What you can do if affected by the May 2007 spam incident

For a full report about the spam incident which occurred over the weekend of 13th May 2007 please read our incident report.

If you have been receiving unsolicited (spam) email to addresses that you know were previously not receiving spam we would suggest that you read the information below and the FAQs about the incident.

I use Webmail. How do I collect my email?

You can check and manage your email using our easy-to-use SquirrelMail-based Webmail application. This gives you increased built-in Spam Protection - as spam is identified before it even reaches your Inbox. You then have a choice of either having this delivered to your Inbox as normal, or moved to a dedicated online 'Spam' folder where you can review it. You can read more about how this works in our Spam Protection Guide.

If you use desktop software such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Mac Mail you can also filter spam into this offline 'Spam' folder so that it doesn’t reach your Inbox. This new option is available now from Manage My Mail.

To see how to create your Webmail 'Spam' folder watch our tutorial Setting Up Your Webmail 'Spam' Folder [Video Help]

What general advice do you have to deal with spam?

Most Plusnet broadband products now come with Spam Protection as standard. Once activated it detects spam (unwanted commercial emails), adding a tag to the title of any detected spam emails, so that you can automatically filter or delete them. You should read our Spam Protection Guide for advice on how to use this feature.

How do I activate Spam Protection?

To switch Spam Protection on, go to Manage My Mail. If your account has Spam Protection, it will be available here (look for the 'Spam' tab). Note that it may take around 15-30 minutes for the Spam Protection service to become active.

What do I do if I don't have Plusnet Spam Protection?

We always recommend the use of fully up-to-date third-party anti-virus, firewall and Internet security software, particularly for Windows users, and that the latest operating system updates are installed. Windows users who do not use our Spam Protection may like to consider using Thunderbird, which has spam filters that can be 'trained' to recognise unsolicited email.

How do I change my mailboxes, redirects, aliases and passwords?

We recommend that customers regularly change their passwords for reasons of basic security. You can manage your mailboxes and change access passwords for your email at Manage My Mail.

Important: Once you've done this don't forget to change settings in your email software, otherwise you won't be able to collect your email. Also, don't forget to regularly change any passwords you use on the Internet as part of your basic online security housekeeping. It's all too easy to forget to regularly change passwords on sites you use infrequently, for example Gmail or Yahoo!. It's good advice not to use the same password in different places.

How do I change my login password?

Our Username and Password Security Guide has lots of useful information about basic password security. You should ensure that your access passwords are updated regularly. Don't forget to change your hardware (modem or router) settings to use your new password after doing this.

If you have forgotten your password you can use our password recovery tool.

Important: Because of the security breach during the weekend of 13th May 2007 we have asked all customers to change their passwords. This is simply to increase overall account security and will not reduce the amount of spam you may receive. However, our improved Spam Protection feature will identify any spam sent to your address before this arrives in your Inbox.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Should I change my password?
2. How can I minimise the impact of the spam emails?
3. Can I change my account username?
4. Is the problem fixed?
5. Why can't Plusnet stop the spam from coming through?
6. Will changing my password stop me from receiving spam and how do I do it?
7. Has the Information Commissioner's Office (DPA) been informed of this security breach?
8. My default mailbox ('Catch All') has been receiving spam. I've changed my password etc, but I would also like to rename my default mailbox. Can I do that?
9. Can I use a stronger password?
10. I've switched on Spam Protection, but I’m still getting spam messages that aren't marked as [-SPAM-]. What can I do?
11. Can you tell me how to change the password in my modem or router?
12. My account should feature Spam Protection, but there is no mention of it under Manage My Mail?
13. Can I block all email apart from that to a specific address?
14. I have Spam Protection turned on, can you stop me receiving [-SPAM-] tagged messages entirely?

 

1. Should I change my password?
As a general security measure we advise customers to regularly change their account password.

Please note: if you change your account password this will need to be updated in your router or modem as well as your browser and email software. You may also want to consider changing specific mailbox passwords that you used with Webmail during the affected period.

We always recommend that our customers regularly change any passwords they use on the Internet. It's all too easy to forget to regularly change passwords on sites you use infrequently.
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2. How can I minimise the impact of the spam emails?
Spam Protection is included free of charge with all of our broadband products. This automatically scans any email you receive before it reaches your mailbox and any mail that it detects as spam will be tagged (in the subject line) with the word [-SPAM-]. You can read more about how this works in our Spam Protection Guide.

