cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

2 step security for email?

Fastra
Dialled in

It seems my daughters blueyonder email has been hacked, possibly, it's hard to pin down the sequence of events - but she couldn't get it on her email client until I (the account holder) changed the password online.
We've changed the password now, but is there anyway to add a second security stage, either a mobile number or gmail address - something that can be notified of any suspicious activity?

28 REPLIES 28

HowardML
Superuser Emeritus
Superuser Emeritus

No, and we know of no plans for VM to introduce 2FA. The VM mail system is pretty basic. If you want more security you'll have to look at Gmail or Outlook.com or others that offer 2FA.



I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

用心棒
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Follow the advice given here Compromised Email Account advice to secure the account; simply changing the password may not be enough.


@HowardML wrote:

… If you want more security you'll have to look at Gmail or Outlook.com or others that offer 2FA.


I would encourage you to act on this good advice as the benefits of doing so far outweigh what limited inconvenience maybe caused, for instance fear of losing your email addresses would no longer be a factor when choosing an ISP.

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

Fastra
Dialled in

Thanks guys - appreciate the prompt replies.

Kind of annoying that seeing as though I've had this email address for so long that it's not considered that secure.
But it's a good point you make about gmail etc and if I change ISP then I'd have to sort it all out anyway.

virgin media -NO 2 STEP VERIFICATION USING SMS-why?

"No, and we know of no plans for VM to introduce 2FA. The VM mail system is pretty basic. If you want more security you'll have to look at Gmail or Outlook.com or others that offer 2FA."

Shame that the virgin media account and email is not protected by 2 step security, which provides an extra layer of security when logging in thus protecting accounts/email , although it is  is a nuisance,  it can be optional and I would certainly use 2 step if available, is there a reason virgin do not use 2 step??

Most companies have now moved to 2 step verification, all my banks, amazon ebay, morrisons , gmail, yahoo, microsoft etc. the list goes on.

Looking at the many "daily  posts" of hacked virgin accounts and customers  hacked and locked out, struggling to get answers, it would actually make sense and make  it easier for virgin as the accounts would be more secure and less hacking to deal with by virgin, or perhaps virgin are happy with their security ? ,which is mainly password and captcha, but the email account can be accessed via any third part email client, if the email is known and passwords could be hacked, breached, leaked, in gmail app passwords have to be used with email clients when two step is used.

If a password is hacked, 2 step verification can help prevent the hacker from accessing accounts- so very worthwhile.

Wise to change password often.

I have myself raised the issue on previous posts, but it looks like virgin media have no plans for the increased security with 2 step, yet some other virgin products do already use 2 step security finance/business/mobile- not sure which it is.

Best to choose an email with 2 step, I use gmail, yahoo,etc and also easier not to use the  isp email, gives more flexibility if changing isp in the future.

 

hacking-LEAKED PASSWORDS-no 2 step security-security concerns

I see many concerned   posts of   hacked virgin customer  emails present and past customers almost every day.

In some cases their accounts are compromised using the hacked email with possible fraudulent activity taking place

There is no easy way to sort this with the long covid19 support delays and difficulty getting help so virgin customers then post on the community for help.

There is no virgin hotline for stolen credentials and there has been a data breach so no quick solution other than changing email address, most companies now use 2 step authorisation and recovery phone and email numbers so hacked accounts can be recovered by the customer themselves.

I have been safe, but no longer use virgin emails for banking, shopping etc that do not have 2 step security and now use gmail with 2 step.

Perhaps it is time virgin modernised their sloppy security to keep their customers safe and secure???, it is basic requirement surely.

When customers leave the email address should not be left open and can be taken over by hackers.

The previous post implies virgin do not intend to introduce 2 step security, perhaps if they merge with 02, security will be improved?

I presume the cost is prohibitive to improve security, but would be an incentive to join virgin if they had good security.

If the login email is the same as the primary email, a hacker then has access to the virgin account so I now use a different email for my virgin account log in which is gmail, it can be changed in the account profile, also wise so the contact email is not he same as the primary email in case you can not get into the primary email if it is hacked.

There should also be a method to change the primary email if hacked/spammed to a new email address, but this is not possible.

alf28

 

 

coenoby
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@ALF28 wrote:
The previous post implies virgin do not intend to introduce 2 step security, perhaps if they merge with 02, security will be improved?

 


On the other hand, if I remember correctly, 02 closed down their o2.co.uk email service a few years ago. As far as I know they no longer offer an email / webmail service but I could be wrong.

It is worth pointing out that VM also has form when it comes to closing down "free" services - remember Webspace and Virgin Media Cloud?

Coenoby

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

o2 email closed 2016 and accounts use alternative emails to log in.

storage-

I do remember at one time storing my photos of virgin servers and some connection with snapfish but it ceased, I used to share them with family but the facility ended about 4 years ago.

google is also ending free storage of photos next year and limiting free space to 15gb total.

The importance of backing up data/music/photos etc is something I need to do onto the cloud/free drive space, I do have some backups on free drives linked to email accounts and some on  hard drives/pens but not well organised at the moment.

One of my phones does use the O2 network, so will see how that plays out if it merges with virgin.

I used to have orange and that closed down became EE and had to ditch my locked phones, but still via EE on new phones.

Hope virgin continue to provide all services including email and improve, rather than reduce the service, they do have an advantage of their fibre network, the adsl  is a lot slower but a lot of my neighbours seem to be switching to adsl now about 50% across the various providers probably cheaper.

 2 step security  hacking or hacked

Virgin Media webmail is not a paid service, it is a value added service included free of charge with a Virgin Media broadband account, so is similar to other free email providers. Some providers  do use 2 step security and recovery which often includes recovery codes or last password used etc.but most  have no support  unless the paid version is used.

Many virgin customers are getting locked out of their own accounts, either forgot passwords or recovery has  failed or hacked

A hacked account may have all the details changed by the hacker so locked out, and using the email to hack bank accounts or online accounts.

There are established virgin procedures if hacked-

see -  Emails have been hacked | Virgin Media

This may not work if a recovery email can not be accessed. There should be a way for virgin to reset the password after proving identity with a "fool proof "recovery process/method/procedure/protocol which is put in place from day 1 when the email is set up, so recovery can be established. Other email services  like gmail, outlook if  recovery fails, there is a back up procedure requiring identity/email recovery etc., it is automated and can take a while.

It should not be possible or easy to be hacked or locked out of your account/email but happens a lot on the virgin community posts and with covid19 response is slow. I have myself recovered my account in the past but now log into virgin media  account with a gmail email which has protection 2 step so helps keep the hackers out.

Virgin advise 2 step security on all of your accounts but they do not use it themselves- odd?

If hacked the options are to recover the email or change the email in your other accounts linked to the hacked email.

Virgin offer a free email but it does not come with 2 step authorisation and the password has only 10 digits, I normally on my online accounts use between 14 and 20 digits and include special characters also and expect my emails to be of similar  security, a hacked email can enable a hacker to access all your accounts which may use that email by changing passwords on those accounts using the email to do the password change and also to get all your contacts, so is very serious.

I use many emails so I can quickly switch email if needed, or one of them is corrupted.

there are so many free emails available now, the choice is yours.

alf28