Posts by AW-S

Sage Copilot grounded briefly to fix AI misbehavior

Sage have no idea who's data was shared to unauthorised parties

We use the Sage cloud based accounting platform. It's a very popular package with small to medium sized businesses and following our own risk assessment we implemented it about 3 years ago. It work(ed) well etc.

However, following the report here - and Sage's response to El Reg - I thought we would simply ask them one question. "Was our data shared with any other Sage user during or due to this incident?".

It's a simple enough question and five days later they have written to us with the following response:

"Sage Copilot > CASE-<redacted>

Dear <redacted>,

Thank you for contacting us. We are aware of your request for confirmation as to whether your data has been shared to a third party based on the Sage Accounting inc Sage Copilot issue we had last week. We will look into this and will come back to you with more information once we have investigated.

Kind regards

<redacted name> She/Her/Hers

Customer Relations Specialist

Office 0191 4795989 (UK)"

There's the real problem - they have no idea - and we are not even on the AI/CoPilot trial.

This suggests that even if you are not on the trial, you data has been leaked or used to train the system and been made available to others.

This isn't going to end well for Sage.

UK and US cops band together to tackle Qilin's ransomware shakedowns

Re: The title is no longer required.

If you look up Synnovis, the organisation actually attacked, you might be forgiven for thinking it was a big corporation.

Its most recent accounts up to 2023 show income of just under GBP 200 million.

That's likely to be a lot high during 2023 and into 2024.

The document, at 56 pages, makes interesting reading. No mention in the risk section of their own IT, letalone how vulnerable it might be. Just everybody else.

But the good news - from their June 4th press release is that - "We take cybersecurity very seriously at Synnovis and have invested heavily in ensuring our IT arrangements are as safe as they possibly can be".

UK's Total Fitness exposed nearly 500K images of members, staff through unprotected database

Re: Don't hand over data like this. Just walk away.

"OK for a hotel or an airline or ferry operator, but for a gym?"

It's not OK for a hotel to take an image of your passport. Airlines and (international) Ferries, yes.

Qilin: We knew our Synnovis attack would cause a healthcare crisis at London hospitals

Re: No need to pay the ransom

" it's only little peoples' data that's been lost anyway"

That's not what has happened.

The systems used to process tests and returning results has been targeted and is now inoperable. It uses minimal patient data - in fact it uses keys to anonymise the patient name etc. What has happened is that important tests being conducted around the clock, with results informing medical decisions, are now having to be processed and reported manually. Time consuming at best and limiting throughput.

The real story here is why the hospital DR plans failed to operate.

The reason for these systems failing so badly is that the two key NHS Trusts involved, used each other for their backup - but all used the same single service provider. Most of us would have recognised this potential problem early on.

The good news is that many other NHS Trusts and their laborartory services were about to do down the same route - but are now recalualting the risks. Some good may come from this attack.

Battery electric vehicles lose their spark in Europe as hybrids steal the show

"But it seems like the buyers find it easier to fill them up at the pump than remember to plug them in at night"

Plug them in where at night? For a very large number of people they have no driveway and no on-street charging point anywhere near their property.

Ooh, an update. Let's install it. What could possibly go wro-

Re: Windows NT 4 SP2

Until you actually reach an age where you cannot remember CP/M.

T-Mobile US figuring out international roaming on 5G

So the challenge is?

The article isn't clear to me what the challenge is. Technical or marketing/pricing?

2033 is doomsday for 2G and 3G in the UK

Re: "We told you so"?

"Aren't meters replaced every 10 years anyway"

Bought house in 1986.

The electricity and gas meters were changed for the first time this year with the "smart" versions. 35 years service each and they didn't look new when we moved in.

How do you call support when the telephones go TITSUP*?

Re: Divert

Nice try.

I warn my clients against allowing 118nnn call-though charges - and we therefore block the entire range. That means that everyone pays the same for DQ.

With respect to your attempt at humour, I'm always happy to split the bill equally (rather than going dutch), even though I don't drink alcohol or have a third course. Being vegetarian also means I cost a lot less than most meat/fish eaters too.

