Posted on December 2, 2019 at 7:51 AM

Hacking Spree as Attackers Reactivate Cancelled Accounts on Netflix

Those who were once on Netflix but for one reason or the other decided to cancel their subscriptions are waking up to an interesting surprise. They are noticing that their accounts are being reactivated without their knowledge or approval.

For those who may be wondering how this was even possible at all, it is part of the hacking spree going on.

Netflix under Attack

It was clear that the hackers were able to successfully log in and then proceeded with the reactivation of the canceled subscriptions. One of the most intriguing things about this is that the hackers were able to get everything done without even making use of the bank account information of the subscribers.

In other words, they did not need to have your credit card details before getting the canceled accounts back to life again.

Some may wonder how this is even possible at all as it sounds like the stuff of science fiction. Well, it so happens that it was made possible by Netflix itself. This is because the movie streaming giant keeps the data of the customers even after they have canceled their accounts.

They keep these vital details for almost one year even after you might have thought that you had already canceled your account and was done with it already.

Actually, Netflix has a justification for keeping the records of the customer who has decided to terminate his or her account. This is because it makes it a lot easier for the customer to get the account recovered whenever he or she wishes to rejoin again.

However, not everyone is still comfortable with Netflix storing their details when they have decided to close the accounts by themselves. For this category of people, there is the option of getting their details off the records of Netflix totally and once and for all.

All they need to do is to specifically request that they want their data to be deleted. This can be done by sending an email to Netflix itself.

Customers’ Experience

It was the flaw stated above that the hackers decided to make use of to carry out their attacks. Emily Keen is a former Netflix user who actually canceled her subscription as far back as April earlier in the year.

But it was to her surprise to discover than in September, she had almost 12 pounds deducted from her account. She made an attempt to login to her account but got a shocker. She stated that her email and password were rejected.

While narrating her experience to the BBC, she explained that the hackers had totally changed her login details after they had signed her up for the costliest service on Netflix.

Netflix told her that her card was going to be blocked and that she was also going to be issued a refund. But that did not happen, she was still charged for October and November and got only a partial refund. Several other users have the same experience and took to social media to lament and complain to the streaming enterprise.