Yesterday someone reached out and hacked into my email account.
I was first alerted by a 'phone call from my Brother in Law.
The rest of the day was spent fielding 'phone calls from friends concerned to hear that I had been mugged in Spain, changing passwords and tracking down someone in BT who could help me retrieve my email account which had not just been hacked but had been hijacked.
The emails the hackers sent included my 'signature' which advises people to read my blog.
What had also happened was that my email account settings had been altered so that all my emails both genuine and responses to the hackers emails, were being diverted to an email account which they had set up somewhere in cyber space.
Apparently the recent flurry of hacking has followed on from an event a few months ago when BT itself was the victim of hacking.
The scam was pretty poor, an email to my friends claiming that I had been mugged in Madrid and needed money sending as a matter of urgency.
Well I had not been mugged in Madrid, or burgled in Barcelona or coshed in Cordoba but, as a number of the 'phone callers commented, you are travelling around a bit at the moment and we did just wonder ......
So first of all the experience reminded me that I have some pretty good friends so that's really good and quite comforting.
But having someone going about pretending to be you, and because of the openness of the www, being able to be pretty convincing, is a bit like having someone break into your house and look around at all your stuff, because, once inside the email account they could look at files and folders and read quite a bit of my recent history and my trading links with amazon and iTunes, so they would know what books I have read and what music I like.
It has also left me a little uneasy knowing that having been compromised once they could do it again.
A friend of mine had his facebook account hacked and the hacker left some quite strong comments of a sexual nature, which were not only embarrassing, but to my friend, deeply offensive.
So my first reaction after checking that my overdraft was still within the limit set by the bank, was to change my blogspot password, I certainly didn't want someone passing themselves off as me and writing this blog in my place.
So for a while I will have to be cautious and watchful but of course over time my guard will drop again.
As far as the big society and all that it seems that petrol heads are the beneficiaries of the latest volte face by the condems.
So the threatened fuel escalator rise has been postponed, which is handy because I am heading up to Scotland soon and three pence on every litre would have made the trip more expensive.
Quite how the reduction in the anticipated tax will be paid for I am not sure but doubtless welfare will bear more than its fare share of the brunt of the largesse shown to motorists.
But it seems that with the success of the Jubilee and the Coca Cola torch and the anticipated success of Olympics, it will not be allowed to fail, the bread and circus diversions planned to take our minds of 'phone hacking, computer hacking, recessions and austerity, a new diversion is now being considered.
Today there is a discussion in my morning newspaper about the possibility of bringing the Formula 1 roadshow to London.
It only goes to show really that we are becoming what was forecast years ago, a giant playground, a tourist attraction, a sideshow, an offshore Cony Island for the rest of Europe and America.
We welcome the rich, the latest roll out of the red carpet is to welcome the French who have no wish to pay Mr Hollande's taxes, to come and play in our cities and countryside.
Looking out of the window at the rain it seems that we are only a step away from the next stage of big societization, a huge geodesic dome stretching from the white cliffs to Cape Wrath,a giant canopy to keep the rain off the canapes, but once a year when Mr Ecclestone's circus rolls into town we will have to have especially good air extraction equipment, otherwise everyone will succumb to the exhaust fumes ........
.......... perhaps the'll resort to sending email messages to their friends saying that they need money sending so that they can get themselves back home immediately?
I was first alerted by a 'phone call from my Brother in Law.
The rest of the day was spent fielding 'phone calls from friends concerned to hear that I had been mugged in Spain, changing passwords and tracking down someone in BT who could help me retrieve my email account which had not just been hacked but had been hijacked.
The emails the hackers sent included my 'signature' which advises people to read my blog.
What had also happened was that my email account settings had been altered so that all my emails both genuine and responses to the hackers emails, were being diverted to an email account which they had set up somewhere in cyber space.
Apparently the recent flurry of hacking has followed on from an event a few months ago when BT itself was the victim of hacking.
The scam was pretty poor, an email to my friends claiming that I had been mugged in Madrid and needed money sending as a matter of urgency.
Well I had not been mugged in Madrid, or burgled in Barcelona or coshed in Cordoba but, as a number of the 'phone callers commented, you are travelling around a bit at the moment and we did just wonder ......
So first of all the experience reminded me that I have some pretty good friends so that's really good and quite comforting.
But having someone going about pretending to be you, and because of the openness of the www, being able to be pretty convincing, is a bit like having someone break into your house and look around at all your stuff, because, once inside the email account they could look at files and folders and read quite a bit of my recent history and my trading links with amazon and iTunes, so they would know what books I have read and what music I like.
It has also left me a little uneasy knowing that having been compromised once they could do it again.
A friend of mine had his facebook account hacked and the hacker left some quite strong comments of a sexual nature, which were not only embarrassing, but to my friend, deeply offensive.
So my first reaction after checking that my overdraft was still within the limit set by the bank, was to change my blogspot password, I certainly didn't want someone passing themselves off as me and writing this blog in my place.
So for a while I will have to be cautious and watchful but of course over time my guard will drop again.
As far as the big society and all that it seems that petrol heads are the beneficiaries of the latest volte face by the condems.
So the threatened fuel escalator rise has been postponed, which is handy because I am heading up to Scotland soon and three pence on every litre would have made the trip more expensive.
Quite how the reduction in the anticipated tax will be paid for I am not sure but doubtless welfare will bear more than its fare share of the brunt of the largesse shown to motorists.
But it seems that with the success of the Jubilee and the Coca Cola torch and the anticipated success of Olympics, it will not be allowed to fail, the bread and circus diversions planned to take our minds of 'phone hacking, computer hacking, recessions and austerity, a new diversion is now being considered.
Today there is a discussion in my morning newspaper about the possibility of bringing the Formula 1 roadshow to London.
It only goes to show really that we are becoming what was forecast years ago, a giant playground, a tourist attraction, a sideshow, an offshore Cony Island for the rest of Europe and America.
We welcome the rich, the latest roll out of the red carpet is to welcome the French who have no wish to pay Mr Hollande's taxes, to come and play in our cities and countryside.
Looking out of the window at the rain it seems that we are only a step away from the next stage of big societization, a huge geodesic dome stretching from the white cliffs to Cape Wrath,a giant canopy to keep the rain off the canapes, but once a year when Mr Ecclestone's circus rolls into town we will have to have especially good air extraction equipment, otherwise everyone will succumb to the exhaust fumes ........
.......... perhaps the'll resort to sending email messages to their friends saying that they need money sending so that they can get themselves back home immediately?
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