TalkTalk Hacking

gunsandbanjos

I don't believe any of the sad stories in the daily fail about people losing money purely off the back of this data breach.
The victims must have compromised their own security data at some point.

I struggle to understand how people still fall for vishing, phishing or smishing in this day and age where there's so much information and warnings about it.

meer53

Anyone else think the panic over the Talk Talk thing was way OTT ?

gunsandbanjos

meer53 wrote: »

Anyone else think the panic over the Talk Talk thing was way OTT ?

Absolutely. It's bonkers quite frankly, fuelled by ridiculous stories in newspapers.

FOREVER21

meer53 wrote: »

Anyone else think the panic over the Talk Talk thing was way OTT ?

Would you still say that if some of your details fell into the wrong hands.

At best you could end up being plagued with cold callers, and at worst identity theft is a real possibility from the information disclosed. A few years ago someone took out a number of mobile phone contracts in my name ,having apparently obtained my details from a online purchase.

The first I knew about it was when I received telephone bills about a month after the contract started. This caused me no end of hassle, telephone calls/ letters to telephone company, involvement with police, obtaining credit reports from Experian. It was eventually cleared at no cost to me, but I would not wish the bother on anyone.

Yes now we know that only limited numbers were involved compared to the first reports, but I do think TT customers need to be kept up to date.

SnowTiger

meer53 wrote: »

Anyone else think the panic over the Talk Talk thing was way OTT ?

Yes, and I think I've been pretty consistent in saying so.

Dido Harding trolling around media outlets saying she didn't know what had been taken probably didn't help matters.

Nor did the security experts queuing up to line their pockets by giving interviews about something they knew little about.

masonic

meer53 wrote: »

Anyone else think the panic over the Talk Talk thing was way OTT ?

I'm potentially one of the victims and I find it quite annoying, but I can't say I'm particularly worried. I'm more concerned about what the NHS is doing with my medical records, or that the Snooper's Charter might one day get surreptitiously slipped into legislation.

Figgerty

FOREVER21 wrote: »

Would you still say that if some of your details fell into the wrong hands.

Yes now we know that only limited numbers were involved compared to the first reports, but I do think TT customers need to be kept up to date.

If this data breach was unimportant then the CEO of Talk Talk has wasted a lot of hours on the media reassuring her customers. She must be exhausted as we haven't heard from her in two days.

To all you youngish scam savvy people on here. Please move forward 40 years and try and imagine what it will be like dealing with the technology of that time and trying to avoid the very more sophisticated scams the future generation dreams up. If your imagination fails you then think of an elderly person with very little computer experience trying to cope today. The elderly are 4 times more likely to fall for scams than the under 55's. That is probably because they are more trusting and are afraid to question authority type figures. They also like to answer all phone calls instead of letting the unknown caller calls go to voice-mail or answer phone.

SnowTiger

Figgerty wrote: »

To all you youngish scam savvy people on here. Please move forward 40 years and try and imagine what it will be like dealing with the technology of that time and trying to avoid the very more sophisticated scams the future generation dreams up. If your imagination fails you then think of an elderly person with very little computer experience trying to cope today. The elderly are 4 times more likely to fall for scams than the under 55's. That is probably because they are more trusting and are afraid to question authority type figures. They also like to answer all phone calls instead of letting the unknown caller calls go to voice-mail or answer phone.

Scams usually play on greed.

Perhaps you've got more greedy with old age.

Figgerty

SnowTiger wrote: »

Scams usually play on greed.

Perhaps you've got more greedy with old age.

I'm not very old and certainly not greedy. Neither am I part of the crowd talking about class actions and compensation.

I base all my comments on my neighbour who worked as a cleaner and home help until she retired at 70. Her husband took care of all the financial stuff until he died. Until she retired she had never touched a computer. She is the most trusting and generous person I know and that is why I'm trying to help her.

I am not trusting and am very nasty to unsolicited callers. I play the silence game on them and over recent years I receive very few calls from all the usual culprits. No PPI reclain, accident claims etc. My telephone number is registered with TPS, I withhold my number when calling new contacts and if I have to provide a telephone number on a site where they have no reason to have it, I give a false one. I would prefer to just leave the field blank but on may sites you can not proceed if you do that. I also supply a false date of birth in the same situation.

I feel that I have done everything in my power to protect my personal data and am royally pis**d off that Talk Talk do not seem to have done the same.

:wall: :wall:

:coffee:

alibean121

Figgerty wrote: »

Following the Talk Talk Cyber attack the CEO arranged for all their customers a offer with Noddle for credit checking (already free) and free credit alerts which normally costs £20. Many of us signed up for this service whither it makes any difference is yet to be established. My elderly neighbour is also a TT customer and I spoke to her about the type of scams criminals get up to using none or some of your private information. I offered to register her details on Noddle as a precaution.

I entered her details and received an on screen message saying they could not verify or validate her identity. She has a couple of bank accounts and a debit card but has never had a credit card. She has no recent credit history but she has lived at her current address for 30 years and is on the electoral register for the same time. She also has a long history of prompt payment for all her utilities, but it seems this does not count. I'm sure there are many others in her position,

The point of registering with a credit agency in this situation is so they alert you if someone attempts a financial transaction in your name. If she is unable to register then she can not be alerted and because of her age she is more likely to be scammed than a younger person.

Is there any other solution for her or is her lack of credit and simple financial arrangement their own protection?

If your neighbour doesn't have enough of a credit footprint for online identity verification then this would present its own protection. New credit accounts would require physical ID at branch - likely too much hassle for your average fraudster.

I would add that, while the release of personal information is clearly not ideal, the main risk remains from phonecalls from scammers rather than direct theft from accounts. This risk has honestly always been there and most of the stories where money has been lost do contain some element of personal stupidity. Hopefully this whole incident has at least helped your neighbour to be more skeptical of mystery callers.