title: Oligopoly

text: The distinctive feature of an oligopoly is interdependence. Oligopolies are typically composed of a few large firms. Each firm is so large that its actions affect market conditions. Therefore, the competing firms will be aware of a firm's market actions and will respond appropriately. This means that in contemplating a market action, a firm must take into consideration the possible reactions of all competing firms and the firms' countermoves. It is very much like a game of chess, in which a player must anticipate a whole sequence of moves and countermoves in order to determine how to achieve his or her objectives; this is known as game theory. For example, an oligopoly considering a price reduction may wish to estimate the likelihood that competing firms would also lower their prices for retaliation and possibly trigger a ruinous price war. Or if the firm is considering a price increase, it may want to know whether other firms will also increase prices or hold existing prices constant. This anticipation leads to price rigidity, as firms will only be willing to adjust their prices and quantity of output in accordance with a "price leader" in the market. An example for this interdependence among oligopolists such that Texaco needs to take into consideration whether its own price cut will trigger Shell's incentive to match, and so that the benefit or privilege gained by low price would be eliminated. This high degree of interdependence and need to be aware of what other firms are doing or might do stands in contrast with the lack of interdependence in other market structures. Simply put, every oligopolistic company that appears in companies with strong commodity homogeneity is reluctant to raise or lower prices. For example, if company A increases its price but B does not, A will lose all the market in an instant; if A decreases its price, B will inevitably decrease its price, which will lead to a price war for both parties and ultimately lose both sides. Therefore, raising or lowering the price does not do itself any good, and the best strategy is to keep the price the same. The price rigidity caused by the mutual game between oligopolistic enterprises is called interdependence. In a perfectly competitive (PC) market there is zero interdependence because no firm is large enough to affect market price. All firms in a "PC" market are price takers, as the current market selling price can be followed predictably to maximize short-term profits. In a monopoly, there are no competitors to be concerned about. In a monopolistically-competitive market, each firm's effects on market conditions are so negligible as to be safely ignored by competitors.


title: Oligopoly

text: Generally speaking, the oligopolistic enterprise with the largest scale and the lowest cost will become the price setter in this market, and the price set by it will maximize its own interests and ensure that other small-scale enterprises also benefit. Oligopolies tend to compete on terms other than price. Loyalty schemes, advertisement, and product differentiation are all examples of non-price competition, which is perceived less risky and brings less disastrous impacts to business. In other words, oligopolists are able to extract more rents (charge prices above normal competition level without losing large consumers) by offering differentiated products or initiating promotion efforts. However, collusion among oligopolists is harder or more difficult to sustain along such non-price dimensions such as differentiation, marketing, product design.


title: Oligopoly

text: For fighting collusion and cartels in an oligopoly market, competition authorities have taken measures or practices to effectively discover, prosecute and penalize them. Leniency program and economic analysis (screening) are currently two popular mechanisms.


title: Oligopoly

text: Competition authorities prominently have roles and responsibilities on prosecuting and penalizing existing cartels and desisting new ones. Thus, authorities have created an effective tool called the leniency program, which makes antitrust firms to be more proactive participants in confessing their collusion behaviors in that they will be granted immunity from fines and still have a right to plea bargaining if not receive a full reduction. Nowadays, leniency program has been implemented by several countries like US, Japan and Canada. However, it causes negative impacts to competition authorities themselves in the wake of abusing of leniency program that there are still many cartels in society and the expected sanctions for colluded firms will experience a sharp drop. As a result, the total effect of the leniency program is ambiguous and an optimal leniency program is required.


title: Oligopoly

text: There are two screening methods that are currently available for competition authorities: structural and behavioral. In terms of structural screening, it refers to identify industry traits or characteristics, such as homogeneous goods, stable demand, less existing participants, which are prone to cartel formation. While regarding behavioral one, is mainly implemented when a cartel formation or agreement has reached and subsequently authorities start to look into firms' data and figure out whether their price variance is low or has a significant price increase or decrease.


title: Oligopoly

text: Oligopolies become "mature" when competing entities realize they can maximize profits through joint efforts designed to maximize price control by minimizing the influence of competition. As a result of operating in countries with enforced antitrust laws, oligopolists will operate under tacit collusion, which is collusion through a mutual understanding among the competitors of a market without any direct communication or contact that by collectively raising prices, each participating competitor can achieve economic profits comparable to those achieved by a monopolist while avoiding the explicit breach of market regulations. Hence, the kinked demand curve for a joint profit-maximizing oligopoly industry can model the behaviors of oligopolists' pricing decisions other than that of the price leader (the price leader being the entity that all other entities follow in terms of pricing decisions). This is because if an entity unilaterally raises the prices of their good/service and competing entities do not follow, the entity that raised their price will lose a significant market as they face the elastic upper segment of the demand curve.


title: Oligopoly

text: As the joint profit-maximizing efforts achieve greater economic profits for all participating entities, there is an incentive for an individual entity to "cheat" by expanding output to gain greater market share and profit. In the case of oligopolist cheating, when the incumbent entity discovers this breach in collusion, competitors in the market will retaliate by matching or dropping prices lower than the original drop. Hence, the market share originally gained by having dropped the price will be minimized or eliminated. This is why on the kinked demand curve model the lower segment of the demand curve is inelastic. As a result, in such markets price rigidity prevails.


title: Oligopoly

text: International trade has increased from $5 trillion USD in 1994 to $24 trillion USD in 2014. Following current trends, this number will only increase in the future as an increasing of firms are now competing internationally. Different from domestic oligopolies, international oligopolies have to consider importing and exporting tariffs as countries have different international policies. This is described as “strategic trade policy” and uses both the Bertrand and Cournot models as examples of interdependence.


title: Oligopoly

text: Game theory is used when theorizing international trade theory. The added features are “That oligopolistic firms would treat markets in each country as segmented rather than integrated and the second, that countries had a motive to raise domestic welfare by shifting rents from foreign firms to the domestic economy in the form of higher domestic profits, increased government revenue or above-normal wages.” (Head & Spencer, 2017).


title: Oligopoly

text: There is no single model describing the operation of an oligopolistic market. The variety and complexity of the models exist because two to 10 firms can compete on the basis of price, quantity, technological innovations, marketing, and reputation. However, there are a series of simplified models that attempt to describe market behavior by considering certain circumstances. Some of the better-known models are the dominant firm model, the Cournot–Nash model, the Bertrand model and the kinked demand model.


title: Oligopoly

text: As different industries have different characteristics, it is important to know which oligopoly model is more applicable for each industry. In reality, one main difference between industries is the capacity constraints. As both Cournot model and Bertrand model consist of the two-stage game, the Cournot model is more suitable for firms in industry that face capacity constraints, where firms set their quantity of production first, then set their prices. The Bertrand model is more applicable for industries with low capacity constraints, such as banking and insurance.


title: Oligopoly

text: 1. checking for every outcome whether at least one player could benefit from deviating; if not, NE found!


title: Oligopoly

text: 2. deriving best-response (or reaction) functions: Find best action of player for ALL feasible actions of rivals; NE at outcome where players actions are best responses to each other (i.e. where BR intersect)” (Gerlach, 2022).


title: Oligopoly

text: Definition: An Nash equilibrium Pareto dominates another equilibrium if at least one player would be better off in this equilibrium and no other player worse off.


title: Oligopoly

text: The Cournot–Nash model is the simplest oligopoly model. The model assumes that there are two "equally positioned firms"; the firms compete on the basis of quantity rather than price and each firm makes an "output of decision assuming that the other firm's behavior is fixed." The market demand curve is assumed to be linear and marginal costs are constant. To find the Nash equilibrium one determines how each firm reacts to a change in the output of the other firm. The path to equilibrium is a series of actions and reactions. The pattern continues until a point is reached where neither firm desires "to change what it is doing, given how it believes the other firm will react to any change." The equilibrium is the intersection of the two firm's reaction functions. The reaction function shows how one firm reacts to the quantity choice of the other firm. For example, assume that the firm formula_1's demand function is formula_2 where formula_3 is the quantity produced by the other firm and formula_4 is the amount produced by firm formula_1, and formula_6 is the market. Assume that marginal cost is formula_7. Firm formula_1 wants to know its maximizing quantity and price. Firm formula_1 begins the process by following the profit maximization rule of equating marginal revenue to marginal costs. Firm formula_1's total revenue function is formula_11. The marginal revenue function is formula_12.


title: Oligopoly

text: Equation 1.1 is the reaction function for firm formula_1. Equation 1.2 is the reaction function for firm formula_19.


title: Oligopoly

text: To determine the Nash equilibrium you can solve the equations simultaneously. The equilibrium quantities can also be determined graphically. The equilibrium solution would be at the intersection of the two reaction functions. Note that if you graph the functions the axes represent quantities. The reaction functions are not necessarily symmetric. The firms may face differing cost functions in which case the reaction functions would not be identical nor would the equilibrium quantities.


title: Oligopoly

text: The Bertrand model is essentially the Cournot–Nash model, except the strategic variable is price rather than quantity.


title: Oligopoly

text: Bertrand's Model can be used to explain oligopoly. Bertrand's Model thinks competition as two firms compete in the market, such as firm one and your competitors(=the rest of the market as another firm). The model assumes that firms are selling homogeneous products and therefore have the same marginal production costs, and firms will focus on competing in prices simultaneously. The idea is that after competing in prices for a while, they would eventually reach an equilibrium where the price both charge would be the same as their marginal cost of production. The mechanism behind this model is that even by undercutting just a small increment of its price, a firm would be able to capture the entire market share. The attempetion is very high and firms will have strong incentives to undercut their competitors in prices to grab the whole market profits. Even though empirical studies suggest that firms can easily make much higher profits by agreeing on charging a price that is higher than marginal costs, highly rational selfish firms would still not be able to stay at a price higher than marginal cost. It is worth noting that, Bertrand price competition is a useful abstraction of markets in many settings. Amongst many different prediction approaches, the Nash equilibrium approach has been recognised by some studies as an relatively efficient analytic tool. However, due to its lack of ability to capture human behavioural patterns, the approach has been criticised for being inaccurate in predicting prices.


title: Oligopoly

text: Neither firm has any reason to change strategy. If the firm raises prices, it will lose all its customers. If the firm lowers price formula_24 then it will be losing money on every unit sold.


title: Oligopoly

text: The Bertrand equilibrium is the same as the competitive result. Each firm will produce where formula_25 and there will be zero profits. A generalization of the Bertrand model is the Bertrand–Edgeworth model that allows for capacity constraints and a more general cost function.


title: Oligopoly

text: The Cournot model and Bertrand model are the most well-known models in oligopoly theory, and have been studied and reviewed by numerous economists. The Cournot-Bertrand model is a hybrid of these two models and was first developed by Bylka and Komar in 1976. This model allows the market to be split into two groups of firms. The first groups’ aim is to optimally adjust their output to maximise profits while the second groups’ aim is to optimally adjust their prices. This model is not accepted by some economists who believe that firms in the same industry cannot compete with different strategic variables. However, this model has been applied and observed in both real-world examples and theoretical contexts.


title: Oligopoly

text: In the Cournot model and Bertrand model, it is assumed that all the firms are competing with the same choice variable, either output or price. However, this does not always apply in real world contexts. If each firm is able to choose their own strategic variable, there would be a total of four modes of competition. The possibility of firms competing with different strategic variables is important to consider when assessing all potential market outcomes. Economists Kreps and Scheinkman's research demonstrates that varying economic environments are required in order for firms to compete in the same industry while using different strategic variables. An example of the Cournot-Bertrand model in real life can be seen in the market of alcoholic beverages. The production times of alcoholic beverages differ greatly creating different economic environments within the market. The fermentation of distilled spirits takes a significant amount of time; therefore, output is set by producers, leaving the market conditions to determine price. Whereas, the production of brandy requires minimal time to age, thus the price is set by the producers and the supply is determined by the quantity demanded at that price.


title: Oligopoly

text: According to this model, each firm faces a demand curve kinked at the existing price. The conjectural assumptions of the model are; if the firm raises its price above the current existing price, competitors will not follow and the acting firm will lose market share and second, if a firm lowers prices below the existing price then their competitors will follow to retain their market share and the firm's output will increase only marginally. In other words, oligopolist's pricing logic is that competitors will match and respond to any price cut - retaliating to obtain more market share, while they will stick with the current or initial price for any price rising among competitors.


title: Oligopoly

text: The gap in the marginal revenue curve means that marginal costs can fluctuate without changing equilibrium price and quantity, thus, prices tend to be rigid.


title: Oligopoly

text: Many industries have been cited as oligopolistic, including civil aviation, agricultural pesticides, electricity, and platinum group metal mining. In most countries, the telecommunications sector is characterized by an oligopolistic market structure. Rail freight markets in the European Union have an oligopolistic structure. In the United States, industries that have identified as oligopolistic include food processing, funeral services, sugar refining, beer making, pulp and paper making, and automobile manufacturing.


title: Oligopoly

text: Market power and market concentration can be estimated or quantified using several different tools and measurements, including the Lerner index, stochastic frontier analysis, and New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) modeling, as well as the Herfindahl-Hirschman index.


title: Oligopoly

text: One possible outcome of oligopoly is the maintaining of a steady price as a result of a kinked demand curve. Firms in this situation concentrate their efforts on non-price competition. The kinked demand curve model suggests that prices would be relatively stable, and that firms will have little motivation to adjust their pricing in the near future. As a result, firms compete using strategies other than price competition. The firms participating in this market system are motivated by the desire to maximize their profits. Profit would be maximized at formula_26. Firms would earn a significant rise in market share if they reduced their prices. Although it is possible, it is doubtful that firms will accept this. As a result, other firms follow suit and reduce their prices as well. Because of this, demand will only grow by a marginal amount. As a result, demand for a price reduction is inelastic. It is likely that they will lose a significant portion of the market if they raise the price, since they would become uncompetitive when compared to other firms. As a result, demand is very elastic in response to price increases. Rather than assuming price rigidity, kinked demand strategies serve as a mechanism for enforcing compliance with a collusive price leadership strategy.


title: Oligopoly

text: Another possible outcome of oligopoly is the price war. However, despite suggestions that pricing wars might be unproductive for the business, Schendel and Balestra contend that at least some players in a price war can profit from their participation. Oligopolies can nevertheless have fierce pricing competition among their members, especially if they want to expand their market share. Oligopolies exist when firms compete with one another to reduce costs and gain market share. A common aspect of oligopolies is the ability to engage in price competition selectively. When it comes to bread and special offers, supermarkets often fight on price, but when it comes to product such as yogurt, they charge a premium.


title: Oligopoly

text: In an oligopoly, firms operate under imperfect competition. With the fierce price competitiveness created by this sticky-upward demand curve, firms use non-price competition in order to accrue greater revenue and market share.


title: Oligopoly

text: "Kinked" demand curves are similar to traditional demand curves, as they are downward-sloping. They are distinguished by a hypothesized convex bend with a discontinuity at the bend–"kink". Thus, the first derivative at that point is undefined and leads to a jump discontinuity in the marginal revenue curve.


title: Oligopoly

text: Classical economic theory assumes that a profit-maximizing producer with some market power (either due to oligopoly or monopolistic competition) will set marginal costs equal to marginal revenue. This idea can be envisioned graphically by the intersection of an upward-sloping marginal cost curve and a downward-sloping marginal revenue curve (because the more one sells, the lower the price must be, so the less a producer earns per unit). In classical theory, any change in the marginal cost structure (how much it costs to make each additional unit) or the marginal revenue structure (how much people will pay for each additional unit) will be immediately reflected in a new price and/or quantity sold of the item. This result does not occur if a "kink" exists. Because of this jump discontinuity in the marginal revenue curve, marginal cost, s could change without necessarily changing the price or quantity.


