What can you do about the Spambot attack?

What is a Spambot?

Spambot is a computer-generated intrusion into the computer systems, aimed at causing serious data breach, stealing corporate / personal information or causing sabotage. Who can be involved in this latest attack?

There are 7.5 billion persons worldwide, meaning that the chances that YOUR email is involved is only 10%, that is 1 in 10 email addresses. Very scary, right?

What caused it, what you do and how can you start protecting yourself read on or come to our free session on hardening your business to cyber attacks?

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What can a Spambot Data breach do?

The spambot breach was so big because so many companies are not taking internet security seriously.  Secondly poor security practices by users have lead to large scale breaches but this is likely to not be the end of the road for this attack.  As you can see from the graphic below, we tested some of our customer's emails (using https://haveibeenpwned.com/) and found that 2/5 had been pwned by the spambot. This means that data such as IP's, passwords and email data was taken. 

The IP the unique code that identifies your computer and allows target or adverts or more attacks. Also password data and of course emails. With this most sites use these data to let you login and these sites contain very personal email that can be used to build personalised attacks in the future. This is called a 0-day issue meaning you have 0 days before further attack lead to further data loss or identity theft etc. In our free seminar we how to prevent further attack and how you can prevent future damage to your company.

The breach was mainly caused by poor cyber-security and an organisation is only as strong as its weakest person.

What is Cyber-security?

Having a cyber-security is like having a physical security personnel at vantage points within an organization, especially where safety of works, goods, equipment and staff is essential. It is the implementation of policies and methods to prevent attacks on a company’s information systems, which is done to avoid disruption of the company’s productivity. Not only does cyber-security include controlling physical access to the system’s hardware, it protects from danger that may come via network access or the injection of code.

Why is Cyber-security Important?

Cyber-security is crucial to a business for so many reasons, with the two crucial ones, namely: breaches and sabotage of security data. Both can have calamitous effects on a company and/or its clients, with a lot of financial costs attached.

Data security breaches can compromise secure information such as:

·         Names and social security numbers

·         Credit card and bank details

·         Trade secrets

·         Intellectual property

Computer sabotage serves to disable a company’s computers or network to impede the company’s ability to conduct business

Many questions arise at this stage:

·         How do we protect ourselves? When do we do it? Who does it for us? Should we develop someone within or outsource?

If you want to speak to someone face-to-face then come along to our free 2 hour seminar entitled “Stop being a Cyber Crime Soft Target” if you want a more rapid bit of help download our guide "3 easy ways  to cyber security taking place in London, October 19/20, 2017

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Article written by Nick Aitalegbe from CRID (www.crid.co.uk/) Centre for Regional and International Development who host a number of well regarded cyber security experts and trainers.

Revision Cards by London Home Tutors

London Home Tutors offers high quality tuition with expert tutors

This is an article for London Home Tutors and offers great advice for parents.

Revision cards are an incredibly versatile tool to use for any child in need of retaining knowledge picked up across the year. The cards have information on one side followed by a question on the other side.

Learners read the information and use what they have just learnt to answer the question. Some revision cards have a question on one side and the answer, with an accompanying explanation, on the other side.

These sorts of cards are commonly used as a revision tool to consolidate learning. They can be used in the classroom as part of a planned activity or during independent study.

The process of active recall is promoted using flash cards and the Leitner system for scheduling them is an invaluable tool in the learning process. The cards that the learner is confident with are placed at the bottom of the pack which promotes the lesser known cards to the top so that they can be more frequently reviewed.

Revision cards are adaptable and can also be directly made by the learners. They can be colour coded to coincide with different topics, key words can be highlighted and multiple choice answers can be included to further enhance the learning experience.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Exercises the mental process of active recall	Time consuming to make
Engages learners easily	Lost or damaged cards need to be replaced
Appeals to kinaesthetic learners	Cards may need laminating for longevity
Can be easily differentiated and reused
Cross curricular

Check out London Home Tutors Facebook page for more great content.

6 Techniques for Growing your Facebook Page Likes

Out of all the different types of social media, Facebook is perhaps the hardest one to conquer, but with a few tips and tricks, we can help you grow your Facebook Page likes in no time:

1. Post twice a day
You’ve got loads of great content, and lots of things to share with your followers, but when do you share this information to make the biggest impact? Try using Facebook’s inbuilt analytics to see when your current followers are likely to be online and make sure you post at least twice a day. Not just for Twitter, hashtags can also help you to reach a wider audience and boost those likes.

2. Be our guest
Facebook Pages have a great feature that allows you to invite any of your friends to ‘like’ your page, make sure you make the most of this feature by regularly inviting anyone and everyone.

3. Give as much information as possible
There’s nothing worse than going to a Facebook page, only to find that there’s no useful information on it. Things like opening hours, mission statements and a fully fleshed out ‘About’ section are a great way to keep your followers and fans in the loop, thus increasing their likelihood of ‘liking’ your page and regularly coming back for updates.

