Verizon Email mysteriously stopped working

Anything to update Buratti?

Did the power cycle in post# 63 do any good?

Any word from our friends at the ISPs?

An inquiring mind wants to know :)

Here it is if you can't get to it:

brittany_VZ
Administrator


Posts: 29
Registered: ‎08-26-2014

Email Account Password Lockout[ Edited ]
09-18-2014 12:53 PM - edited ‎09-18-2014 12:56 PM

Verizon works hard to protect our customers’ information and keep you aware of issues related to your account.

If you’re experiencing trouble accessing your Verizon Residential account, it may be because we recently identified unusual third-party activity related to some accounts and as a protective measure we temporarily disabled access to certain accounts.

We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused you, but keeping your information safe is Verizon’s top priority.

Please note that your Verizon online account DOES NOT contain sensitive information such as full bank account numbers, credit card account numbers, or Social Security numbers. However, if you have a Verizon email account, an unauthorized third party may have had access to your emails and that’s why we took action.

If your Primary account is still disabled, you can re-activate it by doing the following:

1. Visit “myverizon.com/entermypin.”
2. Follow the instructions to create a new password. (Learn how to create a secure password.)
3. If you need additional assistance, and for Subaccount assistance, please call 1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966) to speak with a Verizon customer service representative.

We are notifying customers who must take action to re-activate their accounts.

As a reminder, Verizon recommends avoiding use of the same password on multiple websites, because if one of those websites is hacked your credentials can be used to login to other sites. Always create strong, unique passwords. Verizon allows its customers to use 6 to 20 case-sensitive alphanumeric characters; we recommend choosing a password that is difficult for others to guess by using a combination of letters and numbers; to always think twice before sharing your email address with others; and to be aware of spam or phishing emails. More information and online security tips may be found at the Verizon Customer Support site or on Verizon’s Security Alerts page.

Source: Email Account Password Lockout - Verizon Forums

I did see something similar to this earlier when I was searching for post #66, but failed to put 2+2 together:

OP:
I haven't been able to use Outlook on my work desktop to access my Verizon email since around Sept. 23 - my internet provider here is Time Warner Cable. No problems at home (FiOS) and on my iPhone. Settings are all the same so I know it's not a settings issue and I can access Verizon webmail no problem. I know others have had a similar issue but I can't find any solution. Any updates?

Source: Can't get Verizon email while connected to Time Warner - Verizon Forums

I can get to the pages and I'm going through Comcast.

I don't have a Verizon eMail account or Outlook though, so that only shows that I can get to the secure pages.

Buratti, next step ... call Verizon.

Tell them that you need to access your business account at home and your home account at your business.
Tell them you don't care who's problem it is, Optimum or Verizon, you need it resolved.
Work with both providers, there's no reason for either to block access to your account from a different provider.
Tell tehm "There's always Comcast for both my home and my business.

Be nice, but be firm - they will help you ... it might take a while to get past the pointing fingers

One thing I've learned is that after you've called once or twice without resolution, the next time ask to speak with a supervisor. Some help centers will pass you up the line if you ask, others request that you call back and ask before the call begins.
There are a lot of people calling for help and only a few supervisors. Make reasonable requests giving them time to research the issue, a few hours is sufficient time to ping their modem, do a network trace, and or reset the network on your side.

Keep the thread up-to-date ... I'd like to know the resolution.

About the new 'issue' - can't connect to anything Vze

The link to the Vze forum is probably more password related than getting to the site.


The fact that the issue returned is disturbing
I'm bring out the big guns - a shotgun approach to malware remediation.

This is a good general guide with very good tools.
How to easily clean an infected computer (Malware Removal Guide)

Follow the instructions all the way, except Step 5: RogueKiller, through on one machine

If you post the logs here, I can look through them.

Skip Step 5: RogueKiller - why?

It is the only scanner in the guide that is NOT suggested as nearly as often by security experts as the other scanners.

To avoid having to chase down anything else, please skip the RogueKiller Step. There's more than enough firepower in the other scanners.

Vze and Net Neutrality: Verizon claims common carrier rules would require Web services to pay ISPs | Ars Technica

Just an interesting read I forgot about - the big service providers are trying to monetize the web even more (tiered rates).

I hope that Vze can throw a switch or reset a configuration (perhaps the IP address is in a list it shouldn't be - that does happen).

Bill
.

Hi michec, welcome to 7F! :)

Thank you for taking the time to join SevenForums and sharing your experience.

michec said:

No response from - pop.verizon.net - or - smtp.verizon.net - - Verizon Forums

I have been dealing with this issue for the past 2 days. I have Verizon FiOS at work and TWC at home. I was able to remotely access my Verizon e-mail from home (TWC) until 10/07/14. Apparently, Verizon has restricted 3rd party ISPs from accessing their POP server. I can access my Verizon e-mail via my iPhone if I turn off wifi at home (via TWC) and use AT&T LTE to download my mail, but if my iPhone wifi is active, I cannot download my Verizon e-mail. If you happen to have Verizon at home and at work, you're fine. If you have Verizon at work and another ISP at home, then you are out of luck until they resolve their issue.

From all the threads I've seen online and at Vz this problem started around the middle of September.

