Day: July 7, 2015

Hacked off!

Hackers target City Council

Internet

The city of Edinburgh Council’s website has been hacked. Cyber-criminals have stolen over 13,000 email addresses after penetrating the city council’s security firewall.

Individuals who have had their details stolen were contacted by the city’s Director of Corporate Governance, Alastair Maclean, this morning, asking them to change any passwords used to access the council’s website.

In an email to clients who have registered with the council, entitled ‘The City of Edinburgh Council – Important information about your email address’, Mr Maclean said:

Dear Website User

We are emailing to let you know that the Council’s website was subject to a cyber attack which got through our website service provider’s security. The attacker copied some email addresses, including yours, but we would like to reassure you that no other personal data was taken.

If you had a password for the website, as a precaution, we have reset your account and you will have to change your password the next time you log in. This change does not apply to your “MyGovScot” account.

It is possible that your email address might experience an increase in spam or phishing emails. Information and guidance on spam and phishing is available from Citizens Advice

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/protection-for-the-consumer/scams/common-scams/computer-and-online-scams/phishing-spam-emails-and-fake-websites/

We are taking this incident very seriously. We have made sure that our service providers have reinforced the security of our website and we will continue to monitor security regularly.

If you do have any concerns, please contact the Council on 0131 200 2000

 

A council spokesman added: “This was a malicious cyber attack on the Council’s website which is hosted in a UK data centre. It was dealt with swiftly and at no point were any Council services affected.

“We are contacting everyone who has been affected to inform them of the incident and offer them advice and support. We have reassured individuals that the only details that have been accessed are their e-mail addresses.

“The Information Commissioner’s Office has been informed and preventative measures have been taken by the web service providers.

“We want to reassure the public the ongoing security of our website is critically important, and we continue to work with our service providers to ensure that the risks associated with attacks are dealt with.”

The Germans in Britain

(now there’s a headline to get Daily Mail readers spluttering over their corn flakes!)

germany flag

An exhibition that highlights the immense contribution by Germans to British life is being shown in Scotland for the first time at National Records of Scotland.

Among the documents from the national archives chosen to tell the story of Germans in Scotland is a register recording the baptism in 1598 of the son of the German doctor who attended Anne of Denmark, James VI’s queen.

The free exhibition explores the many facets of the long and productive relationship between Germans living and working in Britain and their hosts. It has been created by the Migration Museum Project in order to celebrate the history of co-operation and friendly relations between Britain and Germany.

The pop-up exhibition looks at how German connections have shaped everything from sport, business, the monarchy, science, music and the creative arts, and is complemented by specially selected original documents from the huge holdings of National Records of Scotland.

The exhibition at General Register House, 2 Princes Street, runs from 6 July until 7 August, Monday – Friday, 9am – 4.30.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, said: “This exhibition celebrates the strong historic links between Germany and Britain and highlights bonds between the people of our two nations stemming back hundreds of years. Our archive provides a fascinating insight into some of the close ties that have connected the people of Scotland and Germany over the centuries.”

Tim Ellis, Keeper of the Records of Scotland and Registrar General, said: “We’re delighted to be hosting this fascinating exploration of the long contacts between Britain and Germany, and to be able to complement it with gems from our own archives that record the presence of Germans in Scotland for more than 400 years. The exhibition has been made possible by our partnership with the German Consulate General in Scotland and the Migration Museum Project.”

Verena Gräfin von Roedern, German Consul General in Scotland, said: “We are delighted that this important exhibition has found its way to Scotland. A huge number of Germans have become an active part of British society. According to the 2011 census, more than twenty thousand Germans are currently resident in Scotland. As Consul General it has been my pleasure to get to know Germans from all walks of life, who contribute amongst others to Scotland’s higher education institutes, national health services, cultural and even culinary landscape.”

