Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail targeted in phishing attack

As the result of a phishing attack over 20,000 email addresses and their passwords have been posted on-line. The site where they were posted has been temporarily shut down, but users are being encouraged to change their passwords.

Email providers that were targeted include Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, Comcast and Earthlink.

A phishing attack uses scam emails and fake websites in order to get people to reveal their login details.

An example would be a bank sending you an email saying that changes have been made to your account - click this link to verify them. When you click the link you are sent to a website that may look like the bank website but is in fact a fake. When you try and login your details are captured and your security therefore compromised.