Serious Discussion Questions about multiple abandoned accounts and posible compromised account.

[Aktiffiso]

Hello guys, I have two questions. 1.- I have many accounts that I have stopped using, from forums, antivirus companies, or cell phone companies, many of these accounts I stopped using when I no longer participated in the forums or when I changed my cell phone number. There are approximately 200 accounts, the passwords are saved in Norton Password Manager on my cell phone, but I want to know if having so many accounts compromises my security, if I should delete them one by one or if it is enough to reinforce the protection of my main accounts. 2.- I have been observing login attempts on my Microsoft account from strange countries. What should I do? I await your responses and thank you for your attention.

 

[Bot]

1. Having numerous unused accounts can potentially compromise your security as they might be targeted by hackers. It's recommended to delete them if they're not in use. Also, ensure your main accounts have strong, unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible.
2. For your Microsoft account, immediately change your password and enable two-factor authentication. Also, review your account activity to check for any unauthorized actions. If suspicious activity continues, consider contacting Microsoft's support.

 

[Ink]

Your associated email to those online account may have been leaked via breaches or sold.

Here are some things you can do,
Change your Microsoft Account Password to at least 16 characters. Recommend 20 min.

If you use Microsoft Authenticator, then you could remove your password completely and go password-less.

If you do not or cannot change all web accounts linked to your Microsoft, then creating a new Microsoft Alias is easier.

Your new Microsoft Alias address can be made as your default login address.

Remember to uncheck Sign-in access for your first email address. You will not lose access to this address. Simply blocks login attempts from unauthorised users.

Example:
myfirstmail @ outlook
Used by 200+ web accounts

mynewmail @ outlook
Set as Primary, used to Login into Microsoft only. Do not share with anyone.

Add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com - Microsoft Support

Create an alias to give you an additional email address which uses the same inbox, contact list, and account settings as your primary email address in Outlook.com.

support.microsoft.com

Other tasks you can do:
Login into your other Web accounts, change their password and enable 2FA or Passkeys.

If you have 200+ old Web accounts, some may be defunct, hacked or locked.

Edit: For accounts you no longer use, check if you can close them, this should help declutter your Norton Vault.

 

[Wrecker4923]

Hello,

Besides the excellent recommendations by @lnk and the bot, I'd suggest that the reasons to lock down / delete your accounts are:

1. Get rid of any personal information
2. Get rid of any association to your identity
3. Prevent communications as your identity/pseudonyms
4. Prevent access in general.

So, I would prioritize based on these and work on them a few at a time until you are done. What I would do is:

1. Delete / change all personal info, change the email to a throwaway address (or to an alias), change password to something random and long (20+ chars, your password manager should help you), and then delete the account.
2. If the account can't be deleted, and you think it should really be locked down, turn on TOTP 2FA. Don't use your phone. Use email alias 2FA, if TOTP isn't available.

DuckDuckGo has an unlimited alias service.

 

[lokamoka820]

Delete accounts you don't use anymore, and update all other account's passwords, and do this procedure regularly so you don't get this big number of abandoned accounts in the future.

 

[Ink]

DuckDuckGo has an unlimited alias service.

One caveat are the requirements.

To register for DDG Email Protection the user first needs to install the Privacy Browser or Browser Extension, and to continue using unlimited randomised aliases they must keep the app/extension active. Users are effectively forced to use DDG search engine, on the app/extension.

Alternatively they could register for a Duck Email, then delete the app/extension and use the one they registered without randomised aliases.

 

[cartaphilus]

One caveat are the requirements.

To register for DDG Email Protection the user first needs to install the Privacy Browser or Browser Extension, and to continue using unlimited randomised aliases they must keep the app/extension active. Users are effectively forced to use DDG search engine, on the app/extension.

Alternatively they could register for a Duck Email, then delete the app/extension and use the one they registered without randomised aliases.

I have seen homing pigeons deliver mail but never a duck. Curious

 

[Ink]

I have seen homing pigeons deliver mail but never a duck. Curious

It's a relatively new service, launched in 2021.
https://spreadprivacy.com/introducing-email-protection-beta/

 

[Aktiffiso]

Hey, guys, sorry for my job i can not read your answers, thank you i am following your excelent tips. Thanks a lot

 

[bazang]

Hello guys, I have two questions. 1.- I have many accounts that I have stopped using, from forums, antivirus companies, or cell phone companies, many of these accounts I stopped using when I no longer participated in the forums or when I changed my cell phone number. There are approximately 200 accounts, the passwords are saved in Norton Password Manager on my cell phone, but I want to know if having so many accounts compromises my security, if I should delete them one by one or if it is enough to reinforce the protection of my main accounts. 2.- I have been observing login attempts on my Microsoft account from strange countries. What should I do? I await your responses and thank you for your attention.

If you use weak passwords and re-use them, and an attacker figures out that you do this, then they can potentially leverage what they have discovered to further target you. Furthermore, if you have infos within any of those accounts that an attacker can potentially use to conduct further attacks is an obvious concerned.

However, to specifically answer your question, the greater the number of accounts that you have - whether they are alt- or throwaway or whatever - the greater the attack surface you have and therefore the higher the risk that you will targeted and\or attacked or your infos will be used for unwanted or malicious purposes.

2.- I have been observing login attempts on my Microsoft account from strange countries. What should I do? I await your responses and thank you for your attention.

You've got problems, dude.