My Telkomsa.net email account was compromised [hacked]
I ended up changing my email address to a new Gmail account. It took me a few months to notify all the important people / institutions / businesses of my new email address. Needless to say, all my Telkomsa.net incoming emails were lost (bank statements, medical aid etc.) If I had the information (below) at hand, my email hacking issue would have been solved in a jiffy.
If your email account is compromised [hacked] (my
[email protected] account was compromised), I hope to spare you this journey of 3 months to hell and back, to solve it. I even tried the ICASA route. Sad to say for the Call Centre these cases are too complex
Firstly some recognised signs of a compromised email account making use of a Physical Fibre or ADSL internet connection.
1) You can no longer log into your email account, by email client (e.g. Microsoft Outlook) or with a Web mail client (via your browser), making use of your username and PASSWORD.
2) You see many spam and suspect incoming emails.
3) You do not receive an email sent by yourself to yourself (from your email client like Microsoft Outlook) making use of your alias (e.g.
[email protected])
4) Receiving notifications via a sms (in my case from my legit Internet Service Provider sms number) for your NEW email account password. (And you did not opt for any changes)
The reason how it happened that your online email account was compromised?
Somehow your account information was leaked, either by a data breach that took place at your Internet Service Provider, or by (you or any other person) clicking on some phishing email links.
What was compromised?
In my case the main account profile was compromised. The data compromised was that of my Internet username and password, also used in my router setup to link me to the Internet via my Internet Service Provider. The portal (where these "Hackers" gets access to your email account) Internet address is
https://customerportal.telkomsa.net/portal/overview/. The above made my email account (both via email client and web mail) inaccessible.
Steps (in sequence) to fix it.
1) Log into the
https://customerportal.telkomsa.net/portal/overview/ portal using your current Access username and password. Then go onto the "PROFILE" tab and change the PASSWORD of this ACCESS username. IMPORTANT: By changing this PASSWORD you need to change it on your router to get connected (with a new session) to the Internet again. So make sure that you know where to update it in your router setup. You can access your (Telkom / Open serve) router by typing 10.0.0.2 into your Internet browser address bar. At this point you secured your main account.
2) Once connected to the Internet you can now go and log onto the portal (
https://customerportal.telkomsa.net/portal/overview/) with your new password, go onto the "PROFILE" tab and change the password of your email (
[email protected]) account. Also make sure that you reinstate / CREATE your alias / aliases and REMOVE any aliases you do not recognise.
A "maybe" (seeing is believing) ray of light... Telkom mentioned that on 29 May 2022 they plan to implement an OTP (One Time Password) as an extra security measure.
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