UPDATE (02): 02-05-08  SYSTEM GENIUSES AT TWCABLE DO IT AGAIN

"Amazingly poor system design... I am astounded that the "Forgot Your Login ID?" verification screen asks you for account number, phone number and answer to your chosen challenge question while clearly displaying your account number and name on the top portion of the dialog box." It makes no sense to re-enter information that is clearly displayed on the top of the screen. Oh well, another example of poor security and design.

UPDATE(01): IS TIME WARNER CABLE FOR SALE?

From Bloomberg.com...

"Time Warner May End Reign as Largest Media Company (Update1)"

"Time Warner may at some point spin off Time Warner Cable, he said."

"The 84 percent-owned cable unit, Time Warner's fastest- growing business for 14 straight quarters, was overtaken by the film studio in the most recent period."

"Bewkes will likely spin off the cable unit because its high debt levels and capital spending require a separate balance sheet, Poole said. The split might occur in the second half of 2008, while Time Inc. could be sold in a leveraged buyout when debt markets improve, Marangi said."

"Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Jeffrey Bewkes, who takes over as chief executive officer of Time Warner Inc. next week, may be measured by how quickly he can dismantle the world's largest media company." 

"Bewkes may spin off the cable-television division and sell the AOL Web and Time Inc. magazine units, said Gamco Investors Inc. fund manager Chris Marangi and National City Bank analyst Daniel Poole."

Original Blog Entry....

You are greeted...

"Welcome to Time Warner Cable's PayXpress Online!"

"With PayXpress, you can view and pay your bill, plus sign up for automatic payments.  You can also choose to receive online bills and turn off paper statements.  PayXpress is safe, convenient and it saves time and trees!"

You are told about how they value your privacy...

"Privacy"

"Time Warner Cable is very respectful about the privacy concerns of the visitors to its sites on the Internet..." yada yada yada

Then you are told they are not responsible for anything...

"DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY"

"THE MATERIALS ON TIME WARNER CABLE'S WEB SITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TIME WARNER CABLE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OTHER THAN THOSE WARRANTIES WHICH, UNDER THE LAWS APPLICABLE TO THIS AGREEMENT, ARE IMPLIED BY LAW AND ARE INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION, RESTRICTION, OR MODIFICATION. NEITHER TIME WARNER CABLE, NOR ITS AFFILIATED OR RELATED ENTITIES, NOR ANY PERSON INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION OF TIME WARNER CABLE'S WEB SITE WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE MATERIALS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT TIME WARNER CABLE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES THEM AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. THE MATERIAL THAT YOU READ ON TIME WARNER CABLE'S WEB SITE IS PROVIDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES. TIME WARNER CABLE DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE MATERIALS IN TIME WARNER CABLE'S WEB SITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE."

...And you assume all of the risk

"YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE TIME WARNER CABLE SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT NEITHER TIME WARNER CABLE, NOR ITS AFFILIATED OR RELATED ENTITIES, NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS, NOR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION OF TIME WARNER CABLE'S WEB SITE ARE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGE (WHETHER ACTUAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR OTHERWISE), INJURY, CLAIM, LIABILITY OR OTHER CAUSE OF ANY KIND OR CHARACTER WHATSOEVER BASED UPON OR RESULTING FROM THE USE OR MISUSE OF THIS SITE OR ANY OTHER TIME WARNER CABLE WEB SITE. BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, AND WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, TIME WARNER CABLE AND RELATED PERSONS AND ENTITIES SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM OR DAMAGE ARISING FROM FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION, COMPUTER VIRUS, THEFT, DESTRUCTION, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF PERSONAL RECORDS, OR THE RELIANCE UPON OR USE OF DATA, INFORMATION, OPINIONS OR OTHER MATERIALS APPEARING ON THIS SITE. YOU (AND NOT TIME WARNER CABLE) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF, AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY AND ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF THIS SITE. IN ADDITION, YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT TIME WARNER CABLE IS NOT LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER SUBSCRIBERS OR THIRD PARTIES."

You agree to hold them harmless...

"Indemnification"

"You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless, Time Warner Cable, its subsidiaries and other affiliated companies, its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, suppliers and any third-party information providers to the Service from and against all losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, resulting from any violation of these Terms of Use. Time Warner Cable reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will cooperate with Time Warner Cable in asserting any available defenses."

And then you log on to a secure system with the good intentions of paying your bill...

You provide your requested Login ID, Password, Email address and the credit card information that is necessary to pay your ever-rising cable bill.

And then Time Warner Cable turns stupid...

BY RETURNING YOUR LOGIN-ID, PASSWORD AND EMAIL ADDRESS IN A NON-SECURE PLAIN-TEXT EMAIL THAT CAN BE COMPROMISED ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET!    

So, Time Warner Cable, if you are wondering why this is being published as a warning to my fellow 'netizens, perhaps it is simply because you failed to respond to my email advising you that I wished to speak with one of your security spokesmen... and that I would consider myself free to blog the item if I did not receive a response within 48-hours. This was on 12-16-07 and I am writing this blog entry on 12-26 -- plenty of time to indicate that you were concerned about a "massive hole in your payments system."

What can YOU do?

Consider that the login that you used along with its associated password as being "compromised." If you use this same login for any other financial services, checking accounts, payment accounts or other such use -- you now need to change all of those logins to something else.

Reconsider the benefits of using Time Warner's PayXpress service if this is the level of care and attention that they provide to their customers.

-- steve

A reminder from OneCitizenSpeaking.com: a large improvement can result from a small change…

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius