Latest news with #ChrisWallis
Daily Mirror
21 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Gorgeous UK seaside town that tourists love but the locals 'have no hope'
Beyond its beautiful whit-sand beaches, crystal-clear waters and charming high-street - this popular UK seaside town is facing a spiralling issue impacting swathes of locals Despite its sugar-like beaches and quintessential charm, there's a much darker side to one of the UK's most famous seaside towns. If there's one picture-perfect coastal resort that epitomises Cornwall - it has to be St Ives. Renowned for its pristine beaches, cobalt waters, vibrant high-street and impressive art scene - the town attracts a staggering 540,00 day trippers and 220,000 overnight visitors every single year, bringing an estimated £10 million to the area. In the summer months, St Ives becomes particularly busy, with social media videos revealing the extent of the town's popularity. Quaint cobbled alleys become filled with selfie-stick-waving tourists, while picturesque beaches turn into a row of sardine-stacked sun loungers. If you head towards the iconic row of Instagram-worthy houses by the end of the harbour, you'll find that they'll all be occupied. However, it's not locals that live here - and most of these grand properties have been snapped up by landlords who rent them out as holiday homes. Come September, most will stand vacant - and by the time winter comes - the resort will be left a ghost town. "It's all second homes and holiday lets," Rev Chris Wallis, who set up the St Ives Foodbank over ten years ago, told Cornwall Live. A former Pentecostal minister who officiated in the town until three years back, Chris launched the food bank in 2012 following a request from the mayor and town council who wished to take action to support local residents grappling with food poverty. 13 years on, the food bank remains a lifeline for many. Today, its shelves are brimming with tins of baked beans, custard, and soup, alongside packets of pasta and long-life UHT milk. It's a stark reflection of St Ive's darker side: where harbourside homes worth millions lie mostly vacant, while residents depend on food banks for survival. "Locals who have been here a long time have no hope," Chris said. "They have no hope of a good job paying decent wages. So they are stuck in a rut. Their kids leave in the hope of finding better jobs but the adults stay behind and continue to be stuck." The area also attracts retirees drawn by the allure of sunshine, stunning light, and serenity unavailable in bustling cities. But, St Ives has few care homes, leaving many elderly residents to fend for themselves at home. For medical care, locals rely on West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance or St Michael's in Hayle, but serious conditions like cancer require a trip to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro. "I can't afford to live in St Ives," Chris added. "Instead I live with my son, daughter-in-law and their children in Penzance. A single bedroom flat here costs £850 a month in rent. How is any family expected to afford that on low wages and seasonal work?". Initially, when the food bank opened its doors, it saw four families, comprised of 16 people, in need. Today, the food bank assists 180 individuals weekly, with numbers rising to 240 during the Christmas period. The food bank, supported by approximately 10 volunteers, caters to residents within the TR26 postcode, including those from surrounding villages near St Ives, but not areas like Penzance or Hayle which have their own food banks. It also aims to support families with energy expenses such as gas and electricity. However, with rising costs, the food bank itself is under financial strain. Until it moved to what used to be the Edward Hain Memorial Hospital, which is now a community hub, it did not have to pay rent but the church where the food bank was located was damp and the food would spoil. The organisation now faces a hefty £13,000 annual rent, which takes a significant bite out of its budget. However, the new space offers more room and is dry. "Most of the clients we help are locals," Chris said. "They tend to come from the two major estates at the top of the hill. There's great poverty in St Ives. Once they've paid for rent and bills, they have no money left for food. That's the tragedy of seasonal work. Now, even that's drying out." St Ives was one of the first towns in the UK to ban second homes. From April 1, second home owners are