Author: Mike

Providing IT support and solution to small and medium businesses. Servicing Edinburgh, Livingston, Fife and surrounding areas. Responsive, Flexible, Professional and friendly local support.

Biggest Personal Data Breach Puts Password Effectiveness In The Spotlight

Password-based authentication has long been known to be less secure than other methods such as multi-step verification or biometrics, but a massive leak of a staggering 87GB of 772.9 million emails, 21.2 million passwords and 1.1 billion email address and password combinations recently shared on hacking forums has brought the inherent weaknesses of password authentication…
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Google’s £44 Million GDPR Fine

Google has been fined a massive 50 million euros (£44m) for breach of GDPR dating back to May 2018 and relating to how well people were informed about how Google collected data to personalise advertising, and the matter of consent. Who? Google (Alphabet Inc) has been fined £44 million by the French data regulator CNIL. …
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Over Half Of Us Will Buy Food Online By 2021

A study by Capgemini has found that more than half of UK consumers will order their groceries from online retailers by 2021. 40% Now The study found that a massive 40% of customers already do their grocery shopping online, and that 43% of customers shop for food online at least once a week.  Big Issues…
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£15K Fine For Ignoring Data Access Requests

SCL Elections, the parent company of the now defunct Cambridge Analytica which was famously involved in the Facebook profile harvesting scandal, has been fined £15,000 for failing to respond to a data access request from a US citizen, and for ignoring an enforcement notice by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Data Protection Act The…
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Fake News Fact Checkers Working With Facebook

London-based, registered charity ‘Full Fact’ will now be working for Facebook, reviewing stories, images and videos, in an attempt to tackle misinformation that could “damage people’s health or safety or undermine democratic processes”. Why? The UK Brexit referendum, the 2017 UK general election, and the U.S. presidential election were both found to have suffered interference in…
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Warning – TV Licensing Scam Operating

Action Fraud, the UK’s Cybercrime reporting centre, has warned that fake TV licence payment scam emails have generated 5,247 complaints between 1st October and the end of December, with 1,983 complaints in December alone. What Emails? According to Action Fraud, the highly convincing scam involves sending people emails that use headlines such as “correct your…
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UK Government Warns ‘No Deal’ Brexit Could Mean Get A .COM Replacement For Your .EU

The UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has issued advice to holders of .eu domains that, in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, they may need to switch to another top-level domain such as .com and may also need to seek legal advice. What? Why?? The government guidance, published online on…
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Contactless Card Fraud Has Doubled

The UK’s fraud reporting service, Action Fraud, has reported that contactless card fraud doubled in 2018 to £1.8m stolen compared with £711,000 in 2017. Average Theft Amount Increased The latest Action Fraud figures have also revealed that the average theft through contactless fraud in 2018 rose to was £657, compared with £493 in 2017. Back…
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Apple Blames China In Revenue Warning To Investors

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, has issued a revenue warning for this quarter to investors, and pointed to challenges in China as being one of the main downward driving forces. Letter Bearing in mind that Apple is one of America’s (and the world’s) tech giants, and that it became the world’s first trillion-dollar public company back in August…
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Drone Laws Promised After Airport Chaos

The chaos caused to flights from Gatwick just before Christmas (and latterly, Heathrow) by drone sightings near the airports has prompted Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, to announce new counter-drone measures to be taken to protect UK airports. Increased Exclusion Zone Mr Grayling, speaking in the House of Commons as the government published its response to…
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