National Lottery accounts feared hacked

About 26,500 National Lottery accounts are feared to have been hacked, according to its operator Camelot.

The firm said it did not believe its own systems had been compromised, but rather that the players' login details had been stolen from elsewhere.

The company said that no money had been taken from or added to the compromised accounts.

www.bbc.co.uk

It's winter - time to get out the puppy coat!

Calli isn't 100% sure about her coats. She doesn't want to put them on.

However, after she's been for a walk, she doesn't want to take them off!

Coat No1 Coat No2

Legal split imposed on BT and Openreach

Telecoms regulator Ofcom has ordered BT to legally separate from its Openreach division, which runs the UK's broadband infrastructure.

Openreach should become a distinct company within the BT group, the regulator said.

BT had not voluntarily addressed competition concerns Ofcom laid out in July, it said.

However, BT said its proposals were "fair and sustainable", and that it would continue negotiating with Ofcom.

The regulator said it was preparing a formal notification to the European Commission to start the separation process.

Ofcom has resisted calls to split Openreach off entirely, which telecoms rivals have sought.

Ofcom said BT had not gone far enough to address its concerns about BT's ability to favour its retail business when making investment decisions in Openreach.

www.bbc.co.uk

Video: Jetmen join French Air Force aerobatic team for insane formation flight

Three jetmen have taken to the skies of southern France to join the Patrouille de France aerobatic demonstration team for a "world's first" formation flight. The breathtaking aerial performance was captured on film by Airborne Films and can be seen in this video.

The Jetman Dubai team's Yves Rossy and Vincent Reffet already have an impressive formation flight feather in their cap, after flying alongside an Emirates Airbus A380 passenger jet in October 2015. Now they've been joined by fellow jet-propelled wing flyer, and local boy, Fred Fugen for a nine minute precision dance in the skies above Saint-Christol in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France for the first flight with the iconic Alphajet team.

www.youtube.com

www.newatlas.com/

Join Atul Kochhar for Curry for Change Week 2016

From 21-28 November 2016 we’re bringing together all things Curry for Change for one whole week of food, friends and most importantly, fundraising, to help change the lives of families who suffer from hunger.

www.curryforchange.org.uk

New method for distributing malware through images through social media applications such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Check Point researchers identified a new attack vector, named ImageGate, which embeds malware in image and graphic files. Furthermore, the researchers have discovered the hackers’ method of executing the malicious code within these images through social media applications such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

According to the research, the attackers have built a new capability to embed malicious code into an image file and successfully upload it to the social media website. The attackers exploit a misconfiguration on the social media infrastructure to deliberately force their victims to download the image file. This results in infection of the users’ device as soon as the end-user clicks on the downloaded file.

In the past week, the entire security industry is closely following the massive spread of the Locky ransomware via social media, particularly in its Facebook-based campaign. Check Point researchers strongly believe the new ImageGate technique reveals how this campaign was made possible, a question which has been unanswered until now.

Check Point recommends the following preventive measures:

• If you have clicked on an image and your browser starts downloading a file, do not open it. Any social media website should display the picture without downloading any file.
• Don’t open any image file with unusual extension (such as SVG, JS or HTA).

blog.checkpoint.com

Kate Bush: Before The Dawn - the new live album!

Just released today!

We were blessed to have been there at Hammy Odeon (as we used to call it) on Fri 5th September 2014. A fantastic gig & a brilliant triple (yes triple!) album.

Go on, treat yourself - I know I did!

"Before the dawn" was recorded during the incredible run of 22 sold-out shows performed by Kate at London's Hammersmith Apollo in 2014. The album will be released on Fish People and distributed by Rhino on November 25 2016.

In March 2014 Kate Bush announced plans to perform 15 shows in London in August and September that year, her first live shows since 1979.  The shows sold out so quickly that a further 7 were immediately added, with all shows selling out in 15 minutes.  This very website crashed with the demand.