I'll give you a thumbs up because you reminded my of the "Who Dares Wins" sketch about splitting the bill. It's here @ 41:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6S9MLkAHLw - and that was funny.

Next....

Re: Divert

This was a popular scam by some employees - divert their landline DDI to a family/friend number in a high cost overseas location. On a BT Monarch based PBX *21* had to be entered on the handset itself - so one diverted number per weekend.

On some Mitel SX2000s you could call your voicemail from outside and change the forwarding on the fly. So calls to all your family and friends overseas.

There were really only a couple of countries that showed up on the call logger and this was almost expected behaviour by some groups of employees, I'm sorry to say.

Not such a problem now, as every site I manage now has UK premium rate/DQ blocked and overseas calls with a certain > per minute charge blocked too.

UK watchdog's punishment for Blackbaud, Easyjet, other big privacy lawbreakers was slap on the wrist in private

Re: an implausible £18bn in damages

Ah, but you don't deal with the Home Office every 10 years - your data is used constantly and every time you travel into and out of the UK etc.

The data at the passport office is also increasingly used to help confirm you identity, for example by providing your photo image to other "agencies", such a for renewing photo driving licences.

Re: an implausible £18bn in damages

I totally agree.

easyJet require accurate details to then allow you to fly. Perhaps we need a system whereby the airlines use something akin to car rental (for checking driving licence details) so that they enquire directly to the passport office?

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey rebrands himself a 'single point of failure' and quits

Re: Get while the getting's good?

"Square, by contrast, has privacy and regulatory problems"

It has, but the direction of travel is much clearer for Square.

Regulations around Twitter and similar platforms are only just about to get serious.

Server errors plague app used by Tesla drivers to unlock their MuskMobiles

Re: Well they did one thing right...

"Seriously, that is a problem?"

Actually it is, on my wife's very expensive Volvo.

You cannot move the drivers seat without starting the power (central knob) and you cannot do that without depressing the brake pedal at the same time.

It requires a certain flexibility an overweight like me struggles with.

Re: Physical key

"These [key cards] don't use the Internet to work"

Do they require the vehicle to have power to read the card?

Physical keys open locks - even when powered central locking fails. I know this when returning to long stay at the airport and finding the car "dead".

Re: Well they did one thing right...

I have one of those "hidden" keys. Trouble is when I needed to use it the car was still loaded with my wife's profile. I had to adjust the seat back 300mm just to get in.

The next time she used the car, her profile now had all the changes I had made; you know seat distance, mirrors, Jazz FM rather than Heart, dashboard in metric rather than imperial.

Bloody nightmare, as the car doesn't create profile backups to my iCloud account!

There's something to be said for delayed gratification when Windows 11 is this full of bugs

Re: Windows Update makes me happy

I am rather worried tonight.

One of our systems has advised it can be upgraded to W11.

I am going to wake up tomorrow and find it's too late to prevent this from happening.

Cisco requires COVID-19 shots for all US staff – even remote workers

Re: now even the latest can understand

It's hardly a meaningless post.

How does forcing a Cisco employee, who works remotely, take a leaky vaccine make sense to the risk assessment?

If it does, EVERY Cisco employee on planet Earth will need to be vaccinated, because they are all "remote".

Re: now even the latest can understand

I upvoted you - making it 3 - 3.

I am not sure why 3 people would disagree with you on this point.

Facebook fined £50m in UK for 'conscious' refusal to report info and 'deliberate failure to comply' during Giphy acquisition probe

Re: Facebook reeks despite the name change

I'll refer to them as WindscaleBook from now on.

User locked out of Microsoft account by MFA bug, complains of customer-hostile support

Re: I 2FAiled recently...

MS 2FA issues I have experienced are:

1-they do not seem to allow SMS to landline numbers - which works well in the UK for other 2FA

2-prohibit the use of certain ranges of "VoIP" numbers e.g. 020 3 - but do allow a ported to VoIP, 020 7 number

3-emailing to addresses that have a single character before the @ sign

Got caught out with each of these limitations during the last twelve months.

