Cyberattacks & online crime grows

Cyber attacks, hacking and online crime are becoming rife in recent months. Targets have been both small and large, with individuals falling to online scams at an ever increasing number while large corporates and major infrastructures also falling victim to online attacks.

Growing cyberattacks

In the past few months the retailers M&S and Co-op became victims of online attacks which cost them millions of pounds in losses. The Co-op revealed in late September that it had seen a £200m hit to its business as a result of the cyberattack that left shelves empty and severely disrupted its supply chain [BBC].

The retailer M&S was also severely hit just weeks before and while the company said the nature of the incident meant that some personal customer data had been taken, there was no evidence that it had been shared. The financial cost to the brand has yet to be revealed but there has certainly been reputational damage. The attack saw the retailer stop taking orders on its website and app for clothing and home deliveries and also paused its in-store collection service on the 25th April. Online orders eventually resumed on the 10th of June and the click and collect service resumed in early August [BBC].

No-one was safe from these online attacks. Even the prestigious upmarket store Harrods was targeted though the firm said it managed to thwart the attempted breach to its systems [BBC / Periculo].

As the holiday season ended many people at airports across Britain and parts of Europe found themselves facing delays after hackers targeted check-in and boarding systems belonging to provider Collins Aerospace. The systems were eventually brought back online but not before thousands had their travel plans disrupted. Airlines flying out of Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin were forced to check passengers in manually on Friday 19th September with systems not back to normal until Monday [Independent / BBC].

The same cannot be said for Jaguar Land Rover which is still facing ongoing problems after a month-long shutdown of its operations following a cyberattack [BBC].

While less disruptive, there were further reports of a ransomware attack on a nursery chain on Thursday 25th September [BBC].

Hackers said they had stolen pictures, names and addresses of around 8,000 children from the Kido nursery chain and were using the highly sensitive information to demand a ransom from the company, which has 18 sites in and around London, with more in the US and India.

Arrests

There have been arrests concerning some of these attacks. On the 10th of July the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) announced the arrest of four individuals in connection with the cyberattacks that disrupted operations at Marks & Spencer (M&S), Co-op, and Harrods earlier this year. The suspects, a 20-year-old woman from Staffordshire, two 19-year-old men (one British, one Latvian) from London and the West Midlands, and a 17-year-old British male were detained at their residences. Authorities also seized electronic devices for forensic analysis.

The arrests were said to be linked to the hacker group known as Scattered Spider, notorious for employing sophisticated social engineering tactics, SIM swapping, and phishing techniques to infiltrate organisations. In the case of M&S, the attackers deployed ransomware, leading to a six-week shutdown of online clothing sales and an estimated £300 million loss in operating profit.

There has also been an arrest concerning the cyberattack on the airlines. On Wednesday 24th September the National Crime Agency said it had arrested a man in his 40s in West Sussex as part of an investigation into the incident affecting Collins Aerospace [Guardian].

And just days before it was reported that Thalha Jubair, 19, from east London, and Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall in the West Midlands, were arrested at their home addresses on Tuesday by the NCA and City of London Police and charged in connection with a cyberattack that resulted in months of disruption for Transport of London [TfL].

The National Crime Agency (NCA) says it believes the hack, which began on the 31st August 2024, was carried out by members of the cyber-criminal group, Scattered Spider, and caused more than £39m in damage and disruption [BBC].

Arrests have not been confined to Britain however. An African cybercrime operation in late September saw 260 arrests after Operation Contender 3.0, involving 14 countries across the continent, reigned in a large number of scammers involved in Sextortion and Romance Scams [BBC / Interpol]

That operation should prompt concerns that even individuals are as vulnerable as large corporations.

In the coming month there is a concern that Microsoft's end of support for Windows 10 will leave millions of people around the world at risk.

The end of support means that vulnerabilities and security issues identified in Windows 10 will not be patched. While users can pay Microsoft for a year of continued support, many may simply ditch otherwise perfectly good computers and upgrade to a Windows 11 machine.

The move by Microsoft has been criticised for creating a problem with so-called eWaste as well as leaving millions of Windows 10 users potentially vulnerable to malware and cyberattacks.

There is however a reprieve for those residing in EEA countries with users able to get free Windows 10 extended security updates if they log in to Windows and enroll using a Microsoft account [Windows Central / Bleeping Computer]. The European Economic Area [EEA] consists of the 27 EU member states plus three non-EU countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Britain is excluded due to its having left the EU. Another Brexit benefit!

tvnewswatch, London, UK

Was life better before the Internet

There have been a number of reports in the media in the past few months concerning generation Z, amongst others, looking back nostalgically at a pre-Internet world [ProfectusMag / GWI].

