broadband news

Virgin Media broadband users caught up in spam attack

Up to one hundred thousand Virgin Media broadband subscribers were left without email last week as a mysterious spam threat swept through their system.

The broadband provider 'paused' access to its email services after the company that handles mail for them was hit by an unidentified but "large" attack.

This left thousands of broadband customers with little or no access to their webmail. All legitimate emails were held back while the broadband provider dealt with the significant amount of spam, a Virgin Media spokesperson confirmed. Emails are beginning to filter through now that the problem has been dealt with, but full access via broadband may take some days to be restored.

Speaking about the broadband attack, a Virgin Media spokesperson said:

"Since late Tuesday evening, some customers on our Virgin Media DSL [broadband] service may have been unable to access e-mail or webmail. This was due to a suspected spam attack suffered by our e-mail supplier which also affected a number of other ISPs."

Virgin Media pointed out that the loss of email did not affect subscribers to their high speed fibre optic broadband service, which it advertises as The Mother Of All Broadband.

The alert came as the BBC told how internet fraudsters are exploiting people's fears about the global financial crisis in order to extract valuable personal information from broadband users. The US Federal Trade Commission issued a warning saying that online gangs were sending 'phishing' emails - designed to elicit private financial details from their target - and encouraged vigilance among broadband users.

12/10/2008
Author: CompareBroadbandUK staff writer

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