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[tbailey2]

TalkTalk confesses: Scammers have data about our engineers' visits to your home

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/08/scammers_breach_talktalk_engineer_visit_data/

[Black Sheep]

Thanks for the link, Tony.

For clarification purposes, this is in reference to TT's in-house engineers NOT Openreach's.

[broadstairs]

Not that we've had any engineers visits recently TT, BTOR or anyone, but we have started to get the occasional call again from the scammers recently and I have taken to laughing my head off when they says who is calling and they just hang up.

Stuart

[Bowdon]

TalkTalk Admits to Security Breach of Home Engineer Data

Oh no, not again. TalkTalk has found itself in yet more hot water over their security after the ISP admitted that private information being held by its own “BrightSparks” engineers (NOT Openreach) had been compromised and strategically abused to defraud several subscribers.

I wonder why TT are having all these issues? I'm very tempted to say that its because of substandard customer service done on the cheap. They seem to have a very corrupt element inside the company that they need to get rid of. If these stories continue they might find themselves in a very bad financial situation soon.

[William Grimsley]

This is interesting. When my Nan had a fault with her line she was visited by a "Cube" engineer, is this related?

[burakkucat]

. . . was visited by a "Cube" engineer, . . .

Not Cube but Qube, a company contracted by TT to provide telecommunications field service support.

[kitz]

"The engineer fixed it and then explained that either BT Openreach or TalkTalk would call within 24-48 hours."

The following day he got a call from TalkTalk who apparently had all information about the line fault including the TT engineer and CS clerk who he reported it to and the reference number in a text message confirming the engineers visit.

If this is the case, sound like more of an inside job than breach of data.   Why would the TT engineer tell the EU to expect a call from Openreach if the TT engineer had fixed the fault...  even more so unlikely because Openreach wouldnt even be involved at this stage.

The second case also sounds like it was set up by the visiting TT engineer, because why else spend time checking when she would be in the house to take what would be the bogus TTcall. 

[kitz]

I'm very tempted to say that its because of substandard customer service done on the cheap. They seem to have a very corrupt element inside the company that they need to get rid of. If these stories continue they might find themselves in a very bad financial situation soon.

Since when has outsourcing to contractors ever been a good idea.   The people doing the work get paid peanuts... and whilst not always the case, the often dont have the incentive or company pride to go the extra mile.   You also get some contracting services which can cost more than actually employing inhouse staff.  Its sickening when you hear of NHS resources being outsourced and the only people that seem to gain are the 'man in the middle' company.

BT learnt to their peril what a mess contractors made a few years ago and how thats back fired and affected Openreach's reputation

Not Cube but Qube, a company contracted by TT to provide telecommunications field service support.

What happened to TalkTalk Brightsparks that go around in their high vis TTvans.  I thought they were supposed to installations & basic troubleshooting such as speed faults.     What is the point of sending out Qube as they cant fix anything in the local loop.     If its a genuine fault then surely it is more beneficial to send out OR rather than mess around and what could substantially delay fixing a repair.  If their working conditions are anything like Kellys/Quinns and paid on job completion then customers are going to be fobbed off...  hardly beneficial to the EU

[kitz]

You know the more I think about this, in a weird way I almost feel sorry for TalkTalk.   OK they do need a severe rap on the knuckles for their lapse in security and there is no excuse for this,  but the run of events over the past few months is almost unbelievable.   

When they first entered the DSL market they were unbelievably bad and made some major mistakes, but they did at least pull their socks up a bit..  and although their foreign call centre has issues, those on the forums are usually ok.    I have no desire for them to fail, in fact quite the reverse - there is little choice as it is in the market these days.  Someone within TT either by pure stupidity and/or lack of management is making a right pigs ear of things.   

[sevenlayermuddle]

BBC breakfast mentioned these new issues the other day.  From memory I actually thought the TT response mentioned by BBC, rather than admitting guilt, was to suggest it the fault of 3rd party engineers.  In that case, shame TT don't even seem capable of defending their corner.

Even so, one needs to be careful of drawing any conclusions from 'trial by media'.   I remember watching Uri Geller's first appearance on British TV, early 70s.  One of his gimmicks was to restart broken watches by telepathy, and hundreds/thousands of viewers duly called in to say their watches had been magically repaired.    Actually of course,  if the odds were 10,000 to one against that happening by co-incidence (allowing for the fact each watch would have been given a shake), and there were (say) 10 million people watching, we would expect exactly 1,000 miracle cures.

In the same way, when any mud is spread on TT, we can expect a large volume of people saying 'me too'.  It's just statistics, it doesn't mean it's true.  Even though I have never used TT I continue to get a huge volume of junk calls from people who seem to know a lot about me, I could almost believe my data had been stolen.   In reality though, it's just normal data leakage from hotel bookings, shared insurance databases, dodgy online privacy policies and the likes.     

[kitz]

Even so, one needs to be careful of drawing any conclusions from 'trial by media'.

I think even more so these days, its interesting to watch which of media players / groups are making more of a big deal over it. 
 
The day the news about the cyber attack broke, for a fact that Sky news made a very big deal out of it.   I know this, because I remember sitting holding dads hand all night despite the cramp in my arm and not changing channel whilst it looped round and round on the TV...  you'd think there was no other news that day.   
When I did take a loo break and changed channel, there wasn't quite so much on the BBC about it.   Even my mother who is a total technophobe, commented the next morning when she came to take over that she was doubtful if it was all related. 

[Black Sheep]

You mean ............ Uri's a ......... fake, 7LM ?? 

 

[sheddyian]

You mean ............ Uri's a ......... fake, 7LM ?? 

 

I watched an amusing YouTube of Uri on a foreign TV station trying to get a ships compass to turn.  He got the audience to chant and urge him on - may have got them to hold hands and link to him - I forget now - and he is wacing his hands around the compass.

Whilst the audience is distracted, and when he thinks the camera isn't on him, you can spot him putting on a magicians false rubber thumb.

After which, he is miraculously able to make the compass turn simply by waving his hands near it.

However could he have done that? 


Back on topic, this article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/09/talktalk_maintenance_breach/ suggests how many people had access to the TT customer call records.

Ian

[kitz]

Back on topic, this article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/09/talktalk_maintenance_breach/ suggests how many people had access to the TT customer call records.

Being as one of last years breaches involved Wipro then it is a possibility.  Ive no doubt that info is coming from the Qube Portal.

However I still find it odd that in both cases the visiting engineer seemed to go beyond normal routine to stress that the EU would get a call the next day.
Its not normal practice for "Openreach to call the EU if a TT has found and fixed a fault".. and why go into so much detail on the 2nd case to find out when they would be at home to take a call from TT.   In fact is it normal practice for TT to call the EU the next day when the fault has been fixed.    I dont know TT proceedure, but isnt it just written in the EUs fault ticket and any further correspondence either done by mail/ticket? 

[sevenlayermuddle]

Back on topic

To clarify, my reference to Geller was not intended to be 'off topic'.   I was trying to point out that whilst we readily accept the fact that a stage magician, out for maximum publicity and to make money, might allow his audience to reach false conclusions, so might a commercial website out for maximum publicity and to make money, such as The Register. 

I'm a big believer in 'ignore what the press says' and from that standpoint, I'm far from convinced the tales of woe re TT really withstand scrutiny.