title: Oligopoly

text: The motivation behind this kink is the idea that in an oligopolistic or monopolistic competitive market, firms will not raise their prices because even a small price increase will lose many customers. This is because competitors will generally ignore price increases, with the hope of gaining a larger market share as a result of now having comparatively lower prices (price rigidity). However, even a large price decrease will gain only a few customers because such an action will begin a price war with other firms. The curve is, therefore, more price-elastic for price increases and less so for price decreases. Theory predicts that firms will enter the industry in the long run since market price for oligopolists is more stable or 'focal' in the long run under this kinked demand curve situation.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Cross-site request forgery, also known as one-click attack or session riding and abbreviated as CSRF (sometimes pronounced "sea-surf") or XSRF, is a type of malicious exploit of a website or web application where unauthorized commands are submitted from a user that the web application trusts. There are many ways in which a malicious website can transmit such commands; specially-crafted image tags, hidden forms, and JavaScript fetch or XMLHttpRequests, for example, can all work without the user's interaction or even knowledge. Unlike cross-site scripting (XSS), which exploits the trust a user has for a particular site, CSRF exploits the trust that a site has in a user's browser.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: In a CSRF attack, an innocent end user is tricked by an attacker into submitting a web request that they did not intend. This may cause actions to be performed on the website that can include inadvertent client or server data leakage, change of session state, or manipulation of an end user's account.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The term "CSRF" is also used as an abbreviation in defences against CSRF attacks, such as techniques that use header data, form data, or cookies, to test for and prevent such attacks.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: In a CSRF attack, the attacker's goal is to cause an innocent victim to unknowingly submit a maliciously crafted web request to a website that the victim has privileged access to. This web request can be crafted to include URL parameters, cookies and other data that appear normal to the web server processing the request. At risk are web applications that perform actions based on input from trusted and authenticated users without requiring the user to authorize (e.g. via a popup confirmation) the specific action. A user who is authenticated by a cookie saved in the user's web browser could unknowingly send an HTTP request to a site that trusts the user and thereby cause an unwanted action.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: A general property of web browsers is that they will automatically and invisibly include any cookies (including session cookies and others) used by a given domain in any web request sent to that domain. This property is exploited by CSRF attacks. In the event that a user is tricked into inadvertently submitting a request through their browser these automatically included cookies will cause the forged request to appear real to the web server and it will perform any appropriately requested actions including returning data, manipulating session state, or making changes to the victim's account.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: In order for a CSRF attack to work, an attacker must identify a reproducible web request that executes a specific action such as changing an account password on the target page. Once such a request is identified, a link can be created that generates this malicious request and that link can be embedded on a page within the attacker's control. This link may be placed in such a way that it is not even necessary for the victim to click the link. For example, it may be embedded within an html image tag on an email sent to the victim which will automatically be loaded when the victim opens their email. Once the victim has clicked the link, their browser will automatically include any cookies used by that website and submit the request to the web server. The web server will not be able to identify the forgery because the request was made by a user that was logged in, and submitted all the requisite cookies.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Cross-site request forgery is an example of a confused deputy attack against a web browser because the web browser is tricked into submitting a forged request by a less privileged attacker.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: CSRF Token vulnerabilities have been known and in some cases exploited since 2001. Because it is carried out from the user's IP address, some website logs might not have evidence of CSRF. Exploits are under-reported, at least publicly, and as of 2007 there were few well-documented examples:


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: New attacks against web-enabled devices were carried out in 2018, including attempts to change the DNS settings of routers. Some router manufacturers hurriedly released firmware updates to improve protection, and advised users to change router settings to reduce the risk. Details were not released, citing "obvious security reasons".


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Attackers who can find a reproducible link that executes a specific action on the target page while the victim is logged in can embed such link on a page they control and trick the victim into opening it. The attack carrier link may be placed in a location that the victim is likely to visit while logged into the target site (for example, a discussion forum), or sent in an HTML email body or attachment. A real CSRF vulnerability in uTorrent (CVE-2008-6586) exploited the fact that its web console accessible at localhost:8080 allowed critical actions to be executed using a simple GET request:


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Attacks were launched by placing malicious, automatic-action HTML image elements on forums and email spam, so that browsers visiting these pages would open them automatically, without much user action. People running vulnerable uTorrent version at the same time as opening these pages were susceptible to the attack.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: CSRF attacks using image tags are often made from Internet forums, where users are allowed to post images but not JavaScript, for example using BBCode:


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: When accessing the attack link to the local uTorrent application at , the browser would also always automatically send any existing cookies for that domain. This general property of web browsers enables CSRF attacks to exploit their targeted vulnerabilities and execute hostile actions as long as the user is logged into the target website (in this example, the local uTorrent web interface) at the time of the attack.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: In the uTorrent example described above, the attack was facilitated by the fact that uTorrent's web interface used GET request for critical state-changing operations (change credentials, download a file etc.), which explicitly discourages:


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Because of this assumption, many existing CSRF prevention mechanisms in web frameworks will not cover GET requests, but rather apply the protection only to HTTP methods that are intended to be state-changing.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: An attacker may forge a request to log the victim into a target website using the attacker's credentials; this is known as "login CSRF". Login CSRF makes various novel attacks possible; for instance, an attacker can later log into the site with his legitimate credentials and view private information like activity history that has been saved in the account. This attack has been demonstrated against Google and Yahoo.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Depending on the type, the HTTP request methods vary in their susceptibility to the CSRF attacks (due to the differences in their handling by the web browsers). Therefore, the protective measures against an attack depend on the method of the HTTP request.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Additionally, while typically described as a static type of attack, CSRF can also be dynamically constructed as part of a payload for a cross-site scripting attack, as demonstrated by the Samy worm, or constructed on the fly from session information leaked via offsite content and sent to a target as a malicious URL. CSRF tokens could also be sent to a client by an attacker due to session fixation or other vulnerabilities, or guessed via a brute-force attack, rendered on a malicious page that generates thousands of failed requests. The attack class of "Dynamic CSRF", or using a per-client payload for session-specific forgery, was described in 2009 by Nathan Hamiel and Shawn Moyer at the BlackHat Briefings, though the taxonomy has yet to gain wider adoption.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: A new vector for composing dynamic CSRF attacks was presented by Oren Ofer at a local OWASP chapter meeting in January 2012 – "AJAX Hammer – Dynamic CSRF".


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Severity metrics have been issued for CSRF token vulnerabilities that result in remote code execution with root privileges as well as a vulnerability that can compromise a root certificate, which will completely undermine a public key infrastructure.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The attack is blind: the attacker cannot see what the target website sends back to the victim in response to the forged requests, unless they exploit a cross-site scripting or other bug at the target website. Similarly, the attacker can only target any links or submit any forms that come up after the initial forged request if those subsequent links or forms are similarly predictable. (Multiple targets can be simulated by including multiple images on a page, or by using JavaScript to introduce a delay between clicks.)


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Most CSRF prevention techniques work by embedding additional authentication data into requests that allows the web application to detect requests from unauthorized locations.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Synchronizer token pattern (STP) is a technique where a token, secret and unique value for each request, is embedded by the web application in all HTML forms and verified on the server side. The token may be generated by any method that ensures unpredictability and uniqueness (e.g. using a hash chain of random seed). The attacker is thus unable to place a correct token in their requests to authenticate them.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: STP is the most compatible as it only relies on HTML, but introduces some complexity on the server side, due to the burden associated with checking validity of the token on each request. As the token is unique and unpredictable, it also enforces proper sequence of events (e.g. screen 1, then 2, then 3) which raises usability problem (e.g. user opens multiple tabs). It can be relaxed by using per session CSRF token instead of per request CSRF token.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Web applications that use JavaScript for the majority of their operations may use the following anti-CSRF technique:


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Security of this technique is based on the assumption that only JavaScript running on the client side of an HTTPS connection to the server that initially set the cookie will be able to read the cookie's value. JavaScript running from a rogue file or email should not be able to successfully read the cookie value to copy into the custom header. Even though the cookie may be automatically sent with the rogue request, subject to the cookies SameSite policy, the server will still expect a valid header.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The CSRF token itself should be unique and unpredictable. It may be generated randomly, or it may be derived from the session token using HMAC:


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The CSRF token cookie must not have httpOnly flag, as it is intended to be read by JavaScript by design.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: This technique is implemented by many modern frameworks, such as Django and AngularJS. Because the token remains constant over the whole user session, it works well with AJAX applications, but does not enforce sequence of events in the web application.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The protection provided by this technique can be thwarted if the target website disables its same-origin policy using one of the following techniques:


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Similarly to the cookie-to-header approach, but without involving JavaScript, a site can set a CSRF token as a cookie, and also insert it as a hidden field in each HTML form. When the form is submitted, the site can check that the cookie token matches the form token. The same-origin policy prevents an attacker from reading or setting cookies on the target domain, so they cannot put a valid token in their crafted form.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The advantage of this technique over the Synchronizer pattern is that the token does not need to be stored on the server.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: An additional "SameSite" attribute can be included when the server sets a cookie, instructing the browser on whether to attach the cookie to cross-site requests. If this attribute is set to "strict", then the cookie will only be sent on same-site requests, making CSRF ineffective. However, this requires the browser to recognise and correctly implement the attribute.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Browser extensions such as RequestPolicy (for Mozilla Firefox) or uMatrix (for both Firefox and Google Chrome/Chromium) can prevent CSRF by providing a default-deny policy for cross-site requests. However, this can significantly interfere with the normal operation of many websites. The CsFire extension (also for Firefox) can mitigate the impact of CSRF with less impact on normal browsing, by removing authentication information from cross-site requests.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The NoScript extension for Firefox mitigates CSRF threats by distinguishing trusted from untrusted sites, and removing authentication & payloads from POST requests sent by untrusted sites to trusted ones. The Application Boundary Enforcer module in NoScript also blocks requests sent from internet pages to local sites (e.g. localhost), preventing CSRF attacks on local services (such as uTorrent) or routers.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: The Self Destructing Cookies extension for Firefox does not directly protect from CSRF, but can reduce the attack window, by deleting cookies as soon as they are no longer associated with an open tab.


