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Gmail just alerted me that my Gmail account was accessed from this IP address "70.37.102.156" and that leads to Redmond, Washington, USA and the ISP (owner) is Microsoft.

How can this happen? It's really weird.

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This happened to me once (access from a Microsoft network). I never investigated. I already had 2-step verification on my account, so I thought it was unlikely that anyone actually got in to my account. But I changed my password just to be safe. – William Jackson Oct 29 '11 at 3:39
@William Jackson the current account is actually my public email account which I use to login into the Stack sites, forums etc But still I take great care - - no pirated software, Kasperky Internet security etc. I am pretty much aware of security, so this one's weird, and if my account has indeed been hacked, it's unfortunate. I still think it's something more than hacking. (Google - Microsoft / like other companies, have hidden data deals or something?! :P) Anyway, thanks for chipping in. – its_me Oct 29 '11 at 5:33
The same thing has happened to me on two different gmail accounts. Two different Gmail accounts said they had been accessed from 70.37.102.156. I've changed my passwords, but this makes me wonder what is going on. – user17327 Feb 13 '12 at 18:14

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Please try the Gmail Security Checklist. In particular, make sure your account isn't compromised. Also, there are instructions to check for authorized applications. If you are using an addon, extension, or other third-party application that you gave access to your Gmail account, you might see strange activity.

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thanks for the input. Done all that. No suspicious activity at all, plus it's not associated with any critical accounts. So, I am starting to believe it's something to do with Microsoft-Google thing. – its_me Nov 1 '11 at 8:28
Wow, sorry, I missed this comment. I'm the Gmail Community Manager and I work at Google, and no, this isn't a Microsoft-Google thing. :) – Sarah Price May 5 '12 at 0:03
Okay, got it. Thanks! – its_me May 5 '12 at 0:18
up vote 4 down vote

The owner is Microsoft Dynamic hosting, so probably an Azure instance. Gmail doesn't do "mistakes" like giving you wrong information. (At least I haven't seen it do any.)

It is plausible someone got hold of your password and tried to access it from an Azure instance to avoid being tracked.

Another point, if you use Hotmail—Hotmail can fetch mail from other servers via POP—, it's possible that the IP recorded is that of Hotmail's fetch process.

If you haven't used Hotmail, I'd urge you to change your password ASAP.

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The whois information also notes that "abuse complaints will only be responded to if complaints are sent to abuse@microsoft.com and abuse@msn.com." – William Jackson Oct 29 '11 at 3:42

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