Grumble Thread

[french frank]

Bother. Email from my pension provider (USS) to say their adminstration agents (Capita ) have been hacked and they confirm the info 'exfiltrated' includes my name, title, date of birth, address, USS number, NI number and retirement date. Hmm. However, I have been given a year's free subscription to Identity Plus to protect against identity theft, which I have successfully registered for. Though how it works I haven't an idea.

[Pulcinella]

Bother. Email from my pension provider (USS) to say their adminstration agents (Capita ) have been hacked and they confirm the info 'exfiltrated' includes my name, title, date of birth, address, USS number, NI number and retirement date. Hmm. However, I have been given a year's free subscription to Identity Plus to protect against identity theft, which I have successfully registered for. Though how it works I haven't an idea.

Me too: that's tomorrow's excitement.
I think we're just supposed to keep track of any attempts to emulate us; not sure if we get any alerts or not.

[french frank]

Me too: that's tomorrow's excitement.
I think we're just supposed to keep track of any attempts to emulate us; not sure if we get any alerts or not.

I'll take another look at my Experian page to see whether there's something to access which indicates whether any criminal use of my data has been traced. In some way. [All requests from me to forum members asking for urgent financial help (subject title "Desperate") can be ignored.]

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Bother. Email from my pension provider (USS) to say their adminstration agents (Capita ) have been hacked and they confirm the info 'exfiltrated' includes my name, title, date of birth, address, USS number, NI number and retirement date. Hmm. However, I have been given a year's free subscription to Identity Plus to protect against identity theft, which I have successfully registered for. Though how it works I haven't an idea.

My pension provider also use Capita - although they are going elsewhere in the near future - though I've had no communication from them about the hack. I'm not assuming that means all is well, however.

[LHC]

Bother. Email from my pension provider (USS) to say their adminstration agents (Capita ) have been hacked and they confirm the info 'exfiltrated' includes my name, title, date of birth, address, USS number, NI number and retirement date. Hmm. However, I have been given a year's free subscription to Identity Plus to protect against identity theft, which I have successfully registered for. Though how it works I haven't an idea.

I've received the same email from USS this morning.

[kernelbogey]

BBC Radio 3 news referred this morning to the number of deaths in the Indian rail disaster as 'almost three hundred'. The actual number (then) was 285.

A similar approximation was later applied to a record lottery win.

I do not understand this practice, which appears to assume that we listeners (or viewers) are more able to absorb a round number (300) than an accurate one (285). I don't believe it.

[Petrushka]

BBC Radio 3 news referred this morning to the number of deaths in the Indian rail disaster as 'almost three hundred'. The actual number (then) was 285.

A similar approximation was later applied to a record lottery win.

I do not understand this practice, which appears to assume that we listeners (or viewers) are more able to absorb a round number (300) than an accurate one (285). I don't believe it.

I'm not too sure that it's right to beat BBC News with this particular stick to be honest. In the case of the Indian train disaster an exact death toll would have been an unknown factor at that particular point in time but with a clear expectation that it would (as, sadly, it now has) pass the 300 mark. It doesn't seem to me to be treating the listener/viewer as unable to absorb the actual figure as giving an indication of how the situation was in a constantly evolving news story.

[HighlandDougie]

Bother. Email from my pension provider (USS) to say their adminstration agents (Capita ) have been hacked and they confirm the info 'exfiltrated' includes my name, title, date of birth, address, USS number, NI number and retirement date. Hmm. However, I have been given a year's free subscription to Identity Plus to protect against identity theft, which I have successfully registered for. Though how it works I haven't an idea.

I too received the email and, after a quick grumble to myself about stable doors and a reminder to josh the USS trustee who is one of the overseers of the work to which I’m allegedly contributing in HK, I wondered if it was the same as the Experian service which came as an apologia from Arnold Clark Motors for a similar data leak. It is. I get the occasional message from Experian to say that UK Insurance Bureaux or HSBC Global Services or the like has wanted assurances about my credit status. I think that Experian would intervene/inform one if it looked a bit dodgy.

[Pulcinella]

I too received the email and, after a quick grumble to myself about stable doors and a reminder to josh the USS trustee who is one of the overseers of the work to which I’m allegedly contributing in HK, I wondered if it was the same as the Experian service which came as an apologia from Arnold Clark Motors for a similar data leak. It is. I get the occasional message from Experian to say that UK Insurance Bureaux or HSBC Global Services or the like has wanted assurances about my credit status. I think that Experian would intervene/inform one if it looked a bit dodgy.

I was a little surprised that on signing up I had to identify more than one bank as one that I had an account with, thinking that I needed only to identify the one into which my USS pension is paid.
Why would USS have that information and pass it on (or have it leaked)? It actually made me MORE suspicious of signing up as I wondered if whoever had sent the email was themselves phishing for info about me!