Sophie Henderson, Project Director, Migration Museum Project, said: “It is very exciting for us at the Migration Museum Project to see German–Scottish histories drawn out and spotlighted in this way, using our exhibition as a backdrop. The long history of German migrants in Scotland, beautifully demonstrated with material from National Records of Scotland, goes to show that immigration is not just some awkward, new phenomenon, but a rich, old story and one that is, in many cases, still waiting to be told.”

Sturgeon: UK Budget will hit Scotland’s poorest children

Scottish Government figures give ‘frightening indication’ of potential impact of expected tax credit cuts

ChildPoverty

Expected cuts to the value of tax credits by the Westminster Government in tomorrow’s budget will impact most on the poorest children in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said this morning.

Figures due to be published tomorrow (Wednesday) by Scottish Government analysts show that, if the Chancellor cuts child tax credits back to 2003 levels in real terms as has been reported, the poorest 20 per cent of Scottish families with children will lose on average nearly 8 per cent of their income – a total impact of £425 million lost across the country – with 60% of Scottish children affected by the changes.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the research as “a frightening indication” of the impact of the expected cuts and warned that the UK Government’s approach will “hit Scotland’s poorest children and families hard”.

The First Minister said: “The UK Government has already warned that tomorrow’s budget will continue their austerity approach, which we are clear is not just unfair but damaging to the economy – undermining attempts to stimulate growth.

“Tax credits form an important part of the tax and welfare system, designed particularly to support working families on low incomes.

“More than 500,000 children in Scotland benefit from tax credits. Two-thirds of the £2 billion expenditure on tax credits in 2013-14 went to low-income working families with children and only 5 per cent to households without children.

“If, as we expect, the UK Government targets tax credits for cuts in tomorrow’s budget, it will hit Scotland’s poorest children and families hard. It is a frightening indication of the potential impact of the expected cuts in tomorrow’s UK budget.”

The First Minister went on to describe the austerity approach as ‘economically counter-productive’:

“We want to support people to get into work and to stay in work and the tax credit system provides important practical help to families on low pay.

“These are people who are in jobs and often working very hard for relatively little pay. It is unfair that their children are the people made to pay for the mistakes of the austerity approach – not to mention economically counter-productive.

“When people are in work, they spend their wages in the local economy, leading to a virtuous circle. Cutting child tax credits back to 2003 levels, as we expect the UK Government to do tomorrow, will risk threatening Scotland’s economic recovery.

“The deficit needs to be reduced but this should be done in a more gradual manner with more resources allocated to a programme of additional investment in our economy, rather than risking a financial body-blow to hard-working parents and their children.”

7/7 tenth anniversary: Prime Minister’s statement

‘We will keep on doing all that we can to keep the British public safe’ – Prime Minister David Cameron

aldgate

Prime Minister David Cameron has made a statement on the tenth anniversary of the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

He said: “Today the country comes together to remember the victims of one of the deadliest terrorist atrocities on mainland Britain.

“Ten years on from the 7/7 London attacks, the threat from terrorism continues to be as real as it is deadly – the murder of 30 innocent Britons whilst holidaying in Tunisia is a brutal reminder of that fact. But we will never be cowed by terrorism.

“We will keep on doing all that we can to keep the British public safe, protecting vulnerable young minds from others’ extremist beliefs and promoting the shared values of tolerance, love and respect that make Britain so great.”

Three people rescued from Cramond Island

It happens every summer, as predictable as rain stopping play at Wimbledon. Yes, it’s the peak season for people getting stranded on Cramond Island …

cramond

Three people were rescued by lifeboat after being cut off by rising tides in the Firth of Forth yesterday.

Coastguards received a call shortly after 2pm from a man on Cramond Island who thought he had broken his leg.

Two members of the Queensferry lifeboat were dropped off to search for him, and when the causeway linking the island to the mainland then became flooded by tidal waters two other people also had to be brought to safety.

HM Coastguard’s Jonathan Mustard said: “This was a well co-ordinated response to this incident. All those involved regularly carry out training for this sort of incident and the way this was handled today shows why that training matters.”