Scottish GENES: July 2020

Friday, 31 July 2020

RootsIreland adds WW1 records for Dun Laoghaire

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

New WW1 Records for Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin

We have added records of Air, Army and Naval personnel who died in the Great War 1914-18, for Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin (formerly Kingstown) :

Air & Army Officers born or resident in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown who died in WW1
Record of Naval Mercantile & Marine Dun Laoghaire & Environs who died in WW1

For a full list of sources for Dun Laoghaire Heritage & Genealogy please visit http://www.rootsireland.ie/dublinsouth/online-sources.php

To search these records, go to dublinsouth.rootsireland.ie, choose 'Census Substitutes' and select from the 'Source' drop down list. Please Login and Subscribe if required.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Ancestry updates Communities for Asia & Polynesia, South Africa & Australia

Ancestry's DNA platform has updated its communities information for those with connections to Asia & Polynesia, South Africa & Australia. From its announcement:

Updated Communities

Our updated communities now have 20 Southeast Asian, 9 East Asian, 14 South Asian, 31 Oceanian, 2 African and 1 Central Asian & Russian community. Customers may see an update in their results if they have ties to the areas below:

China, Malaysia, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Russia, Philippines, Guam, Mariana Islands, Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Asians living in South Africa, Indians in Fiji and South America, and European and British settlers in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Whether it’s learning that your ancestors can be traced back to the diverse cultures of China or uncovering your Polynesian roots, your next big discovery could be waiting in our latest communities update.

For further details visit https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2020/07/31/ancestry-unveils-updated-communities-for-members-with-ties-to-asia-polynesia-south-africa-australia/

Forthcoming ScotVic conferences

The following are three forthcoming Canadian hosted virtual conferences with a Scottish theme:

Saturday November 28, 2020:
HIGHLAND RESEARCH DAY
Lorna Steele will present on the holdings of the Highland Archives
Alison Diamond will present on the records held by the Duke of Argyll at Inverary Archives
Karly Kehoe will present on the Highland Scots of Nova Scotia
Alexander Thomson will present on the Cromarty Emigrants and the Ships That Took Them
Paul Nixon will present on Scottish Regiments
Robert Howie will be giving a virtual tour of Edinburgh highlighting the places associated with the Jacobites

Access to the recordings will remain open for 6 weeks following the day of presentations
Registration opens Saturday, August 1, 2020. Pre-Pandemic pricing of just $74cad.

Saturday January 23, 2021:
SCOTTISH BORDERS RESEARCH DAY
Andrew Armstrong will present on the Border Reivers
Margaret Fox will present on Scottish Borders Criminals in the High Court Records
Hannah Bell will present on the holdings of the Scottish Borders Archives
The Ulster Historical Foundation will present on the Scots in Ulster
Harvey Kaplan will present on the holdings of the Scottish Jewish Archives
Donna Moore will present on Women’s Suffrage
Anne Daly will give us a virtual tour of the turbulent life of Mary Queen of Scots

Access to the recordings will remain open for 6 weeks following the day of presentations
Registration opens Thursday, October 1, 2020. Pre-Pandemic pricing of just $74cad.

Saturday April 10, 2021
SCOTTISH RECORDS AND RESEARCH
George MacKenzie will give a presentation on Records Management
Irene O’Brien will give a presentation on Crafts and Trades Records
Margaret Fox will give a presentation on Registers of Deeds
Emma Maxwell will give a presentation on Court of Session Records
Tahitia McCabe will give a presentation on Methodology for Scottish Research
Michelle Leonard will give a presentation on DNA for Scottish Research
Nick Card will give a presentation on the Archaeological Dig at Ness of Brodgar

Access to the recordings will remain open for 6 weeks following the day of presentations
Registration opens Friday, January 1, 2021. Pre-Pandemic pricing of just $74cad.

For more information or to register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/
Questions: genealogytoursofscotlan@gmail.com

(With thanks to Christine Woodock)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Celtic Connections Virtual Conference now open

So that's the Celtic Connections Virtual Conference (http://celtic-connections.org) now under way, an event co-hosted by The Irish Genealogical Society International (IGSI) & The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA)!

It's really unfortunate that the live event in Illinois had to be cancelled because of the current worldwide pandemic, but I'm happy to still be able to share the talks I would have given in this alternative online conference event, with all talks available from July 31 - September 30, 2020. The following are my talks, available as part of the event:

Discover Scottish Church Records
Scottish Research Resources Before 1800
Using PRONI for Northern Irish Research

As part of the event I'll also be participating in a live chat session with fellow genie Paul Milner on Saturday, August 8th at 11 am CDT (5pm UK time).