also subject to 100 per cent council tax premiums, effectively doubling their council bill. As a result, many second homes have hit the market at reduced prices compared to the pandemic peak, yet they still remain unaffordable for locals. The retreat of second home owners is also causing a downturn in the holiday rental market, leading to less demand for service workers. "Locals are struggling even more," Chris remarked. "Demand for the food bank is up." Residents cannot simply arrive and pick up a bag of fresh food or tinned goods. All visitors are referred through the NHS or social services. Nevertheless, there is a Food Share initiative in the town where supermarket food nearing its sell-by date is salvaged and given to anyone who shows up. "We have more families come through the doors," Chris added. "Many have two or three children. We have three families with six children." He revealed that 50 per cent of users are long-term disabled and unable to work. The remaining half may be employed but still struggle to balance their budgets. "Over the last three years demand has grown incredibly," Chris said. "It's all down to the cost of living crisis. More people simply can't manage anymore. Low incomes and the cost of rents and property are hitting people hard. "It's harder for us too. Costs are up. Demand is up but donations are down. It's the middle-income people who were just about coping who tended to donate. Now they don't because they are not coping anymore." He provided an example of food items the food bank typically purchases - such as frozen minced beef. He noted that recently it would cost £1.80 a packet, but now it's £3.30. "We don't tend to do sanitary products or cleaning products or pet food so much," Chris said. "Other food banks do and there is demand for it but we concentrate on people having food. Our main focus is on getting people fed." Supermarket giant has spotted the growing rise of food security across the nation, and has recently launched its Fair Share initiative within its stores in collaboration with the Trussell Trust. Chris revealed that initially, the local branch would only back food banks affiliated with the Trust, which meant St Ives' donations ended up supporting residents in different regions. "Why should donations in the local store go to Camborne? he asked. "The people who need them live here." Chris noted that under new management, the store now gets the picture, leading to a much-improved partnership between the food bank and Tesco which ensures the seaside town's inhabitants also reap the benefits of Tesco's summer generosity. This contribution is part of Tesco's Stronger Starts campaign, launched to tackle the pressing issue of feeding children who usually depend on free school meals during term time and might otherwise go hungry over the holidays. To lend a hand, Tesco is introducing pre-packed food donation bags across all its larger outlets. The bags, which are priced between £2 and £3, come pre-packed with a selection of wholesome, long-lasting food items and can be easily grabbed in-store and paid for at the till. The food contributions are directly channelled to FareShare and the Trussell Trust, from where they're distributed to various charities and food banks across the UK, aiding families in dire need. Claire De Silva, Tesco's head of communities, said: "Too often, families with too little support during the holidays worry about their children's physical and mental health, particularly if they're not getting the good food every child deserves." She further urged community action, saying, "If we all pull together over the summer, whether that's popping a few tins into a food collection point, picking up a food donation bag in our stores or rounding up our grocery bill, we can make a difference to the lives of thousands of children, who, without support, could have a tough summer holiday." But in St Ives, its seasonal dependency remains. "St Ives is not a thriving town," Chris said. "That's the illusion of summer... It's also a shame that most of the income from tourism goes to people outside of the town. "No one wants to see food banks. There shouldn't be any need for them. But it is a worldwide issue. I visited this old church in France about four years ago and they had a food bank there. There was a plaque saying there had been a food bank there since 1680... We will always have a part of society that's poor. It is a problem everywhere. The solution is better incomes for everyone [and] better housing..
