Monday, 12 October 2009

Mc Millian Coffee Morning @ BSS Belfast




BSS Belfast Raise £420.00 for the McMillian Cancer Coffee Morning.


Thanks to the efforts of all the BSS Staff for supporting a very worth while cause we raised a total of £210.00 which was kindly doubled to £420.00 by our managing director Willie McKee.


In frame are Willie, Anne Moss and the famous Rosi 'Lancette Kirker. During the course of 2009, Rosi was diagnosed with a form of bowl cancer. Not the type of lady to let a little thing like that slow her down, Rosi rallied the troops in the office to support the UK largest coffee morning. Well if anyone knows Rosi, this was not going to be just any coffee morning; this had to be a blow out of biblical proportions.

Conrad Traynor (Coffee Buff) not only ground and supplied his own coffee but supplied a very shinny looking coffee machine that made the most divine roast coffee I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. Con buys and blends his own beans so anything else would just be wrong.

Paul (Walk about Watson) commissioned his mother, a semi pro baker to the local church to make and supply two of the largest pavalova I have ever seen or tasted. Mrs Watson can bake them all day long and we would find a home for them.

My daughter (Princess Megan) made a beautiful sponge cake and decorated it in the McMillian logo. Not only did it go down well but it received the most ahhhhhhhhh of the day.

As usual ‘Mrs Moss’ or mother to the BSS crew took charge of the proceedings and delivered one of the best break times I have ever attended. I say break time, cuz it lasted from than a coffee or tea break. The rest of the team, Linda, Jenny, Sandra and some of the engineers all chipped in to supply tray bakes and buns.

Oh, one can’t forget the cake Rosi made. Noted as a Jami Oliver special and filled with fresh cream and nuts, there was no one getting seconds.

Dean had the best seat in the house as all the kit was served from his table.

As a follow up to this and to raise more funds for Rosi’s chosen charity, Chris Birt (Dancing Boy) is organising a cycle from the University of Ulster to the Bar in Cutters Warf. Now there’s a surprise.

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Phishing attack targets Hotmail

Should have used Ironkey & Cryptocard for 2FA and secure connectivity

Thousands of accounts on web-based e-mail system Hotmail have been compromised in a phishing attack, software giant Microsoft has confirmed.


BBC News has seen a list of more than 10,000 e-mail accounts, predominantly originating from Europe, and passwords which were posted online.

Microsoft said it had launched an investigation.

Phishing involves using fake websites to lure people into revealing details such as bank accounts or login names.

"We are aware that some Windows Live Hotmail customers' credentials were acquired illegally and exposed on a website," said a Microsoft spokesperson.

"Upon learning of the issue, we immediately requested that the credentials be removed and launched an investigation to determine the impact to customers."

Quick change

Graham Cluley, consultant at security firm Sophos, told BBC News the published list may just be a subset of a longer list of compromised accounts.

"We still don't know the scale of the problem," he told BBC News.

Technology blog neowin.net was the first to publish details of the attack. It said the accounts were posted on 1 October to pastebin.com, a website commonly used by developers to share code.

Although the details have since been removed, BBC News and Neowin has seen a list of 10,028 names beginning with the letters A and B.

BBC News has confirmed that the accounts are genuine and predominantly originate in Europe.

The list included details of Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail accounts with email addresses ending hotmail.com, msn.com and live.com.

Mr Cluley advised Hotmail users to change their password as soon as possible.

"I'd also recommend that people change the password on any other site where they use it," he said.

Around 40% of people use the same password for every website they use, he added. With Ironkey's Password Manager, you need not worry about managing multiple log on details as the platform does it all for you.

Well worth the investment - www.ironkey.com