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Verizon Changing Users Router Passwords

Posted by timothy on from the has-this-happened-to-you? dept.

Kohenkatz writes "I have Verizon FIOS at home and my Verizon-supplied Actiontec router had the password 'password1' that the tech assigned to it when he set it up three years ago. I received an email from Verizon that said 'we have identified that your router still had a password of either password1 or admin1 and we have changed it to your serial number.' I checked and it actually had been changed. I believe this to be in response to the Black Hat presentation about the hackability of home routers. I am upset about this because Verizon should not have any way to get into my router and change the settings, especially because I own the router, not them! I looked in the router's settings and I see port 4567 goes to the router and is labeled 'Verizon FIOS Service.' Is this port for anything useful other than Verizon changing settings on my router? What security measures does Verizon have to protect that port from unauthorized access?"

3 of 545 comments (clear)

  1. Easier way to find out new password by spartacus_prime · · Score: 5, Funny

    hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars
    <Cthon98> ********* see!
    <AzureDiamond> hunter2
    <AzureDiamond> doesnt look like stars to me
    <Cthon98> <AzureDiamond> *******
    <Cthon98> thats what I see
    <AzureDiamond> oh, really?
    <Cthon98> Absolutely
    <AzureDiamond> you can go hunter2 my hunter2-ing hunter2
    <AzureDiamond> haha, does that look funny to you?
    <Cthon98> lol, yes. See, when YOU type hunter2, it shows to us as *******
    <AzureDiamond> thats neat, I didnt know IRC did that
    <Cthon98> yep, no matter how many times you type hunter2, it will show to us as *******
    <AzureDiamond> awesome!
    <AzureDiamond> wait, how do you know my pw?
    <Cthon98> er, I just copy pasted YOUR ******'s and it appears to YOU as hunter2 cause its your pw
    <AzureDiamond> oh, ok.

    --
    If you can read this, it means that I bothered to log in.
  2. They were kinder than you deserved by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    After three years, they changed the password to something you could easily find just by looking at the device.

    I would have changed the password to something totally random, and made you sit through four hours of voice menus on the phone to figure out what the new one was, for fear you would change it back.

    Verizon deserves a medal for restraint on this one.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. Re:uhhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    and thank you Verizon for stopping by and diddling my wife, I was previously unaware of how unsatisfied she was.