Glasgow Times
7 days ago
- General
- Glasgow Times
‘Eel lanes' being created in South Downs rivers to assist 4,000-mile migration
The project has been launched by the park authority, which is working with the Western Sussex Rivers Trust to protect the habitat of the eel in the Rother and Ems rivers. It includes the installation of 'fish passes' being created around man-made structures in the rivers which act as a narrow lane of water to provide eels with a route around artificial barriers such as dams and weirs. European eels push themselves upstream to make a home in rivers, including the Rother, pictured, and Ems (Jeff Travis/Western Sussex Rivers Trust/PA) And eel brushes – strips of bristles – are also being added at new water control structures in RSPB Pulborough Brooks and Pagham Harbour to help eels manoeuvre upstream. A spokesman for the national park said: 'The migration of these eels is quite extraordinary as they undergo several metamorphoses during their lives. 'Spawning in the Sargasso Sea, off the coast of Bermuda, the eel eggs hatch into wriggling pea-sized larvae that have the appearance of a see-through leaf. 'Over the next couple of years, these opaque creatures drift along with the Gulf Stream, their bodies elongating as they enter the next life stage as a 'glass eel'. 'Upon reaching the English coastline, they use the force of the tides – and their new-found body shape at around 8cm in length – to push themselves upstream to make a home in rivers, including the Rother and Ems. 'Once in rivers, they go through more life cycles, growing up to one metre in length and living for up to 20 years, gorging on fish, molluscs and crustaceans. 'The end of their lives sees a fantastic finale. Entering the 'silver eel' stage, their pectoral fins widen, muscle mass increases, their digestive tracts shut down and their eyes grow up to 10 times their original size, all to help see them through one final swim. Once in rivers, European eels live for up to 20 years (Chris Wallis/Western Sussex Rivers Trust/PA) 'Fighting their way back against strong currents, silver eels head 4,000 miles back across the Atlantic to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.' Aimee Felus, chief executive of the Western Sussex Rivers Trust, said: 'The health of our rivers here in the South East is crucial to the quality of our coastal waters, and vital to the health of the many creatures who call these fresh and salt waters home. 'Through our River Guardian monitoring project we are pushing for higher water quality improvements, quicker identification of pollution incidents and raising awareness of how all communities can get involved to help protect their local rivers. 'By removing man-made structures which limit how easily fish species, including the extraordinary eel, can move around, we are helping improve migration routes and their ability to reach better feeding spots. 'With pollution, sewage and drought all playing a part in the diminishing water quality of our rivers and streams, it's more important than ever that we work together to help protect and enhance these precious habitats for wildlife and humans alike.' Jan Knowlson, biodiversity officer for the South Downs National Park, said: 'The eels we have in the national park are truly remarkable and their incredible migration underlines the important connection between our rivers and seas. 'There's a continuum and all these watercourses are joined up. So healthier rivers ultimately mean healthier seas and vice versa. 'Here at the South Downs National Park, we have eight large river systems, dozens of chalk streams and a sizeable coastline and know that having well-managed, cleaner waterways are absolutely paramount to nature bouncing back across this vast region.'
South Wales Argus
7 days ago
- General
- South Wales Argus
‘Eel lanes' being created in South Downs rivers to assist 4,000-mile migration
The project has been launched by the park authority, which is working with the Western Sussex Rivers Trust to protect the habitat of the eel in the Rother and Ems rivers. It includes the installation of 'fish passes' being created around man-made structures in the rivers which act as a narrow lane of water to provide eels with a route around artificial barriers such as dams and weirs. European eels push themselves upstream to make a home in rivers, including the Rother, pictured, and Ems (Jeff Travis/Western Sussex Rivers Trust/PA) And eel brushes – strips of bristles – are also being added at new water control structures in RSPB Pulborough Brooks and Pagham Harbour to help eels manoeuvre upstream. A spokesman for the national park said: 'The migration of these eels is quite extraordinary as they undergo several metamorphoses during their lives. 'Spawning in the Sargasso Sea, off the coast of Bermuda, the eel eggs hatch into wriggling pea-sized larvae that have the appearance of a see-through leaf. 'Over the next couple of years, these opaque creatures drift along with the Gulf Stream, their bodies elongating as they enter the next life stage as a 'glass eel'. 'Upon reaching the English coastline, they use the force of the tides – and their new-found body shape at around 8cm in length – to push themselves upstream to make a home in rivers, including the Rother and Ems. 'Once in rivers, they go through more life cycles, growing up to one metre in length and living for up to 20 years, gorging on fish, molluscs and crustaceans. 'The end of their lives sees a fantastic finale. Entering the 'silver eel' stage, their pectoral fins widen, muscle mass increases, their digestive tracts shut down and their eyes grow up to 10 times their original size, all to help see them through one final swim. Once in rivers, European eels live for up to 20 years (Chris Wallis/Western Sussex Rivers Trust/PA) 'Fighting their way back against strong currents, silver eels head 4,000 miles back across the Atlantic to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.' Aimee Felus, chief executive of the Western Sussex Rivers Trust, said: 'The health of our rivers here in the South East is crucial to the quality of our coastal waters, and vital to the health of the many creatures who call these fresh and salt waters home. 'Through our River Guardian monitoring project we are pushing for higher water quality improvements, quicker identification of pollution incidents and raising awareness of how all communities can get involved to help protect their local rivers. 'By removing man-made structures which limit how easily fish species, including the extraordinary eel, can move around, we are helping improve migration routes and their ability to reach better feeding spots. 'With pollution, sewage and drought all playing a part in the diminishing water quality of our rivers and streams, it's more important than ever that we work together to help protect and enhance these precious habitats for wildlife and humans alike.' Jan Knowlson, biodiversity officer for the South Downs National Park, said: 'The eels we have in the national park are truly remarkable and their incredible migration underlines the important connection between our rivers and seas. 'There's a continuum and all these watercourses are joined up. So healthier rivers ultimately mean healthier seas and vice versa. 'Here at the South Downs National Park, we have eight large river systems, dozens of chalk streams and a sizeable coastline and know that having well-managed, cleaner waterways are absolutely paramount to nature bouncing back across this vast region.'