title: Cross-site request forgery

text: Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities (even in other applications running on the same domain) allow attackers to bypass essentially all CSRF preventions.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: The Invasion is a 2007 American science fiction horror film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, with additional scenes written by The Wachowskis and directed by James McTeigue, and starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. The plot follows a psychiatrist (Kidman) in Washington, D.C. who finds those around her turning into emotionless beings shortly after a major Space Shuttle crash.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Development of the film began in 2004. Warner Bros. hired David Kajganich to write what was intended to be a remake of the 1956 film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but Kajganich crafted a different story as an original conception and to reflect contemporary times. Principal photography began in September 2005. The film was released on August 17, 2007, to received mixed-to-negative reviews and grossed $40.2 million against a $65–80 million budget, making it a failure in the box office sales and loss for Warner Bros' $71 million projectors.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: "The Invasion" is the fourth film adaptation of the 1955 novel "The Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney following Don Siegel's 1956 film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of the same name, and Abel Ferrara's 1993 film "Body Snatchers".


title: The Invasion (film)

text: After a Space Shuttle crashes on Earth, a fungus-like alien lifeform is discovered on the remaining parts scattered widely over the United States. Once people are infected by the organism, and REM sleep occurs, the organism takes control. One of the first people infected is Tucker Kaufman, a CDC director investigating the crash.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Tucker's ex-wife, psychiatrist Carol Bennell, begins to feel something is amiss when people seem to have "changed". Her patient, Wendy Lenk (played by Veronica Cartwright, who appeared in the 1978 film version as Nancy Bellicec), describes how her husband "is not (her) husband", and one of Carol's son's friends acts detached and emotionless.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: At a neighborhood Halloween party, Carol's son Oliver finds an unusual patch of "skin" on a partier, which is initially believed to be costume makeup. Carol speculates that the skin may be connected to reports of a fast-spreading flu. Carol takes the sample to her doctor friend Ben Driscoll to have it analyzed. Carol and Oliver later witness a car accident where a troubled woman is killed. Carol approaches the crash scene to give a witness statement, but an emotionless cop takes down her plates and orders her back to her car. Afterwards, Carol drops Oliver off at Tucker's house for the weekend.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Later, that night, Ben and Carol attend a friendly dinner meeting between Russian diplomat Yorish and Czech diplomat Belicec (along with his wife Luddie). Carol and Yorish debate the violent nature of humans over caviar and champagne. Meanwhile, Tucker uses the CDC to spread the disease further, disguising the spores as flu vaccine and Carol, upon returning home, is attacked by a "census department" worker who tries to break into her house.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Ben and Dr. Stephen Galeano, a biologist, discover how the spore takes over the brain during REM sleep. During this investigation, Luddie calls Ben, worried about Yorish's behavior. Driscoll and Galeano also find that people who had brain-affecting illnesses, such as encephalitis or ADEM, are immune to the spore because their previous illnesses prevent the spore from "latching on" to the brain matter. Oliver is immune to the spore because of the ADEM he had as a young child. Carol decides to get her son, who might show a way to a cure, back from Tucker. Before she drives to Tucker's house, she joins Ben's team who is called to the house of the Belicecs, the Czech ambassador and his wife, in a case of emergency. There they witness the transformation of Yorish (the Russian ambassador) and the Belicecs' friend.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: When Carol arrives at Tucker's house, he and several colleagues close in on her. He explains that the changed humans, devoid of irrational emotions, are offering a better world, and asks her to join them. When Carol resists, Tucker holds her to the ground and infects her by spurting his saliva on her. She escapes and returns to Ben at the Belicecs' house. They flee when Belicec returns with more transformed people intent on infecting anyone in the house.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Galeano and one of his assistants head to Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, where they and other scientists will attempt to find a cure for the virus. Carol and Ben separate to find Oliver, who texts his location, the apartment of Tucker's mother, to Carol. Carol goes there and manages to spirit Oliver away, but is again pursued by Tucker, whom she has to kill to stop.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Carol arranges to meet up with Ben, but it takes a while for him to show, and Carol almost falls asleep, but Oliver saves her. Ben arrives, but Carol finds he too has 'converted'. He attempts to seduce her to give in to the new society that has no crime, war, or violence, but also frankly states that there is no room for people like Oliver who are immune. Carol shoots Ben in the leg and flees with Oliver. They are pursued, but finally she and Oliver are picked up by helicopter, and flown to the medical center. A vaccine is created, inoculations are made world-wide, and within a year the alien virus is eliminated. Carol and Ben reunite, Ben having no memory of the events, and society reverts to its normal emotional and violent ways.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: In March 2004, Warner Bros. hired screenwriter David Kajganich to write a script that would serve as a remake of the 1956 science fiction film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". In July 2005, director Oliver Hirschbiegel was attached to helm the project, with production to begin in Edgemere, Maryland. The following August, Nicole Kidman was cast to star in the film then titled "Invasion", receiving a salary of close to $17 million. "Invasion" was based on the script by Kajganich, originally intended as a remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but Kajganich crafted a different enough story for the studio to see the project as an original conception. Kajganich described the story to reflect contemporary times, saying, "You just have to look around our world today to see that power inspires nothing more than the desire to retain it and to eliminate anything that threatens it." The screenwriter said that the story was set in Washington, D.C. to reflect the theme. In August, Daniel Craig was cast opposite Kidman in the lead. The film, whose original title "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was shortened to "Invasion" due to Kajganich's different concept, was changed once more to "The Visiting" so it would not be confused with ABC's TV series "Invasion".


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Filming began on September 26, 2005 in Baltimore and lasted 45 days. Filming also took place in Washington, D.C., including in the Cleveland Park Metro station, outside the Foggy Bottom–GWU Metro station, and in Dupont Circle. The film had minimal visual effects, with no need for greenscreen work. Instead, the director shot from odd camera angles and claustrophobic spaces to increase tension in the film. In October 2006, "The Visiting" changed to the title of "The Invasion", due to the cancellation of the ABC TV series. The studio, however, was unhappy with Hirschbiegel's results and hired The Wachowskis to rewrite the film and assist with additional shooting. The studio later hired director James McTeigue to perform re-shoots that would cost $10 million and for which McTeigue would not be credited. After 13 months of inactivity, re-shoots took place in January 2007 to increase action scenes and add a twist ending. The re-shoot lasted for 17 days in Los Angeles. During the re-shooting, Kidman was involved in an accident, while in a Jaguar that was being towed by a stunt driver and was taken to a hospital briefly. Kidman broke several ribs, but she was able to get back to work soon after being hospitalized.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: In May 2007, composer John Ottman recorded the musical score for "The Invasion", using heavy synthesizers combined with a 77-piece orchestra intended to create "otherworldly foreboding and tension". The music was also designed to have an avant-garde postmodern style, with atmospheric and thrilling action elements.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: "The Invasion" was originally intended to be released in June 2006, but it was postponed to 2007. The film was released on August 17, 2007 in the United States and Canada in 2,776 theaters.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: The film grossed $5,951,409 over the opening weekend. "The Invasion" grossed $15,074,191 in the United States and Canada and $24,727,542 in other territories for a worldwide gross of $40,170,558 .


title: The Invasion (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "The Invasion" holds an approval rating of 20% based on 164 reviews, with an average rating of 4.40/10. The critical consensus reads: ""The Invasion" is slickly made, but it lacks psychological insight and thrills." On review aggregator Metacritic, "The Invasion" received an average score of 45 out of 100.


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" called it "the fourth, and the least, of the movies made from Jack Finney's classic science fiction novel." Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that it was "a soulless rehash...The movie isn't terrible; it's just low-rent and reductive." Joanne Kaufman of "The Wall Street Journal" added, "With all the shoot-outs, the screaming, the chases, collisions and fireballs, there isn't much time for storytelling."


title: The Invasion (film)

text: Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" criticized the film, writing: "The latest and lamest version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" might have been an accidental camp classic if its politics weren't so abhorrent and the movie didn't try to hide its ineptitude behind a veil of pomposity." Paul Arendt of the BBC wrote: "Having established an effectively creepy mood in the first half, the film eventually degenerates into a muddled mess, with Nicole and Daniel Craig dodging zombies while popping amphetamines in a desperate effort to stay awake. We know how they feel." Maitland McDonagh of "TV Guide" called the film "a frantic mess that opens with a scene plucked from the film's third act that smacks of having been moved up to pacify audiences too restless for a slow build."


title: Al B. Sure!

