Caravan and Motorhome Club's website down!

[DT]

Hate smoke and mirrors which some paid by us consultant is possibly advising the club hierarchy.
Spin it out, low key let the dust settle.

 

[Quackers]

Wonder how big a fine they will get from the ICO.

 

[Jewellbags]

Booking site on CMC - with calls etc after their app failed - 4 hours . With camping car in France - about 2 mins maybe 4 with me updating our info .

 

[TDub49]

Received an email from the CMC this morning confirming detail of the hacking breach and what's being done.

 

[tonyidle]

I knew a man in a shed who made parts for our nuclear subs. You would be amazed. Also very inspirational are the Cubans who managed to keep their 1950s American cars going despite US sanctions. You are excusing the greedy and defeatist BT management. There is a lack of a "can do" attitude.

Anyway this is off-topic. The CAMC App is still not working - just checked - which kind of supports my point about your wonderful digital world.

The only difference to the consumer is the need to maintain power to the router. Provision is available to plug in existing analogue phones at the router. You won't have to move with the times other than the aforementioned power back-up.

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[SpeedyDux]

The only difference to the consumer is the need to maintain power to the router. Provision is available to plug in existing analogue phones at the router. You won't have to move with the times other than the aforementioned power back-up.

All fine and dandy in priciple.

I was reading only yesterday that a significant number of TalkTalk customers were temporarily without Broadband, so I am not going to assume that any VOIP replacement for analogue landlines will be 100% available in an emergency. Murphy's Law says otherwise.

 

[tonyidle]

All fine and dandy in priciple.

I was reading only yesterday that a significant number of TalkTalk customers were temporarily without Broadband, so I am not going to assume that any VOIP replacement for analogue landlines will be 100% available in an emergency. Murphy's Law says otherwise.

Neither would analogue communication .

 

[SpeedyDux]

Neither would analogue communication .

I know which one I would rather rely on, and which is less complicated for the old and vulnerable, so I will leave it there.

 

[tonyidle]

I know which one I would rather rely on, and which is less complicated for the old and vulnerable, so I will leave it there.

As I said - for the user there need be no additional complication. Someone already has to change the batteries in the pendant and associated phone. What extra complexity do you envisage?

 

[Pausim]

We are still on a copper line but already fully dependant on the router for all communications. We don’t have an analogue phone and no mobile signal either. WiFi calling is our only way of calling for help and we get frequent power cuts. I bought an Ecoflow River2 for about £200 and leave the router permanently plugged into it. It is not up to UPS switch over speeds but in practice the switch over when the mains goes off is usually quick enough to maintain continuity. At worst it might take 30 seconds to reboot. This should give us 8 to 10 hours back up which is usually enough but I have the means to recharge it from other batteries if the need arises.

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[SpeedyDux]

As I said - for the user there need be no additional complication. Someone already has to change the batteries in the pendant and associated phone. What extra complexity do you envisage?

At present the battery in the pendant can last up to 5 years. The Careline box is plugged in to the mains, has an inbuilt backup battery that should last 24 hours, and a nearby landline socket that should need no attention. If the backup battery voltage drops, the Careline call center alerts the mobile number of the next-of-kin or designated carer.

The only problems we have had are due to (a) the Openreach engineer who came to change the master socket disconnecting the main landline extension and (b) not switching on the 230v mains socket after he moved the Careline box into the hall without telling us. Negligent. The old dear has such poor eyesight she could not have seen that the vital socket had been switched off. It resulted in us having to cancel our Saturday evening plans, after being alerted by the Careline people via mobile. We were unable to contact her mum (the cordless phone that was the only one left in operation by the Openreach bloke was inop by now because that socket was switched off so it had gone flat couldn't charge even though her mum had put it back on the charger). We had to do an emergency 50 mile dash to her mum's house where all that was needed was to switch on a socket in the hall.

That was with a very basic simple analogue system that was otherwise 100% reliable until Openreach messed things up. Anything more complicated has more capacity to go wrong just when it is needed most. A person like her mum can't even operate a mobile cellphone (we have tried); digital tech things such as broadband are totally beyond her comprehension. It will always be down to us to troubleshoot such problems, ring the service provider etc.

