Cyber expert outlines threats for 2022

[CYBERCRIME CONTINUES to be a huge problem for charities around the world, and since the pandemic struck at the beginning of 2020, many cyber criminals have changed the way that they operate.

According to Charity Digital’s cybersecurity expert Paul Rubens, that is because the change in working practices, such as the move to home working, has presented many security vulnerabilities that the criminals have been quick to exploit.

Paul has predicted that this year the cybersecurity landscape will continue to evolve, as many organisations return to pre-pandemic work practices, while still retaining some of the flexible working arrangements they adopted in 2020.

That means it’s important to understand what the top cyber security risks of 2022 are likely to be, and what your charity can do to mitigate the risks.

Paul’s list of the main threats for 2022 include: • Phishing for SaaS credentials • Ransomware double trouble • Covert crypto-mining

According to Paul: “More than 75% of targeted cyberattacks start with someone at an organisation opening a malicious email. What’s changed over the past 18 months is that many employees working from home have become used to using applications running in the cloud – known as software-as-a-service or SaaS apps – instead of programs running on their charity’s own computers. Many of these SaaS apps contain confidential data about service users or donors.

“The after-effects of the pandemic, such as the shift towards hybrid working environments, make it much more likely that these attacks will succeed because employees have become used to interacting with colleagues over email, when previously they may have talked in person.”

On the subject of ransomware, he explains: “The first half of 2021 saw a 102% increase in ransomware attacks compared to the beginning of 2020, so it’s a security problem that’s only getting more prevalent. To make matters worse, ransomware groups are increasingly adopting an even more troubling approach to their criminal activities: doubling down on the threat that they pose. Not only do they encrypt their victims’ data and demand a ransom payment to regain access to it, but now they often add extra pressure by threatening to publish all the data online if the ransom is not paid.”

The third threat is ‘covert crypto-mining’. Paul explains: “A single Bitcoin is worth substantially more today than it was in 2018, so it’s likely that there will be a rise in malware that silently installs Bitcoin mining software onto victims’ computers. This software hijacks the computer’s processing power and puts it to work to generate Bitcoins, consuming electricity and slowing down the computer as it does so. Once the Bitcoin mining software is running on the computer, it may also install other malware such as keyloggers to try to steal passwords and other confidential data.”

To read the full article, which also contains Paul’s advice on countering the threat, visit charitydigital.org.uk. q

Former police horses are among those given sanctuary

[SINCE 1976 Devon Horse and Pony Sanctuary have rescued, rehabilitated and cared for many horses, ponies and donkeys – including local Dartmoor ponies. Since 1993 they have also taken in, when asked, retired police horses from the Metropolitan Police or the Avon and Somerset force. Those horses have come to the end of their working lives for one reason or another and the sanctuary provides them with a safe and ‘forever’ future.

The police don’t have the resources to look after their retired horses, so all funds to keep those animals have to be raised by supporters of Devon Horse and Pony Sanctuary. They are away from the stresses of police life in a wonderful location on the edge of Dartmoor.

Every animal can give something back to help alleviate the stresses of life, so in reality helping them can also help us.

Said the sanctuary’s Chris Hills: “This amazing place provides a haven of tranquillity, and we welcome visitors who may also need a little help and support to come and enjoy time with our horses and ponies.

“Your legacy gift will help us to give the very best care and attention to our rescued horses, ponies and donkeys, both in the physical and emotional sense. We would like more people in need to spend time with these amazing animals and benefit as we and our amazing band of volunteers do every day and gain a little respite from the rigours of daily life.” q • For further information visit www.dhaps.org.uk.

Their project is to reintroduce foxes to the wild

[IT WOULD BE TEMPTING to try to explain all that is The Fox Project, but that

would look a little like a shopping list: wildlife information bureau, humane fox deterrence consultancy, wildlife ambulance service, wildlife hospital etc.

Instead, it would be more straightforward to concentrate on what’s going on right now, as we enter the annual UK red fox breeding season, with an expectation of anything up to 300 sick, injured and orphaned fox cubs being received by The Fox Project. How does that work?