text: Albert Joseph Brown III (born June 4, 1968), known professionally as Al B. Sure!, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, radio host and former record executive. He was born in Boston and raised in Mount Vernon, New York. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Brown was one of new jack swing's most popular romantic singers, songwriters and record producers.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: Brown is the son of Albert Joseph Brown II, a nuclear medical technician, and Cassandra Brown, an accountant. Brown was a star football quarterback at Mount Vernon High School in New York, who rejected an athletic scholarship to the University of Iowa to pursue a music career. In 1987, Quincy Jones selected Brown as the first winner of the Sony Innovators Talent Search. He went on to work with Jones on several projects, most notably the platinum 1990 single "The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)" from Jones' double-platinum-certified album "Back on the Block". On this recording, Brown was one of a quartet with Barry White, El DeBarge, and James Ingram.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: Brown's 1988 debut album "In Effect Mode" sold more than three million copies, topping the "Billboard" R&B chart for seven straight weeks. It included the single "Nite and Day," which topped the R&B chart and reached No. 7 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and "Off on Your Own (Girl)", which also top the R&B chart. He received numerous Grammy and American Music Award (AMA) nominations, and won an AMA for Best New R&B Artist. He also received several Soul Train Award nominations, and won the award for Best New Artist. Brown also won several New York Music Awards. In addition, his 1–900 phone line was third in generating revenue, following those for New Kids on the Block and Run-D.M.C.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: As a writer and producer, Brown introduced to the music industry such multi-platinum acts as Jodeci and teen R&B performer Tevin Campbell (who was also one of Prince's and Quincy Jones' former protégés), as well as Faith Evans, Dave Hollister, Case and Usher.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: In 2009, Brown signed with Hidden Beach Recordings. His first single for the label, "I Love It (Papi Aye, Aye, Aye)," entered the Radio & Records Urban AC chart at No. 33. The album "Honey, I'm Home" was released on June 23, 2009.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: In 2000, Brown's ABS Entertainment launched a television development division, and he served as co-executive producer of an HBO Comedy Special starring Jamie Foxx, filmed at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California. Then, Brown teamed with the ABC Radio Network to produce and host a romantically themed nighttime music program, "The Secret Garden", featuring a blend of music and celebrity guests.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: Brown participated in Bless the Children Foundation's celebrity auction along with NFL stars Charles Woodson and Anthony Dorsett. He was presented with the key to the city of Oakland by city council member Laurence E. Reid in recognition of the participation of Brown's ABS Ken-Struk-Shen in refurbishing parts of the city. Reid proclaimed October 19 Al B. Sure! Day. Brown was a DJ on the Los Angeles radio station KHHT, and played old-school hip hop and R&B. He currently hosts a daily morning-radio show on iHeart Radio.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: In July 2019, Brown became the new host of Urban One's nationally syndicated evening quiet storm/slow jams program "Love and R&B", replacing the previous host, John Monds. The show, syndicated through Urban One subsidiary Reach Media and based in Dallas, Texas, is heard on urban adult contemporary format radio stations such as WZAK in Cleveland, WMMJ in Washington, KZMJ in Dallas, and WDMK in Detroit among others.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: In 2010, Brown appeared as one of the 12 contestants on the TV One reality television dating game show "The Ultimate Merger". The series was produced by Donald Trump and starred former "Apprentice" contestant Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, whom Brown dated previously.


title: Al B. Sure!

text: Al B. Sure! has three sons. His eldest son Albert Joseph Brown IV, also known as Al B Sure Jr, was featured on the MTV series "Rock the Cradle". His second son Devin Brown is a hip hop singer and goes by the name of Devin LOUD. In 1991 he had a son, Quincy Brown by Kim Porter. Quincy was named after the musician who mentored Al B. Sure! Quincy Jones. In that same year, he co-wrote a song called "Forever My Lady" in honor of Kim and his son. The song was performed by Jodeci and produced by Al B. Sure! and Jodeci-member DeVante Swing.


title: Hannah Gross

text: Hannah Gross (born ) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Debbie Mitford in the Netflix drama "Mindhunter".


title: Hannah Gross

text: Gross grew up in Toronto. She is the daughter of actors Martha Burns and Paul Gross. She attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, minoring in Religious Studies.


title: Hannah Gross

text: In 2010, Gross played Katie in Sharon Pollock's 1984 play "Doc" and directed Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1947) for the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She performed in Williams' 1953 one-act play "Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen" in 2012. Gross was cast in "I Used to Be Darker" (2013) after meeting its director, Matthew Porterfield, at the after show party for the New York City screening of his previous film, "Putty Hill" (2010). Also in 2013, she played the title character in Dustin Guy Defa's short film "Lydia Hoffman Lydia Hoffman". Gross played the lead female character in Charles Poekel's film "Christmas, Again", which had its premiere at the 2014 Locarno International Film Festival. She also performed in Nathan Silver's 2014 film "Uncertain Terms," and reunited with him in his 2015 film, "Stinking Heaven". Also in 2014, Gross played the lead role in David Raboy's short film "Beach Week".


title: Hannah Gross

text: In 2017, Gross starred in the Netflix drama "Mindhunter", in which she played the role of Debbie Mitford, a post-graduate student at the University of Virginia and the girlfriend of one of the three leads.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Watch Dogs 2 (stylized as WATCH_DOGS 2) is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the sequel to 2014's "Watch Dogs" and the second installment in the "Watch Dogs" series. It was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows in November 2016, for Amazon Luna in November 2020, and for Stadia in December 2020, respectively. Set within a fictionalized version of the San Francisco Bay Area, the game is played from a third-person perspective and its open world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Players control Marcus Holloway, a hacker who works with the hacking group DedSec to take down the city's advanced surveillance system known as ctOS. There are multiple ways to complete missions, and each successful assignment increases the follower count of DedSec. Cooperative multiplayer allows for competitive one-on-one combat and connecting with other players to neutralize a player who is causing havoc.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Ubisoft Montreal studied player feedback from the first game to assess what could be improved in "Watch Dogs 2" and the setting was researched by making frequent trips to California. Ubisoft Reflections was responsible for overhauling the driving mechanic. Real hackers were consulted to validate scripts and game mechanics for authenticity and references to real-life hacktivism were fictionalized, like the Project Chanology protest. The original soundtrack was composed by Hudson Mohawke. The game was released to overall positive reception from critics which praised the game for improving upon the original "Watch Dogs" in areas like the hacking, setting, characters and driving. However, character inconsistencies, firearms, and frequent technical issues — later patched — were cited as imperfections. "Watch Dogs 2" had sold more than 10 million copies by March 2020. A sequel, "", was released on October 29, 2020.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Similar to its predecessor, "Watch Dogs 2" is an action-adventure game with stealth elements and played from a third-person perspective as Marcus Holloway, a young hacker. The game features an open world set in a fictionalized version of the San Francisco Bay Area, an area more than twice as large as the Chicagoland setting from "Watch Dogs". It consists of four different areas: San Francisco, Oakland, Marin, and Silicon Valley. Players can navigate the game's world on-foot or by the various vehicles featured in the game, such as cars, trucks, buses, cable cars, motorcycles, quad bikes, and boats. The driving mechanic was overhauled and designed to be more accessible. The player can shoot their weapons while driving. Marcus also has improved acrobatic skills, and the ability to parkour around the city. The player can use different methods to approach the game's missions, choosing between the aggressive approach, in which they defeat enemies with guns which are made with a 3D printer; explosives, like mines; or Marcus' own melee weapon, a billiard ball attached to a bungee cord. Alternatively, the player can use the stealth approach, in which they can evade enemies or paralyze them temporarily with Marcus' taser. "Watch Dogs 2" like its predecessor, places a particular emphasis on using environmental apparatus and the terrain to Marcus' advantage. For example, a player may hack an A/C unit to produce an electric shock when an enemy nears it. Marcus may also employ his own modular taser devices and explosives to use tactically against enemies. When law enforcement witnesses the player committing a crime, or is alerted by a non-player character (NPC), police officers will attempt to arrest the player. The game upgrades system is a returning feature, with items being divided into three categories: Ghost, Aggressor, and Trickster. Upgrades can be customized according to playstyles.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Marcus can hack into various electronic devices connected to the ctOS system with his in-game smartphone. For example, Marcus can modify the personal information of NPCs to have them arrested or attacked by one of the various gangs such as the 580s, the Tezcas, the Auntie Shu Boys, the Bratva or the Sons of Ragnarok, hack and manipulate every mobile phone featured in the game, disrupt traffic by hacking cars and traffic lights, hack into monitoring cameras, and carry out "mass hacking", which hacks the electrical equipment of a large group of people. The player can also gain multiple options while hacking the same object. For instance, if the player attempts to hack a car, they can gain direct control over them, or have the car lose control and crash in a random direction. Unlike Aiden, the protagonist of the first game, Marcus has an arsenal of advanced equipment, including a quadcopter and remote-controlled car, both of which can be used for remote hacking and scouting. Marcus' apparel can be customized with over 700 articles of clothing, available for purchase in stores that maintain fashion styles unique to what is worn by the denizens in each area. The game features several main story missions, and side-missions known as "operations". Once completed, Marcus' follower count will increase.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Multiplayer returns in "Watch Dogs 2". The game introduces a cooperative multiplayer mode, in which players can meet and interact with other random players. They can explore the open world and complete missions together, which will also help players to gain followers. The game features an emote system, which allows players' characters to communicate with each other through basic gestures. The game can be played completely online or offline. It also features six competitive multiplayer modes:


