On Thursday, TalkTalk turned off the block and TeamViewer started working again.
The BBC reported on this two days before the block, including the disturbing claim that the criminals had been able to quote stolen customer account data to make scam calls sound more convincing. We now know (as some suspected at the time) that the block was connected to abuse of TeamViewer by criminals based in India who had been using it as part of a tech support scam targeting TalkTalk customers. TeamViewer and TalkTalk are in extensive talks to find a comprehensive joint solution to better address this scamming issue. Terrible.īy Thursday, journalists dragged the truth out of the company that it had “blocked a number of applications including TeamViewer,” which led to a joint statement confirming this on TeamViewer’s website: If they can’t fix this within the day will have to cancel as I need this connection for my livelihood (sic). No access in North Yorkshire with TalkTalk – nightmare for work.
It’s a popular application with remote support professionals and power users alike and so support forums soon filled with complaints from perplexed users who noticed that access was possible with 4G and some TalkTalk business connections but not home broadband.
Last Wednesday, for no apparent reason, the TeamViewer remote desktop application stopped working on the network of one of the UK’s largest ISPs, TalkTalk.
