back to article Users fear yet another hack as TalkTalk services go down

TalkTalk is down again, with frighteningly little being said by the business as to why. A post on its official forums copped to the problem, apologising for the lack of services. The website at TalkTalk.co.uk has been replaced with a holding page, where the telco is informing visitors that the "Customer Service team are …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Talk Talk Wholesale here..

    And my firewall has reported a few short outages.

    Three so far today.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Talk Talk Wholesale here..

      My email client been reporting outages like it was when TalkTalk was hacked. They denied all knowledge of any problems. and tried to get me to reset my emal client

      What with pseudo BT spammers ringing me daily I've votied with my feet. Add to this they include your account number in full in their bill notification email for every hacker to harvest. A complete bunch of clowns who know liittle about protecting their customers data and care even less..

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Talk Talk Wholesale here..

        Totally agree. 2-3 spam calls a day is what I'm getting due these clowns negligence

    2. FidotheFrightful

      Re: Talk Talk Wholesale here..

      My email client has been reporting 'socket time outs". The last time it did this was just before the time of their web hack last year. I also lost my internet and email server connections for over 5 hours last week. TalkTalk blamed it on OpenReach. If you ring their service centre when you eventually get through you are transfered to their faults team immmediately you say what your prolem is. Then be prepared to wait ten minutes or more. Someone's either trying to hack them or they've been hacked! Thank heavens I'm eaving them!!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Poor f*****s

    Exactly how ironic must "TalkTalk" seem when you can't actually talk to anybody because your internet is down?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Popcorn ready!

    Not supposed to call because of severe wheather conditions? Upgrade during busiest time of the day? Well okay then. Waiting for the revelations and entertainment from that so-called ISP/telco. *munch munch*

    1. Blofeld's Cat
      Headmaster

      Re: Popcorn ready!

      "... severe wheather conditions ...

      That's the worst spell of weather we've had for some time.

      Sorry I couldn't resist it.

      1. Dwarf
        Trollface

        Re: Popcorn ready!

        The bad weather must be a perfect storm - what with everything being reported as down at the same time

        If they are lucky, they may get a phone call from that nice Indian sounding chap who knows how to fix the problems with our computer. Perhaps he can do the same for their systems ??

  4. Known Hero
    Coffee/keyboard

    BT Here but.....

    My home connection just went down twice in the space of 10 min, lasting about 5 min.

    I Think somebody hit the reset switch somewhere (first time this has happened in 3 years or they did it in the morning lol).

    I know this because ppl message me instantly when the service goes down lol

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: BT Here but.....

      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ here. 20 minutes of downtime last year, at 3am on a Sunday.

      Current modem uptime is 5 months (due to firmware update).

      1. Known Hero

        Re: BT Here but.....

        Sorry I'm probably being naïve, but why did AC get downvotes ?

        1. VinceH

          Re: BT Here but.....

          Because he said something positive about a company that some people don't like?

          1. alpine

            Re: BT Here but.....

            "Because he said something positive about a company that some people don't like?"

            The BT pensioners always come out in force to attack TT.

            In fact the problem, a flooded data centre, appears to have been resolved. My web stuff there is up and running again this morning.

  5. x 7

    whats the chances that TalkTalk have taken their servers offline because of the TeamViewer hack? Half-assed attempt at preventing more attacks by shutting down access to customer accounts online?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ahh. They hired Mr Pagliano away from Clinton and he responded to an "attack" by unplugging the network cable. Now where was that plugged in?

    2. VinceH
      Trollface

      "whats the chances that TalkTalk have taken their servers offline because of the TeamViewer hack?"

      Actually, no. I'm not a customer but I did (in a round about way) report a fault to them in the latter half of last week: I sent an email to a Tiscali address, which got rejected because a TalkTalk MX somewhere between me and the destination - I send through my domain hosting company's mail servers - was blacklisted for spam.

      This amused me because Carphone Warehouse bought Tiscali and rolled it into TalkTalk before offloading them, making Tiscali is part of TalkTalk, so I commented about it on Twitter. Unsurprisingly, the people that do their Twitter feed caught wind of it and quizzed me on the details, then said they'd pass it to their email team for investigation.

      So they've probably taken the whole network down to get that MX de-listed.

  6. x 7

    from http://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Current-Known-Service-Issues/bd-p/service

    "Due to severe weather conditions some of our systems are currently unavailable which means we may not be able to assist you when calling also the following websites are currently unavailable:

    Talktalk.co.uk

    Talktalk webmail

    Help2.talktalk.co.uk

    talktalk.co.uk/contactus"

    note - POP/IMAP servers are down as well

    and

    "As you may know we've had some adverse weather and flooding in the east of England. This has led to service issues for customers of communications providers (TalkTalk, Sky, BT and others). The amount of time it takes to fix faults can vary depending on the type of weather and the impact on the network. In this case the damage is all across the network, both above and below ground."

    1. I_am_Chris

      "The amount of time it takes to fix faults can vary depending on the type of weather and the impact on the network"

      Is this TT's equivalent of good ol' British Rail's wrong type of snow?

      Time to privatise TT? Oh wait...

    2. Roj Blake Silver badge

      What kind of moron puts critical infrastructure on a floodplain?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        Is it on a flood plane?

        Many of the roads here are flooded and trust me, they are nowhere near a river.

      2. alpine

        "What kind of moron puts critical infrastructure on a floodplain?"

        Most businesses in London. The Thames barrier won't last much longer and the Jubilee river cannot provide enough future protection.

        1. x 7

          " the Jubilee river" and there was me thinking that tunnel was for a railway line....

