Category: information

December 7, 2016

What Are Tracking Cookies?

Definitely not a Mary Berry special, tracking cookies are used by websites to track your browser actions.

Well that sounds bad – is it?

Yes and no.

Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your computer by your browser – they may be used to maintain the list of items in your shopping cart for example. Cookies are used by websites to remember important information which can help your browsing experience e.g. not having to keep logging in.

So, what are tracking cookies?

Tracking Cookies are a specific type of cookie that is used across multiple websites to track which websites you use. This may be so a website can present tailored information to you e.g. if you access a shopping site and look at specific products then you may find the next sites you visit show adverts for those same products.

For some people this is a step forward from random adverts but for others it’s an invasion of privacy.

Tracking cookies are commonly used to build records of people’s browsing histories. Concern over this invasion of privacy prompted European Union and American legislators to take action in 2011. EU law requires all websites targeting EU member states gain “informed consent” from users before storing non-essential cookies on their device.

How to Block Tracking Cookies

Your browser will have privacy settings that allow you to block tracking cookies (sometime called third party cookies).

Some browsers have an option called ‘Do not Track’ which should have the same effect as blocking the third party cookies but not all websites implement this properly so it’s best to find the option to block.

To access the privacy settings you should find Settings on your browser menu then select privacy or security options.

How to Remove Tracking Cookies

Your anti-virus software will not normally remove tracking cookies but Internet Security packages will do and so will any anti-malware packages. Also there is software that will just remove tracking cookies in order to maintain your privacy.

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December 1, 2016

Major Organisations Hacked in the UK in 2016

There have been a lot of company data breaches in 2016 in the UK but the three biggest known such breaches are

Three mobile phone company
Tesco bank
Sage business software company

Three Mobile

Three, one of Britain’s largest mobile operators revealed it’s had a major data breach that could put millions of its customers at risk. Hackers accessed Three’s customer upgrade database via using an employee login. They didn’t get access to any financial data but did access names, phone numbers, addresses and dates of birth of its customers.

Tesco Bank

Tesco Bank which is part of Tesco supermarkets, had to freeze the online accounts of online customers as 20,000 people had money stolen from their accounts.

You can imagine what the customers thought of suddenly finding their bank cards were rejected. Everywhere and then for some that money had disappeared from their accounts.

Tesco Bank, which has over seven million customer accounts, has said it will cover any financial costs of the breach.

Sage

Sage is a business software company and is part of the FTSE-100 index.

Sage said their data breach could have compromised the personal data of 280 businesses that use Sage.

Attitudes to Data Breaches

A recent survey into attitudes towards organisations that have experienced data breaches shows that 84 percent of respondents would reduce or stop using an organisation’s products or services following breaches, and only 16 percent of respondents would continue to use an organisation’s products or services as usual.

Respondents were asked: “If you found out an organisation whose products or services you use had multiple data breaches, which of the following best describes how you would react?”

16 percent – I would continue to use their products or services as usual

27 percent – I would limit my usage of their products or services

37 percent – I would only use their products or services if I had no alternatives

20 percent – I would stop using their products or services completely

Businesses (especially those in the public eye such as FTSE-100 companies) need to understand that if their online security is not up to standard and they are hacked – that has a chilling effect on their customers and it will be hard to repair their reputation.

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November 30, 2016

Trading Standards Scambuster Teams

The Government’s 2005 Consumer Strategy ‘A Fair Deal for All’, set out a commitment to Regional Trading Standards Scambuster teams.

These teams concentrate on doorstep crime, cowboy builders, online scammers, “get rich quick” schemes, large scale scams and more. They work with other agencies to bring the scammers to justice and have had much success in stopping scammers.

e.g. The Scambuster Wales Team, established by Wales Heads of Trading Standards, was launched in April 2009 and is managed from City of Newport Trading Standards with teams of officers based in the North and South of Wales. The team is comprised of dedicated Trading Standards Officers and experienced ex Police Officers, who work alongside officers from the Police, HM Revenue & Customs and other enforcement agencies. They work across local authority boundaries focusing on the hardest to tackle scams and rogue traders that set out to rip people off.

The team has demonstrated new ways of working through targeted, proactive, intelligence led enforcement. There is now much closer co-operation and data sharing between trading standards and other agencies, partly due to the level of criminality the team has investigated.

Q. What do the scambusters team do that trading standards services can’t?

Dishonest activity is not confined by local authority boundaries. The Scambuster team has the ability to work across a region to tackle the more serious cases. Level 2 criminality describes crime which crosses local authority boundaries. The team aims to tackle such criminality by working on behalf of individual local authority Trading Standards Services. In some cases the team acts as an additional resource or it can be tasked by individual services to carry out investigations on their behalf.

Q. How can I get in touch with the Team?

Check on the Internet – http://www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/work-areas/scambuster-teams/ shows a list of the scambuster teams.

