Mweb - MASSIVE security concern; recycled email addresses

[w1z4rd]

Thats a big ask. e.g. Obscure people go to their outlook type in havoc & the address pops up (from past emails). There goes the email...to what is now someone else's mailbox.

Hell I couldn't locate *all* the people who have my email addr to save my life. And the thought of explaining to a bunch of relative how to purge the old email addr from outlook does not appeal either.

Still irrelevant to the ISP, no matter how big it is still your responsibility.

 

[Zewp]

Ghoti, I ask again, what is the logical reasoning behind recycling email addresses? I see no reason to do so. I'm willing to bet that Mweb has never, and will never get so many subscribers that they will run out of email combinations.

Mweb is not Gmail.

Considering that this is such a major security concern, combined with the fact that there is very little reason why they should have to recycle email addresses, why does Mweb not rather avoid the security concern altogether by not recycling email addresses?

 

[hambone]

If you login to your MWEB account and add an 'extra e-mail' you can login to their webmail service. Minutes later you can delete it, and then another account can claim the address if they like. I have just tested this using my parents and my account. Just FYI.

 

[J0n0]

You people do know that Google has the same policy right?

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2059239/Deleted-Gmail-Account-Kiss-Your-Email-Goodbye

 

[Zewp]

You people do know that Google has the same policy right?

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2059239/Deleted-Gmail-Account-Kiss-Your-Email-Goodbye

maybe read the thread?

Mweb is not Gmail.

 

[J0n0]

maybe read the thread?

Still ridiculous that one would expect an isp to reserve an email address that brings in no revenue to the company.

 

[w1z4rd]

Ghoti, I ask again, what is the logical reasoning behind recycling email addresses?

Cause believe it or not you are not the only John Smith in the world and people who are willing to pay for johnsmith@myisp.com have asked for it.

I see no reason to do so. I'm willing to bet that Mweb has never, and will never get so many subscribers that they will run out of email combinations.

Mweb is not Gmail.

Yes, Mweb is NOT a free mail service. If you want the username pay for for it.

Considering that this is such a major security concern, combined with the fact that there is very little reason why they should have to recycle email addresses, why does Mweb not rather avoid the security concern altogether by not recycling email addresses?

The security concern is with you, not the provider. They recycle telephone numbers as well.....

 

[KinsZA]

So lets see MWeb was founded in 1997 and is one of the largest ISP's in the country and they are expected to reserve your email address for all eternity. They give you 90 days to change your mail addresses and in that time period people are going to be getting bounce backs saying how it does not exist.

If you move house is the Postal Service supposed to redirect all mail that has your name on it to your old address ?

OP is just looking for an excuse to bash MWeb

 

[Totempole]

Well, what people should do is keep track of everything that's linked to their email account,
so that it's easy to transfer all your stuff to a new one.

If you aren't willing to do that, then your only other alternative is to pay to retain the address.

Another precaution one can take to avoid having your old email account in someone else's name
is to select an address which is unlikely to be reused. ie. instead of johnsmith@your-isp.co.za
choose johnsmith321@your-isp.co.za or johnsmithemail@your-isp.co.za

 

[Necuno]

Best option is your own domain and an email hosting service.

 

[KinsZA]

Another precaution one can take to avoid having your old email account in someone else's name
is to select an address which is unlikely to be reused. ie. instead of johnsmith@your-isp.co.za
choose johnsmith321@your-isp.co.za or johnsmithemail@your-isp.co.za

Thats actually a really good idea, though I think of using it for usernames and such is also a benefit ,thanks Totempole.

 

[Syphonx]

I would expect that an old email address should be left unused for a year at least, 5 would be best. Openweb can do it, MWEB can to.

 

[Zewp]

Still ridiculous that one would expect an isp to reserve an email address that brings in no revenue to the company.

And does it cost them money to create a database which contains old email addresses, then every time they assign a customer a new email address they check it against the database to ensure they're not reassigning an old email address.

It seems people around here seem to have reading comprehension problems. Nobody is asking Mweb to reserve the email address for you. I'm pointing out that recycling it is a security concern. I don't expect to have access to my Mweb email once I've cancelled my account, but I would like the peace of mind of knowing that in case I forgot to change an email address on a certain site, someone else is not going to have access to my data through my old email address.

So lets see MWeb was founded in 1997 and is one of the largest ISP's in the country and they are expected to reserve your email address for all eternity. They give you 90 days to change your mail addresses and in that time period people are going to be getting bounce backs saying how it does not exist.

If you move house is the Postal Service supposed to redirect all mail that has your name on it to your old address ?

OP is just looking for an excuse to bash MWeb

Once again comparing an email address to something that is not remotely the same.

KinsZA is just looking for an excuse to whiteknight Mweb. Checkmate.

 

[Zewp]

They recycle telephone numbers as well.....

Which is not remotely the same as an email address. Once again, comparing apples to oranges.

 

[J0n0]

And does it cost them money to create a database which contains old email addresses, then every time they assign a customer a new email address they check it against the database to ensure they're not reassigning an old email address.

Clearly you know EVERYTHING and work with domains, mail servers etc. on a daily basis so know your stuff hey?



Too many know-it-all keyboard warriors on MyBB.
Once again I realize why I stopped hanging around here.

 

[Zewp]

Clearly you know EVERYTHING and work with domains, mail servers etc. on a daily basis so know your stuff hey?

Too many know-it-all keyboard warriors on MyBB.
Once again I realize why I stopped hanging around here.

Unlike you, I don't claim to know everything. I'm open to being told why it is impossible for Mweb to give out email addresses without recycling old ones, but so far I've seen no explanations offered other than 'hurr deal with it' or 'durrrr stop expecting them not to recycle your email address.' Not even the official Mweb representative could tell me why recycling email addresses is an absolute necessity without which their company cannot function.

There are too many people like you here, whiteknighting the shjt right out of Mweb no matter what they do.

 

[w1z4rd]

Which is not remotely the same as an email address. Once again, comparing apples to oranges.

No, not at all. I think your claim is unreasonable. Almost every ISP or host will have that as a policy so I recommend YOU adjust how you sign up for stuff because nothing else is going to change.

You might get the occasional host like Openweb who probably tie in the email address to your full user account (of all your services) like Cybersmart does... but the rest of the industry is going to continue selling their resources to paying customers.

I work in the industry and have since it started. Its not going to change because you are too lazy to update all your contacts and logins.

 

[HelterSkelter]

I frequently grab just-expired domains to catch all the emails for a few months.

 

[Zewp]

Afrihost:

Yes, all our DSL clients get a free @afrihost.co.za email address, which corresponds to their DSL username. We then allow up to 5 aliases in order to create their own custom email addresses.

We don't recycle DSL or email usernames, as we keep them on record for a period (years) for audit purposes as per best practice. In most cases, clients are able to reinstate old usernames and mailboxes (though old mail content may be lost depending on the time period).

Still waiting on responses from a few other reps. Recycled email addresses doesn't seem to be standard practice so far.

 

[w1z4rd]

Afrihost:



Still waiting on responses from a few other reps. Recycled email addresses doesn't seem to be standard practice so far.

Sure bud, you clearly know more than me about this industry . Believe whatever you want to believe.