Western Telegraph
7 days ago
- General
- Western Telegraph
‘Eel lanes' being created in South Downs rivers to assist 4,000-mile migration
The project has been launched by the park authority, which is working with the Western Sussex Rivers Trust to protect the habitat of the eel in the Rother and Ems rivers. It includes the installation of 'fish passes' being created around man-made structures in the rivers which act as a narrow lane of water to provide eels with a route around artificial barriers such as dams and weirs. European eels push themselves upstream to make a home in rivers, including the Rother, pictured, and Ems (Jeff Travis/Western Sussex Rivers Trust/PA) And eel brushes – strips of bristles – are also being added at new water control structures in RSPB Pulborough Brooks and Pagham Harbour to help eels manoeuvre upstream. A spokesman for the national park said: 'The migration of these eels is quite extraordinary as they undergo several metamorphoses during their lives. 'Spawning in the Sargasso Sea, off the coast of Bermuda, the eel eggs hatch into wriggling pea-sized larvae that have the appearance of a see-through leaf. 'Over the next couple of years, these opaque creatures drift along with the Gulf Stream, their bodies elongating as they enter the next life stage as a 'glass eel'. 'Upon reaching the English coastline, they use the force of the tides – and their new-found body shape at around 8cm in length – to push themselves upstream to make a home in rivers, including the Rother and Ems. 'Once in rivers, they go through more life cycles, growing up to one metre in length and living for up to 20 years, gorging on fish, molluscs and crustaceans. 'The end of their lives sees a fantastic finale. Entering the 'silver eel' stage, their pectoral fins widen, muscle mass increases, their digestive tracts shut down and their eyes grow up to 10 times their original size, all to help see them through one final swim. Once in rivers, European eels live for up to 20 years (Chris Wallis/Western Sussex Rivers Trust/PA) 'Fighting their way back against strong currents, silver eels head 4,000 miles back across the Atlantic to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.' Aimee Felus, chief executive of the Western Sussex Rivers Trust, said: 'The health of our rivers here in the South East is crucial to the quality of our coastal waters, and vital to the health of the many creatures who call these fresh and salt waters home. 'Through our River Guardian monitoring project we are pushing for higher water quality improvements, quicker identification of pollution incidents and raising awareness of how all communities can get involved to help protect their local rivers. 'By removing man-made structures which limit how easily fish species, including the extraordinary eel, can move around, we are helping improve migration routes and their ability to reach better feeding spots. 'With pollution, sewage and drought all playing a part in the diminishing water quality of our rivers and streams, it's more important than ever that we work together to help protect and enhance these precious habitats for wildlife and humans alike.' Jan Knowlson, biodiversity officer for the South Downs National Park, said: 'The eels we have in the national park are truly remarkable and their incredible migration underlines the important connection between our rivers and seas. 'There's a continuum and all these watercourses are joined up. So healthier rivers ultimately mean healthier seas and vice versa. 'Here at the South Downs National Park, we have eight large river systems, dozens of chalk streams and a sizeable coastline and know that having well-managed, cleaner waterways are absolutely paramount to nature bouncing back across this vast region.'
