By Rachel James, Author and Cybercrime Authority

Oct 11 2009 - Recently headlines have included the alarming news that the personal login information for thousands of Hotmail accounts was posted online.

While an investigation is being conducted, experts have urged anyone with a Hotmail account to change their password immediately.

Many experts also recommend that if you use that account in conjunction with other accounts, such as your social networking account, that you change the information used in those accounts as well.

BBC News announced that more passwords to email accounts were posted: Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Comcast, and Earthlink users appear among those impacted. Again, security experts are urging those with accounts to change their login details.

The security implications of this are massive. Right now, news reports are stating that these appear to be the result of a massive phishing attack.

On the other hand, it has already been determined that some of the accounts are old or inactive, which may indicate that this particular thief was operating for a long period of time.

In any case, changing my password is only a start. Personally, I will be taking the following additional precautions, and I would make the same recommendation to others.

These are extra steps everyone should take at least once a year, or during situations where an account may be compromised:

- Awareness If you have an affected account, make sure all of the people you email know about this story. Everyone should know that if they suddenly get a request from "you" for emergency money to be wired overseas, that it is unlikely to actually be you.