Friends email account got hacked...how to get it back?

My friends 14 yr old daughters Hotmail and Facebook accounts got hacked by someone (not sure who) and the passwords were changed. Understandably she is quite distraught. From what I'm told she tried her security question 3 times and since she doesn't remember the answer her access was cut off....how long till she could try again?? Her dad also emailed hotmail asking them what to do (and to reply to his account)...then he emailed me for suggestions. Any ideas on how she could get her accounts back?

Thanks for your help.

 

there is a contact at windows live / hotmail you can look for which deals with hacked accounts / forgotten passwords. if your friends daughter can prove it's her account, they will reset the password.

all she has to do is verify some people in her contact list, or describe the last received emails, stuff like that. basically

mine was hacked a while back and I knew the latest messages I had, listed almost all of my contacts and their email addresses, even personal folders I had created within my inbox. this is usually enough for the windows live team to give your account back.

 

Many online accounts won't send you the password if you can't answer the security questions; that's what they're their for. You can try emailing the admins of the respective sites, but unless you can provide proof of ownership (ie answering security questions, reciting recent emails or other "private" details), you may be out of luck.

P.S. Discussing ways to bypass passwords or hack into accounts is against the forum rules, so nobody suggest such a thing please. Thanks.

 

I believe you will need a subpoena from local police to get it back.

 

I highly doubt they will need a subpoena to get the account back...and even if they did it wouldn't be worth it..after all it's a14 yr old email account...all that it contains is school gossip. The father filled out a form from the windows live website...and it asked for all kinds of info on the email account...last emails, contacts etc...now he is waiting to hear back.

If they do get the account back...would Microsoft be willing to give them the IP address of whoever logged in under that account so that he could contact the service provider and make a complaint? I personally doubt it...but that's what he is hoping.

 

MS asked me to file a subpoena with local authorities in the past before they release any information (especally other peoples)

 

That doesn't surprise me; many agreements that contain confidentiality provisions (which an individual user account most assuredly would) have an exception that permits disclosure of the otherwise confidential information pursuant to appropriate legal process, such as a subpoena. My guess is that some system administrators tend to get a little carried away with requesting that people get subpoenas for the information they're seeking because that basically provides the sysadmin with CYA - in other words, if the person whose information is released tries to sue the sysadmin for releasing that information, they'll almost always lose because under the terms of the user agreement the existence of the subpoena innoculates the sysadmin against liability.

 

Right, the subpoena req. is CYA, yet a smaller provider or a company intranet sysadmin would probably be more inclined to demand one than MS. Being the 8-headed monster that it is, MS/Hotmail probably has it's own internal procedurals.

Sounds like ccol has had direct experience with hotmail resetting his password so I bet her chances are good.

 

facebook should be easy, email will be hard...

 

Facebook will actually be harder because they will refer to the registered email address straight away. It saves them the time and hassle of having to deal with account recovery.

He/She should be able to get the hotmail account back with proof but will need a subpoena to obtain information to find the hacker.