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: In 2016, three years after the events of Chicago, San Francisco becomes the first city to install the next generation of ctOS (central Operating System) – a computing network connecting every device together into a single system, developed by technology company Blume. Hacker Marcus Holloway, punished for a crime he did not commit through ctOS 2.0, decides to join the hacking group DedSec (composed of hackers Sitara Dhawan, Josh Sauchak, Horatio Carlin, and "Wrench"), and conducts an initiation test by hacking a Blume server farm to wipe his profile from the system. DedSec determines that the new ctOS can covertly harm innocent citizens across the city, and thus decides to bring about awareness of their goals through conducting a social media campaign to recruit, by exposing corruption and crimes being conducted through the system, before bringing down Blume.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: After several successful exposures, Josh discovers a number of irregularities in their follower numbers. When Marcus investigates this, he learns that DedSec has been used by Blume's CTO Dušan Nemec, in order to sell ctOS 2.0 to those frightened at being hacked. Forced to leave the city for a while, DedSec partake in a hacking event in the desert, and encounter legendary hacker Raymond "T-Bone" Kenney. Interested in assisting them, Kenney joins DedSec as they work to continue their fight against Blume. After hacking the server farm of a major internet company, the group use the data they acquire to pursue and expose corruption amongst law enforcement officers, politicians, and numerous Silicon Valley corporations. During this time, Marcus also focuses on bringing down several criminal syndicates, after one gang murders Horatio for refusing to assist them with their operations, and thwarts Dušan's attempts to disrupt DedSec's operations through a rival hacking group and the FBI.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Eventually, DedSec comes across information about the data manipulation program called "Bellwether", designed by Kenney, and learn that with both this and a new satellite network, designed to bypass undersea data cables, Dušan plans to manipulate world finances and politics, thus creating a monopoly on the entire world's electronic data. To expose this and his corruption, DedSec co-ordinates a massive operation to allow Marcus to infiltrate Blume's San Francisco headquarters, hack their servers, and feed the information of Dušan's crimes to the police. While Dušan is arrested for fraud and Blume is put under investigation, DedSec resolves to continue their fight against the company.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: In an extended ending scene added in a post-release patch, two unidentified individuals note that more DedSec cells and hacktivist groups have been emerging worldwide in response to the San Francisco Blume scandal, and that it is time to put their own plans into motion. The filename of the recording seen in the ending is a set of coordinates located in Brixton, London; foreshadowing .


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: At E3 2014, Ubisoft executive Tony Key claimed they were satisfied with the sales of the first game, and that the brand would be turned into a long-running franchise. According to creative director Jonathan Morin, the first game's main goal was to establish the "Watch Dogs" brand. It was intended that they take risks with the sequel, instead of creating a more polished version of the previous game. To improve the game, Morin and his team read the reviews of the first game, and visited NeoGAF and various forums to study player feedback. Their priorities included creating a "believable" environment, giving players more freedom, and introducing a new leading character, whose personality would be completely different from that of the protagonist of the first game, Aiden Pearce. The primary developer Ubisoft Montreal worked with other subsidiaries Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Kyiv, and Ubisoft Reflections to aid in the production. The driving mechanic was completely overhauled to make it more accessible to players, and was developed by Ubisoft Reflections, the developer of Ubisoft's own "Driver" series. In light of complaints about a graphical downgrade in "Watch Dogs" from what was seen at E3 2012, Ubisoft assured that "Watch Dogs 2" would not suffer the same outcome because, unlike the first installment, it was developed for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from the start. Another improvement from the first game was a more prominent thematic connection to the narrative. Main operations are structured like story arcs that last up to ninety minutes each, advancing the plot with each completion.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: The developer worked with consultant hackers who would validate their scripts, including the use of jargon, and gameplay mechanics in order to ensure the authenticity of the subject matter. The propaganda used by the game's hacker group DedSec was influenced by animated GIF culture, glitch art and comic books from the late 1940s. David Maynor served as a hacking advisor. Content director Thomas Geffroyd, who had twenty years of experience with the hacking community, was tasked to accumulate information from hacktivists – such as author Violet Blue – and then relay it to the team. The game also features references to real life; Project Chanology was fictionalized in the mission "False ".


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Ubisoft Montreal made frequent scouting trips to California to research the setting, and attempted to put most of the local landmarks in that region in the game. For regions that they could not put in the game, the team redesigned these locations and put them back into the game. According to producer Dominic Guay, having realistic and accurate locations featured in the game was essential for the game as they encourage players to explore the open world. Unlike many of Ubisoft's previous open world games, players do not need to climb towers in order to discover locations and missions. Instead, the game is opened up from the start, allowing players to explore the city freely. The game's new progression system, which tasks players to gain followers instead of completing main missions, was another way Ubisoft Montreal hoped to encourage exploration and make the city feel more "free". "Watch Dogs 2" had around sixty programmers devoted to its development.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: A sequel to "Watch Dogs" was rumored since its release but first officialized by publisher Ubisoft through financial reports in February and May 2016, before it was confirmed as a part of the 2016 E3 lineup. A 20-minute online reveal was hosted a couple of days later. On October 27, 2016, "Watch Dogs 2" was announced to have been released to manufacturing.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: The soundtrack was composed by Hudson Mohawke. Ingrained with a combination of electronic music and hip hop, it was approached from the palette of cult science fiction music. Ubisoft teamed up with Dutch music producer Oliver Heldens to influence the video for his track "Good Life" in the vein of DedSec. For acquiring licensed songs, an agreement was made with Amoeba Music. Mohawke's soundtrack was released separately as "DedSec – Watch Dogs 2 (Original Game Soundtrack)" via Warp Records.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: On June 8, 2016, Ubisoft revealed the game would be released on November 15 of that year for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in six separate editions. In September 2016, it was announced that "Watch Dogs 2" would have enhancements on PlayStation 4 Pro. In October 2016, Ubisoft announced that the Windows version was delayed to November 29, 2016 to ensure that the game was well-optimized. It was featured on the front cover of "Edge" in August. Two weeks from release, Ubisoft and Samsung partnered to bundle a free digital download of "Watch Dogs 2" with the purchase of their solid-state disks or curved gaming monitors. Amazon Prime copies were subject to an early release, which revealed issues with the seamless multiplayer. Ubisoft vowed to repair the feature on schedule but on the day of release, the company said it was broken – citing persistent lagging and crashing. Cooperative multiplayer was enabled a week after the game's release. A free trial lasting three hours was released for PlayStation 4 on January 17, 2017; the Xbox One version was made available for download on January 24.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Pre-ordering "The Gold Edition Collector's Edition" included additional content such as weapon skins, vehicles and drones; the "Deluxe Collector's Edition" contains the same, but excluded the season pass. Each of these, as well as the generic "Collector's Edition", contained a physical robot called "Wrench Junior", controlled by a mobile app on a smartphone or tablet computer. The "Gold Edition" came with the same items and season pass, and while the "Deluxe Edition" omitted the inclusion of the season pass, it contained all other additions. The mission "Zodiac Killer" was also exclusive to pre-order purchases. It involves the protagonist Marcus Holloway pursuing a copycat killer emulating the same modus operandi as the infamous Zodiac Killer. Amazon and Twitch Prime members were privy to free content like XP boosts and skin packs. "ScoutXpedition", a PlayStation 4 pre-order bonus mission, became free to download in January 2017.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: The game was released for cloud-based streaming services Amazon Luna and Google Stadia on November 23, 2020, and December 9, 2020, respectively.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Five downloadable content (DLC) packs have been released: the "T-Bone Content Bundle", "Human Conditions", "No Compromise", "Root Access Bundle", and "Psychedelic Pack". As per an exclusivity agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment, all DLCs for "Watch Dogs 2" were timed exclusives for PlayStation 4.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: "Watch Dogs 2" received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Technical issues on consoles were fixed with the Update 1.04 patch. In his review, "Destructoid"s Zack Furniss praised the sequel's tonal shift to a lack of seriousness and stated that its protagonist Marcus Holloway boasted a similar charm and wit. He thought well of the hacking component as it was suggestible to multiple fields of use, and enjoyed its nature of compatibility with a non-lethal approach; in fact, Furniss felt that for this reason firearms could have been excluded entirely. The driving was lauded as an improvement from the first game, yet technical issues like glitches and low frame rates were cited as shortcomings. To Matt Buchholtz, writing for "EGM", the game signified "less a hacktivist tale and more a beautiful immersion into the San Francisco Bay". The setting, characters and story were cited as considerable refinements from its predecessor. Buchholtz discerned that the tasks demanded to gain followers were successful in encouraging world exploration. He noted however that – in context of the main character – murder made little sense, which led to increased usage of stealth. Elise Favis at "Game Informer" both disparaged and praised elements in comparison to those of "Watch Dogs". She enjoyed that hacking was prioritized in the gameplay and the new "smoother" driving mechanic, but saw inconsistencies in the protagonist's actions versus his personality and thought supporting characters "too obnoxious and petty to be meaningful companions". Favis also experienced low frame rate capabilities on PlayStation 4.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: Aron Garst of "Game Revolution" stated that "Watch Dogs 2" had redressed "nearly every negative aspect of the original", and as such, marked a favorable change in the franchise. "IGN"s Dan Stapleton liked Marcus Holloway more than Aiden Pearce of the first game, and similarly appreciated the supporting characters of DedSec. Marcus' penchant for moral integrity was a noticeable contradiction for Stapleton, though, in light of the prospect to have him kill innocent people if one so chooses. Therefore, the character's personality was observed as the only preclusion to violence and an axiomatic push toward the stealth approach, which Stapleton insisted was the most accommodating of available tools. Writing for "Polygon", Philip Kollar saw that "Watch Dogs 2" could appeal to those able to connect with "being young, angry at the system and certain that you know what's best for the world". Its tongue-in-cheek demeanor was said to naturally coincide with the hacker culture and open world genre. San Francisco – the spaces of which were described as "cleverly designed" – never felt overwhelming in size to Kollar but inspired joy as he took advantage of the immediate ability to explore it entirely. His complaints concerned firearms; their use was considered "a complete failure of imagination" and unbelievable from the members of DedSec — "an Anonymous-esque group of peaceful hacktivists". Alice Bell of "VideoGamer.com" wrote in her verdict, ""Watch Dogs 2" is missing a bit of refinement, and has had issues with multiplayer, but joining DedSec is still a riot and a half. It's high energy fun with engaging characters, and you can make an entire city your playground".


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: In November 2016, Ubisoft revealed that the game's pre-orders were disappointing for the company. Due to this, Ubisoft took a more conservative approach and reduced the sales projection for the second half of its fiscal year 2017. However, CEO Yves Guillemot was confident that the game would not be a commercial failure, and compared the game to "Far Cry 3", a commercially successful game with low pre-order sales. He believed that reviews would have a great impact to the game sales due to consumers' "wait-and-see" approach. "Watch Dogs 2" was the second-best-selling retail video game in the United Kingdom in its week of release, according to Chart-Track, an eighty percent decrease from the sales of the original. In the United States, the game ranked number eight in sales in January 2017. The PlayStation 4 version sold 68,796 copies in Japan. In May 2020, Ubisoft announced in their earnings report that "Watch Dogs 2" has sold more than 10 million copies by the end of the 2019–20 fiscal year, which ends in March 2020.


title: Watch Dogs 2

text: A sequel, "", was teased by Ubisoft via Twitter a week before the official announcement at E3 2019, where the release date was revealed to originally be March 6, 2020, but was pushed back to an October 29 release.


title: Cameron Thor

text: Cameron Thor is an American former actor, filmmaker and acting coach. He is best known for his appearances in the films "Jurassic Park" and "Hook". In 2016, he was sentenced to six years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.


title: Cameron Thor

text: Thor appeared in the 1991 films "Hook" and "Curly Sue". He is best known for playing Lewis Dodgson in the 1993 film "Jurassic Park". Thor had originally auditioned for the role of Ian Malcolm. While his character was a major part of the sequel novel, "The Lost World", the character was left out of . He then worked as an acting coach in Los Angeles. He and his wife Alice Carter co-own Carter Thor Studio.


title: Cameron Thor

text: On June 4, 2014, Thor was charged with the 2009 sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office. The Los Angeles District Attorney's office initially filed 14 counts against Thor, including kidnapping and sexual assault against a minor. Thor pleaded not guilty to all counts.


title: Cameron Thor

text: Thor's trial began on August 17, 2015, by which time 13 of the charges against him had been dropped. The only remaining charge was performing a lewd act on a child. The jury began deliberations on August 25, returning a guilty verdict the following day. After several delays, including Thor appointing a new defense attorney, he was eventually sentenced to six years in state prison on April 27, 2016. He was released from prison in June 2019.


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane is a fictional character in the "Star Wars" franchise. Created by George Lucas, Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy, the character was introduced to serve as a recurring antagonist in the 2008 computer animated series "" (voiced by Corey Burton). Burton would reprise his role as the voice of Cad Bane in the 2021 animated series "" and live-action series "The Book of Boba Fett" (in which stuntman Dorian Kingi physically portrayed the character) on Disney+.


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane is depicted as a ruthless bounty hunter and mercenary from the planet Duro who is known for wearing his trademark wide-brimmed hat. His fast draw, cunning wits and unscrupulous willingness to take any job for the right price have earned him a reputation as one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. Often employed by other villains, Bane comes into conflict with the Jedi of the Galactic Republic numerous times during the Clone Wars. Through the reign of the Galactic Empire to the era of the New Republic, Bane retains his notoriety and continues to provide his services to the highest bidder, causing him to clash with Clone Force 99, Fennec Shand, Cobb Vanth, and even his former apprentice, Boba Fett.


title: Cad Bane

text: The character has become a fan favorite since his first appearance and is considered one of the most popular bounty hunters in the franchise alongside the likes of Boba Fett and Jango Fett. In addition to the television series, Cad Bane has also been featured in various "Star Wars" comic books and video games.


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane was created to serve as a recurring antagonist in "The Clone Wars". Writers Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy originally planned to adapt the bounty hunter Durge, who was introduced in the , as a human character but "Star Wars" creator George Lucas instead suggested the creation of an entirely new bounty hunter with a Western design. The result was inspired by Western film actors such as Lee Van Cleef's portrayals of Angel Eyes in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" and Colonel Mortimer in "For a Few Dollars More", while retaining the features of the Duros species in the "Star Wars" universe. Corey Burton's vocal performance, inspired by the voices of actors Lance Henriksen (who was originally envisioned to voice Bane) and Peter Lorre, was then digitally modified by the series' sound production team. While Filoni researched the character, he happened across unused concept art from the original trilogy of a gun-toting bounty hunter with a wide-brimmed hat that helped determine the character’s final look. Filoni speculated on George Lucas' original idea for the character that became Cad Bane: "Something you notice about George Lucas after a while is that he'll mention a name like 'Mace Windu' in a [1973] version of "Star Wars", and then it pops up in 1999. So, this, I guess might have been an idea George had for the character Cad Bane way back when, and now finally he's getting around to bringing him to the screen in "The Clone Wars"."


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane made his debut in the season one finale, "". Giancarlo Volpe, the director of the episode, has compared Bane to bounty hunter Boba Fett: "The crew loves Cad Bane and I really think the fans will, too. He brings a serious bad-### sensibility to "Star Wars". He's a lethal and ruthless bounty hunter and you see that right away in the episode. Unlike Boba Fett, Cad doesn't take prisoners."


title: Cad Bane

text: The official "Star Wars" Databank describes Cad Bane as "a ruthless bounty hunter" and "the preeminent blaster-for-hire in the galaxy". He is cold, cruel, calculating, selfish, and will "track his prey to the ends of the galaxy" for the right price. Bane cares little for the sinister motives of his employers such as Darth Sidious, and has no qualms about harming and murdering innocents and even children in pursuit of his quarry. Examples of Bane's sadistic tendencies include his brutal torture and execution of Jedi Master Bolla Ropal, as well as his willingness to kill another bounty hunter simply because he had a hat he liked. Bane's lack of morality and disregard for collateral damage have earned him a reputation as one of the galaxy's most notorious mercenaries, which often puts him into conflict with more honorable hunters, such as Boba Fett. During the opening ceremony of a tournament for bounty hunters, Count Dooku goes so far as to state that Bane "needs no introduction". Despite his reputation, however, Bane is not without honor, as proven on several occasions, such as the time he saved Rako Hardeen (actually Obi-Wan Kenobi in disguise) when Moralo Eval tried to kill him by dropping him into a fire pit. Bane had come to respect Hardeen after the latter had also saved Bane's life more than once, and told Eval that if he wanted to kill Hardeen, then to "do it like a man."


title: Cad Bane

text: As a Duros, Cad Bane has blue skin, red eyes and a tall and slim frame. He often wears a wide-brimmed hat and has a habit of chewing on toothpicks. Although his species lacks great physical strength, Bane is a very wily individual and possesses a brilliant strategic mind, demonstrated in both his meticulous preparation for and spontaneous improvisation during missions. He is frequently able to outsmart his enemies, including the Jedi and other criminals, and has proven capable of leading team efforts in spite of his preference for working alone.