Danish artist pockets museum's cash and calls it art... and other stories

Re: Radio4: Absolute Power

""It wasn't what we had agreed on in the contract, but we got new and interesting art," Kunsten CEO Lasse Andersson told NPR"

Since the CEO of the gallery made the above comment and hasn't mentioned theft or fraud, I suspect you are correct.

UK altnet CityFibre's boss on its hopes to capitalise on market churn as fibre broadband rolls out

Re: Cityfibre ... arghhhh

The quality of these installations is going to be a major problem moving forwards.

I've had FTTP installed in Hampshire by a new kid on the block and their installation engineers made 5 visits to get the link between the pole and distribution box inside the property to work. Bend radius mistakes, poor quality connectors, poor plastic housings on the outside, etc.

None of this is going to last 15 years, unlike our existing copper circuit which we have had no issues with for over 35 years.

UK Ministry of Defence apologises after Afghan interpreters' personal data exposed in email blunder

How much can the ICO fine those responsible?

Would the calculation be based upon the MoD annual budget?

3% of £44.6 billion will keep the ICO afloat for some time to come. They might recruit some extra staff and deal with a couple of my complaints then.

Macmillan best-biscuit list unexpectedly promotes breakfast cereal to treat status

Re: I am offended

Ginger Nuts are generally suitable for vegans too - placing them at the top of my list.

p.s. did I mention I'm vegan.

G7 countries outgun UK in worldwide broadband speed test

Re: Gigabit Broadband?

"for most users having something at the 50Mb to 70Mb that FTTC delivers is surely enough"

That's download. For many upload is the issue with FTTC/ADSL/VDSL.

I've just had 1Gbps FTTP installed recently and so far so fast (£25.00 per month). Upload and download measured at around 950Mbps is really useful for all those Nest cams (all 9 of them) in HD.

On this most auspicious of days, we ask: How many sysadmins does it take to change a lightbulb?

Anything with a power lead, except the kettle

In my early support days I used to say I was pretty handy fixing anything with a power lead, except the kettle.

This led to rapid promotion and the Peter Principle kicking in at the age of about 29.

Northern Train's ticketing system out to lunch as ransomware attack shuts down servers

Re: A quick fix

"You're wasting your time"*

*Will Hay fans will get this.

BT to phase out 3G in UK by 2023 for EE, Plusnet, BT Mobile subscribers

Re: Rural coverage is still very poor

Maybe they will just fly some drones over the national parks during visiting hours?

It had to happen: Microsoft's cloudy Windows 365 desktops are due to land next month

Re: So now

"will compromise EVERY new Windows system"

I'm sure this is mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

IT for service providers biz Kaseya defers decision about SaaS restoration following supply chain attack

Re: Surely they are finished as a company?

SolarWinds is now n-able as of last Friday - for most products/services.

Openreach to UK businesses: Switch is about to hit the fan. Prepare for withdrawal of the copper-based phone network now or risk disruption

Re: The future is coming

I'm guessing you have an EOL connection and as such have like us a maximum of ADSL+?

We are assured that FTTP will become available before 2025.

There's plenty of time and we get a very good 5G connection too - so that backup might become our primary.

Bug at payments processor WorldPay swipes £2k+ per ride ticket from Brighton Pier revellers

Re: The return of the Y2K bug

I was about to write the same.

£202,104.18 would have left me a little short in May.

SEC still digging into SolarWinds fallout, nudges undeclared victims

Team of 1000

"and said his firm's analysis suggested the code behind the crack was the work of 1,000 or more developers"

I'm still not buying this. 1,000 is far too many people to pull this off.

Playmobil crosses the final frontier with enormous, metre-long Enterprise playset

Re: Shuttle?

"those who bought Shatner's ill-advised "music" records"

I listened to "The Transformed Man" recently and decided it was actually on a par with the somewhat disturbing album from Peter Wyngarde called "When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head".

