Widespread Email Compromise at Yahoo/Xtra

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Widespread Email Compromise at Yahoo/Xtra

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#765801 19-Feb-2013 14:38

mattwnz: Perhaps Yahoo should detail exactly what has been the cause of the problem, if there is so much information going around. I have yet to hear what is definitely the cause of the problem.

I asked this to Yahoo! and got this reply:

"It’s not appropriate to disclose that information as these details could be misused and may assist a hacker in the future."

Security by obscurity...

Delphinus

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#766005 19-Feb-2013 21:49

Great...

A problem has been detected.
Sorry, the Change Password service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.

mattwnz

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#766006 19-Feb-2013 21:53

freitasm:
Security by obscurity...

Thanks for that.
I guess people then can only speculate what caused the problem, and I guess yahoo can't really complain if the media are coming to their own conclusions. I would have thought their customers deserved some broad explanation, not unless the issue is still open to abuse.

freitasm

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#766143 20-Feb-2013 08:00

mattwnz:
freitasm:
Security by obscurity...

Thanks for that.
I guess people then can only speculate what caused the problem, and I guess yahoo can't really complain if the media are coming to their own conclusions. I would have thought their customers deserved some broad explanation, not unless the issue is still open to abuse.

Meanwhile, Google opens up to (obviously)advertise their security prowess. But at least gives a bit of information.

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#767324 21-Feb-2013 21:24

Looks like xtras email is down at the moment. At least their pop server is down.

davidvg

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#767326 21-Feb-2013 21:37

mattwnz: Looks like xtras email is down at the moment. At least their pop server is down.

Yeah that's certainly true. And I thought I was being a good boy by changing my password when I first heard things were going tits up - so a big thanks Telecom!
How come I can still access email via the Yahoo site with another new password but Outlook reports it cannot connect to the email server?
Cheers
Dave

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#767333 21-Feb-2013 21:42

davidvg:
mattwnz: Looks like xtras email is down at the moment. At least their pop server is down.

Yeah that's certainly true. And I thought I was being a good boy by changing my password when I first heard things were going tits up - so a big thanks Telecom!
How come I can still access email via the Yahoo site with another new password but Outlook reports it cannot connect to the email server?
Cheers
Dave

The webmail still looks to be working fine, and the email accounts are still receiving emails. Possibly just their pop servers are failing to connect. But many people probably don't use webmail, and access it over a pop connection via outlook on on their mobile device.

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greven

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#767390 22-Feb-2013 07:53

I have never understood why people with multiple devices would use pop instead of imap

freitasm

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#767846 22-Feb-2013 18:57

Telecom update received now:

Telecom’s Yahoo! Xtra active email customer base, whose accounts were compromised due to a cyber attack, have now changed their passwords.

On Saturday Telecom cancelled the existing passwords of approximately 87,000 accounts that were sending spam after a cyber attack. Since then more than 65,000 users have changed their passwords. The balance has been identified by Telecom as having been inactive for at least 90 days before the attack.

Telecom CEO Retail, Chris Quin, says the majority of the users who were impacted made the changes required online by following detailed steps on Telecom’s website.

“We really appreciate the patience our customers have shown during what we know was a hugely stressful and inconvenient time for them. We share our customers’ frustration which is why we are conducting a thorough review of this situation. In the meantime, we continue to urge everyone to regularly change their passwords, not just those who have been impacted by this incident.”

All Telecom broadband customers receive a complimentary Yahoo! Xtra email account as well as other benefits such as a free Flickr Pro account for managing photos and video content.

Mr Quin says Telecom’s broadband customer base has remained stable despite the cyber attack and the team are working hard to ensure that does not change. “Most customers understand that their email and broadband account are not mutually exclusive.”

Yahoo! NZ general manager, Laura Maxwell-Hansen, says, ““Yahoo! places considerable focus on email security and we have and will continue to work hard to minimize the impact of cyber attacks.”

Key Information:
Telecom has 450,000 broadband customers.
Yahoo! Xtra email is offered free of charge to all Telecom broadband customers.
The majority of compromised customers changed their passwords themselves, mostly online.
The balance has been largely identified as inactive or infrequently accessed, meaning they had not accessed their email account for 90 days prior to the attack. These accounts will continue to have temporary passwords on them and the account holders will have to change their passwords before they are able to access the accounts. Telecom plans to contact those remaining account holders to ensure accounts are re-secured or closed.
Yahoo! has assured Telecom that there has been no evidence that email accounts were accessed for any other reason than to send spam.

Niscoupe

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#770847 27-Feb-2013 07:35

Hmm yet more problems with XTRA....can't access email this morning :-(

plambrechtsen

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#770955 27-Feb-2013 11:02

Niscoupe: Hmm yet more problems with XTRA....can't access email this morning :-(

You may need to change your password, as we preformed a reset of certain compromised accounts from a list provided to us from Yahoo.

Easist way is to login via: http://www.telecom.co.nz/changepassword

And see how that goes afterwards.

freitasm

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#771044 27-Feb-2013 12:53

I assume Yahoo! haven't fixed anything then?

Yahoo!Xtra users hacked again.

andynz

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#771048 27-Feb-2013 13:03

Herald Article
"Telecom says Yahoo!Xtra's most recent hacking ordeal is "a fact of life" given the prevalence of cyber criminals."

Whilst it may be true, it says little for the regard in which Telecom holds it's customers. Get used to it and get over it basically. That's rather sad.

Oh well a fact of life is also that people can change suppliers to more customer focused organisations. I could recommend a number of them :)

Herald Article

Niscoupe

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#771053 27-Feb-2013 13:12

Password has been changed and we're certainly not going to do that weekly. According to the news this morning they have had more problems. Why is it that xtra/yahoo seem to be the only provider having these problems??

andynz

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#771056 27-Feb-2013 13:21

To be fair it looks like the problems are from the accounts that have not had their passwords changed and other providers do have occasional issues.

However I get the feeling Yahoo is dumping on Telecom who just throw out the usual corporate statements and cover their backside before popping out to lunch. That's the problem when you outsource, everyone passes the buck and the customer ends up with service provided by dysfunctional relationships.

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