Wynn was one of the first cubs the project received in 2021. He is pictured gazing thoughtfully out of his pen at the setting sun, perhaps quietly wondering how he can get out into the big, wide world and do what he wants, rather than what we want.

Founder of The Fox Project Trevor Williams takes up the story: “Wynn was picked up next to a dead sibling by a passing dog walker and we assumed they had crawled out of the den in search of a mother that, for whatever reason, had failed to return. He was a keen bottle feeder, and because baby animals need the company and warmth of others, he was grouped with Wendell, Wilfred, Calvin and Bertie.

“Cubs grow fast and a brooder will only hold them for so long before their accommodation needs to be upgraded to steel vet cages. And they, too, are soon inadequate for curious, active youngsters who are developing speed and agility – albeit wobbly speed and agility!

“The next step was day release in a two-storey chicken run and back in the warm at night for a bedtime bottle and a bowl of dog food. They loved that! And then they were moved to a larger foster pen, where muscles could develop and they could feel the weather.

“As soon as Wynn and Co were weaned off the bottle, the bond with their feeder was broken and they were transferred to one of our team of fosterers. These volunteers have pens in their gardens where they can look after the needs of a litter of cubs without getting directly involved with them.

“And that is where the serious work begins in encouraging cubs to revert to wild in preparation for late summer release. Given all the changes, our cubs should be growing suspicious of people in general; and their first instinct when a fosterer approaches is to run into the hutch provided. If they begin to get ‘waggy’ with the fosterer, we move them to another. And we keep doing that right through the summer.

“From mid-June, we start to move them onto pre-arranged rehab sites – no more than five cubs per site. Those are predominantly rural: often farms and smallholdings.”

The cubs are now the responsibility of the rehabber that owns the property. Their job is to feed, water and clean out the pen and never to speak. A cautious cub is a cub that will live the longest: if you’ve made a cub tame, you’ve undermined their potential for a safe and long life.

After four to six weeks on site the cubs are used to the sights, sounds and smells of every other animal in the area and vice versa. That means they can safely be released without danger of attack. Come the night of release, the rehabber simply leaves the door open and walks away.

Trevor continued: “Timing for this final part of the procedure is governed by nature. Just as the breeding season fluctuates a little every year, so does natural dispersal, when wild-raised cubs – by now around five months old – will fan out from their home territory to locate their own: a vital process to avoid in-breeding and necessary if they’re ultimately to find a mate. Release of our cubs is timed to coincide with that point.”

Wynn and his chums were released from a smallholding in East Sussex. Initially, they all returned for support feeding, but it’s seldom needed for long. As they begin to use the instincts nature provided them with, the cubs return less and less frequently.

“When they no longer return,” said Trevor, “we must hope they’re doing well. And we generally know they are, because we often see them around for months, or even years. Not that it’s any of our business. We’ve given them that all-important second chance and whatever befalls them, good or

bad, is down to them.” q

Bili from Bulgaria

[BILI WOULD HAVE BEEN wild caught as a baby and then smuggled in on the black market and somehow ending up in Bulgaria. He spent the first 15 years of his life in a circus performing for the public and doing what his owner told him to do. He then spent 15 years on his own in a small concrete enclosure. He didn’t have anything more than a blanket and a stone platform for his bed.

Jan Garen from Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary takes up the story: “Bili is now 40 years old and in Sept 2011 we made the 4,000-mile round trip in our ambulance to rescue him from Bulgaria. The long journey, although tiring, went well. When we arrived back at the sanctuary Bili was as bright as a button and very intrigued to say the least!

“Considering what he has been through, he doesn’t let it bother him. He is in an enclosure with four other chimps – Ronnie, Twmi, Fergus and female Nakima. He gets on well with them all and has a particular bond with Fergus. You often see them grooming each other which is a delight to see. Bili is truly remarkable.” q • For further information call 01639 730276, email info@ape-monkey-rescue.org.uk or visit the website www.ape-monkey-rescue.org.uk