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When Virgin Media released the UKs first 50Mbit residential broadband service this year, they didn’t expect that over a thousand users would gain access to the service entirely free using only their old modems and a small software hack.
Hackers were able to access a loophole in the Virgin Media software, allowing them to simply take the software update from the new modems and apply it to their old ones, giving them access to the new speeds. Over 1,000 lines have reported achieving speeds of 30mbit and upwards, 10mbit faster than Virgin’s mid-range package. It’s not yet known exactly how long this has been happening.
Virgin Media were quick to respond, telling technology blog The Register that it “takes the issue of fraud on its network very seriously”, and will not hesitate to prosecute anyone caught using this method. Ensuring legitimate users they have a “number of technological features” at their disposal to help them find the hackers. Virgin has insisted that a recent network upgrade has allowed them to see exactly which users are abusing their service.
Hackers meanwhile have spread this information far and wide on the internet and anyone with the access to the right hardware and rudimentary knowledge of modems are able to apply the method. Many have claimed that hack is untraceable, but this remains to be proven. It’s likely that if Virgin can’t yet find the hackers they’ll be funnelling significant resources into catching them as soon as possible. The threat of legal action alone might be enough to stop many of the hackers from using the method.
Exactly how such a gaping hole in the Virgin Media’s software has gotten through to end users is unknown. One thing is sure however; anyone caught could end up in jail, with a maximum sentence of 12 months for found guilty under the 2006 Fraud Act.
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