(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick




Earthlink's Secure Internet Access Not Secure If You Work At Earthlink

from the passwords-for-everyone! dept

Earthlink has been advertising heavily how much more secure the internet is through them, than through AOL. However, it seems that, unlike AOL (and most ISPs), Earthlink lets their customer support techs see anyone's passwords. Most other ISPs can only issue a new temporary password. Earthlink says they allow the support people to see passwords to help customers who have forgotten their passwords. Many security folks, though, point out this is a huge opening for abuse by either an Earthlink support rep, or by someone doing a bit of social engineering, pretending to be an Earthlink support person.

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