How “The Martian” Author’s Comcast Email Was Hacked

In a Facebook post, Andy Weir, author of “The Martian” (which we highly recommend reading!), explained how a hacker took control of his Comcast email address. The simple, yet disturbing answer is the hacker called Comcast customer service to gain access. When Weir called to regain control of his email account, all he had to provide was his street address and the last four digits of his Social Security number. Weir has now flagged his account so that any password changes require a call to Comcast’s security department and a special code. The moral of the story, wrote Weir, is: “No amount of password complexity or multi-factor authentication will protect you from bad company policies at your provider.”

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