The first night of the shows prompted a complete media frenzy with the Evening Standard declaring that the show was "an extraordinary mix of magical ideas, stunning visuals, attention to detail and remarkable music – she was so obviously, so unambiguously brilliant, it made last night something to tell the grandchildren about."

www.amazon.co.uk

Deal of the day: Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker

Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, 6 Litre, 1000 W, Brushed Stainless Steel/Black

No more rattles and hisses, no more adjusting the heat to regulate pressure because the Instant Pot Duo does it for you

Duo is a 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Cooker,Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Saute/Browning, Yoghurt Maker, Steamer and Warmer

Large, easy to use control panel with 14 built-in Programs, Dual pressure, Automatic keep-warm and 3 temperatures for saute and slow cook

10 proven safety mechanisms; Highly energy efficient and kitchen friendly emitting hardly any noise, heat or steam

3-ply Base stainless steel cooking pot, steam rack, manual, recipe book and cooking time tables

RRP: £169.99

Deal Price: £69.99 

You Save: £100.00 (59%)

We have one of these - it's our favourite kitchen gadget!

www.amazon.co.uk

Deal of the day: Microsoft Office 365 Home. 5 Users / 1 Year Subscription

5 Users - 1 Year Subscription: £49.98

The Office 2016 versions of: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook. 

1 TB of online storage in OneDrive.

For 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets including iPad, Android or Windows, plus 5 phones.

Easily install Office Mobile on multiple smartphones including iPhones, and Android phones (Office Mobile is already installed on Windows phones).

Includes Office 2016 for Mac.

www.amazon.co.uk

Intego security and utility software for Apple products with 50% off!

Thanksgiving always makes us happy at Intego. There is so much to be grateful for — our safety and happiness, our families and friends, and so much more. Today also gives us the opportunity to express our gratitude to you!

Thanksgiving weekend through Cyber Monday has become the biggest online shopping event of the year. For the most part, shopping online is safe — but there are always fraudsters out there looking to steal your financial information.

As our way of saying thanks, and to keep you safe this year while you shop online, beginning today through Cyber Monday you can enjoy 50% off all Intego software!

Use coupon code GIVETHANKS at checkout to get any Intego X9 software for 50% off MSRP.

www.intego.com

The Compassion Advent Calendar

I'm delighted to share this year's Compassion Advent Calendar with you.

Behind each advent door you’ll discover brand new stories and inspiring videos from Compassion-supported children, alongside a daily Bible verse and prayer point.

Sign up here to receive a daily advent email from 27th November – 24th December.

Be encouraged and unwrap joy as we share incredible stories in the lead-up to Christmas!

www.compassionuk.org

Two Wheels for Life - saving lives with support from the world of motorcycling

Riders for Health was the vision of Barry and Andrea Coleman. Barry was working as a correspondent and feature writer for The Guardian newspaper in Britain. Andrea had worked in motorcycle racing and had been a professional rider for four years. In 1986, with racing legend Randy Mamola, Save the Children told them that one of the biggest problems they had in getting the children immunised was reaching the ones in remote village because transport was so unreliable. The Colemans went to Africa - saw broken motorbikes abandoned by aid workers and ministries of health. Some only needed small repairs - or a $3 part. They realised that something must be done about this vital but neglected piece of development. Without any background in international development they made this their sole focus.  So Riders for Health was born.

Motorcycles are well-suited for harsh African landscape, where roads can be impassable with a four wheel vehicle. Barry started training programmes for riders and technicians and began to build relationships with ministries of health. They first established a fleet of 47 bikes in Lesotho that delivered health-care services from 1991 to 1996 without a single breakdown. 

25 years on, Riders has ensured that 24 million people in rural Africa now have access to health care. And Riders for Health is now Riders for Health International with the development and  management of the programmes firmly in the hands of African leadership – still using the original Riders’ systems which are sustainable, replicable and capable of operating on a large scale.

Two Wheels for Life has been established to continue the wonderful fundraising events within the world of motorcycles, such as Day of Champions. The funds raised will continue to support Riders for Health International and programmes in Africa, helping them to reach remote rural communities with life-saving healthcare. Two Wheels For Life - official charity of MotoGP™ and the FIM.

