Weird authentication problem

[gmlack]

There are 4 email accounts on my TalkTalk account (all under dsl.pipex.com).

My wife uses one, and I use the other 3 (historic...)

This afternoon all 3 of mine have failed to authenticate.  I collect email using fetchmail, which is reporting the failures, but even if I try to login to the TalkTalk Mail service I am told that my password is incorrect.

My wife's account is authenticating OK.

[gmlack]

Well, the saga continues (although I haven't lost access to my email for over 2 weeks now).

Today I received a letter (in the post) from TalkTalk telling me they had forced a password reset because of "suspicious activity" on my main email account. (No mention of the other two that went AWOL).

This letter was dated Nov 29th. EDIT: I forgot, I'd earlier got an SMS text about this too.

So, my account was disabled on Nov 11th and Nov 20th.

I received an SMS text message telling me to "reset my password" (no mention of TalkTalk having invalidated it) on Nov 27th (so interestingly(?) on a Monday and at around the timethat my password had been disabled on the two previous Mondays).

TalkTalk posted a message to me dated Nov 29th about "forcing a password reset" (which I had no ability to do, as my recovery phone number had been removed).

This arrived on Dec 6th,.

So I have no idea whether these are related.  Presumably they are.

There is also no explanation of what the "suspicious activity" was. Is the fact that I download everything (and hence delete it from TalkTalk servers) within 15 mins of it arriving, only ever send through SMTP and never use the Webmail interface "suspicious"?

[gmlack]

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@Ady-TalkTalk wrote:

As long as we see connections to your mailbox from mail client regularly we won't close an account. The constant password reset issue is an anomoly that I'm gathering details on so that I can raise a bulk ticket.

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Fair enough. But my explanation aligns with my suspicions - whereas your comment doesn't quite fit.

[Ady-TalkTalk]

As long as we see connections to your mailbox from mail client regularly we won't close an account. The constant password reset issue is an anomoly that I'm gathering details on so that I can raise a bulk ticket.

Ady

[gmlack]

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@gmlack wrote:

...

Now to see whether I can get through next Monday without losing them again.

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I did!!

Although, in a touching irony, I did get an SMS message from TalkTalk today:

You must reset your TalkTalk email password (to something NEW, SECURE and UNIQUE) to prevent phishing scams

This is what they've forced me to do for the last 2 weeks, without the Help Desk having any clue as to what is happening.

But I now think I do.

None of my account's email sits on TalkTalk servers for long, as it gets downloaded to my own IMAP server. My suspicion is that TalkTalk checks email inboxes and folders once a week and records those that are empty. If they've been empty for a while the account is disabled.

Which would be fine (I can easily push things into them to keep them being seen as active) provided:

• They announce that this will happen and
• They ensure that the Help Desk knows that this is a possibility!

I reckon they do have such a policy, but have forgotten to tell anyone....

[gmlack]

I have finally regained access to all of the email accounts, and I have a suspicion as to what is happening.

Now to see whether I can get through next Monday without losing them again.

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Hi gmlack, I'm able to reset the password reset tool information for you. I've sent you a personal message to obtain more information. 

Ady

[gmlack]

The authentication failure also means that I can't send emails from my pipex accounts either.

[gmlack]

Currently on the phone to support, but it's getting me nowhere.

Any attempt I make to reset the password will send a reset code to the account that I'm trying to correct (i.e. the one I can't access..). I do (according to my notes) have a Gmail account and a Mobile number set for Password Recovery, but it isn't trying to use them...

An it turns out that "Support" is unable to do anything so it's been sent for "escalation". Which, apparently, means that it may take up to 28 days before anything further happens!

This is shocking service....

[gmlack]

If I try to use a passwordless reset, it wants to email the account that I can't connect to....

[gmlack]

Note that since one of these email accounts is the actually "account account" I can't login to My Account to try to change passwords either.