Should we be worrying?

Had some smiles at some of the posts. Thanks :-)

Thought I'd better ask OH if my security was up to date. He tells me it's ok.

Then he tells me that on his closed FB group it says "Only group members, GCHQ, NSA all other listening agencies and anyone who knows how to hack will be able to see their posts"

I think anyone who wants to reads my stuff has too much time on their hands lol

Don’t open anything that has a topless Putin wrestling a bear on it.

This may already have been said but I guess that it is less about collecting our information but about how they can change our thinking or use our information to change our thinking. What also worries me is those quizzes etc which make assumptions from our answers and come up with totally wrong ones - and then uses them to feed us ads. If people with evil intent start to do that who knows how they might use this wrong information.

I don't think the Russians would find anything useful or interesting in my iPad or laptop. They would probably despair that folk like me exist lol. Really don't think we have much to worry on that score...........or do we? Any undercover granny spies here???

In days of yore we were told to look out for 'Reds under the beds'.......never found any amongst the dust ......so now it is Reds in the Laptop .......beware !!!! Dosvydanya !

keffie I doubt very much if they will want to hit Mr & Mrs average on the streets

I wouldn't be too sure about that. It's the Russian Mr and Mrs average on the streets who suffered when we (as part of the EU) hit Russia with economic sanctions 4 years ago, so Russia may well want to hit the same type of person here, either as revenge or to humliate EU Governments, and encourage political unrest.

should be italics for the sentence between ^ and ^ No idea why it didn't happen.

^ The reason why Google/Facebook are FREE is because you are ' the product ^

...and GN?

At the risk of being told I am posting twice I admit I am posting twice as threads overlaps another.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41982569

How Russian bots appear in your timeline'

But who is behind these bots and how do they operate?

"Many bot accounts have been traced to the Internet Research Agency, in St Petersburg. The Russian government-backed agency reportedly runs social media accounts disseminating "disinformation".

I keep banging on about fake news/bots / links to goodness knows who but it is a fact there should be caution applied at times as to who we 'choose' to obtain our information from.
Cyber attacks no doubt have already taken place and no doubt will be scaled up.

I wrote down a comment from a excellent commentator on ' This Week ' talking about Cambridge Analitica and the wider issues connected with cyber attacks 'mining' etc. He said-

" The reason why Google/Facebook are FREE is because you are ' the product '.

We can no doubt also become ' the product ' simply by opening ourselves up to subversive sites even by doing something we may think is safe such as opening up links or using search engines for example

It certainly is a worry just how easily we have our interests harvested , open ourselves up for possible cyber attacks but it has been going on for ages and I don't know how it could be stopped because our era dictates the use of technology and that's the bugger up that goes with it.

If Russia didn't have nuclear weapons it would be classed as a 3rd world country, the amount of poverty and the lack of food is really quite upsetting.

this hysteria about Russia has to stop ,its getting out of control.We sound like the americans when they went through their Mcarthy stage.Problem is if we keep demonising they WILL start to fight back .We haev more to worry about with our own Westminster government than we do with Putin .

What should we worry about? The only thing where worry is very important is our own individual security. Yes, we can worry anout the whole of the UK but that is unproductive in the sense that there is nothing we as individuals can do about that. We have GCHQ and the government to worry about that.

It is time to think about how much is hype and how much is media pushing a story. Then you need to ask yourself what is it that the Russians want from my computer. The answer is nothing.

As individuals we have nothing that the Russian cyber attacks are looking for EXCEPT for any computer that is not protected. Unprotected computers can be taken over and used. They are being used already by hackers who are not from Russia. A major use is to add computers to bots which then increase the amount of computing power for those bad guys to use..

If your firewall and antivirus softwares are kept up to date there is no need to panic. That is as long as there has not been any break in such protection at any time since you bought the computer. One easy step that can help you is to check to see if any of the ports in your computer are open.

To do that go to www.grc.com the home of the Gibson Research Corp. Take the Shields up test. Take some time to read all the information on that site. I believe you will find all that most interesting.

If you cannot manage any of that and remain worried then the only step is to stop using a computer. That would not make any sense. Like it or not everything is now dependent upon a computer system and that is not going to change.

Surely the advantage we older people have over the younger generation is that we grew up in a world without computers, mobile phones, social media etc. and are more equipped to manage without them. We are British! We will fight them on the beaches!

Whatever Russians or anyone else do to your computer, it won't explode, nobody dies. But you may lose your data. IS YOUR BACKUP UP TO DATE? Any documents, pictures that aren't stored in at least two places aren't really stored. The Russians are welcome to look at your family photographs, the main point is that YOU don't lose them

DotMH1901

You beat me to it

I have ESet Smart Security premium which covers up to 5 devices. It's unobtrusive and thorough. I've never had any problems on any device.
I think I'd be more worried (if anthing) about water supplies being disrupted by the Russians targeting our electricity.

Other than using my laptop to assess the internet, I don't do smart technology and I still only use a basic phone. If Mr Putin wants to read my personal emails he will see I don't blame him for all the ills in the world. However, if my own government reads them, they will soon see my anarchist tendencies in that I don't believe anything they tell me or the media, the church and the police for that matter- this goes for all political parties -so I think I have more to be concerned about from home sources than from Russia.

I used to be a big worrier about stuff, but as I've got older I've become far more laid-back. What will be, will be. Vlad is welcome to read my emails; they would help him nod off at night.

Having said that, if he suddenly deletes my long-researched family tree, I'll swing for him.

We're as secure as we can be online; we just have to trust it.

In reply to the OPs last sentence, 1) You'll turn it on and a blank screen will appear and
2) Nothing.

No lilyflower me either. I dunno what Ivan would make of you lot, but you scare the [under]pants off me ! And I laugh at Maws wonderful flights of fancy too !

I might be 'high profile' primrose, Never underestimate a granny!!

Primrose65 - they wouldn't need to post fake news to make the Government look incompetent - they manage that all by themselves

I am not going to worry about it. there is nothing I can do so why worry about something I can't change. Although having said that, I finally got around to downloading the link to install the McAfee thing I paid to resume last week.

I doubt very much if they will want to hit Mr & Mrs average on the streets. They will be after bringing down government body's and large corporations way which will cause the maximum damage. It is right though regarding security. Make sure you have it Russian threats or otherwise you need to have security for. Preferable a good paid for version. However a free version is better than nothing. It's amazing how many people still don't have security on there virtual world and dont realise why they need it. Personally they should be taken through the basics at point of sale. The amount of friends/ friend of friends etc laptops etc I have had do sort out and give basic lessons too on it grows every year. I should set up a business in it

I really wouldn't put money on the might of the Russion bear beating a bunch of British grannies.