The Latest TV Licensing Phishing Expedition

We've been pretty vocal on Twitter about phishing emails purportedly from TV Licensing, but we've thus far neglected to mention it here on the TV Licensing Blog.

TV Licensing do not offer refunds out of the blue. Any email offering a TV licence refund is almost certainly a scam. It should be deleted and ignored, without clicking through on any of the links.

Anyone making the mistake of acting on a scam email could end up having their payment details compromised. There has been enough of that going on via the official TV Licensing website.

TV Licensing is in the business of taking money from people, even when none is due. TV Licensing rarely gives money back and certainly never will voluntarily. The TV Licensing refund and complaint systems are deliberately made time-consuming and difficult, in the hope that anyone using them grows weary and admits defeat.

Thick and incompetent as TV Licensing might be, even it can spell the phrase "TV licence" correctly. Phishing emails regularly contain the incorrect spelling "TV license".

To summarise: Any email offer of a TV licence refund is almost certainly a scam and should be ignored. If TV Licensing really wanted to get in touch it would send an actual physical letter.

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TV Licensing Website Data Breach: An Update

The Register is reporting today that the recent security flaws in TV Licensing's website have led to 25,000 customers inadvertently compromising their bank details.

TV Licensing issued the following statement: "We can now confirm that fewer than 25k customer sent over unencrypted bank details and that credit and debit cards numbers were always secure. We mailed 40k people who may have entered bank details and sort codes as a precaution but we've now been able to confirm that the actual number was much lower."

As we have previously mentioned, the total number of customers affected - those that used the website to update their personal details - probably runs into the hundreds of thousands.

The TV Licensing website, you might remember, is the responsibility of dysfunctional outsourcing giant Capita.

The BBC, you might remember, tends to turn a blind eye to Capita misdeeds and inefficiency. Not that you can trust anything the BBC says.

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BBC Could Scrap the "Free" Over-75 TV Licence

From the financial year 2018/19 the BBC is responsible for funding a proportion of the "free" over-75 TV licence. Until this point the concessionary TV licence, which is available to every household with at least one over-75 occupant, has been fully funded by a Government grant.

From the financial year 2020/21 the BBC will be entirely responsible for shouldering the £725m annual cost of providing such licences.

The BBC doesn't like spending money (unless it's on champagne, hookers, bikini waxes, baseless legal defences or gagging clauses of course), so is actively considering ways of reducing the "financial burden" of the over-75 TV licence.

Tony Hall, the BBC Director General, was questioned about the future of the over-75 TV licence at a recent hearing of the House of Commons Digital, Media and Sport Select Committee.

"I can't give you a guarantee it will continue", Hall said.

"The concession, as formulated, comes to an end in June 2020. We have got to decide what will replace it."

Hall said that the BBC was considering whether or not the concession should be means tested or limited to those households where all occupants were over 75.

"We have got to be mindful of two things: we know the over-65s and over-75s consume many, many more BBC services than others. That's good - we are many people's companion. On the other hand, there is real hardship among some or many of those over 75," he said.

"This is such a difficult balance. What can people afford?"

According to TV Licensing (so take that with a pinch of salt) there were almost 4.5 million over-75 TV licences in force last year.

The Committee also questioned Hall about Chris Evans' decision to leave the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show after eight years at the helm and thirteen at the station.

According to Hall, the Government's (naughty) decision to make the BBC publish the salaries of its highest-paid "talent" was a factor in Evans' decision to quit. Last year Evans topped the list with earnings of £1.6m.

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Opinion: Capita: A Perpetual Liability for BBC TV Licensing

The BBC's latest TV Licensing woes are yet again directly attributable to the inefficiency of its cack-handed contractor Capita Business Services Ltd.

Capita holds the lucrative TV Licensing operations contract. It has done since 2002 and the BBC recently granted a two year extension to June 2022.

By virtue of its contract, Capita is required to maintain the efficiency and security of the TV Licensing website. Based on recent events it would appear that, yet again, Capita has failed to meet the most basic requirements of the BBC.

