Do you feel secure?

[Gordon Booth]

So a company as big as TalkTalk can be hacked wide open by a 15 year old boy! Somebody high up should be sacked for that and users should be released from their contracts free.
It's only when I think about it I realise how much of my data must be floating around out there, available to computer savvy 15 year olds- and there's a lot of them.
We all use credit cards, debit cards, on-line banking, Amazon etc. Even if we could manage without them all our info is still on some banks/Government/NHS/supermarket computer.
However careful we are on our own computers, we now can't trust anyone who has our info to make their security unbreakable.
What on Earth do we do? Keep our money under the bed and always use cash?
Even then you'd still have your info floating about.

[cashman]

I have always detested using the internet for cash business, put it off as long as i could, hence the reason fer me name on here!!, but now i have to use it for many things, flights,concerts, purchasing items, have never liked it, but sod all really i can do about it, so cash under the bed aint n option. Yeh cant always use cash, even though yeh would like too.

[accyman]

many talk talk customers are walking away and refusing to pay contract fees or early termination fees i think they call them

i was with them for a while and not only was their service substandard but their equipment is also

if you are thinking of switching to talk talk just be aware that if you have over 5 devices which some people forget phones and tablets when counting them your talktalk super router even their newest one to make up for nkown issues will constantly crash as it can not handle the load

also be aware that if you develop a problem and they cant sort it out via the phone they will send out a chimpanzee with a " i used to play arcade games " degree to try and find the problem.If he cant find the problem you will be billed £50 to your account and you must agree to these terms before they will send out a chimpanzee

as for this latest major let down by talk talk i would like to see every talktalk customer join another service and walk away from the company and see if they can afford to try and win any cases

peoples information is now out there and there is no way it can be fixed it is out there in god knows whos hands for the rest of time or as long as the internet exists

if you are a talktalk customer and if you have ever been a talktalk customer depending on how long they keep peoples information stored you have been effected

it really wouldnt suprise me if the person whos job it is to look after peopels data uses the word password for his password

[Margaret Pilkington]

From what I have read, it seems that Talk Talk have been a bit slapdash with their security....something about the way information is encrypted or not.
I use online Banking......I have installed Rapport(which is recommended by the bank I use).
I change my passwords regularly and I am very reluctant to give my credit card details online....I use Paypal (another thing recommended by my bank)....and again, change the password for that on a regular basis.
I try my level best to be as security conscious as I can be...that is all any of us can do.
When something of this nature happens, it brings the security issues into focus and should make us all look at how we try to remain secure. You can always seek advice from the technical bods at the bank.....most of them seem to be clued up young men.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Talk Talk have been trying to charge customers who leave their service......but if you are a Talk talk customer you can leave them without paying a penny.......they are in breach of their contractual obligation with regard to protecting your privacy.
read about it here:-
Want to cancel your TalkTalk contract? Use our email and letter template - and send to the following address | This is Money

I hope they end up with no business at all due to their incompetence in protecting their customers information, and the fact that they are now treating their customers with ill concealed contempt.

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

From what I have read, it seems that Talk Talk have been a bit slapdash with their security....something about the way information is encrypted or not.
I use online Banking......I have installed Rapport(which is recommended by the bank I use).
I change my passwords regularly and I am very reluctant to give my credit card details online....I use Paypal (another thing recommended by my bank)....and again, change the password for that on a regular basis.
I try my level best to be as security conscious as I can be...that is all any of us can do.
When something of this nature happens, it brings the security issues into focus and should make us all look at how we try to remain secure. You can always seek advice from the technical bods at the bank.....most of them seem to be clued up young men.

The problem is, Margaret, however careful we are, if the companies we deal with aren't they leave all of us us wide open.
How many banks have been breached in the last few years?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes Gordon, I know this but if you can show that you have been responsible with your information, but the organisation in which you placed your trust has not...then you may seek redress from the organisation. OK, it would be far better not to have the need of this...but that is how it is. You could use your debit card in a shop and the shopp could discard the details inappropriately in their waste...leaving you open to identity theft(this happened a few years ago with TKMaxx).
You can only do what you can do.
Cashy is right there are some situations where you have to have a credit or debit card.
I fought long and hard against getting a credit card, but travelling abroad meant that if I did not have one then many hotels would not take a booking from me.......I remain very careful over my details.......I only hope that the companies I deal with are as careful with my data.....but I fear they are not.

[maxthecollie]

I used to be with lineone for my internet and then talktalk took them over. It was great for a while untill one night my internet was super super fast and the next day it crashed along with my telephone line.I told them I wanted out. They wanted the remainder of my 18month contracy paying (12 months) I politley tod them that they had broken their contract with me fro having no internet and phone. After six months of constantly listening to their music on their phone I contacted the telephone ombudsman and won my case and they had to pay me £80.00

[Gremlin]

Same as you Frank, I started out with Compuserve, changed to Lineone, I still have Lineone as my email address, then Talk Talk took over and made a mess of everything so soon after I was with BT and never regretted it.

[Accyexplorer]

I seen a programme about hacking and how the UK is bombarded with thousands of hack attempts every hour from China...

...What's the chances that 'talk talk' was the password?
Someone's going to be employed when they leave school

[accyman]

just keep an eye out for chat chat internet

not that i think talk talk will be in the process of setting up a sister company to transfer anyone stupid enough to keep them to or con the public into thinking its a new company and not talk talk.....

but i wouldnt put it past them

my pals on talktalk hes been trying for 2 days to get through to customer service but it seems they are a bit busy

[RainbowSix]

And who was in the centre of Accy today trying to drum up new customers?
I had to laugh at them as I walked past, being "excuse me sir'd" lol

[Morecambe Ex Pat]

The biggest security loop hole is the fact that many of these companies have call centres in India and a lot of our data is stored there. It is not just Talktalk but BT too rely on remote call centres.
I am with Talktalk and got a call over 6 months from a 'tech' fella saying there was a problem with my computer and that he would help me fix it. I played along until the point where he wanted me to log onto a URL. A quick search revealed that the site I was directed to is a well known source for viruses and spyware.
Not falling for these scams is very much a case of common sense.

[Margaret Pilkington]

When I get phone calls of this type I either tell them they have the wrong number or I put the phone down.

[accyman]

id ask what is this computer they speak of and how many horses do i need to pull it


they played one of these calls on watchdog last week and they get very abusive and literally call you stupid and tell you to justtake out your bank card and pay.When they remotely connect to your computer they show you what appears to be warning signs within the operating system that are actually ok they just look bad if told a convincing tale especially to someone who dosnt know conmputers

they will then also start deleting your personal files such as photos and hold your files to randsom unless you pay

IF YOU EVER FIND YOURSELF UNABLE TO CONTROL YOUR OWN COMPUTER EITHER PULL THE PLUG OUT FOR FASTEST SHUT DOWN POSSIBLE OR SWITCH OFF YOUR INTERNET ROUTER