British Ministers’ Phone Numbers Leaked In App Flaw

Phone numbers and other personal details of senior
ministers from Britain’s Conservative party were made public by an
app security flaw on Saturday, including those of top Brexiteers
Michael Gove and Boris Johnson.

Several top MPs reportedly received nuisance calls after their
profiles were accessed on the official mobile application for the
annual party conference, which kicks off this weekend.

The security breach saw members of the public able to enter the
profiles using just the politicians’ email addresses — easily
available online — to view and edit the data stored within.

Former foreign secretary Johnson had his profile picture briefly
swapped for pornography and his job title changed to a profane
insult, according to several Twitter users.

Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Gove’s picture was changed to
one of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, his former employer when he was
a journalist.

Among the first to report the flaw was Dawn Foster, a columnist
for daily The Guardian.

“The Tory conference app allows you to log in as other people
and view their contact details just with their email address, no
emailed security links, and post comments as them,” she wrote on
Twitter, using a colloquial name for the party.

“They’ve essentially made every journalist, politician and
attendee’s mobile number public. Fantastic.”

A Conservative party spokesperson apologised for the breach,
saying the technical issue had “been resolved and the app is now
functioning securely”.

Britain’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office
(ICO), said it was investigating the data breach related to the
app, which was developed by an Australian firm called Crown
Comms.

The opposition Labour Party said the blunder showed the ruling
party could not be trusted in matters of security.

“They can’t even build a conference app that keeps the data of
their members, MPs and others attending safe and secure,” said
shadow cabinet office minister Jon Trickett.

The breach is the latest embarrassment for Prime Minister
Theresa May’s embattled party, whose yearly gathering begins on
Sunday in the city of Birmingham in central England.

Last year’s conference was peppered with mishaps, with May’s
attempt to move past Brexit splits marred by a protest, a
collapsing set and a coughing fit.

During the 2017 event, a prankster interrupted the leader’s
address by handing her a P45 — a form given to those leaving a
job.

No sooner had she resumed, May began coughing uncontrollably and
continued to struggle on and off throughout the rest of the speech,
as two letters fell off the slogan on the wall behind her.

AFP

Flooding: 70 percent of Bayelsa Communities under water,
Dickson cries out
… Gov Urges FG to Declare Flood Emergency in Bayelsa
…As a flood ravages Gov’s community, Toru Orua, others

The Governor of Bayelsa State, the Honourable Henry Seriake
Dickson, has raised the alarm that over 70 percent of the
communities in the state have been submerged by the raging flood in
the country.

The Governor spoke to journalists during a tour of communities
severely affected by flooding with representatives of the National
Emergency Management Agency, members of the state security
committee, the Police, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the
Nigerian Security and Civil Defence and others.

A statement by the Special Adviser to Governor on Media
Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, on Sunday, stated that the Governor
spoke to journalists in the middle of a road in front of his
father’s compound at Toru Orua, with water rushing at a bewildering
rate from the Forcados River into the community.

The severity of the flood was such that some of the communities
have been cut off by the increasing flood level which has got to
window and lintel levels in others. The governor and those who
embarked on the tour with him observed that Biseni community and
settlements around it in Yenagoa Local Government Area could no
longer be accessed by road.

The convoy of cars had to be turned back when the people came
out in boats on the tarred road to say that accessing the area by
road had been rendered impossible by the raging flood with rising
water level.

Also, Governor Dickson and his team visited other communities
which were submerged by the raging waters with the desperate people
in need of shelter for relief materials at Sampou, Kaiama, Odi, in
Kolokuma/Okpokuma Local Government Area and Sagbama, Bolou Orua,
Toru Orua, and several others in Sagbama Local Area.

A substantial part of the state capital, Yenagoa, especially
Tombia, Akempai, and others are seriously affected by the flood.
Governor Dickson said that the severity of the flood made the State
Executive Committee and the State Security Committee to take a
decision during their meetings on Friday to close down all schools
in Bayelsa with immediate effect to enable the management to take
the students to their parents. He described the flood as a major
disaster which had affected the state with thousands of people
rendered homeless.

The governor also identified several some public premises which
were not affected by the flood for immediate conversion to
temporary internally displaced camps in the state. He called on the
Federal Government for urgent support to the state to combat the
humanitarian challenges thrown up by the flooding emergency.

The Governor who called on the Federal Government to declare a
flood emergency in Bayelsa observed that the coastal state which is
below the sea label was omitted when the government declared
emergency flood situation in four states – Kogi, Niger, Delta and
Anambra – on September 18, 2018. He argued that the flood situation
in Bayelsa was inevitable as the entire state is below sea level
with all the major rivers and tributaries through which water flows
from the River Niger and Benue to the Atlantic Ocean.

He said that the state government had set up a Special Committee
to manage the flood situation comprising top government officials
and the security services under the leadership of the Deputy
Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah.

He said, “We have spent the whole day going from one local
government area to the other; going from one community to the
other; assessing the situation and seeing first hand the way our
people are coping with this major disaster.

“Community after community, we have seen women, children and men
managing to survive a very difficult situation. So I want to first
of all, on behalf of the state government and the good people of
this state appreciate the resilience of our people who are affected
in the various communities.

“What has happened in this state is that about 70 percent of our
state right now is under water as we speak. Almost 70 percent of
our communities are under water now and people are now grappling
for survival. What we have seen is really, serious, dangerous and
touching. This is a major disaster that has affected the state.

“And those of you on this tour can attest to the deplorable
state we have seen in community after community. So I want to call
for immediate federal support to our state. We as part of our
emergency and disaster management system, we have in place, a
committee that has the security services working with the officials
of the NEMA under the overall management of the Deputy Governor who
reports to me.

“Government in conjunction with the security services are
working with the NEMA and SEMA officials and community leaders
organising themselves to mount various forms of rescue operations
and we have seen how the people themselves living in this flooded
homes are now devising various ways of protecting themselves and
properties.

“What we have seen is really touching. This is a major disaster
that has affected the state and I want to also thank the members of
the Security Council.”

Speaking also, representative of National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA), Mr. Kayode Fagbemi, said that having observed the
pathetic flooding situation in Bayelsa during the tour of the
affected communities with the governor, he would report his
findings to Abuja.

He said that the agency had sent 20 òf its staff to the Bayelsa
preparatory to the anticipated flooding in the state. Fagbemi who
said that relief materials would soon arrive the state added that
the agency was collaborating with its state counterpart to organize
camps in the state.

“I have gone round communities with His Excellency and the
Deputy Governor and I have for myself and i have seen that the
situation is pathetic and I will take the report back home and more
support will come from the federal government.

“We have brought a water purifying machine here because we know
many of the water sources will be contaminated and make sure people
don’t take contaminated water.” He said.

By PRNigeria