Holy crap guys, my Netflix got hacked! This happened a couple of months ago, and I was able to get myself sorted out relatively quickly, but it was a freaky experience.
What happened
I was scrolling through my email one Monday a couple of months ago, and I saw three emails in a row from the day before. One at 4:15 AM, one at 4:16 AM and one at 4:17 AM. Now I don’t know about you, but on Sundays, I don’t get at 4 AM. Come to think of it; I’m not up at 4 AM any day…. in either case, the emails were all from Netflix. The first email had informed me that my Netflix account had been activated in a new location. There is an assorted number of devices in my home, so for someone else in my house to access Netflix and to trigger that kind of email is nothing I’d typically pay attention to. A little weird that it was at 4:15 AM and the other people in my house ALSO are asleep at that time…but whatever. The second email I paid more attention to because it informed me that I had successfully changed my password.
I’m sorry, what was that?
I went back to the first email. It said that my account had been activated….in Thailand. I was not in Thailand at the time; I have never been to Thailand. I have heard many good things about Thailand, but considering someone was using my Netflix there, I was understandably a bit peeved. I went automatically to the third email, which had informed me that “I had successfully changed my user name, and the email I’m on will receive no more notifications.” *Sigh* OK, so someone was hacking my Netflix account. I use my Netflix often so before someone could go into it I decided that I should call Netflix and get this sorted out.
How I Dealt with it
After shaking the face of supreme annoyance off of me, I went to the Netflix main website. Luckily there was a 1-800 number that I could call into for customer support. I called in and explained the three emails that I got from Netflix and told the woman on the phone that I thought I was getting my account stolen. She asked me what the email on the account was supposed to be. She looked through my recent activity and noticed the activation and subsequent actions taken by the person in Thailand. Her exact reaction was, “Huh, yeah, you don’t live in Thailand.” So she then reset the password, which would lock out any device that had my account associated with it. With me on the phone, she sent me an email to re-reset my password to “Something more complex,” which I happily did. She was kind enough to stay on the phone with me through the whole procedure and even was there while I logged into my account on a device to make sure that it worked.
Why Netflix is awesome
I want to qualify this experience (with Netflix, not the person who has to now pay for their own Netflix in Thailand) was a really good one. I have had many, many, MANY customer experiences in my life (most of them over the phone). I have to admit; this one was one of the best that I’d had in a while. I was not waiting on the phone for too long. The lady I spoke to was accommodating and helpful, and even gave me a great suggestion. When we were done getting my account sorted, she advised me to change the password of the email account I used to access my Netflix. The reason she did that was that sometimes people use the same password across multiple accounts, and she didn’t want me to worry about the same person getting into my email as well. Luckily for me, my email did not have the same password as my Netflix. I changed it all the same and made it more secure, but the point is that she didn’t have to give me that advice. Going the extra mile like that makes customer service experiences go from good to great.
This is a relatively benign example of what happens when you get too lax with your security. I was lucky because I was able to get the problem fixed fast before I got locked out of my account. The lesson learned, however, is clear. It’s essential to have a complex password so that you don’t get easily infiltrated. In truth, I must admit that this is actually the second lesson I got about this. The first lesson Was a couple of years before this (And you would have thought I would have learned….but oh well). I will be elaborating on that next week. For now, let’s say that it’s important to have strong passwords on your internet accounts, and to pay attention to the emails that you get about them. Sure, 90% of them are ads about whatever is the newest thing on their service, but some might let you know when someone had infiltrated your system.
Have you ever had your system hacked? What did you do?
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