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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 12h

Met a guy in St Lucia about 10 yrs ago who ran an ice cream van around the New Forest from May to September and earned enough to spend his ‘winter’ in St Lucia every year. I think he had it right.

Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 13h

Don’t tell them about London cabbies and The Knowledge…

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 14h

In all of these discussions never underestimate the power of those two legalised addictions - alcohol and betting. A lot of the reason why there has not been a sensible discussion around reforming our drug laws comes from these industries. Alcohol in particular knows the impact of decriminalisation

Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

It’s a bit like when you point out that average life expectancy is about 78, so middle aged actually begins at by 39 :-)

Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

Happy birthday Lisa (2 yrs behind me :-) )

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

It is not a good read - I’ve posted up elsewhere on here about it. It’s pretty damning.

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

From a personal perspective there is a degree of frustration in terms of what information was made available to us and what we could tell clients (under guidance from legal counsel) - being kind (& careful with my words) you could argue they have been a little economic with the truth.

Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

Totally - it hadn’t gone unnoticed by many internally that the SOC wasn’t big given the size of Capita (& also being responsible for a managed service to clients). Couldn’t fault their technical capability or willingness to do the work but there are limits to what can effectively be monitored

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

It’s pretty grim isn’t it? I mentioned elsewhere that I’ve found out a lot reading it this morning. So much of the information was never made available to staff at the time (and I was doing approved briefings to clients after it happened).

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

Well this makes for some uncomfortable reading Quite a lot I’ve learnt about what happened (which was never made available even to us within the cybersecurity teams in Capita at the time or afterwards (although my role wasn’t internal security)) ico.org.uk/action-weve-...

Capita plc and Capita Pension Solutions Ltd

ico.org.uk

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

That sort of the point - it keeps them at arms length without full integration at this stage. The EU is stronger with the UK - it has been acknowledged before. What it will take is political bravery in the UK (sadly lacking at the moment).

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

It’s relative to full membership which would likely take a decade even if we started today. EEA is much less demanding - a few years would be achievable (don’t forget that despite everything the EU knows it is stronger with the UK (esp in the current political climate) & would welcome them back)

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 1d

It does, but we could join the EEA (which could be achieved relatively quickly) and would allow the free movement of people, goods, services and capital and would solve the immediate issues we face. Yes Farage would howl but the popularity & benefits would be the best way to undermine him.

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 2d

Still available from the NHS in the UK (no I’m not joking)

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 2d

If the vet is using our surname when referring to our pets then so are we.

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Reposted by Chris Leppard

Ken Tindell @kentindell.bsky.social · 2d

Just leaving this here for anyone to re-use.

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Reposted by Chris Leppard

Ollie Whitehouse @ollieatnowhere.bsky.social · 2d

Our annual review is out covering technical highlights such as

- Engineering resilience against critical loss
- Passkeys
- The future of digital identity
- Post quantum crypt transition
- Our Initiate r&d program with industry
- Radical transparency in technology

.. and more

NCSC UK @ncsc.gov.uk · 2d

It’s time to act

Today we’ve published our 2025 Annual Review, revealing that cyber threats facing the UK are accelerating rapidly. We must take action.

It's time to act: Cyber attacks are designed to disrupt society with real human costs. Annual review 2025

It's time to act: Take cyber security seriously or risk exposing your customers' data. Annual Review 2025

It's time to act. Open your eyes to the imminent to your economic security. Annual Review 2025

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 2d

This doesn’t surprise me. What we’re seeing is a shift in the type of firms being hit - a lot more SMEs. Big attacks like JLR make the headlines but there is a shift towards smaller firms (generally less well prepared or defended). Basic resilience levels are still too low.

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Reposted by Chris Leppard

Cynthia Brumfield @metacurity.com · 2d

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Cyber-attacks rise by 50% in past year, UK security agency says

Cyber-attacks rise by 50% in past year, UK security agency says

Officials say increased dependence on technology leaves society more vulnerable to threats such as ransomware

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Chris Leppard

Kim Zetter @kimzetter.bsky.social · 3d

White House made good on threats to fire workers during shutdown, and CISA was among those that lost workers - 176 were fired on Friday. A CISA spokesperson told Metacurity that CISA under Biden admin focused on "censorship, branding, and electioneering. This is part of getting CISA back on mission"

The White House fired 176 CISA employees on Friday, with more layoffs feared

Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters leaked 5m Qantas, 23m Vietnam Air customers' records, Spanish cops dismantle GXC Team, Dutch gov't warns of China's Nexperia security risks, Breach of crypto betting platform...

www.metacurity.com

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Reposted by Chris Leppard

Catalin Cimpanu @campuscodi.risky.biz · 4d

Microsoft published last week a dedicated page for recommended Intune security configurations

learn.microsoft.com/en-us/intune...

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 4d

Those of us who have a little more knowledge of Bletchley Park and Turing have known about Flowers for years but yes he is under appreciated and deserves much wider recognition.

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 5d

Yes I’m not disputing that most come from the commercial sector but the government can (and has) created its own money as and when needed (BoE QE created £895 billion from 2008 to 2020) - so it can’t go bankrupt and it shouldn’t be treated as a company balance sheet with profit and loss.

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Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 5d

Sounds a bit like Vegas

Chris Leppard @ferretandbird.bsky.social · 5d

Can we stop talking about balancing the books as well? Governments don’t have to do this when they print their own money. They are not a business and cannot go bankrupt. In fact they should run a deficit if they are investing in the wider economy (& hence its citizens).

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