I cannot believe this.

gripen · Jul 25, 2004

Well. Time to count me in to the war on sentech. This has gone too far. I truly cannot believe this.

On Thursday they started fscking with our tower. It was up and down continously and then completely off on friday until I left. I only returned home tonight. When I got home I saw my modem disconnected. So I tried to connect..

Remote computer did not respond.
..
User rejected by network. Please check username/password.

Interesting. I did nothing and have done nothing since thursday. It worked then so wtf now. Anyways so I call the helpdesk. I explain the problem and it appears there are no tower issues. So i quote my username (lets say smithj). Turns out there are two people registered under smithj. I laugh and say well I cannot believe how this is possible. Orc says "Its ok, they each have different passwords so they can both login." I say no way - thats BS. Anyone else smell some hacking? Im thinking somehow because I was offline so long somebody has connected with my account thus blocking me. I have never given out my account details.

Well, now im using the call centre's username/password combo (which I will not disclose out of respect) which they apparently use all the time. I was told to only use it tonight. So out of good faith, I will disconnect when I go to bed. I will give them until midday tomorrow to call me about my username. If no call, I will connect AND STAY on this username given to me tonight.

Something is definitely wrong with my account. Apparently the call centre cannot really do anything to your account outside office hours. The orc could not even check if somebody was using it already or even disconnect all users connected to my account. Ridiculous if you ask me.

Now I am definitely going to demand a one month refund (at least) as well as an explanation for this. I did nothing wrong. I will also do some futher investigation (if time allows) of that other user supposably with the identical user name to mine.

Moral of the story, check if the same thing hasnt happened to you.

The crap thing is while they do imply that they want you to stay disconnected and do nothing when I did exactly this I got shafted. And I was pretty powerless since when I left, it was searching for signal since the tower was down. So I cant get even my low traffic email. If they dont pay up there will be trouble. This is not slow speed but rather NO speed which is a little worse.

Now I just have to get to checking what class of account the call centre is using. I hope it is uncapped but I doubt it.

They can expect a nice email tomorrow. Please guys post some addresses I can CC to in a nice list. I am going to mention the hacking and the proxy issue.

Consider me converted.

arf9999 · Jul 25, 2004

Two identical usernames?? How the f#$% can that happen...ever!? Sounds like hax to me....or inside info from S$%^tech staff.

MW128, Tower 50 (Northpark Plaza), Signal:12%,S-N-L: 5, BER: 40%

noswal · Jul 25, 2004

My username is first name and last name, like johnsmith so if all usernames are configured that way then it would lead to common names being identical usernames.

_________________________________________________________________________
No more catenna, now its a custenna

dorris · Jul 25, 2004

Impossible or REALLY REALLY STOOOOOOOOPID.
is your e-mail [username]@sentechsa...
This opens up a whole lot of implications, need I say more!

arf9999 · Jul 25, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by noswal
 My username is first name and last name, like johnsmith so if all usernames are configured that way then it would lead to common names being identical usernames.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

No...a user to username is a 1:1 database relationship. Each username has to be unique within the sentech database....else how do they determine your billing, usage etc...not to mention your sentech email address which is username@sentechsa.com (two users with the same email address?)

In your example, the second request for username 'johnsmith' should have been rejected by the database management package as the record already exists. The fact that multiple users exist for a single username indicates that either: the database is fscked, or at the very least incorrectly set up; or that someone has hacked the database and set up a piggyback account.

MW128, Tower 50 (Northpark Plaza), Signal:12%,S-N-L: 5, BER: 40%

Donovan · Jul 25, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Well, now im using the call centre's username/password combo (which I will not disclose out of respect) which they apparently use all the time
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

If it is smithw, and the password has something to do with a single very important person, then only one user may log in at a time with that user name and password. Am I correct in assuming this is the combination they gave you?

kbentz · Jul 25, 2004

happened for the first time to me too on friday, called my favourite orc, he says hmmmm seems as if the logon computer is causing trouble, try again he says while on the line, i try again ... nope still bad, try again he says, i try still bad, he says keep trying while i stay on the line, i do and as true as bob it "suddenly" comes right??? he says cool i say cool and goodbye... do you think he suddenly tried to disconnect other party on my name or his buddy or whoever?????

noswal · Jul 25, 2004

well as I've recevied zero billing so far, I guess their database is less than perfect.

But to clarify (at least for me), everyone who reads this topic is your username firstname/lastname or something different like your myasdl username?

_________________________________________________________________________
No more catenna, now its a custenna

gripen · Jul 25, 2004

exactly. theres a fsckup somewhere. Not acceptable.

Sadly this temp account is very slow so I cant say if it is > 128kbps since it has not gone nearly that high yet. Its definitely not uncapped or the service is just plain fscked so its very slow. This would be routine performance.

Oh yes, if theres anyone reading this who can provide me with a hacked illegal account (128kbps is fine) that would be nice. This would be so I can get some value out of the non-service I am paying for. Notify me by forum email and you will remain anonymous.

