Afrihost Hosting Down Gallo Manor

[Adenoid Hynkel]

@Afrigirl @AfriGuy how is it possible that low level support staff have access to customer emails/webmail with all of our customers' info freely visible. Had an Afrihost employee bragging about how he can access any of my hosted email accounts with you and even sent me screenshots of prior customer emails. I did not give him access. This was through your support channels. He did not need access to this to support me, he just decided he wanted to. How does this comply with POPI? Why do you allow this?

It’s pretty strange for a support agent to open someone's webmail and send screenshots if the support was not mail or webmail related.

What exactly did you ask support for?
If you told them you couldn't access your mail or webmail, that’s basically giving them permission to log in and test things out.

If you want true privacy, get a VPS or a dedicated server and run/manage your own mail.

 

[dontcryforme]

It’s pretty strange for a support agent to open someone's webmail and send screenshots if the support was not mail or webmail related.

What exactly did you ask support for?
If you told them you couldn't access your mail or webmail, that’s basically giving them permission to log in and test things out.

If you want true privacy, get a VPS or a dedicated server and run/manage your own mail.

Issue was mail related, but already confirmed at the beginning of the chat that the issue wasn't about sending or receiving local mail and that a specific IP was being blocked again.

And if that is the low standard of having to inform someone about privacy and the low standard of consent, then thank you for giving me consent to send Keith Faure to your house.

 

[Adenoid Hynkel]

Issue was mail related, but already confirmed at the beginning of the chat that the issue wasn't about sending or receiving local mail and that a specific IP was being blocked again.

And if that is the low standard of having to inform someone about privacy and the low standard of consent, then thank you for giving me consent to send Keith Faure to your house.

I'm still not sure why a support agent would access your webmail, send you screenshots, and brag about it. especially if the issue was just a blocked IP.

Maybe a possible scenario is that you mentioned an email from a specific sender didn’t arrive because their IP was blocked, and the agent logged into webmail to check if it landed? Then you were surprised that support has access to your mail? Am I on the right track? Then again, there's no need to access webmail at all. The agent could've used the track delivery function, that is if you are on cpanel.

If they accessed your mail for reasons unrelated to the issue, then yeah, that should definitely be investigated and addressed.

The reality of shared hosting though, whoever manages the platform, will have some level of access to your data. If you want tighter control over that, a self managed server is a better option.

Alternatively, you could look into something like Proton Mail for stronger privacy. They support custom domains. I for one would never host my mail on a shared hsoting platform.

 

[dontcryforme]

I'm still not sure why a support agent would access your webmail, send you screenshots, and brag about it. especially if the issue was just a blocked IP.

Maybe a possible scenario is that you mentioned an email from a specific sender didn’t arrive because their IP was blocked, and the agent logged into webmail to check if it landed? Then you were surprised that support has access to your mail? Am I on the right track? Then again, there's no need to access webmail at all. The agent could've used the track delivery function, that is if you are on cpanel.

If they accessed your mail for reasons unrelated to the issue, then yeah, that should definitely be investigated and addressed.

The reality of shared hosting though, whoever manages the platform, will have some level of access to your data. If you want tighter control over that, a self managed server is a better option.

Alternatively, you could look into something like Proton Mail for stronger privacy. They support custom domains. I for one would never host my mail on a shared hsoting platform.

This is how one learns, I guess.

Shared platforms have their benefits, just didnt think Afrihost is such a bunch of idiots so much so that the disadvantages outweigh those benefits.

Why would management give every single support agent - even low level ones - unrestricted access to everything?

How do they pass audits? Then people wonder why I hate auditors along with most other professions. And then people wonder why I argue against formal training in IT - I am sure many people at Afrihost are highly educated in IT yet they remain unequipped to ensure basic privacy.

 

[IamNoone]

It’s pretty strange for a support agent to open someone's webmail and send screenshots if the support was not mail or webmail related.

What exactly did you ask support for?
If you told them you couldn't access your mail or webmail, that’s basically giving them permission to log in and test things out.

If you want true privacy, get a VPS or a dedicated server and run/manage your own mail.

Go self-managed cloud. That way you control everything yourself and do everything yourself. Support has zero access.

Also you manage the server. So if you have an issue only you can access it to troubleshoot your issue.

The hosting provider ONLY manages the server being up and working. The rest is all yours.

 

[Packet-Kollector]

This is how one learns, I guess.

Shared platforms have their benefits, just didnt think Afrihost is such a bunch of idiots so much so that the disadvantages outweigh those benefits.

Why would management give every single support agent - even low level ones - unrestricted access to everything?

How do they pass audits? Then people wonder why I hate auditors along with most other professions. And then people wonder why I argue against formal training in IT - I am sure many people at Afrihost are highly educated in IT yet they remain unequipped to ensure basic privacy.

lol - audits? What audits?

 

[Serhioramos]

If an agent accessed your emails without consent—and worse, bragged about it—that’s a glaring red flag. @Afrigirl’s response about logs and ticket escalation is standard, but the bigger question is: Why do low-level agents have this access at all? Even with logging, the risk of misuse is high. POPIA requires reasonable safeguards—unrestricted access arguably isn’t that. Self-managed solutions (VPS, Proton Mail, etc.) might be worth considering if trust is broken.

 

[squirrel]

hosting down again? a few of my clients websites off.

 

[Afrigirl]

hosting down again? a few of my clients websites off.

Hi.

Are they on the same server?
Please share the domains affected.