CCM Motorcycles: The New GP450 Adventure

Taking the DNA from CCM’s rich motorsport heritage, the GP450 handles as you would expect a bike should with such a sporting pedigree. A true dual-sport machine, the GP450 is as happy in Kensington as it is in Kazakhstan. The standard seat height starts at 890mm with the optional high seat increasing that to 950mm. And the great news is that there is a factory lowered option reducing that further to 790mm (or 850mm with high seat) and its now available as a NO COST option! GP450 your way – with the extensive range of accessories on offer the GP450 is ready for you to add your own personality to your bike to suit your lifestyle. BTW: the GP450 is very light at 125 kg (dry)!

www.ccm-motorcycles.com

BullGuard "Black Friday" Sale: 70% off!!!

BullGuard Internet Security

Powerful online protection consistently ranked the best

Now multiplatform - available for Windows, Mac & Android

Protects your PCs, Macs and Android devices with one single license  Robust, layered protection against all forms of viruses, spyware, malware and other online threats Potent firewall that protects you againstnetwork attacks and keeps out intruders  Powerful Parental Control helps to protect kids from cyberbullying and predators

1 Year / 3 Devices - currently £14.99!!!

http://www.bullguard.com/

Curry for Change week: 21st-28th November 2016. Eat curry, save lives!

CURRY FOR CHANGE WEEK - EAT CURRY, CHANGE LIVES!

We’re bringing together all things Curry for Change for one week of fabulous food, friends, festivities and most importantly, fundraising, to help change the lives of families who suffer from hunger.

Join top chefs such as Atul Kochhar, Vivek Singh and Cyrus Todiwala in cooking, sharing and eating curry to help change the lives of families who suffer from hunger. Get involved at home, work, school or uni.

EVERY SINGLE PENNY RAISED WILL BE DOUBLED BY NATCO FOODS.

Sign up for your free event pack or download our flyer.

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?  CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!

What does waterproof mean in motorcycle gear?

Question: When does waterproof not mean waterproof?

Obviously, we’re being a little glib here, but there’s more than a gem of truth in what we’ve said.

The fact is that the subject of waterproofing is probably the single most contentious and complex issue in the world of motorcycle apparel.

We get more questions, queries, comments and complaints about water ingress than we do about any other aspect of rider wear.

There is, or has been, we fear, a mismanagement of expectations when it comes to the ability of biking jackets, trousers, gloves or boots to keep a rider dry.

To read more click here: www.motolegends.com

Motorcycle Live at the NEC Birmingham: 19-27 November 2016

MOTORCYCLE LIVE 2016

THE WORLD OF MOTORCYCLING COMES ALIVE

Motorcycle Live is a fantastic day out for all bike enthusiasts. Representing the best products, bikes & services available from leading companies across the globe - the show is a haven for bikers of any age, or level of experience.

Offering 7 opportunities to ride, ideas to try something new or travel uncharted territory – there are endless chances to explore what biking has to offer.

Over 33 Manufacturers will be out in force offering the chance to sit on, compare, admire, question, photograph and indulge your passion. You can also get your hands on the latest technology to enhance your ride at the only place in the UK you’ll find so many different motorcycle companies under one roof.

www.motorcyclelive.co.uk

www.theticketfactory.com

Seven things motorcyclists understand that car drivers don’t

Some say every driver should spend some time on a motorcycle, because there are some lessons only riding a bike can teach you.

Of course they are correct, as shown by our 

Seven things motorcyclists understand that car drivers don't.

www.visordown.com

Gunwharf Quays evacuated: WWII German bomb found!

Gunwharf Quays has been evacuated this morning following the discovery of a WWII German bomb.

A spokesperson for the shopping centre has confirmed that the area has been cleared temporarily.

Police are warning members of the public to avoid the area.

Those evacuated from the area will be directed to the John Pound Centre, in Queen Street, one of two rest centres set up. The other is at Portsmouth Cathedral.

The 300m cordon will also require other areas to be evacuated, including the Wight Link terminal, Old Portsmouth, Portsmouth Harbour station, Gosport ferry station and the Hot Walls areas.

www.itv.com/news/meridian/

www.portsmouth.co.uk

As teenager admits hack, let's not forget TalkTalk's shameful security

TalkTalk would love the world to think that they suffered a highly sophisticated and sustained attack. The truth, however, is that they fell foul of a bog standard SQL injection attack - the type that any decent web programmer has been hardening their systems against for the last 20 years or so.