Of course Gen-Z can't really look back to a world without the Internet. Neither can most millennials. In fact only those that are Generation X or older will likely have grown up without the Internet or at least remember a world without it.

But was it any better to not have access to a world of information at the touch of a button or to share one's life or thoughts with others on a plethora of social media networks.

In many ways it was and in many ways, that of course we weren't aware of, it wasn't.

Part of the recent debate concerned the posting of a video of a performance of the group MGMT on a number of social media platforms.

In an article posted on the Guardian website, and no doubt printed in the physical paper, which even fewer people will read, Isabel Brooks notes that, "Almost half of young people would prefer a world without the internet" and that, "We are haunted by the feeling that it has robbed us of something vital." [Guardian]

Brooks references a video of the song Kids being performed to a group of students at a college campus in April 2003. Students at Wesleyan University, Connecticut, dance and enjoy the song which won't be heard by a wider audience until around 2007.

The video in itself is nothing special. It's probably a VHS recording of a college event not too dissimilar from countless others that took place in the early noughties and the decades before.

However, there is a carefree innocence captured in the video. Brooks herself suggests that in a pre-social media world "people behaved in more authentic and idiosyncratic ways."

Brooks informs us that she was only four at the time the video was shot and perhaps cannot relate to the way people might well have behaved in the days before social media burst onto the scene.

In those days people were less guarded, less hung up about looks or following specific trends. The scene in that video, shot in 2003 could just as easily have been from a video I shot at art college a little over a decade before in Britain.

Kids did have fewer inhibitions. Camcorders were in their infancy and college students weren't particularly shy of being filmed. And much of what was filmed, on old VHS, Video-8 or Umatic tape, has probably been lost, though not all, here being two videos shot in the 1990s at Maidstone College of Art here and here.

In 2003 the Internet was in its infancy. Whilst some universities and colleges had a computer and Internet access, only those needing computers for work would likely own a personal laptop.

A decade or so before not even universities had Internet access. Study was through lectures, books and possibly an audio/visual presentation.

There were no emails or printers. An application to university was carried out by filling in physical forms and sending them off through the post and hoping one might receive a reply and a date for an interview.

Travel involved arriving at a station and buying a ticket for cash or maybe the writing of a cheque. There was no touch and pay, and even chip & pin did not exist beyond the cashpoint which could eat your card at a whim and leave you stranded.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s mobile telephones were only for high flying businessmen or celebrities. The actor Steve McFadden, who played Phil Mitchell in Eastenders, occasionally popped into a Maidstone pub with his massive Motorola 4800X carphone and deposit it on the bar. But for the general public a mobile phone was a pipe dream.

For generation X communication was confined to a landline or a phone box. For many students however there was not even a landline at their rented accommodation meaning the phonebox was the only means of phoning friends in order to make plans.

Without phones plans were often ad hoc, unplanned, spontaneous or simply chance events. One would head to the pub after eating in the hope that someone might be there. Or one might simply take the chance that a fellow student was in and make a journey to their house.

The disappointment of finding no-one at home, or an empty pub was commonplace, but it sometimes led to new adventures, new discoveries and the meeting of new friends.

In some respects this was akin to the Situationist practice of psychogeography which encouraged individuals to engage in a mindful exploration of their city, to aimlessly wander around and observe their environment, a practice of "dérive" or "drift," and thus discover new things.

With the advent of mobile phones, the Internet and an ever connected life, spontaneity and chance discovery was consigned to the past.

Upon leaving education most graduates will today apply for positions online or send countless emails to prospective employers. In an era where email was still in the realms of science fiction, post-grad students had to compose letters on a typewriter and with a photocopy of a CV send it off with the hope of putting one's foot through the door of a company.

Everything was snail mail. Research was fraught especially if you were focused on specialist fields. And the time between sending an application and receiving a reply might extend to weeks.

But technology was slowly improving and becoming more accessible to the general population. In 1994 Mercury One2One launched its digital mobile phone service with Orange following soon after. Early adopters were still seen as outliers. Members of the public would mutter and comment if one took a call on a bus. I clearly remember overhearing two women saying how unnecessary such devices were, as I received a call in central London on a Number 8 bus. "What's so important that people can't wait 'til they get home?" one asked rhetorically. "No, they'll never catch on," replied her friend.

Even as the millennium arrived, mobile phones were mostly in the hands of businessmen, journalists, photographers and those who tended to work away from an office.

