If you have never considered the role a spicy pepperoni pizza could play in a major cyber security breach, the time has come to think again. It seems that hackers will go to the greatest (and cheesiest) lengths to get their hands on your digital innards.
One such tech ninja revealed that, after being hired by a company to access its “watertight” system – which he concedes was too well protected to penetrate from the outside – he worked out that the firm in question ordered pizzas for staff every Friday. He promptly got a delivery job at the regular restaurant and strolled in with the weekly order, before hacking the company system once he was inside the building. Imagine the bewilderment of executives a few days later when – having been presented with their supposedly private and safeguarded information – they learnt their corporate cyber security systems had been taken down by a 4pm hunger pang. That’s a hack that will take some topping.
Main image © Rex/Shutterstock
Dead department store bounce?
Readers of a certain vintage will recall the 1980s bestseller 101 Uses for a Dead Cat. The collection of macabre cartoons – floor polisher was one suggestion, occasional table another – went on to sell more than 2m copies around the world. Diary is aware of a number of sequels and homages – and, yes, 101 More Uses for a Dead Cat is among them. But Savills head of commercial research Mat Oakley has another update in mind: 101 Uses for a Dead Department Store. “If only I had a friend who was a cartoonist,” he says ruefully. So what do you do with a vacant 100,000 sq ft retail unit? If you’re handy with a pencil, tweet @estatesgazette your suggestions. But, unlike many in the original book, please make them tasteful.
Make that a person cave
Here’s one idea all the way from Belgium. A shopping centre near Antwerp has apparently found the room to open “the world’s largest man cave” in a shopping centre. It is said that this will enable women to shop for longer while “parking” their husbands. Now, Diary can’t possibly endorse such gender stereotyping in 2019, and sees no reason women wouldn’t also prefer the delights of The Hub, a 2,600 sq ft space offering three pool tables, three game consoles, two table football tables, a dartboard, two giant televisions, a bar with beer and cocktails and comfortable lounge chairs. But we can’t deny the facilities sound tempting. As noted last week, if HMV disappears, Diary will have no need ever to visit a shopping centre again (#saveHMV) – but something like The Hub might twist its arm.
Mirror, mirror on the mall
And here’s another solution for filling vacant retail space from closer to home: viral marketing. Branches of Tucker’s Newsagent & Games have popped up at London’s Old Street Station and Birmingham’s Grand Central, all part of the excitement over the latest, interactive Black Mirror episode, “Bandersnatch” (what ending did you get?). Looking like they have arrived from the 1980s to save us all, the stores are filled with old-school computer games from the show’s fictional Tuckersoft, as well as graphic novels, VHS tapes, and vinyl records referencing other episodes. It’s all delightfully meta – just a shame they are for display only, closed signs and all. Fingers crossed this is just the beginning, though – if anyone can revitalise retail, Diary’s money is on Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker.
The unicorn effect
And finally to those stores still open. The Christmas retail sales figures from most major retailers are in and they’re… not as bad as everyone was expecting. Was it relief that sent some a little euphoric? Or perhaps overindulgence in the prosecco and champagne – credited for helping Aldi to record sales over the festive period. Or maybe even too much time spent playing with unicorn-themed accessories from Dunelm? Apparently, novelty bedding and rocking horse sales featuring the mythical beasts (Scotland’s national animal) helped the home furnishings group to an upwards revision in its profit forecast. None of the above for Revo chief executive Ed Cooke, who tweeted that it was another high street innovation that deserved the credit: “Just had a Greggs vegan sausage roll. I’m now confident Greggs will almost (!) singlehandedly save the high street.”
