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Issues raised at the last PACT evening were:

1. Speeding/parking (Manor rd) and leaner drivers (Hurn lane).
2. Gateing order Conway Green
3. Pot Holes (Lytes Carey)

For those that won’t be aware of these meetings, Partners And Communities Together is a coming together of B&NES representatives, Police and Keynsham East residents with the focus on tackling issues, raising awareness of current plans in the area and creating a forum for discussions initiated and steered by the residents.

It’s the perfect opportunity for you to raise issues or simply come along and listen to others and it’s been profiled as one of the most effective initiatives in the B&NES area and it’s only through your participation that this can continue. KECSAG supports the PACT initiative.

The event has been designed by Keynsham reisdents for Keynsham residents and organisers are hoping musicians will come forward to provide entertainment for the big day. There will be no main stage, so entertainers will ‘busk’ their way along the tables.

If you can play the guitar, accordion, violin or any other instrument or can sing, juggle or turn balloons into hats or sausage dogs, email townclerk@keynsham-tc.gov.uk or call Jo Swift on 0117 986 8683

Musical highlights from the decades that the Queen has been on the throne will also be played throughout the day, so be ready for a big dose of nostalgia.

The big day will start with a community service at 11am in St John’s Church, where the Queen’s 60-year reign will be celebrated and prayers will be offered for her and the town.

The fun will then start on the High Street, which will be shut to traffic and tables and chairs will be laid out for around 400 people from 12.30pm. Seating will provided on a first-come, first-served basis, but it is expected that people will come and go throughout the afternoon, so there should be enough space for everyone.

Revellers can bring their own picnics, buy food from the High Street vendors, or just come along to soak up the atmosphere.

Volunteers are also needed to help make the event a success. Email or call the number above if you can help.

The annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch wants as many people as possible to grab a pen, and a scrap of paper and spend an hour making a note of the highest number of each bird species on the ground in their gardens or green spaces (not flying over) at any one time and enter the results here http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

The bird protection charity will use the information to create a snapshot of bird numbers in our region. The survey is crucial as some of the UK’s bird species are disappearing fast, for example, half the number of house sparrows and three quarters of starlings have already gone.

As well as highlighting this catastrophic fall in numbers, it helps the RSPB to spot problems and help to prevent any further decline.

[source]

This will now go to Planning early in the New Year with a target start time of August 2012 and completion by August 2014.

Public Exhibition
A follow up public consultation & feedback exhibition will be on view on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 December in Unit 9, The Centre (next to Timbercraft), Keynsham BS31 1ED

We hope you will be able to go along to the exhibition which is open from 11am – 7pm on Friday 9 December and from 9am – 2pm on Saturday 10 December.

From 9 December the exhibition material will also be available to view online on B&NES website at www.bathnes.gov.uk/keynshamregen

If you’re shopping online this Christmas, watch out for this costly phishing scam…

Millions of shoppers will be gearing up for the annual Christmas blow-out – and this year, like last year, the majority of our spending is likely to be done online.

Consumer watchdogs have warned consumers to be on their guard, with bogus websites that look like legitimate versions of those of our high street giants continue to pop up. Shoppers have also been warned about the number of websites selling counterfeit goods or items that fail to arrive, which typically target users via email.

This type of scam is becoming increasingly sophisticated – but fortunately there are a few tell-tale signs to help you spot them and keep your money safe.

Beware email offers
According to online payments service PayPal, the majority of UK shoppers still don’t cover the basics of shopping securely online and could leave themselves open to so-called ‘phishing’ attacks during the festive period. ‘Phishing’ is a crime that sees criminals send out emails designed to capture information – most typically credit card numbers and personal data – that can be used to commit fraud.

Users receive emails purportedly from major retailers, offering exclusive offers or asking users to check on the status of a purchase. Typically, these are bogus and the information you submit is used to defraud you.

