly trying to sign-in with the wrong password thereby suspending my account.

This is not exactly what happens when I try to sign in using MSN's browser. As I said, I get: "We were not able to sign you in. There may be a problem with our service or your Internet connection. Please try again later."

It's puzzling.
 

what is the possiblity of you getting a new msn account?

if someone does know it and are intentionally locking it out - it may be quite a while until they get bored

unfortunately, i dont think there is much else you can do.  besides maybe getting msn to find the guys ip and then complain to his isp - but i doubt that msn would bother, and i doubt his isp would care - even if they did it would take weeks at best.

-red

I think you're probably right. I just resent that these people seem so untouchable, but I guess thats what I'll have to do.

Thanks for your indulgence.

I understand you are not happy with the situation regarding MSN, but I don't understand how I deserve a C Grade

Is there some reason I am not aware of?

-red

I'm sorry, I'm new and still a little unclear about your grading procedures. I would like to re-grade this question to a "B".

Thank you.

That's ok, I didn't think you did it for any nasty reasons - the grades are slightly misleading

in school i would have probably gotten a C for the above answer

Thanks WEBPLODDER

Thanks to you too PAQ_Man