Laptops and computers were also out of the reach of most people, seen as an unnecessary luxury. A laptop in the year 2000 cost over £1,000 and was exceedingly slow compared to the machines of today.

Access to the Internet was possible but only through dial-up at 56 kbps. There was no Google. Amazon had only been around a couple of years and as for email there were few providers. Early adopters grabbed a Hotmail address and stuck with it until forced to change to an Outlook account some 13 years later, whilst others grabbed a Gmail account when it launched in 2004. Gmail offered 1 Gb of storage when it launched which doubled to 1 Gb the following year with claims that users would never have to delete an email again. While free storage increased to 15 Gb across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos by 2013, this was barely enough for many users as file sizes grew and more and more of us became reliant on cloud storage.

Facebook launched around 2004 and drew many people into their first foray of social media. In early 2000 Friends Reunited had launched to help connect old school buddies but was shuttered in 2016. Despite its best efforts it couldn't compete with giant services like Facebook.

In between time other social media platforms had made their way into the public arena, services such as Twitter. Online platforms such as YouTube were becoming popular as were blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger.

As these platforms began they were mostly occupied by those who had grown up without Internet access. It would have been unlikely for someone younger than 20-years-old to join  Facebook when it launched in 2004. Indeed the first inhabitants of the web were mostly younger members of Generation X and a few Millennials that were old enough, or lucky enough, to have access to a PC.

Rolling forward a little over two decades and only Generation X and a large proportion of Millennials would remember a time without the Internet. For Generation Z and beyond a world without the Internet would be as unthinkable as a Gen X individual imagining life without electricity or TV.

For Gen Z and most Millennials life has become entwined with the Internet. But while a vast cornucopia of information and knowledge may be only a click away, most young people are more engaged with social network platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and others. The instant hit of a jokey or viral video, spawned a generation demanding instant gratification and one that has little if any attention span.

Research conducted by Microsoft in 2015 found that the average attention span of Gen Z individuals was only about eight seconds, four seconds less than that of millennials. The study attributes this decrease to the generation's constant exposure to digital content and multiple screens [Time].

The hippies were notoriously stoned and laid back and would think nothing of listening to a concept album lasting six sides or watch a feature length avant-garde movie with little or no dialogue. Seventies kids might have buried themselves in comics and books for hours on end, while eighties youth may have spent many hours skateboarding or trying to understand BBC basic [computer programming].

But today's kids, after the instant dopamine hit of a TikTok video can't sit still for one minute. Many will spend hours doom scrolling through content that provides short-term entertainment and causes the dopamine receptors to get fried. In the long term, fried dopamine receptors lead to the shrinking of their attention spans and perhaps explains why Gen Z, specifically the younger of the group, struggle to finish movies and books.

The advent of streaming has brought about a decline in movie going. But another factor is that the age group that used to fill out the cinemas is now one that can't sit still long enough to watch a feature length movie.

Less than two weeks into the release of Mission Impossible 8 - Final Reckoning, a showing at a London cinema barely attracted a handful of patrons.

Youngsters now can often be observed watching movies on their phones at 2x the speed or flipping forward in 10 minute intervals and watching a segment before flipping forward again.

It is perhaps no wonder that ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) is seemingly becoming more prevalent in the young. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by persistent symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and developmentally inappropriate.

These symptoms can significantly impact daily life, including school, work, and social relationships.

But while there is no evidence suggesting short form videos directly cause the condition, the cause of ADHD has yet to be established and likely involves a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

The diagnosis of ADHD has increased significantly in the last two decades with data showing a steady increase in adult ADHD prescriptions since 2013/14, doubling since 2019/20. Meanwhile in the UK, it's estimated that about 3-4% of adults have ADHD while in children, the global prevalence is around 5%

Symptoms of ADHD include impulsiveness, disorganisation, poor time management skills, difficulty focusing and restlessness. Of course these 'symptoms' could just as easily describe any teenager.

The Internet and all its associations may not have a bearing on children developing ADHD, even if it is affecting their general attention span. But herein lies another consequence of the World Wide Web, that of diagnoses and other threats.

Before the Internet people enjoyed life without the constant threats of something being bad for you or that one in two of us might die from a fatal disease.

Yes, it was well known, even in the '70s and '80s, that cigarettes weren't a health food and that it probably wasn't a good idea to drink to excess every night or consume large quantities of Coca Cola. Bicycle helmets weren't a thing and the concerns over knife crime and violence was rarely mentioned.