Capita, you might recall, is responsible for the majority of TV Licensing administration and enforcement work.

It employs Visiting Officers - those doorstep pariahs that we have frequently seen trying dupe innocent householders into self-incrimination or paying for a TV licence they do not legally require. It employs Court Presenters - those gutter lawyers that often prosecute the unemployed, infirm or otherwise vulnerable for offences they may not have even committed. It employs Customer Services staff - those ignorant button-pushers that hang up on tens of thousands of customers every year.

Capita employs the likes of Ian Doyle - the senior TV Licensing manager caught by the Daily Mail bragging about how easy it was to earn commission by gathering as many "conviction statements" as possible. 

"We're looking to get 28 licence sales per week from each officer. As soon as you hit that magic 28 there's a bonus. You can only get a sale with a conviction statement," said Doyle, even though his Capita and BBC bosses point blank denied to Parliament that incentives were paid for gathering prosecution evidence.

Being associated with Capita would be an embarrassment to any decent organisation but it appears the BBC, for whatever reason, likes nothing better than to stroke Capita's ego and tickle its balls. The BBC truly is deluded when it comes to the conduct of Capita.

It is time for the BBC to sever all links with Capita and the sooner the better.

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TV Licensing Security Flaws: Questions and Answers

In response to the recent exposure of security flaws in the TV Licensing website, the BBC's revenue generation bullies have published a series of questions and answers in an effort to reassure customers.

TV Licensing as an organisation is habitually dishonest, so we have no way of confirming the accuracy of TV Licensing's comments below. When this latest issue was brought to its attention, TV Licensing published the falsehood that "all is well" with the website.

Despite its false denials of a few days ago, TV Licensing now admits that transactions carried out on its website between 29 August and 5 September "were not as secure as they should have been". As TV licences are normally renewed at the month end, there are potentially hundreds of thousands of TV Licensing customers that have inputted sensitive personal data into the website during that week-long window.

We also reiterate our comments from yesterday that concerns about the security of the TV Licensing website have been raised on several previous occasions, some of which were months ago. There is no way of knowing the impact of TV Licensing ignorance and inaction on the security of customer personal data in the intervening months.

______

Q: Why has TV Licensing’s website been unavailable?

A: We were recently alerted to an issue with our website’s security following a technical update. We took the site down straight away so that we could fix it.

We take the security of our customer’s data very seriously. That’s why it’s our normal practice that when our customers make payments or send us financial or other personal details through our website, the data is encrypted to keep it safe.

Q: What happened?

A: While there is no evidence that our website has been subject to any sort of attack or that the security of our customers’ data has been compromised, we recently discovered that for a limited period - from 29 August until around 3.20pm on 5 September 2018 - some transactions carried out on the website were not as secure as they should have been.

Q: What details were affected?

A: This issue did not affect debit and credit card details but it may have affected customers’ personal details such as name, address and email or, if customers entered bank details, the sort code and account number. In some cases, this information was not encrypted when it was transmitted from the customer’s computer.

Q: What did TV Licensing do?

A: As soon as we discovered this issue we took the website offline and fixed it. We’re really sorry this happened, but want to assure you that the risk to you is low and we’ve taken action to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Q: What is the risk of data being misused?

A: We believe the risk of anyone else having seen information sent through to our website during that period is extremely low but, because we take a very cautious approach, we want to tell our customers what happened and recommend precautions customers can take to protect themselves.

Q: What is the likelihood that I have been affected?

A: Customers may have been affected if they visited the TV Licensing website from 29 August until around 3.20pm on 5 September 2018 and entered personal data into the website. The risk of customers having their data accessed is very low, and we are not aware of anyone’s data being obtained.

Q: What personal data of mine could have been at risk?

A: During this limited period, customer transactions using debit and credit cards were still encrypted. However, if the HTTP version of a web page was being used, personal data such as customers’ names, addresses, bank details (sort code and account number) given to us - for example, to set up or amend a Direct Debit - were not encrypted. There is no evidence of the website being subject to any sort of attack, or anyone having acted maliciously and the chances of anyone having accessed this information are very small.

