Microsoft has confirmed to TechCrunch hat a certain “limited” number of people who use web email services managed by Microsoft (such as @msn.com and @hotmail.com) had their accounts compromised. The breach happened between January 1 and March 28, 2019.

According to an email Microsoft has sent out to affected users, malicious hackers were potentially able to access an affected user’s email address, folder names, the subject lines of emails, and the names of other email address the user communicates with. Microsoft says the hackers were not able to access the content of any emails or attachments or login credentials like passwords.

Microsoft recommends that affected users change their password. No enterprise customers are affected by this breach.

The Verge reported that Microsoft has started notifying some Outlook.com users that a hacker was able to access accounts for months earlier this year.

According to The Verge, the security breach happened weeks after a former security researcher pled guilty to hacking into Microsoft and Nintendo servers. Microsoft’s Windows development servers were breached for a number of weeks in January of 2017, allowing hackers across Europe to access pre-release versions of Windows.

The Verge has an image of the email that Microsoft sent to people who had their email accounts breached. TechCrunch has the full text of the letter in their article. If your email account was affected, then you likely have already received that email.

In general, it is a good idea to change your email passwords from time to time. Most people are tech-savvy enough to spot questionable emails and know that they should not click on any link those sketchy emails contain. That said, there will be people who cannot tell the difference and who get phished.

The best solution to prevent hacking would be for big companies like Microsoft to put more effort into preventing hackers from breaching people’s email accounts.

Microsoft announced that is committed to addressing the problem of a lack of affordable housing in the region of Puget Sound, Washington. Microsoft made that area its home in 1979.

But the Puget Sound area’s growth has also created new challenges. In recent years, our region hasn’t built enough housing for the people who live here. Since 2011, jobs in the region have grown 21 percent, while growth in housing construction has lagged at 13 percent. This gap in affordable housing has caused housing prices to surge 96 percent in the past eight years, making the Greater Seattle area the sixth most expensive region in the United States.

Microsoft will invest:

• $225 million at lower than market rate returns to inject capital to subsidize the preservation and construction of middle-income housing. These investments initially will be made in six cities east of Seattle and Lake Washington: Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah, Renton and Sammamish.
• $250 million at market rate returns to support low-income housing across the entire King County region. Microsoft believes that additional capitol at market lending rates can help accelerate the construction of low-income housing across the region.
• $25 million in philanthropic grants to address homelessness in the greater Seattle region. Microsoft announced the first $10 million of these grants. This will include a $5 million philanthropic grant to the newly announced Home Base program created by the Seattle Marines, the United Way of King County, and the King County Bar Association. The program helps keep people facing eviction in their homes through legal aid, access to flexible funds and case management.
• Microsoft will also grant $5 million to support a new joint agency on homelessness being formed by the city of Seattle and King County.

Personally, I think this is a wonderful idea! I think that more big companies should follow in Microsoft’s footsteps and enact similar plans in other areas. I’d like to see a world where big companies, who have tons of money, use some of it to actually help people who are struggling.