Author Topic: A random thread for small computing things that don't really warrant a thread of their own  (Read 294690 times)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Only a few days? Pingu's organisation was not really functional for months.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Today we were all emailed the following crib notes:
Essentially bad boys did it, and they ran away.

CLIENT FAQ



 

1.   What exactly has happened? 



Our parent company, xxxxx, has been the target of a cyber incident and in order to limit the impact of the incident, they have shut down their systems. This has subsequently shut down our IT network. 



They are now working with external forensics specialists to investigate what happened and to rebuild our systems in a completely new and clean environment Our IT team took immediate action to limit the impact of this cyber incident by shutting off our systems, which consequently shut down the IT of each business within the group. 

 

2.   How did this happen?



This forms part of the investigation, which is in its very early stages. 

 

3.   What are we doing about it? 



Xxxx has taken a number of proactive steps since becoming aware of the incident, including: 

Engaging a dedicated team of external IT specialists to help us restore our systems and fully investigate what happened
Proactively shutting off our systems to limit the impact of the incident 
Building a completely clean and new IT environment 
 

4.   Who did this? 



We know that there was third party unauthorised and unlawful access to our systems but we can’t say more at this time. 

 

5.   Has any data been impacted? 



The investigation into what happened is in its earliest stages, however, understanding if there has been any impact on data is a key part of the forensic investigation and we will not have an answer until that is complete. We will of course be complying with our regulatory responsibilities as we continue to respond to this incident.

 

6.   How long will the investigation take? 



The investigation is in its very early stages and therefore it may take some time to complete. We will update you further on the findings as soon as we are able to do so. Broadly, we have been told by our IT experts that conducting an extensive IT forensic investigation can take several weeks to complete. 

 

7.   How long until your systems are back up and running? 



We are currently working with IT specialists to help us recover our systems as effectively as possible. They have advised that restoring our IT network safely and securely is no small feat but we are working hard to support you as best as possible.


Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
As Mrs P indicates, we were hit on Xmas Eve and we're still nowhere near back to full operational capacity.

It sounds like you've been told the same things as we were at the beginning of our adventure.

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Never mind, they are taking *proactive* steps to deal with the situation (never a problem, oh no, definitely a *situation*) and everyone knows that *proactive* steps are so much better than *steps*.

"... recover our systems as effectively as possible."

"Has any data been impacted?"
I think the idiot meant to write, "Have any data been *stolen*?"

Christ, which cereal packet was that vacuous drivel copied from?

Herewith the unbowdlerised (and more to the point) version...

1) Some thieving low-life has screwed up our IT systems and probably lifted shed-loads of data while he or she was about it because ...
2) One of you *idiots* ignored all the instructions to *not* click on dodgy links nor open files from iffy senders.
3) The poor gits in IT are working double tides trying to rebuild things so don't even think about complaining.
4) When the dust has settled there *will* be a witch-hunt.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Well that was painless. I had to join two phone lines and two ISPs into one. What made it hard, was the line we wanted to keep wasn't with the phone/ISP provider we wanted.

One email and one phone call later to the company we wanted to stay with. Along with one phone call to the company we wanted to leave to tell them that another service would take over. Both answered quite quick and understood what we wanted, so costumer service was good all over.

Where I was a wee bit worried was the day the new company said it would take over we would have issues. But router arrived 2 days before, letter said plug it in, in the am and we will make sure the switch over takes a short while. Which we did and had internet right away. The hardest part was walking around the house to type in the new magic word into all the devices.

Best part the phone and internet access comes out to nearly £20 earth pounds less than the previous provider.
 
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Mark it in your diaries: 14 October 2025 is the end of Windows 10.

I wonder whether I'll have managed to persuade Bruiser McHuge to install the 20H2 update by then?
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

What USB sticks does this esteemed forum think best?

Best as in reliable, robust, & read & write at something like what one should get from devices of their class.

IME sliders break & caps get lost. Some USB sticks are ludicrously fragile without even the excuse of being sllders. Reliable means they don't start forgetting your stuff annoyingly soon.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Bledlow, spend the money find a known brand and buy direct. That's were I have had best success and use out of a stick. Getting them from a random seller and or cheap you will get a fake/copy/clone. Too many people are flogging these atm and even good and known sellers have been done by scammers. YMMV
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Windows what are you doing?!?! (I seriously need to get back to linux, this is just silly)

Got a new drive to be new backup drive as old drive is getting full.

Plug both drives in to puter, rsync folder from <old and small backup drive> to <new and bigger backup drive>, wait as it is a big folder with <many_files>.