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November 25, 2016

Government Moves to Stop Pension Scammers

Millions of pensioners are being targeted annually by cold callers in the wake of the recent changes to allow more freedoms for pensions.

Baroness Altmann, a former pensions minister, has said that she repeatedly tried to ban cold calling for pensions but was blocked by officials who claimed that it “wasn’t possible”.

However, things have changed as Philip Hammond, the chancellor, intends to announce plans to make cold calling of pension savers illegal in his first Autumn Statement as part of a wider crackdown on scams.

Cold callers often offer investment opportunities, such as investing your pension pot in a new housing estate or garages or a hotel in an exotic location.

Pension scams have been a growing concern for policymakers since Mr Osborne’s flagship changes to pension rules in April 2015 that gave millions of over-55s full freedom to cash in their cash and this created new opportunities for fraudsters.

An estimated £19 million was lost to pension fraud in the first year of the pension freedoms, as people cashed in around £6bn of their retirement savings.

What Are The Government’s Plans?

All cold calls where a business has no existing relationship with the individual will be forbidden.

Those include scammers targeting people who inadvertently “opt in” to receiving third-party communications.
Enforcement action by the Information Commissioner’s Office could include fines of up to £500,000.
The government wants to give pension providers more power to block suspicious transfers and to make it harder for scammers to set up a pension plan to facilitate fraudulent transfers.

The Police have said that the amount of money being taken from pensioners in scams relating to pensions scams has almost doubled in the past year from £10m to £18m.

The government is expected to outline further steps on its proposals in the 2017 Budget.

Phillip Hammond claims the move, will protect millions of vulnerable people and cut off the main route through which cowboys trick people out of their life savings.

In his first major Commons set-piece statement, the Chancellor will pledge to bring an end to the misery brought about by the millions of scam calls that happen every year in the UK.

November 16, 2016

Unexpected Facts About Scams

A scan of 22 million PCs by security firm Panda Labs showed that nearly 12 million of them were infected. That could mean that half of the world’s PCs are be infected with viruses, Trojans, spyware and other malware.
The typical victim of a lottery money scam loses around $3,000, usually for supposed tax, administration or Customs fees, while those who fall for advance fee scams lose, on average, up to $4,000. The average identity theft victim gets taken for $5,000.
Scammers profile their victims — they know who makes the best target. For instance, a woman aged 70-plus is the most common target for a lottery scam, while a man in the 55-61 age range is the most common investment fraud victim. However, the age group that attracts the most scams is the 30-39 year olds.
Almost two-thirds of people incorrectly believe a cheque is valid if a bank pays out funds on it. (It’s not, and if the cheque subsequently bounces, the account holder is responsible for repaying any money they withdrew.)
On average, 3,500 new sites harbouring malware are set up every day. Online security experts McAfee reckon there are now more than 1.2 million different types of Internet malware.
10 million people were said to be victims of identity theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission a total of 30 million Americans ages 18 and older, or 13.5% of the U.S. adult population, were victims of consumer fraud of one type or another during a one-year period.
Half of all identity thieves in a recent study came from a middle class background, had a college education and an otherwise conventional lifestyle. Most of them had jobs and their main motivation was to buy luxuries. In other words, they’re not all serial crooks or drug addicts.
In 2005, before Hurricane Katrina even made landfall, there were 200 phoney Katrina aid websites. In a recent intervention, the Nigerian Government shut down 800 fraudulent sites.
An estimated total of 125 trillion spam messages have been sent out in the past five years, says Project Honeypot.
The scam ratio for work-at-home jobs posted online is 59:1. In other words, out of every 60 advertised jobs, only one is genuine.

November 2, 2016

Website: Get Safe Online

Get Safe Online (www.getsafeonline.org) say they are a jointly-funded initiative between several Government departments and a number of private sector businesses. They also benefit from the input of other organisations in the form of technical expertise, intelligence and advice.

It is backed by Barclays, City of London Police, Gumtree, Kaspersky (security software), Nat West, Paypal, Tesco and more. So this is a well funded and informed website.

Get Safe Online claims to be is the UK’s leading source of unbiased, factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety.

The website is a useful resource providing practical advice on how to protect yourself, your computers and mobiles device and your business against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other problems encountered online. It contains guidance on many other related subjects too – including performing backups and how to avoid theft or loss of your computer, smartphone or tablet. Every conceivable topic is included on the site – including safe online shopping, gaming and dating … so now you really can stay safe with everything you do online.

The site also keeps you up to date with news, tips and stories from around the world.

Get Safe Online is not only a website, they also organise national events – such as Get Safe Online week – and work closely with law enforcement agencies and other bodies in support of their outreach activity, internal awareness and customer online safety.

The site is divided into Personal and Business

Personal has advice on everything from protecting your computer to backups and safe disposal of a computer.

The business side has data protection, security planning, fraud and so on. Lots of very good content.

There’s also a social media presence – particularly with Twitter.

This website is well worth a visit.

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