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bwaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

    Feckwits. Jumped ship 5 days ago !!! (yes, I know, I know; what took me so long)

    Nevertheless: bwaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho and a good dose of Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha guffaw >choke< >snort< >splutter< as well

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bwaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

      Jumped ship 5 days ago !!!

      Isn't it unwise to rejoice before you've confirmed that the bills have stopped coming?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bwaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

        No, that's just the relief of getting out of TalkTalk's clutches. There will be a much bigger celebration after a few months freedom from incorrect fuckwit invoices

  8. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

    So. WankWank's site is down

    "For maintenance"

    Maybe someone went in with a remote session........................

    1. tr1ck5t3r

      Re: So. WankWank's site is down

      Funnily enough, they dont appear to know their porn filter called HomeSafe is not working either.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Simple fix...

    Leave TalkTalk

  10. Mr_Pitiful
    FAIL

    Ummmmm

    So when did the UK weather start affecting large chunks of an ISP?

    Or has a hurricane / tropical storm / twister / flood / lightening hit their only server?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ummmmm

      I'll have you know that the damp piece of string that connects TalkTalk's secure databases to the rest of the world is extremely sensitive to weather conditions.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    From all the Reg articles about TalkTalk

    I guess they are the Comcast of the UK?

    1. Dan Wilkie

      Re: From all the Reg articles about TalkTalk

      You pretty much hit the nail on the head.

      Or to be more accurate, Comcast are the Talk Talk of the New World old bean...

  12. dloughlin

    I'm aware of several major incidents in and around London this afternoon, they included flooding and fibre breaks.

    Wouldn't be surprised if the TalkTalk problems are related, especially given their weather comments. Doubt its another hack.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    TalkTalk needs your help!

    TalkTalk are in trouble and need your help. Please send all you can afford to Dido Harding. She has so many people in her care and almost nobody loves her.

    1. x 7

      Re: TalkTalk needs your help!

      " Please send all you can afford to Dido Harding."

      that idea sounds a bit dicky.......pull the other one, its got hairs on it

  14. AMoose

    We Are Sorry but Dido is too busy at the Bilderberg Conference just now,......Please leave a message after the tone....

  15. AMoose
    Linux

    The End Is Nigh,

    While Rome Burned Etc.. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/09/rulers_of_the_world_gather_bilderberg/

  16. txt3rob

    Single point?

    So talktalk as an ISP has a single point of failure to bring down everything?

    Time to move to the cloud hahaha!

  17. hplasm
    Devil

    Newsflash

    TalkTalk to rebrand to HushHush.

    Government express an interest, "Sounds very secure to me." said a minister.

    1. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

      Re: Newsflash

      No: ShiteShite

  18. hatti

    Due to weather

    Weather or not they've been hacked again.

  19. Iain 14
    Mushroom

    Foreshadowing?

    May not be relevant, but a couple of days ago I received a snail mail warning me of an impending network outage. That's not due until next Tuesday, though...

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They really need to update their name..

    .. as Talk Talk clearly doesn't.

    Open goal, I know..

    1. A Ghost
      Big Brother

      Re: They really need to update their name..

      Yeah, shoulda been StalkStalk (remember that phorm DPI bolux they pulled).

      Shoulda changed that to BalkBalk (when they got CaughtCaught) but refused to take responsibility.

      Nowadays they should just be called HawHaw, coz now they just laugh at all their customers.

      "You what, you want me to resign? Haw Haw haw haw haw - You're kidding right? Do you know who the fuck I am? I'm Dido Harding mush and don't you fucking forget it you disgusting little pervert, yes I know what kinds of things you like to watch, and so does Dave now, coz I'm telling him at the Bilderbergers. What was that you were saying about me resigning? That's right, now fuck off. Haw haw haw haw".

      It's fitting if nothing else.

      Fortunately I was not affected by this recent outage (outrage), so I couldn't possibly comment on the matter.

      "Just had a bloke on the phone, Dave, demanding my resignation. Can you believe the brass fucking balls of some people, Dave?"

      "I know, they still don't get it do they. I just tell them to fuck off myself, or rather, pay someone else to do it, Dido."

      Both in unison: "Some day soon these fuckers are gonna realize just who is running this fucking planet and no mistake, mwahhhaaa haw haw haw."

  21. clint1

    I posted this on the TalkTalk Members forum and after a spat about it with TalkTalk toady forum member got myself banned from the forum for 48 hours and the thread was deleted/removed.

    The trouble is that TalkTalk and its sycophantic staff and forum toadies just cannot stand the justified criticism of this totally incompetent company.

  22. Lotaresco

    Self-selecting user base

    Anyone who listened to Baroness Harding of Winscombe's explanations about the TalkTalk data breach(es) and about TalkTalk's level of care / concern / service must have realised TalkTalk has a CEO completely unconcerned that people pay her company for a service and have a reasonable expectation, protected by law, that the company will provide the contracted services and take care of personal data. If the announcements she made didn't make TalkTalk customers think "blimey there's something wrong here" then they presumably just don't care what TalkTalk does. These customers have voted with their feet to have TalkTalk continue to give privacy, security and service very low priority.

    Eventually those with a little clue will leave, if they haven't already, and TalkTalk will be left with a userbase of content sheep who Just Don't Care.

  23. Slx

    TalkTalk is a good name for them ... All Talk!

  24. Peter Danckwerts

    Down again

    TalkTalk seem to be having further problems all over the country. I can't access email from multiple hosts (I don't use TalkTalk's own email). Nor can I access many websites. All this when they've just announced price increases and are attempting to get customers to lock in to new 18 month contracts!

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