Competitions Discussion Thread Part 14

x_Bunny_x

FatAndy wrote: »

"Thousands of people who entered competitions on The Sun website have been warned that their personal information may have been stolen. The paper's publisher, News Group, said the data was taken when the site was hacked on 19 July.

Some of the details, including applications for the Miss Scotland contest, have been posted online. The company said it had reported the matter to the police and and the Information Commissioner."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14371738

I've never entered a competition on the Sun website so I don't know what info they'll hold (name & address?) but it's worth being aware of this if you're planning on entering any future comps.

I got mine last night, i just changed my password and email, i was changing email address anyway as my old one seems to be spammed more these days in anycase. I have entered comps on the website, but not for months.

AlfieBlue

Fed up, but thank you for posting. I got an email too. Now I cannot log in at all to change my details. Im going round in circles, when I try to log in, it just comes back to log in page again. I know im putting in the correct details. Don't know what im doing wrong? Can someone help me please? xxx

AlfieBlue

Oh, Ive managed to do it and change me details. Took a while but I got there. Patience is a virtue etc etc!

The only thing yon hackers will get from me is the sharp end of my beloved stainless steel gardening fork!!! (When Im not using it!!). xx

jamespir

theyd have difficulty getting any credit in my name lol

dazza12

The details are likely to only be name, address, email and any password that may have been generated at the time of entry (depending on the competition).

If I remember correctly, most of the comps that I enter from the Sun are email based (last one I entered was in the 'Buzz' supplement).

The likelihood is that the details won't be used to impersonate, just sold on to a spammer. Hackers and spammers tend to be very lazy - they'll tend to do whatever results in the most money for the least profit so will either sell the details on or add the details found to their spam database. It's very unlikely they'll try to use the details found to apply for credit for instance, or try to use your password to hack into other websites as it's too much effort for the small return they'll get.

That said, it's worth changing passwords on the Sun website if you've signed up, and change it on other sites if you use the same password. A similar thing happened when Sony got hacked - some of the comps involved signing up to a PSN account. Although I've kept an eye on my comp email account nothing yet has come to light.

If you use a separate email account for your comp entries you'll probably just notice some extra spam - however if you use the one email for everything keep an eye out for anyone 'trying it on'.

gethro

jamespir wrote: »

theyd have difficulty getting any credit in my name lol

That make's 2 off us if they do get credit i would like to know who from as no !!!!!! will give me any

dobbiesloan

this is old news. MSE yesterday moved moved similar posts. why do people keep posting this?

defairmans

Hi! Sorry if this is the wrong thread...

New to comping and need advice. I have been putting my mobile number on all my comp entries because I really don't want to be spammed on my home phone. I know some people use separate sim cards for comps, but I was wondering if there is a chance I may be disqualified or at a disadvantage by using a mobile number? I noticed that one comp today asked specifically for a home number.

Anybody have advice from experience? Thank you in advance!

AlfieBlue

dobbiesloan wrote: »

this is old news. MSE yesterday moved moved similar posts. why do people keep posting this?

Thank you for your query.

It may be old news for some but not for others. I, for one, take comfort from hearing from other peeps re their experiences on this.

I am not techie minded and I have no one to help me. I do get worried when this sort of thing comes to light, and I am most grateful to all help/advice/comments that are forthcoming. No doubt in a few days this will die down. Meanwhile thanks to all. xxx Alf xx

Dalkirst

Yes but it's getting boring moving them over to comps discussion where they should be in the first place:)