Registration is still open http://celtic-connections.org/index.html, and there are plenty of other speakers participating, with some great talks - enjoy!!!

Thursday, 30 July 2020

10th anniversary of Legislation.gov.uk

From the National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) in England, via email, news about the tenth of anniversary of the UK's legislation website at www.legislation.gov.uk, which contains copies of historic legislation from all four countries of the UK:

This week marks 10 years since we launched Legislation.gov.uk - the official home of revised and enacted UK legislation.

Legislation.gov.uk is delivered by The National Archives and is an accessible service that is vital for anyone who is interested in current or historical UK
legislations for their research.

The service has transformed access to the statute book for millions of users and we are proud to have achieved what we set out to do - to provide clearer, faster and easier access to legislations.

Legislations from as early as 1267 for the UK and 1953 for those from the EU can be discovered at Legislation.gov.uk, while our research guides can help you understand how to make use of the service for your research.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the Head of Legislation Services, Matthew Bell, will discuss the challenges, achievements, and impact of this ground-breaking service on 13 August, 14:00. You can register for the event here (https://prod.flowapp.com/s/BvBKxYn0X2).

TNA's original newsletter can be read at https://trim.ee/Z1IPm.

For Scotland, the relevant section of the website is https://www.legislation.gov.uk/browse/scotland.

Note that for the pre-1707 period, the Records of the Parliament of Scotland site at www.rps.ac.uk is also well worth a look.

For Northern Ireland visit https://www.legislation.gov.uk/browse/ni - this also includes some acts from the Old Irish Parliament from 1495-1800.

Highland Archives 'Learn with Lorna' weekly sessions

I attended another superb session this morning with Highland Archives' Learn with Lorna talk, a series of weekly get-to-know-what's-in-the archive sessions from archivist Lorna Steele, brodcast on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/highlandarchives/.

Today's session was on the subject of Inverness burgh records, a collection I briefly consulted on my last visit there in 2017, when I discovered the apprenticeship record for my three times great grandfather David MacGillivray from 1828. David had been born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1815 (to an Inverness couple, one a militiaman), but this record, and a subsequent poor law application also found at the archive, revealed a lot about his earlier years prior to the 1841 census, including his return to Inverness with his father as a child. There is a wealth of material waiting to be plundered by me at the archive, just as soon as I can get a chance to dive in again, and Lorna's passion for the material, and deep knowledge of it, make these sessions areal must attend event every week. Even if you don't have Highland ancestry, they are a great way to demonstrate the versatility of the materials held within Scotland's local archive sector.

All the sessions so far (this was the eighteenth) are freely available at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyxasYGi8kIcL7OThf1QGsHAMACY_1DGE - the latest, on Inverness burgh records, is presented below for convenience:

Note that Highland Archives are managed by Highlife Highland, a charitable body. As a charity, it is seeking donations from the public for a Covid fund, which you can donate to at https://high-life-highland.myshopify.com/collections/covid-19-donations.

COVID-19 Donations

As a direct result of COVID-19 it is no longer business as usual for the charity.

COVID-19 has brought challenges to us all both financial and physical, and we fully understand that everyone’s situation is different in terms of the pressures we are facing.

For those of you who are able to help please consider making a donation to the charity as it will help us to re-open in the future.

Thank you.

If like me you have Highland ancestry, please do consider making a donation - and do tune if for some highly informative and entertaining sessions - next week is about Cameron of Lochiel, so prepare to get your inner Jacobite ready!

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

The Family History Federation's Really Useful Family History Show

From the Family History Federation (www.familyhistoryfederation.com) down south:

The FHF Really Useful Family History Show
Saturday 14th November 2020

The Family History Federation (FHF) is excited to launch the FHF Really Useful Family History Show which will take place on Saturday 14th November featuring member societies and much, much more.

In announcing the Show, FHF Chairman, Steve Manning, said: “Irrespective of whether you’re an uncertain ‘newbie’ or seasoned enthusiast, this is the one 2020 happening you must not miss! Why? Because the Family History Federation is totally focussed on delivering a ‘Really Useful Family History Show’ to ALL our visitors!”

The event is supported by (in alphabetical order):

Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA)
FamilySearch
Family Tree magazine
Who Do You Think You Are magazine

This national – even international – virtual show will provide:

Expert presentations
Discussion panels
Access to all shops on Parish Chest plus those of commercial participants
Opportunity to meet and talk to exhibitors live in the virtual exhibition hall
UK “attendees” will receive goody bag posted to them (providing they book early!)
And much more…

The event’s website will be regularly updated with details of exhibitors and speakers. It will also provide access to the online ticket booking system.

