Fasthosts Unilaterally Changes Passwords

Back in October, website hosting company Fasthosts experienced an attack on its customer database. After that it asked clients to change the passwords totheir sites, an understandable move.   However, some decided not to do so, but as of November 29, they suddenly found they could no longer access the sites they were paying for when Fasthostsunilaterally re-set their passwords – sending them the new ones by snail mail.   A Fasthosts spokesperson told the BBC only that a “number”of customers had been affected, and that the company only took the action after determining that some clients had “experienced a compromise” to their accounts.   However, thecomplaints seem to have come in thick and fast, to the point where Fasthosts was forced to employ extra staff to field the volume of calls. The company was giving out passwords over the phone oncethe identity of the company callers had been authenticated.   But that doesn’t look to be the end of the worries. Next Thursday the passwords for all e-mail services hosted by Fasthostswill change. The company spokesman told the BBC,   "Unfortunately, the measures are necessary to fully ensure our customers’ websites and data are fully secure."