ALPACA gnaws through TLS protection to snarf cookies and steal data

Re: Spitting at security standards

Down here in the New Forest the countryside lacks hills (of any type), buffalo - but alpaca farms are surprisingly common.

Spitting at security standards

My wife loves alpacas - and I'll mention this new acronym tonight at dinner.

Gnaw? No, they are famous for spitting.

Fastly 'fesses up to breaking the internet with an 'an undiscovered software bug' triggered by a customer

Simple things in a message, that most understand. Line drawn under the issue. Next.

(like you, I can't think of a better way to put it).

Tiananmen Square Tank Man vanishes from Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo, other search engines – even in America

Barbara's law

BBC World have just added a story about this "accidental human error" by MS. Thereby guaranteeing that Tank Man lives on for another few decades in our minds.

Maybe somebody at MS does know about Barbara's law and how to now use it.

Give me a (tax) break: UK broadband plumber Openreach to almost double the number of rural premises to receive FTTP

FTTP v HS2

In a statement, Openreach CEO Clive Selley described the FTTP upgrade project as “second only to HS2 in terms of investment.”

FTTP is 10 times better than HS2, for society as a whole.

Uber drivers can now unionise after ride biz recognises GMB, one of the UK's largest trade unions

The IT connection?

Saw reference to the Uber app, but that's all.

The Home Office will need to overturn a long legacy of failure to achieve ambition of all-digital border by 2025

Re: Just politics .... again!

It will be the same government, just with Patel as PM.

Boris will outlast his usefulness soon - and depart for the other place.

Indonesia’s national health insurance scheme leaks at least a million citizens' records

Re: Every time I see a report like this

Sometimes paramedics want near-instant access to medical data in emergencies.

Few people carry an SOS Talisman or add their emergency medical data to their phone - and even then it may not have all the required information to preserve a life.

Beyond video to interactive, personalised content: BBC is experimenting with rebuilding its iPlayer in WebAssembly

Re: WOT??

Dr Who?

No a rebooted Crime Traveller. I liked that series.

UK data regulator fines American Express up to 0.021p per email after opted-out folk spammed 4.1 million times

Re: Pathetic waste of time

I have and I have won. Even a mad women can get the Prime Minister into trouble for a few quid.

Charging Amex £12.00 per spam email - the same charge for an electronic late payment notification - is worth it. When thousands of their customers do it they will simply not be able to defend the claims and will pay up.

Make no mistake, financial services companies always pay to save their own internal legal costs - and it' cheaper than a referral to their regulatory authority too.

Re: Pathetic waste of time

In my opinion Amex isn't going to suffer reputational damage. After all it took the incident on the chin and hasn't contested the fine. It may even have identified the customers and made a token credit to their account.

It's the ICO that once again leaves all of us wanting. It continues to disappoint. Disband it, encourage individuals to take out civil action each time and then see what happens to UK originated spam,

Parliament demands to know the score with Fujitsu as Post Office Horizon scandal gets inquiry with legal teeth

Re: There needs to be established...

The "babes in the wood" perjury trial yesterday handed down a 6-year prison sentence on someone - 33 years after the event. So there is hope that those who lied will eventually get some porridge.

Microsoft hits Alt-F4 on Windows 10X: OS designed for dual-screen PCs axed

Re: So you might say ...

My future XYL was never happy when I spent time on-air.

Apple announces lossless HD audio at no extra cost, then Amazon Music does too. The ball is now in Spotify's court

Re: Yay!

The selling point of the CD is not only the quality but the fact you have a perpetual licence to play the music where and when you like.

Charity shops are full of 1980-2000's CDs at around 20p per album. For something that doesn't degrade, that's where to spend.

I picked up another 30 albums last Saturday..

'Biggest data grab' in NHS history stuffs GP records in a central store for 'research' – and the time to opt out is now

Re: PDF ?

"change a choice on your behalf - I used this"

I used this method also - despite the hold message stating they no longer would allow this by telephone. Recorded the call for good measure.