Bookmark the show’s own website at: www.fhf-reallyuseful.com

Monday, 27 July 2020

Ancestry adds entries from 2019 to Scotland and Northern Ireland death index

Ancestry has expanded its Scotland and Northern Ireland, Death Index, 1989-2019 collection (www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/60631/) to include entries from the year 2019. From the site:

This collection is a compiled index that covers approximately 45% of the total deaths that occurred in this time period.

This index provides death details for people in Scotland and Northern Ireland, specifically their name, gender, date of birth or age at death, date of death, and residence place at time of death. However, they do not include the General Register Office (GRO) reference information. The index also contains a small number of records for people in Jersey and Isle of Man.

Source: GreyPower Deceased Data. compiled by Wilmington Millennium, West Yorkshire.

A similar update for the England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2019 collection (www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/60630/) has also been made.

Linen Hall Library set to re-open to public August 17th

The Linen Hall Library (https://linenhall.com) in Belfast is set to re-open on a phased basis, with acess for members from August 3rd, and to the general public from August 17th.

The following is the phased re-opening scheule:

Week commencing 27 July 2020:
There will be a book collection and return service for Members only at the Donegall Square entrance between 11.00am – 2.00pm on Monday 27 July, Wednesday 29 July and Friday 31 July. A remote research service will also be available for Members. Please email research requests to info@linenhall.com with ‘Member research’ as the subject line of the email.

Week commencing 3 August 2020:
Reopen to Members only Monday to Friday 10.00am – 3.00pm. Remote research service available.

Week commencing 10 August 2020:
Reopen to Members only Monday to Friday 10.00am – 3.00pm. Remote research service available.

Week commencing 17 August 2020:
Reopen to public Monday to Friday 10.00am – 3.00pm – limited numbers admitted.

For further details, including how members can reserve books, visit https://linenhall.com/linen-hall-announces-phased-reopening-schedule/.

2021 SAFHS conference set to be held in Dundee

The 32nd Scottish Association of Family History Societies (https://safhs.org.uk) annual conference is provisionally set to be held at the Dalhousie Building of the University of Dundee on Saturday 24th April 2021.

Entitled Tay Valley's Inspirational Women, the event is set to host a talks programme with four speakers, as well as various stalls and societies in attendance.

Although a little difficult to read due to a poor scan, further details are available at the SAFHS website in its latest bulletin at https://safhs.org.uk/Documents/SAFHS%20Bulletin%20March%202020%20v2%20low%20res.pdf - a contact address for the organisers is given as conference@tayvalleyfhs.org.uk.

Aberdeen's King Street Family History Centre to re-open August 3rd

From the Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society (www.anesfhs.org.uk):

King Street Family History Centre Reopening

We are pleased to announce that all procedures are in place for reopening our Centre from Monday 3rd August 2020. Until further notice, access will be by appointment only. An appointment lasts for up to 2½ hours, between 10:15am and 12:45pm or between 1:15pm and 3:45pm, Monday to Friday. To reserve a slot, please telephone the Society on 01224 646323 between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

All users of our Centre must bring and wear a face-covering. To prepare for your visit to our Centre, please read our Covid-19 Safety Policy and other guidelines here. An appointment is for one person at one computer only. Staff can fetch other materials for you. For our remote members, it may also be possible to book a slot for a video consultation with a volunteer (e.g. using Zoom or Google Meet).

Sunday, 26 July 2020

Gedmatch site now back up again

Gedmatch (www.gedmatch.com) is now back up and running again, following its recent decision to temporarily take the site down after a fairly serious privacy breach (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2020/07/gedmatch-fiasco-continues.html and https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2020/07/myheritage-platform-attack-possibly.html). The following message is available at the top of the page:

We have completed a thorough review of the site for security vulnerabilities and have made changes where appropriate to ensure the security of your data. If you note any issues that are of concern, please submit a request tracker ticket for resolution. For our Tier 1 members we will be extending your membership by 1 week.

Comment: I have now finally been able to delete my account.

Friday, 24 July 2020

Covid Archive Project (Scotland) seeks contributions

Clare Wilson of Treehouse Genealogy has created the Covid Archive Project (Scotland) at https://www.treehousegenealogy.co.uk/covid. Here's the introduction:

Covid Archive Project (Scotland)
Preserve your Stories & Experiences for the Future

Coronavirus has impacted on all our lives & in many ways is reminiscent of the Spanish Flu of over 100 years ago. The Spanish Flu is said to have killed 50 million people though further studies put this figure as closer to 100 million. Yet it was not covered by the media in the way that you might have expected! So many lives had been lost during the Great War that it was felt by the public & authorities that the country could take no more trauma, the result being an unnatural silence.