Your first step should be to check the spelling of the web address or URL – many of these sites have misspelt or subtly changed names. For example, the official Abercrombie & Fitch store can be found at www.abercrombie.com - but a Times investigation found three unofficial websites in existence to lure unwary shoppers.

To further protect yourself, be wary of all unsolicited emails, even if they appear to come from a trusted source. Set your email junk filter to ‘high’ to ensure any bogus emails don’t make it to your inbox. Never click on a link that has been emailed to you – type the address into your browser yourself. Ensure all your internet security software is up to date and upgrade your web browser as well: the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox contain built-in anti-phishing protection.

If you do fall victim, contact your bank immediately to limit any fraudulent use of your account. In most cases, your bank will refund money you lose in a phishing attack.

Look for the padlock
Of course, offers sent by email aren’t the only way fraudsters try to lure unwary shoppers – and many of us could alight on a bogus website simply by miss-typing the web address into our internet browsers. Fortunately, there are other ways to ensure you stay safe.

Before entering sensitive information such as your credit card details into any website, it pays to check that the data will be properly protected. Whenever you make any online purchase, make sure that the web address starts with ‘https://’ as opposed to the usual ‘http://’ – the ‘s’ in this instance stands for secure. All reputable retailers will provide a secure web address for purchases.

You should also look for a small padlock either next to the web address or in the bottom right hand corner of your browser (or top right for Apple Safari users) – this shows that the security of the website is verified by a third-party security agency, typically VeriSign. The padlock ensures that your information will be encrypted to ensure hackers or other web users can’t access your details.

One final thing – don’t be fooled by a padlock that appears on the web page itself. It is possible for a fraudster to copy the image of a padlock. You need to check that it is in the window frame of the browser itself.

More ways to stay safe
You will receive a degree of automatic protection by keeping your internet software up to date. On more recent versions of internet browsers the address bar will also turn green – this confirms that the website is safe. It’s also worth ensuring any internet security software or firewalls you may have are also updated regularly.

In addition, banks are doing their bit to help consumers by allowing customers to sign up for added security. You can register your credit cards (depending on your card provider) with either MasterCard SecureCode or Verified by Visa. Both these systems work in the same way – by using personal passwords to an extra layer of protection when you buy online. Find out more at consumer website Becardsmart.org.

Finally, always rely on your common sense when you’re shopping online. Make sure you always shop with names you trust and if you’re unsure, look for some contact details in the real world. Does the firm have a registered address or consumer helpline? If not, steer well clear.

And – as with all scams – bear in mind that if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.

They’re not interested in your recipe downloads. Or your digital photo collection of that lovely trip to Clevedon last summer. What they want is your money – and as most of us now bank and use plastic cards online, there’s a fortune to be gained.

One way is hacking. It works sometimes but it’s time consuming and may not hit targets efficiently – This route is usually reserved for corporate targets. Most computer owners now subscribe to anti-virus and malware detection software which helps combat this.

However, scamming is like judo.
You use the weight and strength of your target (or opponent) to achieve your end. So the most effective scams involve victims voluntarily giving up bank details. By playing on understandably good feelings, you get the result you want.

Very few people still fall for the “bank security alert” scam – the one where they clone a bank’s website and ask you to send in your password and other details so they can prevent fraud. We should all know by now that no real bank EVER does this.

So they’re moving on to the personal approach. Using automated diallers, often in the middle of the night, they call you to “warn” that your computer has a problem.

“Infected with a virus”
I’ve heard this a few times recently… “I received a phone call this morning from a man telling me that my computer had been infected with a virus.”

Most people smell a rat, and either hang up (Yes!) or try to enter in to a discussion with the caller about how they bonafide their credentials are and how they got your number.
The scammer usually terminates the call before you can really get started on them.

The scam
You’ll be told that your PC has a virus. Others are informed the computer has 30,000 or more viruses – “beyond the power of your anti-virus software”. Another line is the “corrupted hard drive” that needs to be fixed.

