Ameba Login Failure and a Suspicious Login Prompt—A Request for Investigation by CyberAgent and Microsoft
2024-02-14
The following is a report to Ameba—CyberAgent, Inc.—and Microsoft Corporation.
Several years ago, I switched from Google Chrome, which I had previously used, to Edge.
Since July 2010, I had been publishing this column almost daily on Ameba as well as on goo.
It happened on August 8 last year.
Suddenly, I could no longer log in to Ameba.
As I write this, I have just remembered that the first message displayed was, “The site is currently undergoing maintenance…”
I thought, “That is strange; there should not have been any such announcement,” and checked the relevant section of Ameba just to be sure.
There was no such announcement.
Wondering what on earth was happening, I searched the internet.
I went through the login procedure again… The other day, I became convinced that this had been the method used.
By some means, someone causes this situation and makes the user go through the login procedure again.
The purpose is to steal the password.
Alarmingly, on Ameba, someone who has logged in can easily delete every chapter.
All they have to do is click the option to delete all chapters.
Why did I become convinced of this?
Last September, I discovered a higher-quality blogging site as an alternative to Ameba, joined as a paid member, and have continued publishing there.
The other day, something similar to the Ameba incident described above suddenly occurred.
For a moment, I almost panicked.
But that site belongs to a company run by exceptionally capable people.
Its executives possess the same level of intellectual ability as I do.
They would not suddenly do what the screen that appeared was suggesting.
The Ameba incident had also remained with me as a lesson.
A screen prompting me to log in had appeared.
Since I joined last September, no screen requesting that I log in had ever appeared.
Feeling that this was suspicious, I decided to shut down my PC.
When I turned it on again, no screen requesting that I log in appeared.
I was able to begin working as usual.
Microsoft, please investigate this matter concerning Edge.