 

[tonyidle]

At present the battery in the pendant can last up to 5 years. The Careline box is plugged in to the mains, has an inbuilt backup battery that should last 24 hours, and a nearby landline socket that should need no attention. If the backup battery voltage drops, the Careline call center alerts the mobile number of the next-of-kin or designated carer.

The only problems we have had are due to (a) the Openreach engineer who came to change the master socket disconnecting the main landline extension and (b) not switching on the 230v mains socket after he moved the Careline box into the hall without telling us. Negligent. The old dear has such poor eyesight she could not have seen that the vital socket had been switched off. It resulted in us having to cancel our Saturday evening plans, after being alerted by the Careline people via mobile. We were unable to contact her mum (the cordless phone that was the only one left in operation by the Openreach bloke was inop by now because that socket was switched off so it had gone flat couldn't charge even though her mum had put it back on the charger). We had to do an emergency 50 mile dash to her mum's house where all that was needed was to switch on a socket in the hall.

That was with a very basic simple analogue system that was otherwise 100% reliable until Openreach messed things up. Anything more complicated has more capacity to go wrong just when it is needed most. A person like her mum can't even operate a mobile cellphone (we have tried); digital tech things such as broadband are totally beyond her comprehension. It will always be down to us to troubleshoot such problems, ring the service provider etc.

I can understand all those frustrations (and the thrice weekly visits to put the TV back in working order ). I worked for the GPO, Post Office Telephones, and BT. In the '60s I was converting village operator controlled telephone exchanges to new dial up and causing the loss of all the value-add services offered by the two or three telephonists: like alarm calls for for their friends, message passing, calls to elderly people on their own. Many elderly people had to be taught to use a rotary dial and without exception found the transition difficult. There were many, many, concerns about the reduction in service and its effect on vulnerable members of the community. I am not unsympathetic - back then I had the time and freedom to visit many of those customers and I had the skills to deal with their worries as had many field engineers.

Along came privatisation and the race to the bottom in terms of engineer de-skilling. BT can't afford the extensive training once given to every field engineer and their skill set is limited to their narrow field. To an extent we reap what we sow and BT / Openreach is now no better or worse than many of its competitors. It may have a limited monopoly of exchange provision and cable ducting but all its competitors have unfettered access to both. And BT / Openreach still have USP to contend with. Back in the day complaints about BT were generally caused by red tape and the faceless size of the monolith. Now they're caused by poor service and a lack of skilled engineers.

 

[TDub49]

What. On earth. Has happened to this thread? It's worse than fishermen chatting on Channel 16 (fellow yachties will understand this) talking about their social lives. T

 

[cyberyacht]

I only used to turn my VHF on because my chart plotter would nag me for its emergency connection otherwise. I seldom used it.

 

[poppycamper]

It would appear their website is down again but this time they say for essencial maintanance.....
But get this..... they say will be back running by
.......6am Tuesday 6/2/24.....
Christ they can't even get something as simple as a date correct.....

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[TDub49]

It would appear their website is down again but this time they say for essencial maintanance.....
But get this..... they say will be back running by
.......6am Tuesday 6/2/24.....
Christ they can't even get something as simple as a date correct.....

That's interesting - website and app seem to be working fine right now. Have you experienced time-slip?

 

[poppycamper]

That's interesting - website and app seem to be working fine right now. Have you experienced time-slip?

Mmmmm.. don't think so..
As it was middle of night then maintainance could be feasable....
It was just the date the quoted that i found amussing!!

 

[Gizmouk]

Our membership expired end of January 2024.
It still lets me log in using old login credentials.
Nothing has changed - no forced password change, no implementation of Two Factor Authentication.
Those would be the absolute basics following a compromise.

 

[Jim]

no implementation of Two Factor Authentication.

People of a certain age and two factor authentication.

Since we installed it as an option here, it's no exageration to say that 3 times a day (about 30 minutes of every day, a whole week of every year) I'm having to help people log in who have switched it on by mistake, or forgotten they have set it, or have no idea what it is and how they got to use it.

 

[Stonemags76]

The funny was’nt for the extra work by the way…!