How do they claim to know this? Some pretend they have received an “error message from Microsoft” – this is simply not true as Microsoft (or Apple and other software providers) do not share information gathered from online error reports. And ultimately, if Microsoft contacted everyone that had a problem with it’s software… well, they wouldn’t have enough staff left for anything else!

At the least awful level, they’ll sell you a £10-15 a month “maintenance contract”. This will come with a pointless software download to “cure” the problem that you don’t actually have. It may stop there if you are lucky! But as you pay this by plastic, they now have your details so who knows what will happen!

The download could be harmless. You could, however, find yourself with a new virus that will need more expensive cleaning up by the scam firm – or be landed with keylogging software so the caller can see exactly what you type, including passwords. Keylogging software often looks for the 16 long strings of numbers used in credit cards.

If your computer works and you have up to date malware protection, you should not worry – this is an attempt to scare you. But if you are still concerned, take the machine to a trusted retailer or repairer for a check.

It can get even worse
In some cases, they will say they can only “solve” the problem if you allow them to get into your computer using remote access software. This puts them totally in control so they introduce future “problems” that you’ll have to pay to cure. And once into your machine, they’ll find all sorts of personal details.

You can protect yourself from temptation during these calls – the callers are trained in psychological techniques to encourage you to do what they want – by turning off your internet connection and switching off the computer.

A variation on this is a pop-up or email that says something like “Warning—your computer is infected! System detected virus activities. They may cause critical system failure. Click here to get available software.” The software will, of course, be both costly and open your system wide to further attacks.

In a nutshell
Calls, websites you visit or emails stating your computer has a problem are ALWAYS scams (unless, of course, it comes from a computer service centre with which you already have a relationship.)

Be on your guard!

There are shelves of books on cryptography. If these works have taught us anything, it is that humans are the weakest links in any code system.

For example, during World War Two, my grandfather and his colleagues would learn to recognise the key-tapping style of certain German radio operators who failed to use their Enigma encryption machines property. These snatches of information, known as ‘cribs’, became a crucial part of Britain’s wartime intelligence.

Similarly, when it comes to protecting your information online, you are the weakest link. This is because of two key weaknesses:

• The ‘group mind’. Despite being unique individuals, people often behave in herd-like fashion. For example, when asked to name an integer between one and 50, many of us automatically choose the number 37.
• ‘Personal anchoring’. In order to make passwords easy to remember, we latch onto something prominent in our personal lives.

Now I’ll show you how these two faults can put your money at risk in both the real and virtual worlds.

Protect your PIN
To use a credit, debit or store card, you’ll need the four-digit PIN (Personal Identification Number) linked to that plastic card. There are 10,000 combinations of PINs, from 0000 to 9999.

Of course, if you enter the wrong PIN three times, then your card will be locked. This prevents a ‘brute force’ attack to find PINs, which involves checking all possible combinations.

Even so, PINs aren’t as secure as you’d imagine. This is because millions of cardholders change their default PINs to numbers which they find easier to remember. Often, this weakens the security of their cards.

Let me give three examples of weak PINs:

1. In one example I read, someone’s boss challenged him to guess his PIN. Knowing him to be a proud Scot, he suggested 1314 – the year of the Battle of Bannockburn. Right, first time.
2. In one of his books, controversial Scottish author Irvine Welsh describes a banking scam to rip off supporters of Glasgow Rangers FC. His crooks steal lots of credit cards and try 1690 as the PIN — the year of the Battle of the Boyne. They successfully steal a fortune.
3. Your year of birth. Possibly the worst PIN to choose, full stop. When up at University, I found scores of students naively using their year of birth (or birthday as Day-Day-Month-Month) as PINs. If you do this, change your PINs today.

To create a safer PIN, choose a random four-digit number, or simply stick with the default PIN given to you by your bank. Otherwise, you may inadvertently be putting your credit card and current account at risk of fraud.

