British Gas customer login data leaked in third personal data incident in a week after TalkTalk cyber attack and Marks & Spencer technical glitch October 29, 2015 The account details of as many as 2,000 customers of British Gas have been leaked online, in the third high-profile personal data leak in less than a week. Email addresses and passwords to login to British Gas accounts were posted on the text upload website Pastebin, but the company believes the information leak was not as a result of [...]
TalkTalk cyber attack: Cybercrime UK’s single most common offence October 27, 2015 Last week’s cyber attack against telecoms firm TalkTalk has brought cybercrime back to headlines – and new figures show it is by far the largest single type of crime in the UK. Last year, 2.5 million cyber crimes and over five million cases of online fraud were committed in England and Wales, a figure recently [...]
TalkTalk cyber attack: Chief Dido Harding receives ransom email after customer’s personal data hacked October 23, 2015 TalkTalk chief Dido Harding has received an email containing ransom demands from people claiming to be behind a massive cyber attack which could have affected up to four million customers. Harding said she had personally been contacted by someone purporting to be the hacker "looking for money" she told the BBC. "If you're a cyber-criminal the days of [...]
Industry view: Adoption and collaboration are key to defeating the cyber threat September 15, 2015 Cyber-crime is now one of the most serious threats to businesses and national economies. It is rare that a week goes by without a story breaking about a business that has suff ered a cyber-attack. Already this summer in the US, Jeep Cherokee told customers to update their cars after hackers crashed a vehicle, having [...]
Faceless fears: no one hears you scream online – it is far too distant and anonymous September 15, 2015 Opening shots René Carayol THERE IS rarely a business bulletin nowadays that doesn’t mention a significant successful fraud. This is of course not the full picture, as most businesses and many consumers do not feel compelled to report their perceived lax controls. It’s now nearly always a sophisticated cyber-attack or the now more prosaic online [...]
Carphone Warehouse draws data watchdog probe after millions of customer details hacked August 10, 2015 The UK's data watchdog is investigating a huge data breach at high street retailer Carphone Warehouse which has put millions of customers at risk. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is "making enquiries" into the attack in which the private information of more than two million customers, such as card details, addresses and dates of birth, [...]
Response to Cecil the Lion’s death is a sad lesson in the irrationality of public opinion August 4, 2015 Alas poor Cecil! Close personal friend of mine, sadly dead now. The catchphrases of the Scottish comedian Bob Doolally capture the outpourings of grief among the Twitterati at the death of the now famous lion. The mourning is mixed with incoherent rage, as long-standing opponents of torture and capital punishment demand that the American dentist [...]
Ashley Madison’s hacking affair: Is a London IPO now a fling too far after data breach? July 21, 2015 Ryainair boss Michael O’Leary is no shrinking violet, but even Ashley Madison, the controversial adultery website hacked on Monday, proved too much for the colourful Irishman. The Ryanair chief was offered €120,000 (£84,350) by Ashley Madison last year to paint its logo on one of its planes, but turned them down. The incident [...]
Unfriended is the first truly terrifying horror movie about the evils of the internet May 1, 2015 Unfriended opens with a truly harrowing sequence: grainy smartphone footage shows a girl clutching something at arm’s length. There are shrieks of panic from an unseen crowd and you realise she’s holding a gun. There’s a bang and she collapses backward; you’re watching a snuff video, and one that looks horribly authentic. As Unfriended’s protagonist, [...]
Asos UK sales soar 24 per cent after biggest ever trading week over cyber weekend December 9, 2014 Online retailer Asos said UK sales rocketed after customers rushed to cash in on "cyber weekend" deals, but gains were offset by disappointing international sales. The results Total retail sales increased by 8 per cent to £246m in the three months to November 30. However, this has slowed from the previous quarter, where they grew [...]