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vexxxboy

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#146585 22-May-2014 15:46
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ok this afternoon my internet died for no reason and with it VOIP and this may shock people , i dont have a mobile so i couldnt contact Snap. After trying the usual things, turning off PC and modem , nothing. Luckily my son turned up and i borrowed his phone and rang Snap . Well to cut a story short, thre reason i had no internet was my Snap password had been compromised and my account was been used to send Spam so Snap wiped my password and i was cut of with no warning. My question is, is this normal practice for ISP's to change passwords without telling the customer and how does the average customer know it has been changed and they have to contact the help desk before it will work again.




Common sense is not as common as you think.


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Dynamic
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  #1051151 22-May-2014 15:50
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It's not ideal to change someone's password without their knowledge at any time, but there was a hack in progress that needed to be stopped and so immediate action was required.

Ideally they would have tried to phone, but if this was offline (assuming they tried) I can't think of anything else they could do.

Pain in the rear, but just 'one of those things' that happens from time to time.




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vexxxboy

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  #1051190 22-May-2014 16:19
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So someone has got into Snap servers and hacked my Account password. wow.




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timmmay
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  #1051192 22-May-2014 16:20
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I think we need more information about Snap about this ASAP.



Dynamic
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  #1051197 22-May-2014 16:25
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vexxxboy: So someone has got into Snap servers and hacked my Account password. wow.


Or someone between you and them electronically 'sniffed' your password over an unencrypted connection.  Or if you use the same password in multiple places, any one of those other places could have been compromised.  Or if you wrote it down someome could have had access to that note.  Plenty of possibilities that don't involve a compromise of the ISP's equipment.




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mattwnz
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  #1051205 22-May-2014 16:36
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There seems to be a lot of large websites at the moment that are getting hacked and forcing password changes. EBay for example, as have a lot of developers websites I use. So maybe a precaution.

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  #1051206 22-May-2014 16:38
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that's why I don't rely on voip. a dedicated phone line saves lives.

RalphFromSnap
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  #1051208 22-May-2014 16:42
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Hi All,

I'll need to get some more info, but in almost all cases this is when your password has been compromised by a spammer or something of a similar nature and we get notified/requested to take the device offline, we do try and call first before we do so, but in most cases if we can't get through we disable it to protect you (and others if your device is being used for Spam)

But can you DM us your username, when we do this your Snap Plus should stay connected - or at least you should still be able to call Snap and 111 etc.

Thanks,
TheRalph




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vexxxboy

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  #1051214 22-May-2014 16:54
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i understand this Ralph but i have been home all day and no one contacted me from Snap , you can check my Phone records to confirm this. And i lost the dial tone when the internet went down so couldnt ring using VOIP.




Common sense is not as common as you think.


NonprayingMantis
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  #1051222 22-May-2014 17:17
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why do you even need a password?  
Don't Snap do port based authentication like every other ISP (or at least most)
That way you don't even need a password at all and situaitons like this would be avoided.

richms
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  #1053104 25-May-2014 21:00
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If you dont have a mobile, I dont think that naked dsl with voip is the right product for you.




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nigelj
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  #1053167 25-May-2014 22:42
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richms: If you dont have a mobile, I dont think that naked dsl with voip is the right product for you.


Rich, to be fair to vexxxboy, that is not how these plans are getting sold these days in my opinion.  Here is how 'Snap Plus' is described on Snap's website:

Snap Plus Phone Service
Make phone calls using your Broadband connection and take advantage of an ever increasing range of built in tools and smart features.

Standard Phone Line
Calling over an old school copper line.


In Snap's defence, similar with Orcon Genius, it's promoted as 'better, smarter, just plug your phone into your modem not your wall" (my words, not theirs).  It's okay for technically-minded people like us, but with UFB, and general marketing in the non-UFB space and the want to get off NEAX's (I think thats the right abbrev), the plans seem to get more and more common.

If I put my blinders on, there is nothing in Snap's short summary that would make me think that a password change that I don't know about would kill my phone, same with Orcon's information, it'd never cross my mind, in fact, taking said blinders off, I thought TR-069/Port-Based-Authentication was used for this exact reason, push out the new password before the change, so once the password on the ISP side is changed & connection is dropped it can come back up right away?  (Obviously customer would still have to call helpdesk with a "why can't I access e-mail" but...)

I do agree with your point in a general sense though Rich, it is a wider issue with these types of services and a reason why I won't go near Orcon, nor Snap Plus (I'd consider Snap + Copper Phone), but rural power is just too unreliable, and is when a physical phone is the most useful.  There seems to be a complacency in New Zealand when it comes to access to 111, and phone in emergencies, we are too used to it working perfectly that we haven't needed to take steps like other countries that put bright stickers on VoIP devices/powered cordless phones/etc, warning that they may be rendered useless or crippled (i.e. can't provide E911 information (services not devices)) in a power outage.

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