Tech-2 Security

As we know, many home users and businesses are still running Windows XP as their Desktop Operating System. With support for Service Pack 3 ending in April this year (2014), the likelihood of increased malware and virus' is very high on these systems. This information should not be taken lightly, due to the very real threat which will continue to rise the older the Operating System gets. If a vulnerability is found and remains un-patched then businesses will be taking unnecessary risks. When support is discontinued there will be no patches so the security holes will remain open waiting to be exploited. Contrary to what many believe, this isn't Microsoft looking for ways to make more money. XP is three generations old if you count Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 8. It's time to upgrade Windows or Migrate to a different OS completely.

I received a voicemail, then text then a call to my home phone from the bank to call them. I verified the number was legit and contacted the bank. They didn't ask any questions but were able to verify my recent transactions so were genuine. However twenty minutes prior to the call someone had placed an order on Play.com for £500 using my details. Luckily for me the bank had the sense to block the transaction and contact me. I had to cancel my card. I decided to contact Play.com to tell them what had happened and after some cross referencing they could see that an order had been placed on a very recently created account using my bank details, but a different delivery address. The customer services lady was a bit shocked when she then cross referenced the delivery address to find that six other orders using other peoples details had also been placed today for delivery to that address. Unfortunately for those people it looks as if the transactions had at that point completed.