Check <old and small backup drive> to see that it got <many_files>, check <new and bigger backup drive> to see if got the files from <old and small backup drive> to see that it got <many_files>+<more> than there is in <old and small backup drive>

you what now?!?!?
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Bledlow, spend the money find a known brand and buy direct. That's were I have had best success and use out of a stick. Getting them from a random seller and or cheap you will get a fake/copy/clone. Too many people are flogging these atm and even good and known sellers have been done by scammers. YMMV
Apart from a brief foray into 7dayshop's own brand (flimsy) I've always bought known brands from reputable sellers. I've never had any that failed suddenly. The latest one to misbehave was USB 2.0, & well-used for longer than I remember. Not really surprising that it started developing funny little ways. Turned out that Mrs B no longer had any use for about 99% of the files on it, & the few she did want all copied perfectly, so no real worries.

What I'd like is opinions on the quality of brands, because with that failure & the accidental washing of one together with the trousers it was in a pocket of (that's happened twice - but the Integral one survived apparently unharmed. Found in a pocket when nice dry laundry was being brought in from the washing line) we could do with one or two more.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
What USB sticks does this esteemed forum think best?

A stolen one.

ian

The ones I used to scoop up from conferences, hundreds of them, I'd pass through halls like one of those Chinese factory fishing ship, trawling the seafloor, taking everything and leaving desolated stands in my wake. I have no idea to this day why I wanted them, I have almost zero uses for USB drives, but I was possessed with a weird kleptomania. I saw a USB stick I had to take it and not just one. I gave a drawerful of them to my FiL in the end, the rest probably don't work or have got that horrid rubber sticky disease.

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Hmm some files on "server" aka shared drive attached to a raspberry pi and sambs'ed up. Shows up as hidden when viewed from win10. All files/drives are same user and rw in the drive.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Now that China has all but banned cryptocurrencies, GPU prices are falling like Bitcoin.  Good news for them as might be wanting a new picture card in future.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Hmm some files on "server" aka shared drive attached to a raspberry pi and sambs'ed up. Shows up as hidden when viewed from win10. All files/drives are same user and rw in the drive.

AIUI there are various options in smb.conf to map the 'hidden' attribute[1] to different types of files.


[1] Linux doesn't have the concept, just the convention of by default not displaying files with names that start with a dot.

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Yeah I have seen that while searching for what is what. But my smb.conf is very simple

Code: [Select]
[vault]
path = /media/vault
comment = vault
read only = no
available = yes
browseable = yes
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
public = yes
printable = no
locking = no
strict locking = no
create mask = 0666
directory mask = 0777

The last four lines have been added in the latest faff in hope that it would do something, cause I don't know much samba.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
#1 monitor: if you have died on your arse I shall be this: miffed >:(

Edit: unplugged mains lead, reinserted same, major financial disaster averted :thumbsup:
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
doh, I had totally forgotten that I had installed lighttp on my raspberry pi. So I have just spend a good hour and a bit hammering around trying to get apache2 to run, accept my edit/settings/restart etc and not understanding why the feck nothing worked no matter what I did.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Grumble.  Looks like I'll have to get a new phone shortly.  My iPhone 6 is in perfect nick, still has decent battery life & does everything I want,   but apps are becoming unsupported or don't work properly. 
In the last week I've been unable to use Touch ID for Standard Life (pension), Interactive Investor (ISA) & First Direct (bank).  Standard Life started working after I re-enabled it,  ii acknowledged the problem with the app & it was fixed in a couple of days,  FD say they also have a problem on Twitter & are working on it.


"Hi Andrew, I am sorry that you are having issues with Touch ID. This is something that we are aware of, and will be rectified with an app update over the next few days. In the meantime you will still be able to use the Digital Secure Key password to log into the app.-Sarah"


I also had to install an old version of the Ebay app, as the current one won't work.    I suppose 6 years of use isn't bad,  but I like to keep things longer if I can.     :(


Edit.  Latest update of the First Direct app & now Touch ID is working OK again.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
If the general slowness of any operation involving the NAS known in these parts as FatBoy is not cured by a reboot I shall be this: miffed.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
New SSD installed and - after a few minor panics - appears happy :thumbsup:
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

BrianI

  • Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Lepidopterist Man!
Yay! Linux Mint 20.2 released!   :thumbsup: https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4102 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Oh *good*.  I cannot wait.  Just what I always wanted. More of my tiny amount of free time spent looking after IT.  Oooh.  So excited.

Warning.  Post may contain traces of irony, sarcasm and a barely detectable soupcon of cynicism.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Just updated Great Hall PC to Win 10 21H1.

Crikey! That was so quick I had to check after the reboot to make sure it worked :o
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Thank you Word viewed in Edge for informing me that I'm viewing page 56 of 52  :facepalm: