Unable to update secondary email password/possible security breach

[KarlMabert]

My secondary email was locked out earlier today (Wed 21 December 2022) - and this was unexpected.

The virginmedia.com account maintenance web page does not show any way of updating a secondary email account. The only option is to delete.

My browser is Edge and I am allowing all cookies from virginmedia.com.

I called Virgin Media's tech support and the agent there updated the secondary email password with a mutually-agreed new password.

However, the VM account maintenance will still not show any password maintenance for the secondary account.

While I can only trust the VM agent not to disclose or use the details, they DO know the email and password. As I still cannot change it some two hours later, I consider this a security breach.

A further problem with the VM account maintenance is that I am unable to update my telephone contact number. The current number shows 0208 xxx nnnn but as I no longer have this number I tried altering it to my new mobile number. However it is not accepted. Instead, an error message says it cannot update the number.

Is this a temporary shortcoming? I ask because I see from earlier community messages many other users were unable to update their phone numbers from SIX MONTHS AGO.

[Kain_W]

Apologies for the issues faced KarlMabert,

Welcome to the community.

So just to clarify, through the "Account details" tab, are you unable to manage any secondary accounts?

Let us know,

[Graham_A · Accepted solution]

@KarlMabert  Each email address including secondary email addresses have their own My Virgin Media account for making account changes.  So log out of your primary account and then log into My Virgin Media using the secondary email address and the new password that the agent set and click on Account Settings > Account Details and scroll down until you see the password line.  Click edit to the right hand side and enter you a new password of your choice.  Whilst in that area check that a Password recovery question and answer has been set for the secondary address.

[KarlMabert]

Yes, that's right. I assumed - as the "owner" of my VM email account - and the administrator for secondary accounts - that I would be able to update the secondary a/c password. But the ONLY action is to delete it.

That's why I resorted to the call centre where THEY reset the account password. They implied that there MAY have been an admin system problem and implied I should try again to reset it in a few hours time. They reset it at 20:00 but at 22:00 I still could not see any password change ability from (my) principal account.

I found other people had the same issue via the community so this morning, I was able to change the secondary password by logging into the 

But the fact that the call centre agent actually took a new password from me AND knew the email address, means they compromised security on that email address. Isn't this a very fragile way to do things?

Additionally, I found I was unable to update my own phone number (the original changed a long time ago). It will not accept a new number ALTHOUGH IT CONFORMS to your own requirement.

The secondary account user was "locked out" of the system abruptly yesterday PM (21 December around 17:30 London time).

So there's 3 issues here:

[1] As administrator I can't reset the secondary account password WITHOUT knowing that user's password to log in on that account. That's fine for normal use, but the user had been locked out, but no reason given to either them OR myself (as administrator).

[2] I can't update my own phone number for VM to contact me

[3] the "manual" system to get a VM agent to set password means that email account security gets compromised. I really think you should have a better user interface on the administrator's page so that it would direct me to WHERE I can change secondary email account details.

[KarlMabert]

Thank you. I discovered the same information slightly ahead of you and changed the password as you said.

But the fact I had to "compromise" that secondary user's password seems clunky to me. I have to trust the VM agent I spoke to and she assured me conversations are recorded, etc., but who's to know who else may have been in earshot. 

Also, the admin web page gives NO clue as to what can be done. Usability seems to have been neglected with this page. As you may have seen in earlier messages here, I also cannot update my own phone number, despite it conforming to the required format. 

But thanks for your help.

[Graham_A]

@KarlMabert  Thanks for the update.  If you get locked out of the secondary account in the future, having set the password recovery questions, you should be able to use the forgotten password route rather than calling in.

@Kain_W should be able to help you with updating the phone number on the account.

[Alex_RM]

Hi KarlMabert,

Thanks for posting and glad to hear this has been resolved.

So I can help update your contact number however I'll need a few more details from you. I've popped you over a private message for this (purple envelope, top right hand corner)

Alex_Rm