Its interesting that they actually gave me their username not knowing just how quickly I could unleash it being a forumite and all.

So now the illegal user on my username can use my email address. I am going to try get the username of the duped name. I remember "GOOBA" or something like that. If the smear it then I will have to try get the recorded calls "for security purposes".

Of all the people this would happen to a forumite. Beautiful. More fuel for the fire.

Added to this, I was told I can and SHOULD change my username on the registration site. I said NO. Why would I? So that the account can be abused and later I will be held accountable? No way. So I should just change my name and all will be good.. uh... NO. The username is the point of reference for my billing, details etc. Its too slow for my to check but Im 99% sure that it is IMPOSSIBLE to change your username with a webform.

This serves as proof that there is something fishy going on. Perhaps proof of hacked accounts (but why would they want my 128k?) ??

noswal · Jul 25, 2004

There were about 20 names, email addresses etc. on the yahoo groups database that was deleted, who here was on that?

I was one, I had a 720 error on Friday, cant connect PPP_connect_error or somethin similar

_________________________________________________________________________
No more catenna, now its a custenna

gripen · Jul 25, 2004

my username is unrelated to myadsl details in all possible ways.

its not smithw no. Although I checked and it is linked to a name not mentioned on the forum before. Im not sure who this is. It is most definitely not "Call centre test account" etc. but rather (for example) "John Smith". Not sure what said John Smith has to say about this.

since only one login is allowed, I was told to only use the login tonight. I could change the password but I must give them nothing that they could hold against me.

arf9999 · Jul 25, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by noswal
 
But to clarify (at least for me), everyone who reads this topic is your username firstname/lastname or something different like your myasdl username?

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

When I first applied for the service, I specified a username. (It's not the same as my MyADSL nick, but Sentech know who I am).

MW128, Tower 50 (Northpark Plaza), Signal:12%,S-N-L: 5, BER: 40%

anakin · Jul 25, 2004

Sounds like the problem where Sentech was allowing the multiple simultaneous connections of one account has been fixed. Like open proxies, this would have contributed to the bandwidth problems too, if one thinks on how 512k accounts could be shared.

gripen · Jul 25, 2004

Then its more like username hijacking and probably re-selling.

On Sentech's speed test:
Speed Test
Your download speed is: 2.3 KBps, or 18.39 Kbps
The test took 232.797 seconds to complete

So this account is by no means fast.

regardtv · Jul 25, 2004

Hello Greedy,

If you can get online why don't you go to : https://reg.mywireless.sentech.co.za/ and login with your details. Then change your password everywhere (service/network/email) ... this way at least it gives SOME cover ...

I agree, something if fscked - and guess who they're going to blame ... you...

r

pmik · Jul 25, 2004

Presumably once an account has been hijacked, the legitimate owner will not be able to login due to the restriction that an account may only be logged into once on the network. So, hax should be quite noticable. Which I guess is your case in point greedyflyza.

So it would follow that the most susceptible users will be those that don't login regularly or don't stay online for extended periods.

Does anyone have an inkling of how the accounts are hacked?

Comrade Borris · Jul 25, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> Then its more like username hijacking and probably re-selling.

On Sentech's speed test:
Speed Test
Your download speed is: 2.3 KBps, or 18.39 Kbps
The test took 232.797 seconds to complete

So this account is by no means fast.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Heya greedy. This sucks great hairy goat kahunas, at least you know the call center account is not a super fast one. I remember on my application form i told them what user name i wanted. Didn't you all do that???

Sad thing is that they are not gonna own up for this mistake, in fact i'm pretty sure they are going to blame you for 'giving your account details away to someone' or they will say 'Us hacked? Never, the problem must be on YOUR side'

Good luck, and dont take no for an answer!

<div align="left"> |256k| |26%| |66/HYDEPARK| [:X][8D][:X]
</div id="left">

pmik · Jul 25, 2004

yes, I did use the word 'inkling'

gripen · Jul 25, 2004

do me a favour. please go there and check if you do anything. The first thing I did is go to that site and I just get a revolving "change your password" page and nothing else. As I explained to the orc dude, if the person is already online, changing my password will do nothing until he gets dropped. I suggested calling 2nd level to reboot the authentication server, response: "oh no.. many people will be angry!" wtf? everyone will stay logged on. Its authentication NOT encryption. And its once-off. Crikey you would think they would know that.

At one point he motioned towards there being something wrong with my modem.

Anyways let me know if the reg site is working as per usual. Suddenly I cannot login with my normal username/password or even with the changed password.

regardtv · Jul 25, 2004

Then one wonders if MY account is a Call Centre account ;-) ... ffarrrk things are slow again 2night.

Speed Test
Your download speed is: 4.65 KBps, or 37.2 Kbps
The test took 115.047 seconds to complete

What irritates me is that a speed test should NEVER be cached. Sentech's page doesn't seem to have any of the settings that disable caching of a page.

Dammit

I cannot believe this.

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