Loose lips lose money
About five years ago, my friends father gave him an old laptop. When he went to use it, he found it to be password-protected. Thinking hard about his dad’s life, he tried two passwords before getting it right third time. It was the name of the British Army cavalry regiment he joined way back in the late Sixties.

In short, the more you know about someone, the easier it is to guess their passwords.

That’s one of many reasons why you should be extra careful belonging to social-networking sites such as Facebook. A colleague of mine celebrates two birthdays each year, his usual one and his Facebook one. The more information you post on Facebook, Twitter and the like, the more personal data you give to crooks, criminals and fraudsters.

(Modern-day ‘digital villains’ also use Facebook and Google Street View to find out when people are on holiday, before burgling their empty homes.)

Pathetic passwords
The worst of all passwords — and one of the most common — is ‘password’. This is as bad as no password at all. Don’t use it, ever.

Other poor passwords include ’123456′, ‘abc123′ and ‘qwerty’ (the first six letters from the top left of the letter keyboard). Using your first and last names (such as ‘joebloggs’) is weak, too. Also, ‘computer’ is a pretty silly password.

‘Letmein’ (let me in) and ‘iloveyou’ (I love you) are also pretty feeble. Many passwords require a minimum of six letters and, for some reason, ‘monkey’ is a popular choice!

Other easily found passwords may be your favourite football team or a family member’s name. Thanks to public databases and social networking, your supposedly private life may be laid bare for cyber-crooks to sift through.

Another terrible password is the name of the website you’re visiting. For example, Barclays customers using ‘Barclays’ as a password are frankly asking for trouble.

One key opens many locks
Another problem arises if you use a single password to access many different websites. In this scenario, once I have one password, I have access to all your accounts. In effect, you’re giving me a master key to open all your locks and make a ‘clean sweep’.

Nevertheless, almost half of us use the same or similar passwords to access multiple sites. Naughty, naughty!

Passwords should be unique to each website you visit and every account you use. If you can’t remember them, then write them down in a coded message and securely hide this piece of paper. Alternatively, use a Password Safe such as that developed by American cryptography expert Bruce Schneier.

How to create stronger passwords
Of course, strong passwords are more complicated than weak ones, but that’s the whole point. They are harder to guess or find with a ‘dictionary attack’ (searching around 200,000 commonly used words in English).

To create strong passwords, you should:

• Use at least eight characters and, ideally, more.
• Use a mix of upper-case and lower-case letters, numbers and keyboard characters accessed via the shift key and non-letter keys.
• Don’t use your name, family names, slang words, swear words, words found in dictionaries and first names. These are easy meat for the professional cracker.

For more information, read this report from online-security firm Imperva (PDF document) on the infamous hack of 32 million passwords from the RockYou.com website in December 2009.

Although 999 is a well-recognised number to report emergencies, the 2010 British Crime Survey found that only half of the public knew which number to call if they wanted to speak to their local police about policing, non-urgent crime and anti-social behaviour issues.

Part of a national programme, 101 will provide the public with an easier and more memorable number to contact the police.

Assistant Chief Constable Anthony Bangham said: “The new 101 number means members of the public will find it simple to contact us; 101 is easily remembered and will be used across the country.

“101 is a straightforward number, and I believe that, together with all the other ways people can contact us, 101 will help us provide a better service to the public.”

Calls to 101 will cost 15p per call, irrespective of how long that call may last and applies to landlines and mobile phones.

People who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired will be able to textphone 18001 101.

101 will replace the existing non-emergency number for Avon and Somerset Police. (0845 456 7000)

Avon and Somerset Police can also be contacted by email at www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/contact or in person at Have Your Say meetings, beat surgeries and personal appointments.

101 or 999?

• 101 will not replace 999.
• 999 should be used in a an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, when there is danger to life or when violence is being used or threatened.
• 101 should be used for all non-emergencies such as: reporting a crime, contacting local officers, getting crime prevention advice, making an appointment with a police officer or making us aware of policing issues in your local area.

More information on 101 can be found on the webpage www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/101