Whether or not Vz has been aggressively attacked, and for lack of a better term; To cut off your nose to spite your face, by locking down all outside accounts is sheer madness.
The Vz management mantra seems to be; "Just do it, we'll clean up the mess later", and in the mean time the "customer" suffers.
Anyone who has or had experience with Vz and their "customer service"? through any venue can see their (Vz's) affinity for passing the buck, and when the turmoil has finally been corrected they turn around and give themselves a "pat on the back".

"To big to fail?"
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Maybe its time for Vz subscribers to contact their respective
Utility commissions or Attorney Generals Office.
I know I will if it hits me!

Okay, I'm done for now, I'll pick up my soapbox and go stand in the corner.

Buratti said:

So, are we all at an agreement here that this is a Verizon issue and nothing to do with my network specifically nor Optimum directly??? The only problem is that why does my computer "lock out" ALL Verizon sites whereas other computers on the network only "lock out" secured Verizon sites???

Buratti,

michec's link was the other Vz thread that I saw, but couldn't track down.

I'm in agreement that this is a Vz issue, yeah, take a break, update your social life, show face to your family and friends.
What Vz has to do is figure out which switches they need to turn back on, but this isn't going away for awhile, their trying to figure out which switches to switch.

Buratti said:

I already ran most of those tools early on in my troubleshooting, but maybe next week when I take a little break from this I will try again.

So, are we all at an agreement here that this is a Verizon issue and nothing to do with my network specifically nor Optimum directly??? The only problem is that why does my computer "lock out" ALL Verizon sites whereas other computers on the network only "lock out" secured Verizon sites???

The malware guide was a hail Mary, just to be certain. The issue came, went away, came back - you tried a number of things and it's still an issue (can't connect to any Vze sites)

The guide gives you a good order to run the scanners. Just running the scanners in any order is often not as effective. Malware is slippery, so when(if) you do follow the guide - do it in one fell swoop. It can take a good number of hours (8-9) to run all of the scans, the longest is the last ESET online scanner. Most run in 30 minutes or less, but there are a bunch of them. Start one - go have a cup of coffee, start the next and have another cup of coffee. You'll be wide awake after the exercise :)

I think Vze is the most likely culprit - but it will take a call to determine that for certain.

Why only your machine? I'm not sure. I'll take a look back through the thread to see how it was previously resolved. There were a lot of things suggested and changes made. I don't think all of them need to be repeated, just the one or two that preceded the success.
Std troubleshooting would have these steps

Clean out the temporary folders /caches
Check your Proxy
test the page

Reset the network stack
test the page

Set static IP DNS addresses
Add the site to the secure site list
test the page

There isn't much else really - resetting the HW would also be std TS, but the other machines are fine - just one machine with the issue.

You did all of the above before - I just need a chance to review the thread.

Steve (Anak) said it perfectly - take a break from it.........
We'll be hanging around when you want to try and tackle it again. But Vze is the key at this point.

Burratti,

I'm thinking out loud to help Bill. There are some questions included for you, but lets wait until he has a chance to review your thread and digest what I've noticed.
Your main concern now is making sure Vz is not blocking you. If you're not making any progress with the Vz rep tell that person you want your case elevated to another tier.

Oh, and I found this, fourth post down:

Steve of Baltimore, MD on Sept. 27, 2014;
Verizon has just initiated a two step Sign-in process to their web mail. No advance notice or warning. After getting into my email, I noticed about a dozen spam emails starting on Monday of this week. Normally I would see about 1 every 2 months or so. I also realized that several spams had made it through Verizon's spam filters this week (to be caught by my filters). This is a very rare occurrence. Looking at other Verizon addresses I have also showed a sudden increase in spam. Conclusion: Verizon has been hacked and has implemented a two step Sign-in process "to improve security" but has NOT reported they were hacked. I wonder how much private information was stolen?

Plus: Verizon To Pay $7.4 Million To Settle Consumer Privacy Investigation This went on from 2006 to 2013.

Makes a person wonder what's going on at Vz.


Bill, I got off topic a little bit in my last post, thanks for bringing me back on point. I started earlier in the thread, but Post #23 looks to be a good summation by Burratti.

Post #9

Buratti said:

I do have more information though. If you view the Verizon page, next to the Sign in/Register dropdown I am having problems with, there is a link to switch to Spanish. if I click that, it obviously reloads the page in Spanish, but the dropdown is working correctly. if I switch back to English, it goes back to being blank.

Now why would changing the nationality allow that to happen? All in the HTML language I imagine.

I'd be interested in knowing if you (Buratti) signed-in on the Spanish page, if you reached your email, and if you did, try switching the nationality back to English, and see if it allows you to stay there and work your email.

Post #17

Buratti said:

Still nothing... Actually I'm worse now. I ran several different Malware, Adware and junk removal tools, and now I cannot load the Verizon page at all. Verizon Wireless will open and any random other pages but Verizon.com/.net will not even load at all. its like something is blocking the Verizon domain specifically.

This would indicate a running of SFC /scannow. Bill, you asked for logs from these utilities and the .CBS logs in post #19 They would be helpful.

Buratti, even if the SFC scan says “No integrity violations” reboot and rerun it. At least twice more.
At the end of the Second run, “No integrity violations” reboot and rerun it for a third time, then reboot. Test the sign-in page.


What concerns me is Buratti running ComboFix, no telling what effect that had. I could try and go over the log starting at post#24, but I'd be unsure what I'm looking for. Maybe a repair of the OS? Repair Install

Well, that's enough for now I'll be around later, I've got chores to do.

isp blocking makes perfect sense :)