My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Just logging in to check service status and after entering my login details i was met by a change your password page saying:-

Change your password

We run a tight ship here at Virgin Media, and we like to make sure we're keeping your info nice and secure. That's why we think it's a good idea to change your password occasionally.

Your password needs to be between 8 and 10 characters long, with no spaces, and must contain only numbers and letters. The first character must be a letter.

Don't forget: Your password is case sensitive. If you use a mixture of capital and lower-case letters, you'll need to use them in the same places whenever you type your password.


At the bottom of the page in the small print:-


Some important information about your password

• If you use email software like Outlook Express to access your Virgin Media Mail, you'll need to update your new password when you next open the software.
• If you have National broadband (which means you get your broadband down your phone line) you'll need to update the password settings on your router. Find out more
• If you use Backup & Storage, you'll be prompted to update your password there.
• If you have dial-up or use Webspace, these passwords will also be updated.

I'm a great believer in security, but I've never seen VM do this before so are they suddenly getting sserious on security or have they 'lost' my settings?


Anyway, bit of a PITA - if I continue and change the password Mrs G won't be able to check emails as she's away on business and hasn't a clue how to change the settings on her phone!!

Cheers

Grim

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

I just logged in and i did not get asked to change my password.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Might leave it and give VM a call in the morning. It could just be a plot to stop me seeing how much they've put back the fix time for the broken on-demand!

Cheers

Grim

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

As far as I know you can change your password at any time so..... how about changing the password then, as long as your original password complies with the rules, change it back to the one your wife is aware of.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Good idea - worked a treat.

Cheers

Grim

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Is it forcing you to do it or merely suggesting?

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Forcing.

Cheers

Grim

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

I've always found Virgins 8 - 10 character restriction on passwords to be a complete annoyance. They should have a minimum length of course but they shouldn't have a maximum length, It always annoys me when sites do that. I like using passwords much longer than 10 characters generally.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

It's a new thing to get passwords updated to meet the newer password security rules

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

I had to change my password today

Andrew

in St Albans, Herts

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

So, people with compliant passwords don't get the request? Right?

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

I only changed 1 character in my password

Virgin Media said it was 'good'

andrewlutonuk

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Looks like it , mines OK it seems.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Yes that is my understanding for the current prompts

Although the way the brief reads, it may be that VM are looking at introducing time limited passwords for My VM, rather than the indefinate ones they've done up till now

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

I used same password without any problem

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Ours was 10 characters long starting with a letter so was compliant. Seems stupid that you're made to change it, then are allowed to change it back as soon as you log in.

Cheers

Grim

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

If VM know that you password isn't compliant, then they are probably storing the existing passwords insecurely. Joy.

Yeah, that isn't exactly secure either. Every password will now be 8-10 characters long, only contain letters or numbers and will always start with a letter. That massively reduces the number of combinations possible.

Virgin = :dunce:

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

By compliant, I mean those that are less than 8 characters, as the minimum password length was increased back in May

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Ahh, seems like they do seed them properly then. Which means they dont know what your password is, so they have to force you to change it anyway.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Then how would they selectively only make non-compliant passwords be changed?

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Agreed, this one fact means that VM are playing the "Security Theatre" game. Just trying to make it SEEM more secure, when its actually less secure. The fact that they know which passwords are non-compliant, means that either the passwords are stored plaintext, or using a reversible encryption method.

Also time limting passwords is a fail idea too, due to human nature. Good idea in theory, but fails miserably in practice, because it forces people to think up a new password every x days, which means they tend to think up easy to remember words, capitalize the first letter (or last), replace some of the letters with numbers, and toss in a special symbol such as $ instead of s. Then they write it down on a post-it note. Which defeats the whole objective.

Best enforce a totally random password, but let them keep it indefinitely, so they get used to it, and don't need to write it down.

They have also added another app called my broadband usage under my apps

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

And of course when you click on the link it doesnt work :D

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

That's because that shouldn't be showing up yet.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

i had the same come and put exactly same password in as i had only just recently changed it and nothing came up to say i had done that

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

They aren't.

They are forcing everyone to change from their previous passwords to now use an insecure password schema, even if the current password met the new criteria.

It may be that they are just aligning everyone onto an existing schema, in which case they can use the password set date or account creation date to tell if it would have been compliant or not.

A 7 character alphanumeric password (7 because we know the first will always be a letter) can have every possible combination generated in 4 hours by a modern desktop. Food for thought :)

Also just noticed that there are plenty of words it wont allow. Virginsuck is one :p

Also just found an easy way to avoid having to change your password. I have my old telewest one memorized and am blinking well keeping it :D

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

What's with not being able to login with the original password that's always worked. and then going through the process of changing it to the same one that stopped working. and it starts working again?

madness.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

It's actually a good thing.

If VM could tell if your current password already met the new requirements, then it would mean your password was being stored in plain text (or in an easily reversible format). The fact that they are having to force everyone to change their password shows that they (probably) are storing them in a way that is not reversible.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

But they are NOT forcing everyone. Only certain people.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

Me too.

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

I was under the impression they were. If not then thats scary.

And "forcing" people is a bit strong, seeing as you can bypass that page anyway and continue into your account :p

Re: My Virgin Media Password Change
 

To be honest, it does seem to be a bit more random than I originally thought. I got the prompt last week, and there was no issue with the password I already had