Blueyonder email hacked

[Catcher]

I'm having problems after an email address was hacked.

The email address was a subsidiary blueyonder one in the format of
xxxx.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk.

When I contacted Virgin Media in order to change the password for the
account I was told there was no such address on my account but there
was an x.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk address and they were able to change
the password for that account which they did. I can now access that
account by signing in to Virgin Media

However the x.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk is still receiving emails
addressed to the xxxx.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk account and vice versa.

Also, I was accessing the xxxx.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk account using an email
client on a different PC and that continues to receive emails to both
addresses even though I've not updated the password for the account on
the email client.

I thought that having changed the password mean't that I would have to
change the password in the email client's account details section but
that doesn't seem to be the case. Wouldn't it also would mean that the
hacker would still have access to the account?

How can I ensure that emails sent to x.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk are only
able to be read by that account?

[coenoby · Accepted solution]

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@Catcher wrote:

I'm having problems after an email address was hacked.

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I think the confusion has arisen because one of your Blueyonder accounts is an alias address for the other account rather than a separate email account.

I am not a member of VM staff and I have never had a Blueyonder email account. Mine is probably a similar vintage but it is an Ntlworld address. However the following is based on the information I have picked up over the years from experiences posted on here.

"However the x.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk is still receiving emails addressed to the xxxx.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk account and vice versa."

"xxxx.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk.......... I contacted Virgin Media in order to change the password for theaccount I was told there was no such address on my account but there was an x.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk address and they were able to change the password for that account"

To me those two statements pretty much prove the  "xxxx.yyyy" address is just an allias address of the "x.yyyyyy"account.

A Blueyonder alias address shares the same password and mailbox as its parent account. There is only a single mailbox behind the two addresses. Therefore  emails sent to one address also appear when viewed using the email address.  

So, the answer to your question....

"How can I ensure that emails sent to x.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk are only able to be read by that account?"

........is, "you cannot", They are actually one and the same email account that you are addressing in two different ways.

"I was accessing the xxxx.yyyyy@blueyonder.co.uk account using an email client on a different PC and that continues to receive emails to both addresses even though I've not updated the password for the account on
the email client."

The first thought that comes to mind is that the passwords held by the various VM email servers sometimes get out of step. The password update that VM staff did for you may just have updated the VM webmail side but it did not update the SMTP, IMAP and POP3 servers that email clients such as Outlook use to access the email account. (That happened to one of my Ntlworld email accounts).

Do you also access the "x.yyyy" address via  an email app?

1. If the answer is "yes" then I'll have to think again.
   
2. If the answer is "no" I can advise you what you need to do but that's best left for a second post from me. I think the information I have given already is enough to take in in one go. 😉
   

Post back with answer and we can take it from there.

Coenoby

[Catcher]

Hi Coenby, that's very helpful and explains a lot.

No, I've only been accessing the `x.yyyy` address via web mail. 

[coenoby]

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@Catcher wrote:

Hi Coenby, that's very helpful and explains a lot.

No, I've only been accessing the `x.yyyy` address via web mail. 

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Thanks for that update I'm pleased you found it useful.

As to resolving the strange password situation with the " xxxx.yyyyy" address.

Virgin Media have recently made another change to the security of their email service which means that when you reset a VM email password you now have to generate an app specific password to use instead or your webmail password when accessing that email address via any third party email apps or clients such as Outlook.

If I was faced with the situation with your old " xxxx.yyyyy" password still appearing to access the account via Outlook, my first step would be to try generating a new "email app" password for it.

To do that:

1. Sign in from this link https://my.virginmedia.com/home/signIn  using the "xxxx.yyyy" blueyonder address and the password you use to access the webmail account for that address.  That will take you to the relevant "My Virgin Media" account for that email address.
2. Once you have signed in click on the "Account settings" tab and then the "Account details" tab
3. Scroll down that page to "Mailbox app password management." and click on "Manage".
4. You can then generate an app password which will be in the format:        video-post-mossy-sharp
   You will then need to enter that new app password (including the "-") into the password field in the email settings in Outlook.

Try that first. If that does not work, it is possible that you may need to reset the password you use for webmail and then generate a new "Mail app" password.

If that is the case you can do on that on the same  "Account details" page where you will see there is a place to "edit" (reset)  the password.  If you do reset the main password you will have to generate a new "Mail app" password and update Outlook accordingly.

Sorry if that seems a bit convoluted but it should secure your ""xxxx.yyyy" from the hacker.

Coenoby

[Catcher]

Hi, sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

Thanks for that information but I'm afraid that solution doesn't work as I'm unable to access the `xxxx.yyyy' account via web mail. When I phoned Virgin about this problem they said the `xxxx.yyyy' account did not exist and therefore couldn't change the password to it and could only change the password to the `x.yyyy' account. Is there a way of removing `xxxx.yyyy' alias address? At the moment I don't think the `x.yyyy' account can be secure. If the alias is removed then I think it would be.

Thanks for your help once again..

[Graham_A]

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@Catcher wrote:

Hi, sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

Thanks for that information but I'm afraid that solution doesn't work as I'm unable to access the `xxxx.yyyy' account via web mail. When I phoned Virgin about this problem they said the `xxxx.yyyy' account did not exist and therefore couldn't change the password to it and could only change the password to the `x.yyyy' account. Is there a way of removing `xxxx.yyyy' alias address? At the moment I don't think the `x.yyyy' account can be secure. If the alias is removed then I think it would be.

Thanks for your help once again..

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Blueyonder alias email addresses cannot be accessed via the VM webmail page as they share the mailbox with the parent account (as well as using the same password).  When you access the parent account via webmail you should see all the emails sent to both addresses.  Unfortunately the alias email address cannot be removed without also removing the parent account.

Both addresses should be secure if you have generated an app password for the parent account as suggested by @coenoby 

This is used when accessing the email addresses via an email client rather than the webmail password.

[Catcher]

Thanks, Graham.

I've now managed to make both addresses secure by generating an app password for the parent account as suggested by @coenoby.

Is there any way of finding out if there are other alias addresses? It's so long since the blueyonder accounts were set up that I can't remember if there are any more. At least they'd be secure now.

[Graham_A]

@Catcher  There is but it is via a very convoluted way. When logged into a parent blueyonder email address via VM webmail from a desktop device go to compose a new email.  There should be a drop-down menu under the from address that shows all the alias emails for that account.

If you set up secondary blueyonder addresses as well you can follow the same procedure to see if there are alias addresses for each secondary address.