Category: Cyber Crime

Friends Against Scams

FriendsAgainstScams
FAS Shield ScamChampion

SCAMChampion

We’ve pledged to help people become more Scam Aware

There are 2020 SCAMChampion’s in the UK and tinsleyNET are proud to be one of them. We’ve pledged to help spread awareness of scams, the techniques used and common and newly spreading scams.

We’re doing this by hosting a series of free to attend online training sessions, and by providing a Be Scam Aware service via email and Facebook where you can send copies of your suspected scam and we can check it for you.

We’re also encouraging people to become a Friend Against Scams by taking a free, short online course and joining the 623,397 Friends Against Scams already registered.

If you have suspected scam, you can send it to us by email or post it into our Facebook Group ‘Be Scam Aware’

FAS Shield ScamMarshal 1

Scam Marshal

We’re dedicated to identifying Scams

There are 1722 Scam Marshals in the UK, and tinsleyNET are proud to be one of them. We’re working to help identify new scams as the spread and try to make people aware of the scam before they encounter it.

The number of people who are victims to scams every year.

The number of scams that get reported.

The number of people that have been targeted by a scam five times or more.

More than 53% of victims are aged 65 or over.

The cost to the UK economy is estimated between £5-£10 billion a year.

The number of victims every year who are too embarrassed to tell anyone they have fallen victim to a scam.

To contact Friends Against Scams:

FAS Shield Organisation

Friends Against Scams Organisation

As one of only 260 Friends Against Scams Organisations we’re working to raise awareness of scams in organisations and charities that we work with

Other points of contact

Here are some more organisations that are helping to tackle the scams.

To contact the Police Action Fraud team:

To contact National Trading Standards – Scams Team

To report scam mail to the Royal Mail:

Passwords

tinsleyNET Admin
Passwords

PASSWORDS

They are a requirement of modern life on the internet. But what makes for a good password? how can you have a different password for each site? and what is 2FA?

We’ve cobbled together the best tips and tricks for managing your passwords and keeping your accounts safe.

Jump to: Good Passwords V Bad Passwords, Worst Password List, Check Password Strength, Reusing Passwords, Pwned Email, Don’t Remember Passwords, 2FA, USB Security Keys

Read more

British Airways Data Breach

tinsleyNET Admin
Security Feature

British Airways have said that about 380,000 card payments made on its website and mobile app between 10.58pm on 21st August and 9.45 on 5th September have been compromised.

Data Types

Personal and financial information of customers during that period were compromised, British Airways say that no travel details or passport information was taken.

What Happened?

The information from BA states that “This was a very sophisticated effort by criminal gangs” to obtain the information, they say that the encryption used by the airline was not compromised.

BA have notified the ICO and the NCA about the incident and are working with them to assess the best course of action.

From the information given, it appears likely that the information was stolen from it’s website processing mechanism, maybe a rogue snippet of code was added, possibly by a third party app, that allowed the information to be scraped off the page or app before being sent for processing.

What Should I Do?

British Airways have said they are in the process of contacting affected customers and have advised they contact their banks or card providers and follow their advice. They have said they will compensate any customers who have a financial loss as a result of the breach.

If you have used British Airways during the 15 day window, you should contact your bank or card issuer as a precaution and monitor your transactions for any suspicious activity.

BA have said that their systems are working normally and the breach should not have any impact on existing flight arrangements. If the ICO find that BA have been negligent of their data security, under the new GDPR laws they could face fines of up to £500 million.

Piggy-Back Scams

It’s likely that fraudsters will try to capitalise on this breach by sending out fake emails, texts, phone calls or messages via social media. As always they will be out to scam you, and you’re unlikely to be compensated if you fall for one of these piggy-back scams.

Always follow some simple precautions, if you receive emails or any other contact claiming to be from British Airways or your bank, check the authenticity of the sender and any information in it. Call a known trusted number for the sender to check the email is genuine before acting on it.

Cyber Security Breaches 2018

tinsleyNET Admin
Cyber Security Sqr

Cyber Security Review 2018

With only a month to go until the new Data Privacy regulations come into force, we;ve taken a look at the Cyber Security Breaches report released from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Read more

UK Cybercrime in global top 5

tinsleyNET Admin
tinsleyNET Security Services

UK Cybercrime is increasing

A recent report on Internet Security and cybercrime has shown that UK users are among the most targeted in the world, with both home users and businesses being attacked daily, and over half a billion personal records stolen in 2015.

The report highlights some shocking statistics that show just how big the cybercrime problem is. Read more

Cyber Crime 2015

tinsleyNET Admin
tinsleyNET Security Services

Cybercrime is becoming big business

The total number of individuals in the UK who have been the target of cybercrime jumped in 2015, with nearly 44% of consumers in the UK who have now reported cybercrime.

2015 was responsible for 22% of those, with the average cost to the user at £1300.

Of those who reported cybercrime, shockingly nearly half said they had not taken additional precautions while on the internet, such as changing passwords. Read more