Daily Safeguarding Update

Christmas shoppers get christmas warning

Online shoppers are being warned of the risks of cyber-fraud during the festive season
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – part of GCHQ – is launching a major campaign called ‘Cyber Aware’ with its first ever TV ads
It says over last year’s Christmas shopping period there was an average loss of £775 per incident from online shopping fraud
The NCSC is outlining six key things people can do to protect accounts
Online shopping has seen significant growth this year and is likely to reach new levels at Christmas – even though High Street shops are re-opening again in many areas
The NCSC is working on the campaign with the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and aims to help individuals and organisations to protect themselves online

The international vaccine supply chain has been targeted by cyber-espionage, according to IBM
The company says it tracked a campaign aimed at the delivery “cold chain” used to keep vaccines at the right temperature during transportation
The attackers’ identity is unclear – but IBM said the sophistication of their methods indicated a nation-state
It follows warnings from governments, including the UK- of countries targeting aspects of vaccine research
For information on keeping your computers and device secure, read our latest article in which our online safety experts unpack cyber-security here

Apple has revealed the NHS Covid-19 app was the second most downloaded iPhone product on its App Store in the UK this year
Only the video chat app Zoom was installed more times. TikTok came third
The contact-tracing app’s achievement is notable given it only launched about two months ago and is solely targeted at users based in England and Wales
The iPhone is the UK’s best-selling smartphone brand
However, on a global scale, people use Android. The BBC has asked Google where the government’s app appears on its own Play Store’s rankings

Warner Bros has escalated tensions between Hollywood’s studios and US cinemas with a decision to make all releases available to stream as soon as they hit the big screen
The move will enable film fans to watch the forthcoming sci-fi epic ‘Dune’ and the ‘Matrix sequel’ on HBO Max at the same time as their cinema release
Typically, new releases are shown exclusively at cinemas for months
But with many cinemas shut due to COVID, studio revenues have plunged
As a result, Warner Bros said all of its 2021 releases would go straight to HBO Max, the streaming service owned by its ultimate parent company AT&T

Prosecutors will bring fresh proceedings in three sexual offence cases after a review into 15 cases in which convictions were set aside because of “legislative error”
The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said the test for prosecution was not met in the 12 other cases
The 15 cases involved 17 victims, most of whom were children when the offences occurred
The convictions were rescinded due to a “technical change in the law” in 2009
It meant the cases should not have been prosecuted in a magistrates court
PPS assistant Director Ciaran McQuillan, who conducted the reviews, said he could “assure all victims that a sensitivity to their views and the experience they had gone through was at the forefront of my mind”