4. Videos are the future
According to Facebook, videos are the future, and because of this their internal algorithm prioritises videos, showing them much more frequently and much higher up on people’s newsfeeds. By posting at least one video a day, you can reach a lot more people online.

5. Engage with your fans
It’s all very well and good posting great content, timing your posts and keeping everything on your page up to date, but if you’re not constantly interacting and engaging with your followers, then you’re just not doing it right. If someone comments on your post, reply to them, be friendly and create a relationship.

6. Use the tools that Facebook gives you
Using Facebook’s own graph search, you can really narrow down your target audience and then work on specifically targeting that subset of people. In this blog post, Facebook marketing expert Jon Loomer details just how exactly to use this tool to full effect.


You can have a great product, a great website, and great online content, but none of that matters if no one ever sees it. It is for this reason that Facebook is so important as a marketing tool these days. In a 2013 study by Syncapse, it was found that the most popular reason why people ‘like’ a Facebook Page is to show support and allegiance to the brand, proving that people are willing to align themselves with your business if they like what they see. So get out there, try these tips and give them something to ‘like’.

What is Mastery Learning?

You may have heard the phrase Mastery Learning being used more frequently in relation to learning and education recently but what exactly does it mean?

An intriguing term, Mastery is actually quite a simple concept that relies on teaching children about a particular topic one section at a time and not moving on to the next section until the child has fully grasped it. In a classroom setting, all children are taught the same thing in the same way with increasingly more difficult problems being solved to ensure that the children have a deep understanding of the topic before they move on. Each subject matter is broken up into individual pieces that have to be understood and this is usually demonstrated by the child receiving a pre-determined percentage on a test before they can move on from that subject matter.

Inspired by techniques from Asian countries such as China and Singapore, Mastery is not a new teaching and learning technique by any means. However, its recent introduction into everyday learning at UK schools means that we’ll be hearing more about this style of learning in the near future. In fact, the method is so popular that the government has announced that it is providing £41 million of funding over the next four years to help schools adopt a Mastery approach to teaching maths.

The technique is in contrast to more traditional learning styles where pupils are expected to understand a particular concept within a certain amount of time, before automatically moving on to the next concept whether they fully comprehend it or not. For example, when learning times tables in maths, the class may work on this topic for two months before moving on regardless of the children’s individual progress. Mastery works in a way that means each child develops a definitive understanding of a topic such as times tables before they are required to move on to the next topic, and those who don’t catch on as quickly will receive homework, group work, support and additional tuition to help them along the way. This approach not only helps each student’s understanding of the topic, but it has also been proven to be a much more enjoyable form of learning for the student.

As far as the effectiveness of Mastery goes, only time will tell but, for now, this technique seems to be one that reflects both common sense and really good, intuitive teaching and, with that combination, you can’t go far wrong.

By Laura Caldwell

The Advantages & Disadvantages Of 'Mastery Teaching'

Mastery is a concept through which children are all taught the same syllabus or skills simultaneously, but are only moved on individually once they have become secure with the subject matter through support and guidance. This type of teaching exists to encourage learners to attain a greater level of appreciation and understanding of the teaching material as they cannot progress until they can demonstrate their learning and understanding. On paper, it is the perfect way for people of all ages to learn at their own pace and through the methods and modes that facilitate them best – however, the way in which mastery is conducted can impact upon how effective it is in practice. Here are a few ways in which the concept can be broken down into advantages and disadvantages.

The Advantages of Mastery

• As Rachel Jackson discusses, the main benefits of Mastery lie in its innate ability to enable learners to gain greater appreciation of their subject material by looking at it from different angles, as opposed to rushing through modules – it is a misconception that children who are quicker at subjects such as mathematics are necessarily more skilled than those who take their time.
• Mastery focuses on allowing all pupils and students to progress at their own pace and to take their time to focus on problem solving and various outcomes of a scenario, thus avoiding hurried glossing-over of skills and knowledge. Hurrying learning along can impact negatively upon individual skillsets and knowledge recall in later life, making Mastery all the more appealing.
• Mastery ensures that everyone receives the same level and scope of teaching without the risk of pupils being left behind – it exists to enable all children on one particular syllabus to receive equal knowledge.

The Disadvantages of Mastery

• Managing Mastery in large groups can be complex – Bill Bennett discusses that, as learners all progress at different rates, there will be a necessity for more advanced students to be kept occupied while slower learners reach the same level of appreciation. This may lead to more advanced pupils having to be held back from progressing until their peers all reach the same level.
• Lowell Horton discusses that mastery is a fairly optimistic model for learning which will require wide-scale agreement upon what specific goals should be attained – after all, how does one define a ‘master’ within a subject unless such goals are clearly defined? This, Horton argues, will require the profession to come together to agree to such specificity if the model is to work in practice.
• Horton further establishes that employing mastery may be particularly difficult in practice from a teacher’s perspective – indicating that a tutor will need to be invested in the concept wholly in order for such a method to work. This is due to an increase in time and effort on the part of an educator that mastery can take to implement effectively.