As described in this video, the SQL injection attack, combined with leaving database software unpatched 3.5 years after a fix was available, and not putting better monitoring systems in place after earlier attacks, meant that TalkTalk was easy prey for a 16-year-old hacker to breach their systems.

The boy, now 17 years old, pleaded guilty at Norwich Youth Court today to seven charges under the Computer Misuse Act.

Budget Android phones are secretly sending users’ text messages to China

Software installed on some Android phones secretly monitored users, and even sent keyword-searchable, full text message archives to a Chinese server every 72 hours, according to research from security firm Kryptowire.

The software, which also tracked users’ location data and call logs, was written by the Chinese company Shanghai Adups Technology Company, but its purposes — state surveillance or advertising - are unknown. “This isn’t a vulnerability, it’s a feature,” Kryptowire vice president of product Tom Karygiannis told The Verge.

Adups claims to have software running on more than 700 million, mostly low-end devices, and says it has partnered with some major manufacturers like Huawei and ZTE, but the scope of the installed software is also unclear. (Huawei and ZTE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) At least one US manufacturer, BLU Products, was affected, with 120,000 phones reportedly running the tracking software.

www.theverge.com

The NHS's 1.2 Million Employees Are Trapped in a 'Reply-All' Email Thread

The NHS's 1.2 million employees are currently trapped in a "reply-all" email hell.

A "test" email was accidentally sent to everyone who works at the UK health service — prompting a series of reply-all responses from annoyed recipients going out to all 1-million-plus employees of the organisations.

An NHS employee told Business Insider that there have been at least 120 replies so far — meaning that more than 140 million needless emails have been sent across the NHS's network today. As a result, they said, its email systems are running "very slow today."

uk.businessinsider.com

Remembrance Service at Southsea

Kim & I were pleased to again attend the remembrance service at Southsea this morning.

We were blessed with lovely weather for the ride & service at the war memorial.

This wonderful and very moving annual gathering is organised by The Royal British Legion Riders Branch and very well attended by motorcyclists, scooter riders & trikes.

Our part of the ride meet at & started from IBM North Harbour and ride out through Hilsea, Copnor, Eastney, etc to Southsea. I struggle to estimate how many bikes were there this year, but certainly number in the many hundreds.

We are so thankful to all who have served & still serve in our armed forces, risking life & limb that we may live free and happy lives. May God bless them all. We will remember them.

YouTube: The ride & Southsea

The Royal British Legion Riders Branch

Facebook: Southsea Remembrance Service

Fancy a "nice" cuppa? Then please buy Fairtrade tea & coffee.

If you are drinking tea, I suggest you put down the cup right now because I've got bad news for you. You can forget those pretty pictures of happy women in saris on rolling green hillsides that you see on some tea packets. That is not the reality for most tea workers.

Last year, a BBC team that revealed the appalling conditions for workers and their families on estates that grow tea for some of the biggest brands in the world. Findings in the Indian state of Assam prompted the companies that own Tetley's, Twinings, Liptons, PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea to say they would work to improve conditions on the estates they buy from in India.

But this week, the World Bank confirmed standards in the industry remain dire.

So what can we do about this? Stop buying the "big brands" and spend our money ethically: buy Fairtrade products. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers.

www.bbc.co.uk - September 2015

www.bbc.co.uk - November 2016 (update)

www.fairtrade.org.uk

www.coop.co.uk

What went wrong at Tesco Bank?

Tesco Bank has enlisted the help of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) following the most serious cyber-attack launched against a UK bank.

The attack against the supermarket giant's banking arm involved the theft of £2.5m from 9,000 customers' accounts, funds that the bank quickly reimbursed. Initially theft against 20,000 accounts was feared but this figure was revised downwards late on Tuesday night.

Ian Mann, chief exec of cyber-security service ECSC, said the size of the breach indicates that is it likely that either Tesco's internal systems, or its mobile application, have been hacked.

Tesco Bank's method of access for customers is "weak for this type of system", according to Mann. "Username is your email by default, and you only need digits from a numeric PIN. By requiring limited digits from the PIN on login, they make it virtually impossible to hash (encrypt) the PINs they have stored. This means a compromise of their customer database will reveal all logins and passwords to the attacker."

