Account Security
In September, 2012, media outlets began reporting on the findings of Kevin Burke, a software developer and Virgin Mobile USA customer. Burke's experimentation led him to claim that Virgin Mobile USA's account security practices do not adequately protect customer account information.
To access their account via the Virgin Mobile USA website, a customer must enter their ten-digit telephone number and a six-digit password. The maximum possible number of six-digit password is one million, a relatively small number. According to Burke, Virgin Mobile USA did not employ security techniques that would prevent an attacker from rapidly cycling through all possible password permutations, allowing a brute force attack to succeed in twelve days or less.
In response to the wide media coverage, Virgin Mobile updated its online account access system, limiting users to 20 attempts from one IP address.
Read more about this topic: Virgin Mobile USA
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