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If you didn't visit the webmail website on the dates when it was compromised

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tbh I don't recall seeing any info on the alledged times/date, therefore I wouldn't know!!

Additionaly, assuming I'm NOT one of those who visited at that time, why are my mail-boxes (& those of my daughter's, who has never used Web-Mail) being sent this sudden in-rush of spam??

Edited by deleted (Wed 16-May-07 13:18:43)

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If you don't use webmail to access your email (or you didn't do this between 5-11 May) the problem shouldn't affect you at all.

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I can confirm that I was out of the country, for the whole period, & didn't attempt to use the Web-Mail once!

Additionally, my daughter has NEVER used the Web-Mail.

All of which would suggest that neither my daughter's, nor my own, accounts would be affected!

Simple question, therefore, just why are my mailboxes (& my dauter's email account) receiving floods of the extra spam??

You've misunderstood. A nasty 3rd party compromised the PlusNet webmail server and did 2 things:

1. Edited the HTML to try to get people to download a trojan virus
2. Stole a list of email addresses

If you've ever used webmail - or been sent an email by someone through webmail then you will be affected by item (2) and will likely be seeing increased amounts of spam.

If you used webmail while it was compromised then you may be affected by item 1. You should run a full anti-virus/anti-spyware sweep and ensure you're up to date with Windows patches etc.

From your post I think you're solely affected by issue 2.

As per my previous post, if you didn't log in to webmail during those dates you shouldn't be affected by the trojan issue.

However, the people that circumvented PN's security or wide open hole managed to harvest the email addresses. That you have used the webmail feature anytime in the past is enough (even if only once). If your daughter has never logged on to webmail but you sent her an email from your webmail that too has been stolen and now in public domain.

Does that help?

If you are positive that your daughter has never logged into webmail and that you haven't sent her an email from your account it might be an idea to send the name of the account to the staff, but it is pretty much guaranteed that is what happened.

Because using a code insertion exploit, the contents of some webmail database tables were obtained by the spammers.

Can you confirm that you have in the last few years:

a) never used webmail

b) never received an email sent by another Plusnet user using webmail

If either of those have happened your email address will have been in webmail and it has been harvested.

I have started receiving spam to email addresses which were used in webmail around 18 months ago, and the mailboxes deleted around 15 months ago. The email addresses have not been used in any shape or form since then. They were created to do some very specific testing of some forums I was working on.

I note your points, but the statement was made concerning useage between 5th & 11th May - NOT within the last few years!!

However, just in case it is not apparent, I do wish to thank you for your (as well as rsharma's) very obvious efforts in trying to help myself (& lots of others)!!

In a separate post I have thanked jelv & rsharma for their help, may I also add my thanks to yourself??

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I've just received an email - let's hope this has reached all affected customers now. It's good to see PlusNet acting quickly to make the most of a bad situation ....

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Glad to hear that and it is good to see plusnet have attempted to take the bull by the horns so to speak

No need for thanks, although it is appreciated. If there are other questions you might have please feel free to ask.