Researchers hack Philips Hue smart bulbs from the sky

Researchers were able to take control of some Philips Hue lights using a drone. Based on an exploit for the ZigBee Light Link Touchlink system, white hat hackers were able to remotely control the Hue lights via drone and cause them to blink S-O-S in Morse code.

The drone carried out the attack from more than a thousand feet away. Using the exploit, the researchers were able to bypass any prohibitions against remote access of the networked light bulbs, and then install malicious firmware. At that point the researchers were able to block further wireless updates, which apparently made the infection irreversible.

“There is no other method of reprogramming these [infected] devices without full disassemble (which is not feasible). Any old stock would also need to be recalled, as any devices with vulnerable firmware can be infected as soon as power is applied,” according to the researchers.

www.pcworld.com

Trump: "You can't review 650,000 new emails in 8 days".

Actually Mr Trump - you can: in fact, it's easy.

It's with this new-fangled contraption called a computer...

www.grahamcluley.com

Steve Ballmer: “I probably did some of my very best work at the company after Bill left”

Yup... It's been three years since Steve Ballmer left Microsoft, handing over to Satya Nadella. Despite describing his successes and failures at the company as “ancient history” in an interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, he does reveal some interesting thoughts on his time at the home of Windows, Xbox and, uh, Clippy.

www.alphr.com

Mimicking nature turns sewage into biocrude oil in minutes

Biofuels are often touted as an alternative to fossil fuels, but many depend on raw materials that would quickly become scarce if production were scaled up. As an alternative to these alternatives, the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has found a way to potentially produce 30 million barrels of biocrude oil per year from the 34 billion gal (128 billion liters) of raw sewage that Americans create every day.

newatlas.com

40,000 Tesco Bank accounts compromised by fraud

Tesco Bank can confirm that, over the weekend, some of its customers’ current accounts have been subject to online criminal activity, in some cases resulting in money being withdrawn fraudulently.

We apologise for the worry and inconvenience that this has caused for customers, and can only stress that we are taking every step to protect our customers’ accounts. That is why, as a precautionary measure, we have taken the decision today to temporarily stop online transactions from current accounts. This will only affect current account customers. While online transactions will not be available, current account customers will still be able to use their cards for cash withdrawals, chip and pin payments, and all existing bill payments and direct debits will continue as normal. We are working hard to resume normal service on current accounts as soon as possible.

We continue to work with the authorities and regulators to address the fraud and will keep our customers informed through regular updates on our website, Twitter and direct communication.

We can reassure customers that any financial loss as a result of this activity will be resolved fully by Tesco Bank, and we are working to refund accounts that have been subject to fraud as soon as possible.

www.tescobank.com

www.bbc.co.uk

Dongle dilemma provokes Apple price cut. "It Just Works". Meh...

In its ever-escalating war against connectivity ports, Apple’s latest computers do away with the SD card port, a full-size USB port, and the HDMI port.

Instead, you’ll need a dongle to convert those “legacy” connectors, as Apple put it on Friday, into the new, smaller USB-C port.

"We recognize that many users, especially pros, rely on legacy connectors to get work done today and they face a transition,” the company said in a statement, without acknowledging that Apple’s newest iPhone, released just last month, is one such “legacy” device - without a dongle (or a different cable, sold separately), you can’t connect Apple’s new smartphone to Apple’s new laptop.

www.bbc.co.uk

Browser hanging? Don't call that support number! It's a scam!

Users can protect themselves against this scam by avoiding clicking on suspicious links, including those that might be shortened. If they come into contact with the scam, they can try to disable the browser process using the Task Manager. If that proves fruitless, they should reboot their computer.

www.grahamcluley.com

UK to increase national cyber-defence grid

Automatic defences to stop hackers hijacking websites or spoofing official domains will get a boost from a £1.9bn government cybersecurity strategy.

Chancellor Philip Hammond will give details of the plans in a speech later.

Other defences that intercept booby-trapped emails or shut down thieves impersonating bank websites will also be expanded.

...Prof Alan Woodward, a computer security expert from the University of Surrey, said he hoped the government spent cash on the "high volume, low sophistication attacks" that plague people and cause the majority of financial losses.

www.bbc.co.uk

www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk