06/02/2012 Inside Out North East and Cumbria

In the next half an hour, I set out to spy on some unsuspecting surfers.

I can find out your data of birth, find out who your relatives are.

The weather forecast includes an amazing natural wonder. It is

something I would love to see and a good news is, you do not have to go

to the Arctic to see it. Looking for work, we meet at the north-east

bosses who cannot give away jobs. Providing people want to work,

there is an absolute mountain of Have you wandered up to us danger

and offered them your bank details are giving your house keys to a

burglar? I thought not. But if you do not protect yourself one line,

you may as well be doing that. Cyber crime is on the increase and

it seems many of us are making it far too easy. You want to check

your e-mails, the internet on your laptop, C come into your local cafe

and immerse yourself in a private world, but who is watching you? He

is. Ryan is about to prove to me just time easy it is to spy on

people. We are intercepting the traffic of the customers. They

believe they're connecting to the real Wi-Fi a network, but instead

they're connecting to was. We can tell what website they have been

visiting. If they have checked their e-mails, we can view their e-

mails. Ryan can see exactly what everyone is doing online. There are

two people trying to connect to the Internet through our man in the

middle. So there are two people here who have no idea that what

they're doing is going through this laptop. I need to find them. Speedy

stuff. The bait is out, let's see who we catch out. I am not psychic,

as you can probably tell. With little effect, mine is able to see

what people have been surfing for. We should be surprised to know that

I know you were looking at the Newcastle University website just a

few minutes ago. Yes. A where you are aware this was possible?

eye was not. I can find out today to of birth, find out who your

relatives are. We're both checking her seat numbers for an exam.

not find out where you're sitting for your exam. It was easy to find

out what people were looking at, so how easy is it use that information

to log on as someone else. A went on to her wall, got her e-mail

address and guessed her security pass word just by looking at the

information on her Facebook. sing information from his

neighbour's Facebook account, he guessed a password and posed as our

online. Each do not need the password, you just need to know the

person and you can guess their password. Chris asked for money,

which he used to feed his addiction. I used the details on a gambling

site. People are not aware of what is going on one Facebook. Accounts

get hacked into every day. Chris pleaded guilty to fraud and is now

doing 120 hours' unpaid work and trying to get help for his gambling

addiction. The message is clear, it we're leaving ourselves wide open

when it comes to pass words. Make sure you're protecting your

information. Do not make it will be is what you pass workers. If

anything funny happens with your account, change the pass word and

look and see what is going on. doubt be writing think you might

use the name of a relative or a pet? The it is an imaginary pet.

the names of your family or a pet? Yes, my mother. I cannot remember,

you put it in for me. You're hopeless, ladies. In this block of

flats behind me, and Hacker made tens of thousands of pounds in

fraud from the comfort of his own home, until he tried to push his

luck a little too far. Ian Wood was using Facebook to fund a lavish

lifestyle. He would generally pose as someone who was not himself, for

example, an attractive woman. He would befriend men on Facebook, Co

would look at the picture and say yes. They were allowing this man

into their lives. He discovered people often use the same user

names for different accounts online. He would use that name and tied it

into mainstream banking accounts. As soon as he got the message of

using incorrect, password incorrect, which prompted security questions,

he would use information from social networking sides to get into

their accounts. He used the information to transfer money into

bogus accounts until he got cocky. He got relax about his behaviour

and then he made a transfer from a bank account into his own bank

account. He went to arrest him from Matt offence and that is when we

opened the door to all their activity that he had been involved

in. Ian Wood was sentenced to 15 months in jail. The judge said the

fraud was well planned, complex and clever, so with more of us on lying,

the police are bracing themselves for more cyber crime. The there are

more people doing lots more commercial activity online, sharing

information, letting people know much more about them and using it

as a means of communication through social media, so it is easier for

people to commit crime. Social media sites like Facebook are

perhaps where we are too trusting. A BBC survey revealed 47 % say they

would be likely to except a friend request from someone they knew all

but had not met. 52 % said they would be likely to except a friend

requests from someone who is a friend of a friend but to the do

not know him directly. Be careful about sharing information, but most

importantly, use a decent pass word. Many of us and not very careful. We

know that Lacey's will use names and dates of birth and men will use

football stadiums, things like that. Whom -- ladies. There are millions

of words on this phrases, first lines of poems. If you were

thinking of Mary had a little lamb and you took the first letter of

each word, it is all on here. cannot use a phrase like that, what

can I do? You have to use something very personal to yourself. My son

is 11 years old 1st November. It is absolutely random and it is not

going to appear on here, because it is personal to me and no one else

will guess it. But I do not want to use just one password. You need to

have different passwords to remain safe, but if you have a key phrase

in your head like that, you can also add extras to it. My son is 11

years old he be. EBay. My son is 11 years old A M, Amazon. But one day

hope fully, we will only need to or remember one pass word as are her

computers will recognise as by her typing. This is being trials

between Newcastle University and a university in America. Am it

continues to let you operate. is not you, it does not. If you

patent this and you manage to get rid of the need for us to remember

passwords, you will be a very rich man. Sadly, Roy's pay-day is yet to

come, so in the meantime, be careful about giving out

information about yourself and make sure your passwords are secure. If

he would like more information on how to stay safe online, we have

Still to come, will good luck be enough for her jobseeker's pro-

hunting for work. And stick somewhere to find a jobs bonanza. A

few months ago, our weather relents founder forecast she could not

resist. This winter is our best chance in 10 years of seeing one of

nature's real treats if only you know where to look. Could she be in

the right place at the right time to see this guy's light up? Tonight

could be denied. This man has a sniff that he might get to see the

one thing he spends his spare time looking for. I think I will go to

Holy Island and get Park's up and wait for it. He is like a storm

chaser, but instead of tornadoes, he chases the Northern Lights and

then he photographs them. A last time I was here, I was a little boy.

Although my job is looking at the sky, I have never experienced the

Northern Lights. No aurora, but we are still pretty hopeful. It is

something I would absolutely love to see, but the good news for his

you do not have to go to the Arctic to do it. I have seen amazing

display is in Norway and Iceland, but there highlight was the most

recent trip to it only Ireland. Suddenly, it ignited. Patterns of

light streaking down. It was really quite spectacular and my friend

Patrick was just standing there, completely gobsmacked. He could not

believe what he was saying. -- seeing. On this occasion, the only

The story starts with ancient civilisation. People saw these

things dancing around in the skies and they thought they were up the

spirits of there enemies or he knows who had died a violent death,

finding their way to Havant themselves. It is quite an

incredible spiritual journey when you start reading up on the

Northern Lights and the origin in folklore and fairy-tales. Then

signs comes along and spoils the party. What is the signs? It begins

with weather. Not end there on earth, but on the Sun. -- weather.

When the sun gets active comet starts producing a lot of sports.

If the particles get blown to the earth, they will bash intern

atmosphere and that is when the fun begins. This thing is, we kind of

see the Northern Lights all the time. They're everywhere, we just

do not realise it. And neon sign works by giving money on gas in the

cheaper electricity. By imparting energy to the gas, it glows. So why

be different colours? Remember their flame Test from school?

going to get the atoms of sodium some energy. By hitting them in

this claim. You can see a beautiful orange glow as they get given

energy. That is the colour signature of that particular

element. This is what happens in the gases in the earth sat as fears.

Yes, the solar wind bashes into them and gives them different

And why only at north and south poles? Another old school

experiment. We've got iron filings spread out on this plate. And if I

put my magnet on here and tap, you can see the field of the magnet is

revealed by the iron filings. The Earth is a giant magnet, it has

north and south poles, and the solar wind is affected by the

magnetic field of the Earth. When the sun goes absolutely crazy and

throws out a whole load of charged particles, then they get attracted

to the poles and spread south. That's why we're now getting to see

it in Northern England, because the sun's ramping up to its most active

phase. It's all good news for Reed Ingram Weir, who last year began

chasing the Aurora. So far, his So, every day he scans the internet

to find out if it's going to happen again. My first port of call is

Space Weather. Spaceweather.com. Sometimes there will be a headline

like, if there's been a solar flare, something to cause the radiation to

come to Earth. A reason for it to be here. It's not rocket science,

it really isn't. All you need to do is watch for when the sun's active,

if it is releasing a flare. That energy will take about two days to

get to the Earth. So you've got two days to make your plans for where

you're going to go. Then we've got to hope that there's going to be a

clear sky, get away from the city lights, keep your fingers crossed

and keep looking up. This image from the International Space

Station, we can see the Northern Lights. Gary wants to give everyone

the chance to see the Northern Lights. And his sessions at Kielder

Observatory are usually jam packed. For me it is just the beauty and

the colours that nature can produce. I think there is a magical feel

about them. Rather than looking at stars in the distance, they are

close to that and they belong to that in some respects. Amazing,

aren't they? I do not decides. That but they are just magical. -- I do

not do sides. People love the behaviour of BSkyB in the way they

have not seen before. -- BSkyB's. It is a most beautiful and profound

way of seeing the northern light. Hopefully, the information that we

give people, we will have a basic rules and guarantee people saying

that from the North East. In the Two days later, here on at and the

solar wind has been travelling towards earth and it looks like it

might have hit. We have seen on a Twitter somebody on Scotland might

have seen the light and we are coming to Northumberland as fast as

we can to see if we can. We have got loads of messages on Twitter

and I loved the way that as soon as you mentioned that you are in with

a chance of seeing the northern lights, Twitter goes mad. Everybody

is absolutely obsessed with the idea of spotting them. It's a been

a long night and all the camera picks up is a tiny green glow. The

next night, Reed gives it another crack. I can't make it. I'm

absolutely gutted! It is quite exciting because it is a very

bright light up above and when the cloud comes up in front, we can

make out the Northern Lights. It is coming out and seeing it from the

car. I pulled out and shot out from the road and I saw the cars driving

past and the light coming from here and I saw that in the distance and

I am happy with the shot. It has gone a bit dim and dulled down. But

that does not mean that it has gone for the night. It is probably

warming-up. And he calls it just right. The sky exploded. I can see

it fizzle in a way with vertical lines. Suddenly he is at the centre

of a national news story. Hundreds of people reported seeing the Arora

and last night experts said conditions are good again.

beautiful sunset in Northumberland. It is great to see it again and on

Saturday as well. We got a bit of warning last night and I headed

straight here as fast as I could. That is exciting and the best thing

ever. Have you seen that? I have seen better grass! You have seen

photographs?! Well done. And for now that's all I've seen, but then

chances are this year, there's plenty more where that came from.

He is a lucky man. I love photography and photographing the

light and I will keep on doing that until I get the energy that I want.

I want to capture that moment and be there at the right time and

You may remember that last year on Inside Out, we started a special

series following seven jobless people as they looked for work.

Almost one in eight of us are out of work. But we have got jobs going

it only we can find the right people forced I am nervous. I am

shaking. She has not worked for nine years. I have got money in the

bank. In one hour, she has got a job interview. I am nervous about

this one. I hope my mum gets this job because she has been really

wanting a job ever since she has had made. I think she should get a

job. Get the job. I will try. vacancy is for a care assistant

working with the elderly. It's a specialist role for which Sharon, a

former bar-maid and waitress, has no experience. She's had to spend

many months on courses to give herself the best chance of success.

Sharon? Come through, please. new skills at a private training

company based in Ashington. course is that we do are designed

to get people back into employment as quickly as possible. We look at

the care sector. One of the highest employment rates in the area.

Clients can come along and in eight weeks a game to qualifications. We

have had people doing care courses that are plumbers and bar staff.

And down the road on Tyneside, here's another woman hoping to get

new skills to get her back to work. Angela was living the dream in

Spain, but she's returned to the North East after the break-down of

her marriage. I came back full time in November. I thought it would be

easy and it was not. I have struggled and I have got a few

hurdles with confidence and now I am where I want to be with

confidence. But it is just the job and the trading holding me back.

Angela is looking for work on an oil rig. She's hoping that training

here will open doors in what is traditionally a male-dominated

industry. If I can get training and something at the end of that, that

will be great. It has been a long journey and it has been like a leap

of faith. I want to do, as people call it, the man's side of things.

Why what's to be the first female that people know locally or in the

north east that starts that ladder. Angela's fate depends on her

ability to acquire new skills. And for many of the 140,000 out of work

in the North East, re-training is key if they're to find a job.

Believe it or not, there are thousands of jobs across the North

going begging. That's because there are just not enough of us with the

right skills to fill the vacancies. It's called the Skills Gap. The

North Tyneside company SMD, makes remotely operated machines for

working deep underwater. Its situation is typical. We had

absolutely got a skill shortage in the north east. We have gone from

100 employees up to 400. We have recruited from an existing pool of

engineers but we are struggling and we are going to jobs fairs here and

abroad to get more people into the region. In the next couple of years,

it will affect growth within the region. I would like to see the

jobs grow here. We have got infrastructure and beepers devotees

but it is frustrating that we cannot get the skills we need to

match the requirement in the environment. SMD is just one of

many in the offshore sector struggling to find skilled workers

Which makes Angela's chances of finding work good. Angela is a

prime example. Very few women applied for manufacturing jobs and

we have not got enough women working of shock. Women offer a

fantastic opportunity to fill these gaps. -- offshore. And it means

business is booming for this training company on North Tyneside.

If he wants to work, the work is out there. Providing people want to

work, we have got an absolute mountain of work. That includes

jobs created by giant new wind farms in the North Sea. Just last

week, it was announced 800 new posts might be coming to this site

in Hartlepool, making wind turbines. We have got plenty of courses and

opportunities to learn skills in an industry growing rapidly and there

is a shortage. In the next five-10 years, I think it will get worse

and we will meet more people in the industry. Sharon has done her first

interview in Ashington. I hope I The print sector has shrunk

massively in the North in the last 15 years. Here, they are

experiencing problems with recruitment for very different

reasons. We are finding shortages at the front end, customer service,

sales and marketing. The only way we can draw the business is by

drawing on the young people and training them with the necessary

skills. What we find is that it is easier to recruit in London because

we have got a hotbed of companies doing business in London where the

major retailers are settled. It is harder in the north east. Mark's

company prints in-store advertising displays and it's thriving. So much

so that he's taking on more staff. But can he fill all the positions?

We have got eight vacancies we are advertising for. Certain positions

will be easier to fill. Digital printing might be a bit more

problematic. It's amazing to think that with unemployment now at 12%,

in the region, there are thousands of jobs being left unfilled, here

in the North. We are in a deep recession and we have got high

unemployment figures. The people unemployed are not necessarily in

the manufacturing sector or with the skills that we need and we need

to steal them up and we need people to work with asked to deliver the

right skills. And further education helped another of our job hunters

find work in Cumbria. I cannot find one full-time job but I have got

three part-time jobs. It is a bit crazy but actually it works out the

same house, five days per week. of those jobs is in textile design

perfect for a woman who spent many years acquiring the right skills at

university. It's like a dream job almost because I am doing something

I have been training for for five years. I was lucky to even get an

interview. To walk out with the job was immense. Amanda's story is more

proof that education is the key to finding work. There has been a

decision on the care assistant's job. I got the call. I heard,

Sharon, you might get the job. I said, be? You are joking, aren't

you? They said, no, Sharon. Oh, get in! I am really, really, really

pleased. Sharon is one of the first employees at a brand new company.

She's now undergoing further training and expects to start work

in a few weeks. Sharon and Amanda's success means that FOUR of our

group of seven job-hunters have found work since we first started

following them last Summer. We'll let you know how ALL of them are

That is it for tonight. If you would like to catch the northern

lights, we have got top tips on how to improve your chances online.