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[STEMO]

People worry about their bank account number and sort code falling into the wrong hands, but they're both written on any cheque you write.

So .. the mid 90s, then? 

Read the news, Aaron, you'll find cheques still play a big part in a lot of people's lives. Those who are over 40 anyhow.

So, me, then.. better find that chequebook I haven't seen in a couple of years! (Although I do actually think I know where it is, for a change..)

For nieces and nephews, grandkids, etc, a crisp £10 or £20 note is king, cheque is 2nd, and bank transfer is a distant third.

[aaronjb]

For nieces and nephews, grandkids, etc, a crisp £10 or £20 note is king, cheque is 2nd, and bank transfer is a distant third.

Surely if they want cash you just send them down't mines?

[TheBoy]

comments like this:"With the appropriate knowledge you can determine someone's ISP based on the IP address. Each ISP has a different range in terms of an ISP database. This is where user information is kept,and a moderately skilled IT operative can, once in the database, pair up the IP address with a name and mailing address. This does take basic IT skills, but it's not like computer magic."

The whole sentence is approximately 'dangle berries'.  Because any ISP exposing said database to anyone other than the authorities via a court judgement would be explaining themselves to the Information Commissioner, and awaiting a huge fine, usually at least 10% of turnover.  Not that any ISP would store your name and address alongside your IP, even if somebody could get at said ISP database.

The terminology used immediately strikes me that the person posting doesn't know what they are talking about.

Now there is a set of publically available databases around the world for looking up who owns an IP. For Europe, that is called RIPE WHOIS server.  In your case (along with 99.99% of other UK broadband lines), this simply returns your ISP's name and address. Hence I could tell who your ISP were.  But your ISP are not doing to tell anyone who was using a specific IP at a given time, without being told to do so by a warrant or other court order.

I, for the remainder of this year at least, work for a large UK ISP, and can assure you that unless you are one of those very few ISPs that put your name and address on RIPE's WHOIS, only the appropriate legal authorities can trace you*


*or potential rogue agents working in the ISP - though the same could be said for a VPN operator. And you can imagaine if there are rogue agents at your bank, anywhere you have shopped online, or in some cases, in store.

[Shackeng]

You clearly have more confidence in these databases than I do. It seems hardly a week goes by without either a bank or airline geting hacked and thousands of people having their information disseminated. However, as far as I understand what you have said, my information is out there whether I like it or not. Presumably the only way to isolate my personal data is to go completely off grid.

[TheBoy]

You clearly have more confidence in these databases than I do. It seems hardly a week goes by without either a bank or airline geting hacked and thousands of people having their information disseminated. However, as far as I understand what you have said, my information is out there whether I like it or not. Presumably the only way to isolate my personal data is to go completely off grid.

Your IP is of no interest to anyone TBH. Everybody has one or more (apparently I have over 4 billion of the damn things ), and they are not really useful.

Your name, address, credit card, bank, demographics and so on are far more valuable. And these are given away at will by the likes of Facebook (if you don't have an account, some of your friends and family will), and heavily recorded/tracked and used for advertising by the likes of Google and Amazon.  These companies don't track you via your IP, in fact hardly anyone does.  You are no doubt aware of the amount of demographics collected by the likes of Tesco through Clubcard and Sainsburys through Nectar - its staggering.

Sadly, I would argue that its impossible to stay off the grid in the UK, because somebody somewhere will know about you, be it being on the electoral role, or through your bank which is now needed for your pension. Once you have given info to anyone, its no longer secret, either by design or by mistakes.


No doubt you've had one of those emails where somebody claims to have hacked you, and turned on your webcam whilst you were having a wrist flick etc, and include your password.  These are what scares most people, but they are just passwords for your email from various big hacks.  These should serve as nothing more than a reminder about good security practices, and regular password changes (and not using same password on different sites).

Everybody will have some security incident at some point, from a computer virus/malware, a data breach from a company/organisation you have dealt with, a card clone/swipe and so on.

[STEMO]

You clearly have more confidence in these databases than I do. It seems hardly a week goes by without either a bank or airline geting hacked and thousands of people having their information disseminated. However, as far as I understand what you have said, my information is out there whether I like it or not. Presumably the only way to isolate my personal data is to go completely off grid.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/beatthescammers/article-7800919/Meghan-Markles-favourite-jewellery-brand-Missoma-hit-cyber-attack.html
 

[TheBoy]

BTW, not trying to dismiss your security fears - its great you grasp the risks and are trying to improve that


But I still maintain that a VPN isn't that helpful, and in many cases reduce your security.