As we all progress through the current Coronavirus Pandemic it does make you wonder how our own crisis will be portrayed in the generations to come, that is why the Covid Archive Project is so important.

We would like to hear about your experiences! This could be through the sights, sounds, testimonies, thoughts, feelings & even oddities you have come up against throughout this crisis.

Anyone who was living in Scotland during the crisis is welcome to submit images, audio recordings, short videos, drawings, writings, newspaper cuttings & anything else that you feel not only represents your own experience but would make an interesting addition to the Archive for future Generations.

For further details, and ideas on how to contribute to the project, visit the website - there is also an accompanying Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/CovidArchive/

(With thanks to Clare Wilson)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Various Australian records added to TheGenealogist

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

New records help find your Australian cousins

TheGenealogist has added to its Australian records a set of new resources which can be used to find ancestors who lived in this country in the past. These name rich resources are sourced from a diverse range of historical books and directories which can be useful for finding out information such as where ancestors lived and what their occupation was.

Use these records to:

Add details to the lives of your Australian ancestors
Locate ancestors homes and business addresses in street directories
Discover lists of Doctors, Chemists, Dentists, Lawyers and Teachers
Find Municipality officials, Magistrates, Clergy, Secretaries of Clubs and Societies
Search for Australian Military personnel (Army & Navy)
See advertisements for traders, hoteliers and ship owners, etc.

This latest release expands TheGenealogist’s International records collection and includes the following useful resources:

South Australian Directories 1882-3, 1904, 1910, 1920 and 1936;
Australasian Handbook 1906;
The Victorian Municipal Directory and Gazetteer 1886;
Horse Cattle and Sheep Brands Directory for South Australia 1879;
Our Early Possessions & Pioneers of Settlement South Australia;
Return of the Names of Official Chaplains (Self Governing Dominions);
Johns’s Notable Australians and Who is Who in Australasia 1908;
Walch’s Tasmanian Almanac 1889;
Red Cross and Order of St John Australian Branch Enquiry List August 1 1917 Wounded and Missing;
New South Wales Army and Navy Lists 1898;
Commonwealth of Australia Navy Lists April 1919, January 1921, July 1922, October 1919 & October 1922.

You can also read TheGenealogist’s article, ‘Learning more about our Australian cousins and their lives down under’:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/australian-records-online-to-find-your-ancestors-1284/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Scottish Indexes announces fifth virtual conference for August 30th

Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com) has announced that it will be holding another free to attend online conference on Sunday August 30th, the fifth since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic this year. The first four have been an incredibly informative and entertaining - you will certainly want to bookmark this!

The structure of the conferences tends to be a programme of talks run twice through the day in two separate sessions, to cater for as many attendees worldwide as possible, with each accompanied with Q and A sessions and other activities in between. Full details of the new programme have yet to be announced, but yours truly is one of those who has agreed to contribute a talk.

As ever, it should be fun! For further news on the event, keep an eye out on the Scottish Indexes website at www.scottishindexes.com, and the team's Facbeook page at https://www.facebook.com/scottish.indexes/.

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Ancestry advises users to change password if using Family Tree Maker

There has seemingly been another breach of privacy, this time by Software Mackiev (www.mackiev.com), producer of the popular Family Tree Maker software programme, with which users can sync information to their online family tree on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk). It seems that the company has exposed to access information for some 60,000 users thanks to a misconfigured cloud server - the full story is at https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/genealogy-software-maker-exposes/ and https://www.wizcase.com/blog/mackiev-leak-research/.

In response, Ancestry has announced the following:

We have been alerted to a potential security vulnerability at the MacKiev Company, which owns Family Tree Maker software. While we no longer have formal affiliation with the company, Family Tree Maker is used by some Ancestry customers to sync family trees between Family Tree Maker software and Ancestry. Based on our investigation, we do not believe that any Ancestry systems or data have been compromised. The Ancestry-Family Tree Maker sync uses OAuth2, a widely- used authentication protocol to provide Family Tree Maker permission to access Ancestry resources without exposing user passwords.

As a best practice, we recommend Ancestry customers who have used their Ancestry credentials to access Family Tree Maker software change their password and enable two-factor authentication.

(Source: https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2020/07/22/ancestry-security-team-confident-family-tree-maker-vulnerability-has-not-impacted-ancestrys-systems/)

This looks like it could become one of those weeks...

MyHeritage phishing attack possibly related to Gedmatch breach

Email received this morning from Gedmatch (www.gedmatch.com):

Dear GEDmatch member,

On the morning of July 19, GEDmatch experienced a security breach orchestrated through a sophisticated attack on one of our servers via an existing user account. We became aware of the situation a short time later and immediately took the site down. As a result of this breach, all user permissions were reset, making all profiles visible to all users. This was the case for approximately 3 hours. During this time, users who did not opt-in for law enforcement matching were available for law enforcement matching, and, conversely, all law enforcement profiles were made visible to GEDmatch users.

