Police Cyber Alarm

[MrCryoDrone]

Hello,

 

I'm just wondering if anybody has managed to alter the Police Cyber alarm to work with ubuntu because CentOS is EOL. I've got so far and I feel its doable but just wondering if any other Linux nerds have attempted this also?

 

Converting from yum to apt is easy but understanding there code is another kettle of fish!

 

Thanks

Kieran

[PaulReviews]

I wouldn't recommend it (security issues aside), as you'll likely break the auto-update facility.

 

They'll be trying to execute commands on a CentOS environment which likely won't work as expected on Ubuntu. Also, it's not your responsibility to update it... leave that to Pervade to screw up.

[Aprice]

I wouldn't waste your time its useless anyway. Just install something like Greylog.

[MrCryoDrone]

Yeah your right, i've moved on from the idea and the attempt now lol,

 

I've spoke to them directly about CentOS 7 becoming EOL on 30/06/2024 and they replied with

 

"Regarding CentOS 7 EOL in a few months time, this is something we are prepared for and you will be receiving an email soon with instructions on how to upgrade, you will have to do this yourself as we do not have privileged access to your collector, but our team will hopefully be able to make this a simple command that you need to run. "

 

So we'll see what happens, they also said they are looking to make this work on other distributions of the clients choosing

[PaulReviews]

Hang on... that's worrying.

 

If they don't have privileged access to install updates, they can't be installing updates. Login to your instance via SSH and check the deps...

 

If they're out of date, please let me (everyone) know.

[MrCryoDrone]

Remind me again how to do this 😭

[PaulReviews]

Use an app like Putty (update it, there's been a serious security issue lately), hit the IP on port 22.

 

Login with

Username: root

Password: [Password] (unless you've changed it) [Password redacted]

 

Run:

yum list updates

 

There's shouldn't be any (many) if it's patched regularly.

Edited May 2, 2024 by 6Foot2

[PaulReviews]

 

I'm curious. Has *anyone* ever received an email explaining how to install updates... and that it's required?

[k-strider]

funny i was updating this yesterday - thinking im going to have to switch this off next month... unless they release a new version built on a supported OS.... no never had an email... and i dont really know why i have it on EXA said its not supported by our cloud firewall.... waste of hyper-v resource really

 

yum check-update

yum update

 

and there are updates - but no email.....

[PaulReviews]

I've been doing some digging since last night. I'm yet to find anyone that's receiving an email explaining how to update the appliance... or that it's necessary.

 

As a result, every CA deployment has been sat with outdated, vulnerable dependencies since installation. Ironic.

[PaulReviews]

I'm not sure why an admin has redacted the password in my previous post?!

 

Doing so prevents people updating their own devices! The password can be found in your installation guide.

 

Also,

yum check-update

 

... will list outdated deps only on your device, rather than the repo as a whole.

[Ditto]

I'm not sure why an admin has redacted the password in my previous post?!

 

Doing so prevents people updating their own devices! The password can be found in your installation guide.

 

Also,

yum check-update

 

... will list outdated deps only on your device, rather than the repo as a whole.

 

I'm sure the mods will answer in their own words, but I would think it is a 'general' policy. I'd recommend just starting it is in the installation guide. A lot of us here on Edugeek appreciate your work, indeed I referred your observations to our DPO and they adapted there advice to their clients about the police cyber alarm as a result. What I wouldn't recommend is reposting passwords in other threads, no need to poke the friendly bear!

[ultima170387]

There is thread on the ANME portal with the same concerns and a webinar has been organised so they can outline their plans.

 

https://www.anme-portal.co.uk/member/discussions/discussion/?discussionid=77976&intid=532

[PaulReviews]

Thanks Ditto, much appreciated.

 

Under the circumstances, I'd hope admins realised the importance of patching these systems and with a lack of information on it, turn a blind eye to it. We'll see.

[PotNoodleTech]

Thanks Ditto, much appreciated.

 

Under the circumstances, I'd hope admins realised the importance of patching these systems and with a lack of information on it, turn a blind eye to it. We'll see.

 

Hi please don't be offended I was the one that reported your post as it's generally accepted here not to post any admin / default passwords in public view as any pupil/parent/nasty person could read it and then potentially have the admin passwords (if unchanged) to all of those schools.

 

As you said - "The password can be found in your installation guide." and that's all we need to know.

 

Hope you understand.

[PaulReviews]

Hi please don't be offended I was the one that reported your post as it's generally accepted here not to post any admin / default passwords in public view as any pupil/parent/nasty person could read it and then potentially have the admin passwords (if unchanged) to all of those schools.

 

As you said - "The password can be found in your installation guide." and that's all we need to know.

 

Hope you understand.

No problem at all

[andy_b]

Hmm....

 

https://mailchi.mp/593c0b6ab3f9/email-1-13907302

 

Quote

Your RPA insurance will not pay out in the event of a cyber incident if your Police Cyber Alarm is not registered AND operational.

 

[sigma]

4 minutes ago, andy_b said:

Hmm....

 

https://mailchi.mp/593c0b6ab3f9/email-1-13907302

 

 

Marketing FUD from Virtue Technologies - noted that it wasn’t from your insurer…

[PaulReviews]

This is a blatant lie.

 

To confirm, I've just spoken with Willis Towers Watson (0117 9769 361) one of the two companies providing RPA support for the DfE.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/risk-protection-arrangement-rpa-for-academies/academies-risk-protection-arrangement-rpa

 

An email has been sent by an IT provider claiming RPA will not pay out unless you register AND install/use Police CyberAlarm. Is that correct?

"That's absolutely not true; a complete lie - they're probably trying to sell you something.  Can you please forward that to us, we'll have someone investigate"

21/07/25 2.25PM

 

[Edit] The other company has just confirmed they've heard about it, called it spam and said it's wrong.

 

Topmark Claims Management: "Yeah, we'd heard there's a company trying to sell something. You don't need to use it, only register. It's just spam."
21/01/25 2.45PM

 

I won't name her as it's not appropriate, but you're welcome to call and check yourself.

Edited July 21, 2025 by RamblingRant

[andy_b]

I did think it was particularly egregious.

 

Getting a bit fed up with the outright lies companies are using in marketing.

[PaulReviews]

It's sadly quite common.  A further insult to scroll to the bottom of the email to see "Our values: trust"

 

Thanks for raising it Andy.