Business Wire
22-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Intruder Introduces Autoswagger: The Free Tool To Expose Hidden API Authorization Flaws
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intruder, a leader in attack surface management, has launched Autoswagger—a free, open-source tool that scans OpenAPI-documented APIs for broken authorization vulnerabilities. These flaws are still common, even at large enterprises with mature security teams, and are especially dangerous because they can be exploited with little technical skill. Autoswagger is available now on GitHub. Autoswagger automatically detects authorization weaknesses in APIs and discovers sensitive endpoints not requiring authentication where the application fails to check for a valid API token. According to Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, API-related breaches increased nearly 40% year-over-year, with broken authorization cited as one of the most exploited flaws. While there are a wide range of tools that scan APIs, most options to detect broken authorization are either costly, inefficient, or require manual labor from penetration testers to uncover. This is the first freely available tool that is proven effective in detecting these potentially dangerous vulnerabilities. 'These vulnerabilities are so easy to exploit, you could teach someone with no technical background how to do it in a day,' said Chris Wallis, CEO and founder of Intruder. 'When you consider how common these issues are and how frequently companies release new code or expose new endpoints, it's clear this is a critical gap. That's why we're making Autoswagger available for free—to help teams find and fix these flaws before attackers do.' API Sprawl Has Created an Increased Attack Surface for Organizations APIs have become the backbone of modern applications, and the explosion of APIs has created an increased attack surface for every organization, especially those who depend heavily on third-party APIs (payments, analytics, social login, etc.)—which may introduce risks beyond their control. When broken authorization vulnerabilities are discovered and exploited by bad actors, the results can be very damaging such as the Optus data breach in 2022—when the Australian telecom company ended up paying $140 million AUD in related costs as a result of the sensitive customer data that was extracted via a simple API authorization. While the attack on Optus brought a lot of initial attention to these vulnerabilities, three years later even members of the S&P 500 still remain exposed. During Intruder's research and testing of Autoswagger, its security team detected exposed Salesforce records with personally identifiable information (PII) at a large multinational tech company and an exposed internal staff training application that would have allowed potential attackers to run queries against the database at a multinational soda company. Ultimately, this data could have been used to mount a phishing campaign against employees, with real information that could gain the staff member's trust. The majority of the vulnerabilities discovered during the research process were for APIs intended for internal use. How Autoswagger Detects Broken Authorization Autoswagger begins by detecting API schemas across a range of common formats and locations, starting with a list of an organization's domains. It scans for OpenAPI and Swagger documentation pages, sending requests to each host to locate valid schemas. Once identified, it parses the API specifications and automatically generates a list of endpoints to test, taking into account each endpoint's definition, required parameters, and expected data types. From there, Autoswagger executes targeted scans to identify broken authorization flaws by: Sending requests to each endpoint using valid parameters pulled from the documentation. Flagging endpoints that return a valid response instead of expected HTTP 401 or 403 errors, which would normally indicate proper access control. Highlighting endpoints where authentication is missing or ineffective. For more advanced use cases, Autoswagger can be run with the --brute flag to simulate bypassing validation checks. This helps uncover flaws in endpoints that require specific data formats or values, which may reject generic input. Finally, the tool analyzes any successful responses for signs of exposed sensitive data, such as PII, credentials or internal records. Any endpoint missing proper authentication and returning sensitive information is included in the output report. 'Exposing documentation for your API effectively increases your attack surface, and as a defence in depth measure, you should not expose API documentation unless it's a business requirement,' said Dan Andrew, Head of Security at Intruder. 'The lesson here is, in addition to regular API scanning after each development iteration, that you shouldn't publicly document your APIs unless you can't avoid it. Without a 'map,' this kind of vulnerability becomes much harder for attackers to exploit.' More information about how to deploy Autoswagger and the team's journey to develop the solution can be found here on Intruder's company blog. Autoswagger is free to download and install via Github. About Intruder Intruder's exposure management platform helps lean security teams stop breaches before they start by proactively discovering attack surface weaknesses. By unifying attack surface management, cloud security, and continuous vulnerability management in one intuitive platform, Intruder makes it easy to stay secure by cutting through the noise and complexity. Founded in 2015 by Chris Wallis, a former ethical hacker turned corporate blue teamer, Intruder is now protecting over 3,000 companies worldwide. Learn more at