On Monday, July 20, as we continued to investigate the incident and work on a permanent solution to safeguard against threats of this nature, we discovered that the site was still vulnerable and made the decision to take the site down until such time that we can be absolutely sure that user data is protected against potential attacks. It was later confirmed that GEDmatch was the target of a second breach in which all user permissions were set to opt-out of law enforcement matching.

We can assure you that your DNA information was not compromised, as GEDmatch does not store raw DNA files on the site. When you upload your data, the information is encoded, and the raw file deleted. This is one of the ways we protect our users’ most sensitive information.

Further, we are working with a leading cybersecurity firm to conduct a comprehensive forensic review and help us implement the best possible security measures. We expect the site will be up within the next day or two.

We have reported the unauthorized access to the appropriate authorities and continue to work toward identifying the individuals responsible for this criminal act.

Today, we were informed that MyHeritage customers who are also GEDmatch users were the target of a phishing scam. Please remember to exercise caution when opening emails and clicking links. Never provide sensitive information via email. If an email seems suspicious, contact the company in question directly through the phone number or email address listed on their website, not via a reply to the suspicious email. You can reach GEDmatch at gedmatch@verogen.com or (858) 285-4101. At this time, we have no evidence to suggest the phishing scam is a result of the GEDmatch security breach this week. We are continuing to investigate the incident.

Please be assured that we take these matters very seriously. Our Number 1 responsibility is to protect the data of our users. We know we have not lived up to this responsibility this week, and we are working hard to regain your trust. We apologize for the concern and frustration this situation has caused.

Sincerely,

Brett Williams
CEO, Verogen Inc.

And an announcement from MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com), via its blog at https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/07/security-alert-malicious-phishing-attempt-detected-possibly-connected-to-gedmatch-breach/:

We want to alert MyHeritage users about a malicious attempt to steal credentials that we identified several hours ago and is still ongoing.

Perpetrators whose identity is unknown set up a fake website called myheritaqe.com (same as MyHeritage, but with the letter Q instead of the letter G). They started setting up this fake website yesterday, July 20, 2020 according to whois information, which is the date on which this domain was created and registered. They used an anonymity service to hide their identity. They exploited the fact that it’s hard to differentiate between the letters q and g, especially on mobile phones.

We immediately reported this phishing website to GoDaddy.com to have its domain removed and GoDaddy.com are in the process of taking it down. We also reported it to Azure where it is hosted so they could remove it too.

On the fake website, myheritaQe.com, the perpetrators set up a phishing login form to receive login information intended for MyHeritage and harvest the password. The website was made to look like part of the real MyHeritage.com homepage, with all the functionality not working except the fake login. It tries to impersonate the real website.

The perpetrators then started sending a phishing email to email addresses that they apparently compromised from GEDmatch. We don’t know if they emailed (or intend to email) all the users of GEDmatch or only those who uploaded DNA data to GEDmatch that originated from MyHeritage. What we found with all the users they did email, after speaking with these users, is that those users are all using GEDmatch. Because GEDmatch suffered a data breach two days ago, we suspect that this is how the perpetrators got their email addresses and names for this abuse.

One of the users who reported the phishing email had the email copy addressed to another unique name that is not associated with his account on MyHeritage, and that name does not exist on MyHeritage, but it’s the name associated with his account on GEDmatch, which strengthens our suspicion that the account details for phishing were retrieved by the perpetrators from GEDmatch.

The malicious phishing email sent by the perpetrators has the subject “Ethnicity Estimate v2”

For more from the MyHeritage release, including screengrabs of what to expect from the email described, visit https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/07/security-alert-malicious-phishing-attempt-detected-possibly-connected-to-gedmatch-breach/

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Gedmatch fiasco continues

Following the extraordinary developments with Gedmatch (www.gedmatch.com) yesterday (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2020/07/privacy-breach-at-gedmatch.html) I have been repeatedly trying to get into the site to delete my account. This is the message currently on display:

The gedmatch site is down for maintenance. Currently no ETA for availability.

There are many issues raised by the alleged privacy breach, but one of them, from a UK and EU perspective, concerns compliance with the rules on GDPR, something explored by Debbie Kennett at https://cruwys.blogspot.com/2020/07/major-privacy-breach-at-gedmatch.html.