[french frank]

I had an email yesterday from a former colleague asking if I had received the USS email (I had: it's the one I mentioned) as his same details had been 'exfiltrated' in the leak.

Two things troubled me. On investigating what details Experian held on me already, it included my current balance on my Post Office credit card (reserved for PayPal payments for any online purchases). That - small - balance will be taken in full in the monthly collection.

The other thing is that an alert is only triggered if a fraudulent credit application is made through Experian. But as I understand it (if correct, no doubt fraudsters know it too), credit info is available elswhere than Experian. Who? How? What? Anyway, I have registered and have locked my credit record so that it can't be accessed by any credit applicant (even me, until I unlock it - but all credit which I incur is paid off each month anyway).

A third thing: I don't remember giving any details about my bank/account. Is that already held by Experian? I assume it wasn't 'exfiltrated' with the rest of my details.

I was a little surprised that on signing up I had to identify more than one bank as one that I had an account with, thinking that I needed only to identify the one into which my USS pension is paid.
Why would USS have that information and pass it on (or have it leaked)? It actually made me MORE suspicious of signing up as I wondered if whoever had sent the email was themselves phishing for info about me!

[HighlandDougie]

A third thing: I don't remember giving any details about my bank/account. Is that already held by Experian?

Basically, yes. Accounts with banks, credit card companies, utility companies (should you choose) etc. If asked to provide a credit score by, say, a lender, Experian will apply some kind of algorithm to all these bits of financial (and other) data to advise to the potential lender that you are an acceptable credit risk or, in my case, not someone who is likely to have lied to a potential insurer. The reports which they provide from time to time are simply to tell you that X or Y has been asking about you. In an insurer's or lender's small print, there will be something about them seeking a credit rating from a third party. The level of detail which Experian can access seems a bit scary but is, I hope, in one's interests.

[Serial_Apologist]

Basically, yes. Accounts with banks, credit card companies, utility companies (should you choose) etc. If asked to provide a credit score by, say, a lender, Experian will apply some kind of algorithm to all these bits of financial (and other) data to advise to the potential lender that you are an acceptable credit risk or, in my case, not someone who is likely to have lied to a potential insurer. The reports which they provide from time to time are simply to tell you that X or Y has been asking about you. In an insurer's or lender's small print, there will be something about them seeking a credit rating from a third party. The level of detail which Experian can access seems a bit scary but is, I hope, in one's interests.

Hasn't Experian acquired something of a dodgy reputation of late for some reason, I seem to remember?

[kernelbogey]

I'm not too sure that it's right to beat BBC News with this particular stick to be honest. In the case of the Indian train disaster an exact death toll would have been an unknown factor at that particular point in time but with a clear expectation that it would (as, sadly, it now has) pass the 300 mark. It doesn't seem to me to be treating the listener/viewer as unable to absorb the actual figure as giving an indication of how the situation was in a constantly evolving news story.

Fair point, Pet, but this is a standard practice on BBC News that I have heard many times - roundng a number instead of quoting the precise number - even when the number is unlikely to change. (In fact my 'edit' was to add '(then)' to be clearer about that element.) It may well be that this is standard journalism practice as taught in relevant courses, but it seems to me to be mistaken.

For good measure I also regret that the BBC translates US dollars into pounds (eg, 'Biden has announced x million pounds of extra whatever'). I would have thought the value of a US dollar is fairly common knowledge among those who might listen to BBC News on the radio. End of gripe.

[Pulcinella]

Fair point, Pet, but this is a standard practice on BBC News that I have heard many times - roundng a number instead of quoting the precise number - even when the number is unlikely to change. (In fact my 'edit' was to add '(then)' to be clearer about that element.) It may well be that this is standard journalism practice as taught in relevant courses, but it seems to me to be mistaken.

For good measure I also regret that the BBC translates US dollars into pounds (eg, 'Biden has announced x million pounds of extra whatever'). I would have thought the value of a US dollar is fairly common knowledge among those who might listen to BBC News on the radio. End of gripe.

Me too, not least because that won't be what was announced.
If they said......x million pounds' worth of extra whatever, it would be OK, but I don't think that they ever do.

[french frank]

Me too, not least because that won't be what was announced.
If they said......x million pounds' worth of extra whatever, it would be OK, but I don't think that they ever do.

That's odd because online they usually quote in dollars (if that's the original amount) and give pounds in brackets afterwards as $31.4tn (£25tn).

"Direct city spending on homelessness has risen from about $200m (£160m) for the fiscal year 2016 to $680m (£543m) this year."