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Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

penneck
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Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

Last night I received a couple of identical emails, supposedly from PlusNet, that my Inbox had received at least 4 emails in an hour from foreign parts. The messages stated it had raised a Question (196563523), and suggested that I change my passwords.

Please PlusNet Security, confirm you have sent these emails.

I'm being cautious in case using the links the 'Plusnet' emails have are actually a cover for giving access to my pc to rogues.

Incidentally, I use Mailwasher so I can look at my incoming emails before they get to my pc. Anything that looks iffy gets killed by me at that point. I haven't accepted the PlusNet emails yet

40 REPLIES 40
jab1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

@penneck Quick way to check - see if the quoted ticket is actually on your account.

As you use MW, why not check the source from there - right click on the message in MW and 'View complete header'

John
Chris
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account


@penneck wrote:

Last night I received a couple of identical emails, supposedly from PlusNet, that my Inbox had received at least 4 emails in an hour from foreign parts...


 

Can you double check that's what it said? As receiving emails from various places around the world isn't an issue.

I have seen these emails be sent from us previously where the account has been 'accessed' from multiple locations in a short space of time, this is why we'd recommend changing passwords.

Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
penneck
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

Thankyou @jab1 . All the years I've used MW, and didn't know I could do that. The PlusNet emails look okay (so does yours - just been checking ha ha).

It's been a very long time since I messed around with email passwords. I assume that if I change them, it means doing it at PlusNet, at MW, and at Firefox. Any other places (in case I've forgotten the less obvious)? My memory isn't what it was, whatever that was.

Cheers

jab1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

No problem, @penneck  whenever I install a program, I always explore what it can do, so I've known about that for many years - very useful.

I would read @Chris 's response before doing anything else, but yes, if you change email passwords, you will need to do it through the Members Centre, in MW,in your email client (if you use one), and FF's password store.

John
penneck
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

Would you like me to copy and paste one of the messages to you, or would that just put any iffy things onto Plusnet's own system?

Over the last few years I have had emails on MW, supposedly from one particular friend or one particular relative, but it was obvious they were fake emails because of the start of their messages or the '@.....' part of their address, so I deleted the messages while they were still on MW. I contacted these two people and advised them, not that I know of anything they could do, but at least they were made aware of the problem.

I will see about changing my passwords - should that include my password for getting access to PlusNet (my account, the user forum, etc)?

penneck
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

Sorry - my previous post was a reply to Chris, though that wasn't obvious (and I hadn't seen jab1's latest post at that point)

Baldrick1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account


@jab1 wrote:

I would read @Chris 's response before doing anything else, but yes, if you change email passwords, you will need to do it through the Members Centre, in MW,in your email client (if you use one), and FF's password store.


I’m probably being a bit slow this morning but what email password, or isn’t this a Plusnet email account? Do you mean Plusnet account password?

Logging into the Plusnet account will give visibility of any tickets to check the authenticity. There’s no need to use email links. It they are just spoof emails then it’s time to change the email address. I regularly check mine against the Have I Been Pwned database. https://haveibeenpwned.com/ If your email address has been captured by the bad guys then the only sensible thing to do is change it.

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jab1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

@Baldrick1 Don't quite follow your question, but my response was to @penneck 's reference to changing email passwords - I hadn't suggested it. To be honest, I can't see the need for it, nor changing the account password.

John
Baldrick1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

@jab1 

What I'm getting at is that when I set up my Plusnet email, which to be honest I do not use except for emails from Plusnet, the email username and password I used is the same as my account user name and password. I hadn't realised that they could be different.

Edit

I have just read the instructions https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/ the first mailbox uses your account username and password, whilst you can choose your own password for extra mailboxes.

Either way it looks to me that the emails from @penneck are phishing so my previous advice that it's the email address and not the password that's the issue that needs addressing.

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Townman
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

It would be dangerous to presume that the user is using the default email address / box which does indeed use the same password as the account.

Wise practice would not use the default email address as anything other than the account for Plusnet messages.  It is sensible to create specific mailboxes for "public facing" email addresses.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Baldrick1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

@Townman 

I have just twigged that, hence my edit crossing with your reply.

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jab1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account


@Baldrick1 wrote:

@jab1 

What I'm getting at is that when I set up my Plusnet email, which to be honest I do not use except for emails from Plusnet, the email username and password I used is the same as my account user name and password. I hadn't realised that they could be different.

Edit

I have just read the instructions https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/ the first mailbox uses your account username and password, whilst you can choose your own password for extra mailboxes.

Either way it looks to me that the emails from @penneck are phishing so my previous advice that it's the email address and not the password that's the issue that needs addressing.


Understand what you are getting at now, but I still can't quite see why @penneck needs to change anything, and until he comes back and confirms or otherwise that he actually has that ticket on his account, we don't know the validity of those emails.

John
jab1
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account


@Townman wrote:

It would be dangerous to presume that the user is using the default email address / box which does indeed use the same password as the account.

Wise practice would not use the default email address as anything other than the account for Plusnet messages.  It is sensible to create specific mailboxes for "public facing" email addresses.


I take your point too, but in the time I have been a PN customer, the only one of my email addresses to have been possibly compromised is one of the secondary ones and that, AFAIK, has only received mail, never sent it.

John
MatthewWheeler
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Re: Message for Plusnet Security regarding my email account

Thanks for your post @penneck

I can confirm this was a genuine communication from ourselves regarding your account security.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Matthew Wheeler
 Plusnet Help Team