Further coverage is also available at https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/19/gedmatch-investigating-dna-profile-law-enforcement/, including a brief statement from Brett Williams, CEO of Verogen the parent company now of Gedmatch - "We are aware of the issue regarding Gedmatch, where user permissions were not set correctly... We have resolved that issue; however, as a precaution, we have taken the site down while we are investigating the actual cause of the error. Once we understand the cause, we will be issuing a more formal statement".

UPDATE: Message from Gedmatch via Facebook:

On the morning of July 19, GEDmatch experienced a security breach orchestrated through a sophisticated attack on one of our servers via an existing user account. We became aware of the situation a short time later and immediately took the site down. As a result of this breach, all user permissions were reset, making all profiles visible to all users. This was the case for approximately 3 hours. During this time, users who did not opt in for law enforcement matching were available for law enforcement matching and, conversely, all law enforcement profiles were made visible to GEDmatch users.

This was the extent of the breach. No user data was downloaded or compromised.

We have reported the unauthorized access to the appropriate authorities and continue to work toward identifying the individuals responsible for this violation.

Today, as we continued to investigate the incident and work on a permanent solution to safeguard against threats of this nature, we discovered that the site was still vulnerable and made the decision to take the site down until such time that we can be absolutely sure that user data is protected against potential attacks. We are working with a cybersecurity firm to conduct a comprehensive forensic review and help us implement the best possible security measures.

This is clearly disappointing for our company, as user privacy and data security are our top priorities. We apologize to our GEDmatch users and our law enforcement customers for the concern and frustration this situation has caused.
Thank you for your continued support of GEDmatch.

If you have questions, please reach out to us at gedmatch@verogen.com. We will update you as soon as we have more information to share.

(Source: https://www.facebook.com/officialGEDmatch/)

Sunday, 19 July 2020

Privacy breach at Gedmatch?

This looks like the end of the road for my subscription with Gedmatch (www.gedmatch.com). DNA guru Debbie Kennet has just posted on Twitter (@DebbieKennett) that there has "been a major privacy breach at GEDmatch. It appears that all kits, regardless of user preferences, have been opted in to law enforcement matching... The site now appears to be down completely". Others are reporting a similar find.

Sorry, but if this is the case, it is just not acceptable.You don't offer people a choice to opt in or out, and then flout that shortly after no matter what was decided. Even if there is an error here, I am not as confident about this site as I once was.

UPDATE: I have managed to gain access, and my Police status had a red cross through it (i.e. permission not given), but I have no idea if my account was briefly compromised and then switched back without me knowing. There is no statement from Verogen as yet. I have tried to delete my account and got the message: "The gedmatch site is down for maintance. Currently no ETA for availability."

(With thanks to Debbie)

UPDATE: See https://thednageek.com/gedmatch-goes-haywire/ and http://mstarnesai.com/worlds-largest-open-source-dna-registry-suffers-outage-and-possible-data-exposure/ for more.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Friday, 17 July 2020

TNA User Advisory Group seeks new members

The User Advisory Group of the UK's National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) down in England is seeking new volunteers:

Would you like to represent the views of archive users and help to improve The National Archives’ services? If you are a regular archive user then we would love to hear from you.

We are seeking new voluntary representatives to join our User Advisory Group (UAG). Delgates will be part of our planning and decision making processes and represent 'the voice' of their community.

We'd particularly like to hear from users who feel they could effectively represent one or more of the following user groups:

Academics – historians and those with links to one or more of the learned societies
Map room users
Family history users – someone with an interest in family history societies.

The closing date for expressions of interest is Friday 7 August 2020 at 17:00.

For further details visit https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/seeking-new-delegates-for-our-user-advisory-group/

Disruption to TNA's online services

From the National Archives in England (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk):

We are experiencing an on-going intermittent issue with our website. The issue impacts our online services and in particular our online catalogue, Discovery, as well as parts of our website.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes. We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Ireland's Back To Our Past event goes virtual in September

Ireland's Back To Our Past event will be an online show this year from September 18th-20th. Here's a short promo vid (Also available at https://youtu.be/iQbvw24hWuw):

Back to our Past is going virtual!

The 2020 Back to Our Past event will be a three-day- long series of recorded presentations, podcasts and articles - all available via backtoourpast.ie from the 18th of September.

The programme will comprise presentations and podcasts, an opportunity to ask the experts and a virtual exhibition hall where you can talk to some of our exhibitors by text or audio from the comfort of your home.

For further details visit https://backtoourpast.ie

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Coronavirus moves Scotland's next census to 2022

Quite a big development this - Scotland's census is to be moved to March 2022. From the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) and Scotland's Census (www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk):

Scotland’s next census is to be moved to March 2022 due to the impact of COVID-19, it was announced today.

The census is a count of Scotland’s population usually conducted every ten years by National Records of Scotland and it provides vital information to inform a range of decisions on future schools, hospitals, roads and transport provision.

Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture, Fiona Hyslop, said:

“COVID-19 is the biggest single public health challenge facing us in more than 100 years and as in many other areas of life, the ongoing disruption is impacting on the vital preparations for the census.

“Following careful consideration and on recommendation of National Records of Scotland, Ministers have informed the Scottish Parliament of their intention to move Scotland’s Census date to March 2022. This reflects the unprecedented impact which COVID-19 is having across a wide range of sectors.

“We recognise Scotland’s Census remains more relevant than ever in the current climate, as it allows important planning decisions to be made informed by the make-up of Scotland’s population.

“This decision was not taken lightly. However the quality of the census data must remain robust, and by moving to 2022 National Records of Scotland can continue to deliver a census which ensures the highest possible response rate from people across Scotland, to allow government, local authorities and key services plan for every element of public life, from building homes to NHS support.

“NRS will continue to work closely with stakeholders and partners to ensure that appropriate data is available to support work that was expecting to make use of Census 2021 data, particularly for key funding allocations and policy decisions.”

Paul Lowe, Registrar General and Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), said:

“The priority and responsibility of NRS is to put in place a census that enables everyone across Scotland to participate, so that information collected can be used to produce the analyses and deliver the benefits required by the people of Scotland.

“The census is a unique count of every household in Scotland and in the next census, for the first time, the majority of people will be encouraged to complete their questionnaire online. This will require a significant field force and face-to-face engagement in an effort to support digital participation, engage with the public and raise awareness of census across the population.

“The census is a major logistical operation and the twelve months running up to a census are vital in planning and testing the effectiveness and security of systems and processes. COVID-19 restrictions have delayed or prevented many of these key activities, including engagement with key organisations, from taking place over recent months.

“This is the right decision for Scotland which will allow us to undertake a high quality and safe census in 2022 that will produce the rich data we need for many years to come. That remains our absolute priority.”

Further information can be found on the Scotland's Census Website at https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/node/753.

COMMENT: This will be the first time that the decennial census in Scotland has been disrupted since the Second World War, with no census taken in 1941 (although a National Identity Register for Scotland involved a census process in 1939 - see (https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/national-register). I am not aware as yet whether plans for England, Wales and Northern ireland have been similarly affected.

Changes to AncestryDNA matches in early August

Some big changes coming from the DNA platform of Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) in terms of how it presents matches:

More accurate number of shared segments
The DNA you share with a match is distributed across segments - short segments, long segments, or some combination of both. Our updated matching algorithm may reduce the estimated number of segments you share with some of your DNA matches. This doesn’t change the estimated total amount of shared DNA (measured in centimorgans/cM) or the predicted relationship to your matches.

See the length of your longest shared segment
The length of the longest segment you and a DNA match have in common can help determine if you’re actually related. The longer the segment, the more likely you’re related. Segment length is also the easiest way to evaluate the difference between multiple matches that all show the same estimated relationship. Our updated matching algorithm can show you the length of the longest segment you share with your matches.

Distant DNA matches must share 8 cM or higher
Our updated matching algorithm will increase the likelihood you are actually related to your very distant matches. As a result, you’ll no longer see matches (or be matched to people) that share less than 8 cM with you - unless you have added a note about them, added them to a custom group or have messaged them. These changes to the matching algorithm will reduce the total number of DNA matches you have and the number of new matches you will receive. It may also affect the number of ThruLines you may see.

What changes will I see in my DNA Matches?
You may see the number of segments you share with your DNA matches change. You will be able to see the length of the longest segment you share with your DNA matches. Very distant matches - those you share less than 8 cM of DNA with - will no longer appear in your DNA match list or in ThruLines™ unless you have added a note about them, added them to a group or have messaged them.

When will these changes be happening?
These updates to DNA matches will happen in the beginning of August.

For an analysis of the changes - and what to do to prepare for them - see Debbie Cruwys post at https://cruwys.blogspot.com/2020/07/some-updates-to-ancestrydnas-matching.html

For those with an Ancestry acount, further FAQs about the changes are listed in its DNA section.

Wednesday, 15 July 2020

National Library of Scotland aims to re-open August 11th

From the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh (www.nls.uk):

We are working towards a reopening date of Tuesday 11 August, where we will provide a limited reading room service at our George IV Bridge and Causewayside buildings in Edinburgh.

This decision is in line with the Scottish Government's advice on 21 May, when they published Coronavirus (Covid-19) framework for decision making — Scotland's route map through and out of the crisis.

Your safety, and that of our staff, is paramount in all of our decision-making and planning, and we will only reopen when we're confident the appropriate hygiene and physical distancing measures are in place in line with Scottish Government advice.

