My hotmail account has been hacked how do I fix this?

Question

I have a hotmail account that appears to have been hacked in some manner. I would like to clear out the corrupted files but I am not able to delete them. I have already deleted the account and reset it in my IPad and the problem persists. Short of abandoning this account how do I fix this?

Answer 1

Hello. When you say the account appears to have been hacked, can you clarify what you are seeing?

Are the "corrupted files":

• Emails in your mailbox?
• Files stored in OneDrive?
• Attachments?
• Calendar entries or contacts?

Also, are you able to sign in to the account normally at Outlook.com, and have you noticed any other signs of unauthorized access such as sent emails you did not send, password changes, or unfamiliar sign-in activity?

Answer 2

Follow a full “account compromised” cleanup, both on the Hotmail/Outlook.com account and on the devices used to access it.

1. Clean all devices used with this account

• On each PC/phone/tablet that signs in to this Hotmail account, run a full, up‑to‑date antivirus/malware scan.
• If using Windows 10/11 or 8.1, turn on and run a full scan with Windows Defender as described in the guidance for compromised accounts.
• Only continue once scans are clean; otherwise any attacker tools on the device can keep re‑infecting the account.

2. Secure the Microsoft/Hotmail account

• Change the account password immediately to a strong, unique password (not reused anywhere else). Use the official password change page linked from the hacked‑account article.
• If unable to sign in, use the password reset flow and, if needed, the Sign‑in Helper tool to regain access.
• Turn on two‑factor authentication (Microsoft Authenticator or other verification methods) once access is restored.

3. Remove attacker persistence in Outlook.com After signing in to Outlook.com on the web (not just on the iPad):

• Check Settings → Mail → Rules and delete any rules you don’t recognize (for example, rules that move mail to unexpected folders, auto‑delete, or create drafts).
• Check Forwarding and remove any forwarding address you don’t recognize.
• Check Automatic replies and clear any replies you did not set.
• If the mailbox or OneDrive is full, free up space; a full mailbox can prevent normal send/receive and may look like “corruption.”

4. Sign out everywhere and revoke access

• From the Microsoft account security pages, use Sign out everywhere (or equivalent) to invalidate all active sessions so the attacker is kicked out.
• Review and remove any unknown connected apps or services that have access to the account.

5. If access is lost or blocking persists

• If the account is blocked due to unusual activity, use the Sign-in Helper from the Unblock my Outlook.com account article to unblock it.
• If sign‑in or password reset still fails, follow the steps under When you can’t sign in to your Microsoft account and, if needed, complete the account recovery form from there.

6. Damage control

• Once the account is stable, inform important contacts that the account was compromised and ask them to ignore suspicious messages that may have come from it.
• Continue to monitor sign‑in activity and mailbox rules/forwarding for a while to ensure nothing new appears.

If, after all of the above, the account remains unusable or recovery fails, the only remaining option may be to abandon the account and create a new Microsoft account, but in most cases a thorough cleanup plus password/MFA hardening stops the malicious behavior without needing to abandon it.

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References:

• How to recover a hacked or compromised Microsoft account
• Unblock my Outlook.com account
• How to sign in to Hotmail
• I can't sign in to my Microsoft account
• How do I clear the cache or locally reset/refresh the client/app?
• Close your Outlook.com account
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