'Over the course of the past six to eight months, we have collected numerous emails from ICQ members who have been concerned about the issue of password retrieval,' Graham said. ICQ has spent the past few years putting out fires on the account-theft front, including an incident this year in which an account was held for ransom.Īfter studying ICQ account theft for six months, AOL last month implemented a revised password retrieval system that it says will prevent unauthorized ICQ members from taking over other accounts. 'We are confident that the new password retrieval system is clearly doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing, which is maintaining the integrity of ICQ accounts and passwords for the legitimate users of these accounts,' said AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham. One ICQ message board is full of complaints from members who say ICQ is shutting them out of their accounts without warning or explanation.ĪOL dismissed those complaints, saying that the new password retrieval method is working according to plan. While AOL said response to the new system has been positive overall, complaints abound from members finding themselves shut out of ICQ. ICQ (short for 'I seek you') accounts are numbered sequentially, and early accounts with low numbers are valuable targets for malicious hackers.

America Online's efforts to bolster security for its ICQ instant messaging service are drawing complaints from some people who say the measures have locked them out of their accounts.ĪOL earlier this year revamped ICQ password verification procedures to stop account hijackings, which have been a persistent problem for the service.

What is an icq account