Q: Under what circumstances would my personal data have been at risk?

A: In order to access your data, someone would need to have been aware the vulnerability existed, and also have been in a position to have been intercepting network traffic between your computer and the TV Licensing web servers at the time the transaction took place.

Q: I gave my personal details to TV Licensing over the phone during this period. Is there a chance I will be affected?

A: If you gave us personal details, including bank details, over the phone, these will have been kept securely.

Q: I’m concerned, what should I do?

A: As a precaution, we would suggest that you check your bank account to ensure there are no transactions which have not been authorised and check that direct debits haven’t been amended in any way. If you detect any suspicious activity on your account, you should contact your bank or building society urgently. If you have any further questions, you should contact TV Licensing on 0300 790 6035.

Q: What else can I do to protect myself?

A: If you want to check that communications from TV Licensing are genuine, you can find more information here:

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ288

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ233

Other organisations can offer general advice such as Action Fraud:

https://actionfraud.police.uk/support-and-prevention/protect-yourself-from-fraud

Q: What action has TV Licensing taken? Can I trust them to keep my personal data safe?

A: As soon as we discovered this issue, we took the website offline to urgently fix it. The website has been restored with full security and all transactions are now encrypted again under HTTPS. We’ve urgently investigated and have established the root cause so we can ensure it doesn’t happen again. Additionally, we’re contacting all customers urgently who we believe submitted their bank details during this period.

Q: Was the website hacked or attacked?

A: There is no evidence of the website being subject to any sort of attack, or that anyone has acted maliciously. The chances of anyone having accessed this information are very small and we have found no evidence this has happened.

Q: Are you contacting customers who completed transactions on the TV Licensing website during this period?

A: We’re contacting all customers urgently who we believe submitted their bank details during this period.

Q: Why haven’t you contacted me?

A: If you made a transaction during this time and haven’t heard from us, or have any further questions, then please contact us on 0300 790 6035.

Q: Will TV Licensing compensate me if I have suffered financial loss as a result of my personal data being compromised?

A: The risk of financial loss is very low. But yes, of course we will compensate you if you have been affected.

Q: Is this site now secure?

A: Yes. This site is fully secure and we now use HTTPS across the entire website. Whenever data such as debit or credit card or bank account details are sent or received on this site they are kept secure through encryption (we use the 128-bit secure sockets layer, or SSL, standard). This means that no third party can access this data.

This safeguards you when you transact on our website, e.g. when you apply for a new licence, renew an existing licence, view your TV Licence details online or update your details.

TV Licensing Website Security Flaws

We have previously raised concerns about the reliability of the TV Licensing website, but it appears we should be seriously concerned about the security of the site as well.

IT blogger Mark Cook recently highlighted the fact that several data entry pages of the TV Licensing website are unsecure, meaning unencrypted personal data could be intercepted by an unauthorised third party. Names, addresses and bank details are all vulnerable.

Mark tweeted his concerns to TV Licensing, which replied: "Hi Mark, Our website is secure and our website’s security certificates are up to date, so rest assured, personal details are safe."

Further examination of the website confirms that it is indeed insecure, despite the denials in that tweet.

This is not the first time security concerns have been raised about the TV Licensing website, but given the story's recent momentum it appears that remedial action is finally being taken. The website is currently offline for maintenance.

The image below shows that concerns about the security of the website were being raised (and dismissed by TV Licensing) as early as February 2018, but we seem to recall problems even prior to that.

The website is the responsibility of hapless BBC contractor Capita Business Services Ltd, which currently holds the lucrative TV Licensing operations contract. Capita is contractually obliged to "ensure that the TVL websites is (sic) available at all times" and "ensure appropriate service ability and service to the customer".

TV Licensing has previously attracted criticism for breaches of data protection legislation. In the past TV Licensing has lost or compromised the personal data of thousands of customers.

It would appear, yet again, that Capita has failed in its contractual obligations. Curious then that the BBC keeps on endorsing Capita's shoddy work and extending its contract.

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