Access to our facility at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow will follow later, and we anticipate this will be mid-September.

More information will be published on our website within the next few weeks, detailing safety measures in place, opening hours, booking systems for access to our reading rooms, as well as general guidelines for visitors.

We are really looking forward to welcoming you back to our reading rooms. In the meantime, we encourage you to check out the wealth of digital resources we have available, as well as our online workshops and events.

Our librarians are still here to help. You can ask a question online using our enquiry form or via Library Chat. Chat is available 10.00-16.00, Mondays to Fridays.

The map download service from the map images website is operating as normal, with orders being processed within five working days.

We are only offering only the jpeg download service at present: we are unable to provide print or photocopying services. See the digital imaging page for jpeg download details.

The original announcement, with links, is available at https://www.nls.uk/service-disruption

Tuesday, 14 July 2020

Family Tree magazine August 2020 edition on sale

The latest Family Tree magazine (www.family-tree.co.uk) is now on sale:

Learn how to explore your ancestors' worlds with a map, dig deeper into the 1939 census, we pay tribute to VJ Day and even more free records to use!

The magazine includes my article VJ Day & The End of the War, looking at the end of the Second World War, and which includes the tale of the rescue of my grandfather's cousin from China by a Royal Navy destroyer, sent from Hong Kong with the sole mission of saving her before the Japanese invaded.

On sale at all good outlets - for further details, and to purchase online, visit https://www.family-tree.co.uk/store/back-issues/family-tree-magazine/family-tree-magazine-august-2020-issue-177-1/

Antiques Roadshow to visit Culzean Castle

Slightly off track, but if your ancestor left something valuable, and not just in the emotional sense, this might be worth a visit! From the National Trust for Scotland (www.nts.org.uk), news of plans by the BBC's Antiques Roadshow to visit Culzean Castle, just down the road in Ayrshire:

The Antiques Roadshow is set to come to Culzean in 2020, and is searching for forgotten family heirlooms and missing masterpieces to feature in the programme.

For the first time in more than four decades, the series will be filmed on a closed set with a small invited audience only, to ensure the safety of guests, production and the wider public.

Viewers are being asked to contact Antiques Roadshow about their objects as soon as possible so the team can start planning these really special shows. Upcoming locations are listed on the Antiques Roadshow website, where viewers can use the ‘Share Your Story’ form to fill out details of their objects.

Gareth Clingan, Operations Manager for Culzean Castle & Country Park said: ‘We’re really pleased that the Antiques Roadshow will be able to come to Culzean later this year, and we’re looking forward to seeing the treasures that folk from Ayrshire and beyond will be able to share.’

Presenter Fiona Bruce, who will be filming her 13th series of Antiques Roadshow, said she was delighted to be going back on the road in search of treasures:

‘Normally we welcome around 5,000 people to each Antiques Roadshow, but of course in these extraordinary times we will have to do things very differently. We’ve come up with a new way to safely film the show, yet still bring you amazing items and stories. I can’t wait to see what treasures you have hidden in your homes.’

First broadcast in 1979, the Roadshow remains one of the most popular factual programmes on BBC One, with some 6 million people regularly watching on Sunday evenings.

For further details visit https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/antiques-roadshow-seeks-stories-for-culzean-visit

Creative Commons: Culzean Castle

Scotland Magazine issue 111 now on sale

The latest edition of Scotland magazine, issue 111, July/August 2020 is packed with a variety of goodies inside.

As well as a look at the 'bewitching effect' of Orkney on visitors, there is the tale of prohibition in Wick, Robert Louis Stevenson's family's legacy of lighthouses, the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge, and more, including the fifth part of my family history series, this time looking at Scottish burial records.

Just £4.95, the magazine is now on sale - for further details and subscriptions, visit www.scotlandmag.com.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Family Tree Academy Weekend Conference 24-26 July

From Family Tree magazine:

Introducing the FIRST Family Tree Academy Weekend Conference

The first Family Tree Academy: Weekend Conference, in association with FamilySearch, will be taking place online between 24 to 26 July 2020.

This free web-based family history learning experience will comprise of video guides, discussion panels and downloadable handouts. The team of presenters from FamilySearch will take delegates through topics aimed to help people both new to family history and those who already have some years of experience.

The presentations will be aired LIVE online from 5pm each day, followed by a live family history panel discussion beginning at 6.30pm each day. Viewers will be able to put their questions to the panellists. Both the presentations and the panel discussions will be streamed via the Family Tree Facebook and YouTube pages.

The Programme

To view the full programme of talks, visit the following link: https://familytr.ee/fullprogramme

(With thanks to Lauren Freeman)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

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