The divisions are clear – Mastery may work well in practice as well as in theory, but it will require extensive effort and time on the part of a school or educator in order for it to be particularly effective. If a school or organisation is interested in employing mastery as a learning method, thorough planning must be employed in order for both the education board and any teachers involved to be prepared to exercise it.

The launch of 'Success In Exams' – a new book that helps students!

Hexis Plus is publishing the brilliant new eBook, ‘Success In Exams’ by Dr Indira Ghatak and it is being made freely available for pupils and parents alike!

Dr Ghatak noticed that those pupils who are C/D borderline, those who benefit from pupil premium or those who are generally of a lower than average ability often feel overwhelmed by the transition from Year 9 to GCSE and from GCSE to A-Level. She believes that this struggle comes down to a lack of understanding of revision strategies and exam technique. Subsequently, this book helps underperforming students in Years 10-13 learn how to revise effectively by teaching students the following:

• ·         revision strategies
• ·         how to develop study time tables and tactics to break up the learning throughout the year.
• ·         techniques to work with teachers.
• ·         how to alleviate stress and establish a decent work-life balance
• ·         how to effectively identify and change habits.

She addresses these issues in a conversational, relatable manner that is easy to understand for both parents and teenagers alike.

What really sets 'Success In Exams' apart is that it’s a multi-media book which has revolutionary interactivity including bespoke quizzes and videos that can be viewed via QR codes embedded in the book. This provides a holistic skills development program for those who need it. Some of these codes are permanent links and others are regularly updated for new content to ensure that students keep using the book as a study aid.

Testimonials:

[Success In Exams] captured the essence […] of the subject matter and then built upon those to not only enable the student to gain knowledge and understanding but also the relevant practicalities of having to perform highly in examinations.

Rahul S. – Parent

Dr Ghatak combines her immense experience in teaching at top schools with her insight as a mother whose children have been through the process. [Success In Exams] has a holistic all round approach which maximises a child's ability and hard work with a healthy mental attitude and positive self-esteem to produce happy, motivated successful children.

Isaac P. – Parent

[Success In Exams] helped me organise my time more efficiently […] I optimised my speed of learning and clarity of thought […] I strongly advise all to follow her methods which are expertly set out in this book.

Sienna A. – Student

If you would like a free copy of the 'Success In Exams' eBook in any popular format, please click here or email: contact@hexisplus.com.

We here at Hexis Plus are delighted to have helped publish this book using our extensive editing, social media marketing, website designing and branding knowledge. We’re looking forward to our next projects with Dr Ghatak and the various different tutoring and training companies we support.

Blended Vs Flipped Learning

The terms Blended and Flipped Learning are often used interchangeably by educators but, despite having similar connotations, they are actually two very different types of eLearning.

Before we can discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each type of learning, it’s important to differentiate between them. Blended Learning utilises both online and face-to-face instruction in order to provide a broader learning experience whilst Flipped Learning requires the learner to study an online element before coming to class and then using their class time to delve deeper into what they’ve learned.

A typical example of a Blended Learning exercise might be an online quiz - such as those found on Kahoot! or Socrative - where the students answer questions virtually and then discuss the outcome in class, building upon their knowledge by taking into account each student’s thoughts. This type of learning is beneficial because it helps maintain student interest and allows them to discuss their own opinions and thoughts with each other.

The major drawback of Blended Learning is that it can hamper and alienate students that get overwhelmed by the use of technology which could also give some students the opportunity to pretend to be working harder than they actually are. In a recent paper investigating the impact of Blended Learning by Hernández-Nanclares and Pérez-Rodríguez on The Journal Of Interactive Media In Education, the conclusion was that students generally had a positive attitude towards a Blended design and found using technology in the classroom to be motivational.

In contrast, an example of Flipped Learning would be watching a video before class at home and then discussing the results as a group. This type of learning means that a student can watch the video in the comfort of their own home, taking in the information in their own time and space and this allows for class time that is focused on detail and discussion, rather than just outlining basics. In 1998, Richard Hake tested 2084 students using Flipped Learning and discovered that those taught using a Flipped method exhibited learning gains almost two standard deviations higher than those who were taught in a more traditional method.

Aside from the many benefits of Flipped Learning, there are some drawbacks which include the fact that all students learn at different paces making it difficult to test them. This type of learning also gives some students the chance to relax at home by not doing the work in the first place.

When it comes to answering the question: ‘Which of these two learning styles is better?’ there really is no black and white answer. Depending on what the desired outcome is, the two learning styles offer two very different solutions. In a classroom scenario, the best option is to use both styles at different times for different lessons and then analyse how the class responds. Some students favour learning everything in a classroom setting, others like to concentrate on the material at home. It’s up to the teacher or tutor to determine the style that best suits their students and whether one learning style might be better for a particular subject or lesson.