Security News

Angling (re)Direct: Criminals net website of Brit fishing tackle retailer, send users straight to smut site
2021-11-08 14:09

Miscreants have hijacked the systems of Angling Direct, diverting traffic from its websites to Pornhub and threatening to wipe its internal data. The statement says Angling Direct has contacted the law enforcement agencies and the UK's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office.

Brits open doors for tech-enabled fraudsters because they 'don't want to seem rude'
2021-09-14 15:15

Brits are too polite to tell phone scammers to "Get stuffed", "Take a hike" or "Sling yer 'ook" when they impersonate so-called "Trusted organisations" such as banks. That's according to the trade association UK Finance, which found that the number of "Impersonation scam cases" more than doubled in the first half of 2021 to 33,115 - up from 14,947 during the same period last year.

ExpressVPN bought for $1bn by Brit biz with an intriguing history in adware
2021-09-14 07:39

UK-headquartered Kape Technologies announced on Monday it has acquired ExpressVPN in a $936m cash and stocks deal, a move it claims will double its customer base to at least six million. In a canned statement, Kape said combining the two companies would "Create a premium consumer privacy and security player," and that the acquisition "Further positions Kape to define the next generation of privacy and security protection tools and services to return greater control over the digital sphere to consumers."

ExpressVPN bought for $1bn by Brit biz with an... interesting history in ad-tech
2021-09-14 07:39

UK-headquartered Kape Technologies announced on Monday it has acquired ExpressVPN in a $936m cash and stocks deal, a move it claims will double its customer base to at least six million. In a canned statement, Kape said combining the two companies would "Create a premium consumer privacy and security player," and that the acquisition "Further positions Kape to define the next generation of privacy and security protection tools and services to return greater control over the digital sphere to consumers."

Spanish cops cuff Brit bloke accused of playing role in 2020 celeb Twitter hijacking
2021-07-21 20:54

The Spanish National Police have, at the request of America, arrested UK citizen Joseph O'Connor in Estepona, Spain, in connection with the July 2020 takeover of more than 130 Twitter accounts. The US Department of Justice said that, in addition to the alleged Twitter account joyride, O'Connor, 22, has been charged in a federal district court in northern California with computer intrusions tied to the commandeering of TikTok and Snapchat user accounts.

Brit firm fined £200k for banging on about missold PPI in 11.4 million nuisance calls
2021-07-02 08:28

A Leeds-based claims management firm has been fined £200,000 for making more than 11 million unwanted PPI calls, the UK's data watchdog announced today. The investigation, prompted by complaints to the Information Comissioner's Office and the Telephone Preference Service, found that Brazier Consulting Services Ltd had made repeated nuisance calls to people about the misselling of payment protection insurance.

America world’s sole cyber superpower, ten years ahead of China, says Brit think tank
2021-06-29 04:44

The United States is comfortably the world's most powerful nation when measured on "Cyber capabilities that make the greatest difference to national power," according to British think tank The International Institute for Strategic Studies. The report says America's "Capability for offensive cyber operations is probably more developed than that of any other country, although its full potential remains largely undemonstrated".

Brit IT firms wound up by court order after fooling folk into paying for 'support' over fake computer errors
2021-06-15 12:30

Two Kent-registered IT companies have been wound up in the High Court of England and Wales for trying to scam punters with fake pop-ups to generate tech support cons. The court heard that Msinfosys Support Ltd and MS Global Support Ltd, both operated by the same director, generated unsolicited pop-up error messages that appeared on people's computers.

Norton dodges UK courts after telling Brit watchdog it will be nicer to consumers
2021-06-14 14:56

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has inked a deal with Norton where it will refund customers whose antivirus software subscription was automatically renewed. Today's agreement comes after the regulator launched legal action against Norton in March - a first for a consumer protection case - when the company refused to furnish the CMA with the information needed during the course of the investigation.

Brit retailer Furniture Village confirms 'cyber-attack' as systems outage rolls into Day 7
2021-06-04 08:15

Furniture Village - the UK's largest independent furniture retailer with 54 stores nationwide - has been hit by a "Cyber-attack", the company confirmed to The Register. The problems emerged last weekend on 29 May when Furniture Village admitted it was experiencing "Technical issues" and it was unable to answer calls.