Hotmail said it will mandate the use of cookies to plug a newly discovered security hole.

Security-minded programmers are finding holes in Microsoft's Hotmail faster than the free Web-based email service can plug them.

Microsoft's Hotmail today claimed victory over the security holes that have put the free email firm on the hot seat this week.

Microsoft's free Web-based email service Hotmail last night implemented a partial fix for a JavaScript security problem.

Late Sunday night, Root Core, a group of computer security experts, published information exposing vulnerabilities in Microsoft's popular service.

Details of how to read other people's messages have been posted on a website run by a group called Root Core and it has quickly spread to other sites and newsgroups.