People of course still died from smoking related diseases. Others became involved in accidents because of alcohol. And others grew fat because they drank too much fizzy pop or gorged on 'junk' food. Cyclists were surely injured too. It certainly wasn't a blissful utopia on Britain's streets in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. But somehow the Boomers and Generation X managed to survive and enjoy themselves without being bombarded with government messages, health warnings and nannying, besides perhaps the Green Cross Man - aka David Prowse who later played Darth Vader - and who taught kids of the '70s to cross the streets safely https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7_Bz9fIPA

With the advent of the Internet, and particularly with the smartphone landing in people's hands, negative messages are never far away.

The depressing news headlines could almost be ignored in the days before the Internet. While Sky News began in 1989, it did not have the saturation that it does now. If you missed the 6 O'Clock News on BBC or ITV you'd have to wait 'til 10. Few people bought newspapers, and younger people in particular would be very unlikely to purchase one except for adolescent schoolboys who might buy a copy of the Sun of the Star when the page 3 busty model was still a thing. The Sun newspaper's Page 3, featuring topless models, was discontinued in January 2015 after 44 years, again in part due to the advent of the Internet which provided anyone with as much sassy content as they wanted.

By 2025 the Internet had become a swirling cesspool of pornography, depressing news content, violence, disinformation, health messages encouraging people to avoid cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, salt, fat and meat and engage in more exercise while informing them that one in two people will get cancer.

This messaging along with the other negativity that is prevalent on the Internet is itself far from healthy.

The "one in two people get cancer" statistic can be emotionally distressing, and some may view it as psychologically harmful.

While the statistic may have a basis in fact, its constant broadcast on streamed broadcasts, YouTube pre-roll ads and the like, can create a sense of impending doom or inevitability, leading to anxiety and worry about the future. In short the ad could invoke stress, which itself is known to significantly impact overall health and potentially increase cancer risk.

There's no definitive link between the advent of the internet and a rise in cancer rates. However the global incidence of early-onset cancer increased by 79% between 1990 and 2019. An obvious focus for rising cancer rates is perhaps the vicious circle of obesity, highly processed foods, and sedentary lifestyles.


While Boomers and Gen X smoked and drank, they were less sedentary. They had a morning cigarette before walking to work. Kids were more active, cycling, running and skateboarding rather than sitting in front of a screen.

Both generations were also more positive about the future. Maybe that bubble was burst in the late 1980s when Protect & Survive public information films warned of possible nuclear war, a concern not helped by the BBC drama Threads which depicted the aftermath of such an attack.

But for the most part life was simpler without the internet.

You wouldn't have seen this post of course. This has been typed in Google Docs using a laptop and posted to the Blogger platform. In the past, independent writing was only possible using a typewriter and putting together a fanzine which might be photocopied and distributed by mail or at venues.

'Fanzines' are almost legendary, but many were small print runs and often published just a few issues. Kill Your Pet Puppy, for example, is infamous, but only published six issues  between 1979 and 1984 [Wikipedia]. 

Fanzines aren't new. In the 1970s the likes of Sniffing Glue sold as little as 50 and as many as 15,000 issues in its short 12 issue history [Wikipedia / Guardian].  

Fanzines, or Zines, were originally born out of the counterculture; Dada, Fluxus, Situationist International et al. But as much as they were often political, they offered youngsters a way of promoting other ideas of culture and music. Some focused on science fiction, while others promoted civil rights. But what they represented more than anything was a DIY culture. The Internet can, and does offer some opportunity for these things, but it can all be lost in the ephemeral nature of what the internet is and has become.

A zine, a homemade cassette, a record or CD, is and was something solid, something real. A website, blog, MP3 or online video is real in one sense, but is as much phantom as it is a phenomena.

Old fanzines, books, tapes, records and films still sit on shelves and can be browsed, listened to or watched. And while their existence is fragile, online postings are even more subject to being thrown down a memory hole and eradicated from history.

A book depository or library can of course go up in flames, but one would have to destroy them all to destroy all copies of certain publications. When Geocities was shut down, all traces of millions of posts, articles and information disappeared.

The internet may be a cornucopia of knowledge and information, but it could easily disappear.

Nostalgia is probably something many have experienced before. A trip down memory lane to times that seemed simpler or better. A feeling evoked in us, while listening to a certain song, seeing a particular photograph, or watching a film we saw when we were a child.

But for a generation to be nostalgic for a past they never experienced is bizarre indeed. Maybe it is simply because life has become so complex, overwhelming and saturated that we may all be looking for a time that was simpler and stress free.

tvnewswatch, London, UK