Virgin Net claims to have repelled advances from an eager suitor who attempted to hack into its network.

Although it claims there was no penetration and the security of the service was not compromised, 170,000 users had their service suspended over the weekend and have now been urged to change their passwords - just in case. This morning-after remedy appears to be a belt and braces solution to something that may or may not have happened.

In a statement issued the company said that it became aware of a "potential email security breach" last Thursday that may have affected "the integrity" of 25 per cent of accounts. Two days later it decided to "temporarily disable the incoming mail service" and told users to change their password details. ®