As well as the added security of our Spam Protection service there are a number of techniques that you can employ to combat spam.

• If the spam is being delivered to a specific address which you don't use, then visit the Manage My Mail tool in the Member Centre and create a redirect for that address to our blackhole address: blackhole@abuse.plus.com


• If the spam is being delivered to multiple addresses that you don't use then you could consider turning off the catch-all address using Manage My Mail.

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3. Can I change my account username?
We understand that some customers may wish to change their username as a result of receiving increased spam. This is a difficult process, however, we are still investigating the best approach to allow a username change, or to provide an equally effective alternative. We hope to have more news on this shortly.

In the meantime, if you are still experiencing high levels of spam you should activate your 'Spam' Webmail folder, to capture any spam emails before they reach your Inbox. This will have exactly the same effect as changing your username. You can read how activate your 'Spam' folder in our Spam Protection Guide.

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4.Is the problem fixed?
Yes, however Spam Protection may still identify some spam emails sent to your address. Unfortunately there is little we can do (beyond our existing spam protection methods) to prevent this.

As part of the incident we took the decision to remove our @Mail-based Webmail service in order to minimise any further security risk to our customers. We now have a more secure Webmail service to replace this. (See the question at the top of this page - I use Webmail. How do I collect my email now?)

For more information please read our incident report.

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5. Why can't Plusnet stop the spam from coming through?
You can now use our improved Spam Protection service to detect and manage any spam sent to your mail address. This means that spam won't reach your Inbox, unless you choose to have it delivered there. Alternatively you can have messages identified as spam delivered to your 'Spam' folder. We would advise all customers who haven't already done so to enable the Spam Protection feature of your account. You can do this by going to Manage my Mail.
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6. Will changing my password stop me from receiving spam and how do I do it?
Changing your password will unfortunately not stop your email address receiving unsolicited email. We recommend changing your password purely as a precautionary measure as there is a small possibility that customers logged into the comprised server at the time of the attack in May 2007 may have had their login information observed.

You can change your password via the Member Centre.

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7.Has the Information Commissioner's Office (DPA) been informed of this security breach?
Please see the incident report for more information.
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8. My default mailbox ('Catch All') has been receiving spam. I've changed my password etc, but I would also like to rename my default mailbox. Can I do that?
Yes, you can do this by going to Manage My Mail. Here you can choose any mailbox you like to be your 'Catch-All' mailbox, turn off your 'Catch All', as well as setup any individual mailboxes/aliases that you want to use. See our mailboxes support page.
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9. Can I use a stronger password?
Yes. In response to the recent incident and customer feedback we've quickly reacted to improve account security - now making certain password criteria mandatory. This now means customers can use stronger passwords which were previously not supported by our systems. We now recommend that all customers review their passwords and make these stronger wherever possible. Read our Username and Password Security Guide for more information on how to do this as well as a list of allowed password characters.
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10. I've switched on Spam Protection, but I'm still getting spam messages that aren't marked as [-SPAM-]. What can I do?
Whilst we think our spam detection methods are very accurate, there will always be some spam that does get through undetected. It would be helpful to us if you could forward this spam to spam@despamchecker.plus.com as we can use it to intelligently train our detection software to recognise the mail as spam.
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11. Can you tell me how to change the password in my modem or router?
If you are unsure how to change your login password in your modem or router, you should first check the manufacturer's website for information. Alternatively, if your hardware was supplied by us, you will find instructions on how to do this on our hardware setup guides.
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12.My account should feature Spam Protection, but there is no mention of it under Manage My Mail?
Most accounts now feature Spam Protection by default, for free. However, if you don't see a 'Spam' tab in Manage My Mail please raise a Question using the Help Assistant to our Support Team. We can then switch this on for you manually.
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13. Can I block all email apart from that to a specific address?
Almost! Using Manage My Mail in the Member Centre you can setup aliases, mailboxes and redirects for your account. All you need to do is create the mailbox you want, with any corresponding aliases, and then switch off the 'Catch-All' mailbox. Only mail delivered to your specified addresses will arrive into your mailbox. However, you will need to create a 'postmaster' alias, as this is the address we use to email you information about your account.
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14. I have Spam Protection turned on, can you stop me receiving [-SPAM-] tagged messages entirely?
Yes. If you want it to, our Spam Protection service can now automatically move messages marked as [-SPAM-] into a separate 'Spam' folder under your mailbox (as suggested on a user forum posting). Find out more about how Spam Protection works.
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This page last updated 9th July 2007