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[Gellyneck]

From a week or so back.
+++++

Important Cyber Security Message from the Director General of the Caravan & Motorhome Club​

29/02/2024



We wanted to let you know that the forensic investigation following the cyber attack in January has now been finalised. Following an extensive internal review, we now have greater clarity of the type of data that was accessed and the volume of members potentially affected.
A lesser quantity of data was accessed than the initial report suggested. There is no evidence to suggest that phone numbers or email address data for members and guests were accessed.
However, some data was accessed. For ease of reference, the list of data has been broken down into two categories below:
Caravan Insurance / Caravan Cover
Policies/Covers from 2018 - 2024
Name / Policy number
Red Pennant Emergency Assistance
Data from 2021 - 2023
Name / Address / Policy number / Start and end date of policy / Vehicle Registration / Monthly Premium paid for 2023 / Passenger name for transport bookings
It is very important to us that we present members with information and updates as soon as we are able to. We would again like to thank you for your support and patience while the Club’s teams and external partners managed this situation.
Our membership services team along with our cyber security advisors have helped construct some key questions and answers to help reassure you.
Questions & Answers

1. Were my Credit or Debit card details accessed?

No. Please be reassured that the Club is compliant with the global Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

1. Were my Direct Debit details accessed?

No.

1. Were any of my future booking details accessed?

No. Your campsite booking data isn't stored in the area that was potentially accessed.

1. Were my Club passwords accessed?

No. Club passwords aren't stored in the area that was potentially accessed. It is always best practice to regularly change your passwords and as a precautionary measure, we suggest you change your email passwords and online passwords. It is advised that you use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols for new passwords, ideally more than 12 characters.

1. What do I need to do now?

Be vigilant, if you see an email, text or social media post, or if you are on a website that you think looks suspicious, don’t click any links or engage with it and delete it immediately.
This type of incident is a reminder that we must all remain vigilant to any unusual or spurious requests for personal details. Data security is of paramount importance to the Club, our members, guests and suppliers. We have taken further actions under the instruction of our cyber security experts to enhance the Club’s cyber security to help prevent this type of incident from happening again.
Important
Potential consequences of data being used in an unauthorised manner could be phishing emails and text messages to try and extract personal information which could result in identity theft. The Club will never contact you unprompted to ask for your account details or security information, and we will never ask you to disclose your passwords.
It's important that we don't raise awareness of details of the incident to the cyber criminals and our cyber security experts have advised us not to share any further details to do with the incident on social media. We would advise you to follow the same guidance.
In order to further protect your own personal data, it is unwise to share your personal situation in forums and on social media.
I would like to offer my sincere apologies for any inconvenience this has caused and thank you for your support and patience while we brought Club systems back online.
Kind regards

Nick Lomas
Director General
+++++

 

[cyberyacht]

It seems their problems aren't completely over. The site, when I went online to sort out Red Pennant cover, was down yesterday and from the messages on-screen would appear to have taken longer than anticipated to resolve. Their IT is an absolute joke.

 

[Peterd82]

They aren’t alone, submitted a withdrawal request to Prudential online on Tuesday 27th February to draw down funds but heard nothing other than an email confirming it had been submitted. Phoned on Friday 1st March and was told when I called a second time that there was no withdrawal request for them to action. Went through request again and was advised that it had been flagged as urgent meaning that the money had to leave them within 48 hours. You won’t be surprised that even the complaints handler can’t believe how bad the Prudential admin team are as they still haven’t looked at it and isn’t sure they will process it tomorrow !

Apologies for the rant but this is a serious matter, new MH is ready to be collected when the money arrives.

 

[BigBee2]

Looks like the website is down again!

 

[JustifiedAncient]

Looks like the website is down again!

Seems OK now.

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[Coolcats]

Seems OK now.

A Glitch in the Matrix

 

[Quackers]

New cleaner pulled the wrong plug out.

 

[Peterd82]

 

[Bailey58]

Breaking News:

We are currently switching to our new IT supplier "Slownet".

 

[ChrisL]

It hasn't stopped them charging my card this morning for my arrival later today at one of their sites.

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