Good morning, TiVo owners! I have some bad news, but you've no doubt heard about it by now, thanks to the email message partially pasted above. To everyone else: Tivo's email database has been compromised!
According to the TiVo service announcement mailed out yesterday, the breach was thankfully limited to name and email address only. Other personal or sensitive information, TiVo assures us, was not made public. The worst that could happen, according to the email we received from a tipster, is your email account will be soon be visited by three wise men. Sorry, spambots. I often get my religious myths and spam-related vocabulary confused.
So, no passwords or credit card numbers or anything like that—just a slew of annoying spam that you'll no doubt have to block and/or delete for the time being. I like to say "pew pew" when I hit the ol' Mark As Spam button in gmail. It's therapeutic.
The full email is pasted below for your convenience:
TiVo® Service Announcement
Dear TiVo Customer,
Today we were informed by our email service provider that your email address was exposed due to unauthorized access of their system. Our email service provider deploys emails on our behalf to customers who have opted into email-based communications from us.
We were advised by our email service provider that the information that was obtained was limited to first name and/or email addresses only. Your service and any other personally identifiable information were not at risk and remain secure.
Please note, it is possible you may receive spam email messages as a result. We want to urge you to be cautious when opening links or attachments from unknown third parties.
We regret this has taken place and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.
If you have unsubscribed in the past, there is no need to unsubscribe again. Your preferences will remain in place.
Sincerely,
The TiVo Team
Update: It would appear as though any customer of a company doing business with Epsilon, an email service provider, will be receiving a ton of spam in the coming weeks. This includes Disney, TiVo, JPMorgan Chase, Citi and Walgreeens, just to name a few! [Thanks, Michael]
DISCUSSION
I got mine from Disney, as shown below. But Disney Destinations Emails go to my Yahoo Account, not GMail.
Dear Guest,
We have been informed by one of our email service providers, Epsilon,
that your email address was exposed by an unauthorized entry into that
provider's computer system. We use our email service providers to
help us manage the large number of email communications with our
guests. Our email service providers send emails on our behalf to
guests who have chosen to receive email communications from us.
We regret that this incident has occurred and any inconvenience this
incident may cause you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we
will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.
We want to assure you that your email address was the only personal
information we have regarding you that was compromised in this
incident.
As a result of this incident, it is possible that you may receive spam
email messages, emails that contain links containing computer viruses
or other types of computer malware, or emails that seek to deceive you
into providing personal or credit card information. As a result, you
should be extremely cautious before opening links or attachments from
unknown third parties or providing a credit card number or other
sensitive information in response to any email.
If you have any questions regarding this incident, please contact us
at (407) 560-2547 during the hours of 9:00 am to 7:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Monday through Friday, and 9:00 am through 5:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Saturday and Sunday.
Sincerely,
Disney Destinations