As a blogger I rely on the internet. I don’t think about it often. Rather like the driver who knows very little about cars I just get into the driving seat and drive. As with the driver in the above example, I know little about how the engine (internet) works but I trust that the manufacturer (my Internet Service Provider or ISP) will get me safely, from A to B without incident. Unfortunately as with vehicles, so with the internet, things can (and do) go wrong. In this case spectacularly so – my ISP (TalkTalk) has been hacked, (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/talktalk-cyber-attack-company-accused-of-cover-up-following-reports-customers-targeted-a-week-before-a6707091.html). The incident is shocking as the Chief Executive, Dido Harding has been reported as saying that she is uncertain as to whether key customer information (including bank details) where encrypted on the TalkTalk servers. As the head of a company entrusted with the data of around four million customers I, in my naivety would assume that chief executives should be cognisant of such matters. That is why they receive salaries which the vast majority of their customers will never see in a lifetime.
The above incident is the third such in a period of twelve months. Either TalkTalk is incredibly unlucky (but not as unlucky as it’s hapless customers) or a worrying degree of incompetence is at work here. I have my suspicions as to which one it is.
A close friend of mine (a former AOL customer, as AOL was subsumed into TalkTalk) is in the process of moving to another ISP and I am strongly minded to follow his example.
I remain in a state of disbelief that a security breech of this magnitude could take place not once, not twice but three times in a time-frame of some twelve months. Stable doors should be shut prior to (not after) the horse has bolted but TalkTalk appear to be desperately attempting to fasten the door long after the beast has departed.
K Morris - Poet 
Rotten luck. I can’t imagine how these things happens and more often and in more places. My PC was hacked the end of July. What a nightmare!
Are you personally affected, or you don’t know yet?
Thanks for your comment Tess. I have visited TalkTalk’s website several times since the incident and the “My Account” area remains unavailable so the company is obviously still attempting to plug holes or to put it more accurately to clean up the mess! I don’t know yet whether I was personally impacted but will obviously keep a close eye on the situation. Sorry to hear about your computer being hacked in July. Was it a Trojan? Hope all is good with you and your machine now. Kevin
I was hacked with a sneaky announcement in the bottom of my screen telling me to call Microsoft immediately. They gave a number. I stalled, but then called and that’s when they took over my PC. I can’t even talk about it because I felt stupid to allow myself to be duped. *hangs head*
There but for the grace of God go I or any number of other people Tess. A month or so ago I received an email from my sister’s account with a link to “photographs”. I clicked on the link and my email address (Gmail) appeared with a space for me to fill in my password. I was already logged into Gmail (hence my ability to read the message) so the request to enter my Gmail password set alarm bells ringing. Needless to say I exited that site PDQ and informed my sister who, not surprisingly discovered her email had been hacked. I didn’t click and enter my password but could so easily have done so. Consequently I can understand how you fell for the scam. Kevin
These people thrive on our trust and sometimes when the bells go off in my heads, it’s too late. Thanks for this conversation, Kevin. Nice talking with you.
You are welcome Tess. Nice chatting with you also. Kevin
The hacker, apparently, has tried getting money out of TalkTalk for this intrusion and, I think, the company need to employ him/her to plug these holes in their firewall that allowed the hack in the first place.
Thanks for your comment David. I suspect you have your tongue firmly in your cheek when you suggest that TalkTalk employ the hacker! Even if the company did pay the hacker there is no guarantee that he, she or they wouldn’t use the stolen data anyway. I am reminded of the Kipling poem, “Once you pay him the Dane geld you never get rid of the Dane”.
Of course not, but they also say it takes a thief to catch a thief. As you said there’s no guarantee that neither he nor TalkTalk would not use the hacked information to empty bank accounts.
Thanks for your comment. On checking the Guardian’s website about an hour ago, I see that TalkTalk are now saying the data breech is not as serious as was at first thought. Maybe so, maybe not. Whatever the case may be, the incident should not have taken place. Kevin
You got that totally right Kevin, it should never have happened in the first place.