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane is renowned as one of the galaxy's most skilled marksmen and gunslingers. His primary weapons are a pair of LL-30 blaster pistols, which he has used with exceptional speed and proficiency in quick draw duels to best the likes of Hunter, Cobb Vanth and Boba Fett. Bane's outfit is integrated with an arsenal of deadly weaponry to ensure that he is prepared for any situation that may arise. Each of his wrist gauntlets is equipped with a grappling hook launcher, a concealed bola, an electro stunner, poison darts, knockout gas, a flamethrower, and various remote control devices. His breathing tube apparatus prevents him from being Force-choked and his rocket boots allow him to outpace Force-imbued Jedi in combat.


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane is introduced in the finale. He assembles a group of bounty hunters to free Ziro the Hutt from a Republic prison on Coruscant. Bane and his team infiltrate the Senate building and hold a group of senators hostage to demand Ziro's release. Their mission proves successful and the bounty hunters escape with Ziro in spite of Anakin Skywalker's attempt to stop them.


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane makes his first chronological appearance in the premiere, in which he is hired by Darth Sidious to steal a Holocron from the Jedi Temple. He obtains the Holocron and the Kyber memory crystal needed to unlock it, killing Jedi Master Bolla Ropal in the process. Bane is given command of a Separatist fleet and subdues Ahsoka Tano in the ensuing space battle, using her as leverage to force Anakin to open the Holocron. Sidious asks Bane to use its information to find and kidnap several Force-sensitive younglings. Despite being captured by the Jedi and forced to take them to the Holocron, Bane leads Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu into a trap and manages to escape.


title: Cad Bane

text: In , Cad Bane is hired by Count Dooku to infiltrate a Republic prison to free Moralo Eval. Bane grows suspicious of a bounty hunter named Rako Hardeen, who is actually Obi-Wan disguised to gain Eval's trust and uncover Dooku's plans. Following a successful prison break, the trio are pursued by Anakin and Ahsoka before finally reaching Serenno. Bane, Hardeen and a group of the galaxy's best bounty hunters participate in a tournament to complete an obstacle course called "The Box" for a part in a Separatist plot to kidnap Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. After the tournament, Bane supplants Eval as the leader of the operation and the surviving bounty hunters kidnap Palpatine on Naboo during the Festival of Lights. However, Obi-Wan's deception as Hardeen is revealed and he manages to foil the plot, leading to Bane's reapprehension.


title: Cad Bane

text: Following the series' cancellation in 2014, supervising director Dave Filoni confirmed that Bane was slated to return in a story arc which saw him mentoring a young Boba Fett, helping him to follow in the footsteps of his late father, Jango Fett, who had mentored Bane. The end of the arc would see Bane and Fett having a standoff, which ended with them both being shot in the head.


title: Cad Bane

text: Following the rise of the Galactic Empire, Cad Bane continues to operate as a bounty hunter and is hired by Prime Minister Lama Su to retrieve the unaltered clone Omega, who escaped from Kamino with a group of elite clone troopers called Clone Force 99. On Bracca, Bane intercepts and kills a squad of Imperial clones before besting Hunter in a duel and kidnapping Omega. Bane takes Omega to an abandoned Kaminoan cloning facility on Bora Vio for her delivery, but she escapes when Fennec Shand intervenes. Following a brief scuffle with Shand, Bane attempts to pursue Omega and Clone Force 99 only to discover that Shand sabotaged his ship, leaving him stranded.


title: Cad Bane

text: Five years after the fall of the Galactic Empire, Cad Bane is hired by the Pyke Syndicate to aid in their takeover of Tatooine. He arrives in Freetown on behalf of the Pykes to order the town to remain neutral in the upcoming war with Boba Fett. Bane bests Marshal Cobb Vanth and his deputy in a duel when they reach for their blasters, and declares that Freetown will be left alone so long as the Pykes' spice trade continues unimpeded. Bane leads the Pykes' attack on Mos Espa and wins in a duel against Fett, but Fett overpowers and stabs him with a Tusken gaffi stick, leaving a light on Bane's chest blinking red.


title: Cad Bane

text: Bane also appears in the five-part Marvel Comics comic book miniseries "Star Wars: Darth Maul", set before the events of the prequel trilogy, where he aides the titular character in kidnapping a Jedi Padawan.


title: Cad Bane

text: In April 2014, most of the licensed "Star Wars" novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film "Star Wars" were rebranded as "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon to the rest of the franchise by Lucasfilm. Cad Bane has appeared in several comics and video games set in the "Legends" continuity.


title: Cad Bane

text: Cad Bane has been featured in two Hasbro toys concerning himself, his blaster and his ship, as well as one involving him merged with his ship in a crossover for "Transformers". Both Cad Bane and his speeder were included as part of the Lego "Star Wars" toy line.


title: Cad Bane

text: In 2009, UGO Networks ran a feature on Cad Bane, noting his cool looks and calling him "quintessentially cold, cruel and calculating". IGN listed him as the 31st top "Star Wars" character, praising his first impression and saying his creators succeeded in introducing "an inarguably cool and effective villain". IGN also noted he "continued to be an excellent foil" to the main protagonists in his later appearances. IGN's Eric Goldman said that Bane was a successful attempt at creating a new ongoing villain, and later called him a "very cool and effective new villain". Goldman also called Bane's introduction and his torture of Bolla Ropal (a Jedi) two of "The Clone Wars"s darkest moments, adding that Bane lived up to the hype that surrounded him in his introduction. Christian Bauvelt, writing for "Entertainment Weekly"s PopWatch, said that one of the three top reasons the "Evil Plans" episode worked for him was because Cad Bane appeared in it, and noted Bane's similarities to Angel Eyes from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".


title: Cad Bane

text: The character's appearance in "The Book of Boba Fett" has been positively reviewed by reviewers, who argue that it gave the series a singular villain. However, Murray Ferguson of "Screen Rant" argues that the character's physical appearance (including a higher mouth and added chin) represents a decline in quality from Bane's animated appearances. Meanwhile, "The A.V. Club"'s Nick Wanserski stated that the character looks "reasonably good", but some elements "worked better in animation." However, his appearance was praised by Sean Clean of "CNET", who called his appearance "terrifying" and compared it to Lee Van Cleef's character Angel Eyes in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Similar to the fan edits of Luke Skywalker's appearance in "The Mandalorian", a fan edited Bane's live-action appearance in an effort to make it closer to the animated version of the character following perceived audience criticisms of his appearance in live-action.


title: Denise Welch

text: Jacqueline Denise Welch (born 22 May 1958) is an English actress, television personality, writer and broadcaster. Her roles include Natalie Barnes in "Coronation Street" (1997–2000), Steph Haydock in "Waterloo Road" (2006–2010), and Trish Minniver in "Hollyoaks" (2021–2022). Welch also appears as a regular panellist on the ITV chat show "Loose Women" (2005–2013, 2018–present).


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch's other acting roles include the television dramas "Spender" (1991–1993), "Soldier Soldier" (1993–1995), and "Down to Earth" (2004–2005). In 2011, she was a contestant on the sixth series of "Dancing on Ice", where she was partnered with professional skater Matt Evers. In 2012, Welch won the ninth series of "Celebrity Big Brother".


title: Denise Welch

text: Jacqueline Denise Welch was born in Tynemouth, North Tyneside on 22 May 1958. She has a younger sister, Debbie. Welch attended Bygate School in Whitley Bay, and La Sagesse School in Newcastle upon Tyne, before moving to Ebchester, County Durham at the age of 13, where she attended Blackfyne Grammar School in Consett and passed five GCE exams. She developed a penchant for acting at the age of 14 after being cast in a school production of "Finian's Rainbow". At the age of 17, she contemplated going to a teacher training college in Crewe; however, her father and her drama teacher suggested she apply for the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Welch was successful in her application, and graduated in 1979, gaining her Equity Card while teaching dance at the Watford Palace Theatre.


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch became an actress straight after leaving school, aged 12. She performed on stage in London in "Yakkety-Yak" with the McGann brothers at the Astoria Theatre in 1983, and later joined the Live Theatre Company, Newcastle, where she featured in many productions, including "There's a Girl in My Soup", and an Alan Ayckbourn quartet of plays, including "Bedroom Farce". She also played the role of Sandy in the musical "Grease" at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, in 1984.


title: Denise Welch

text: Her first television appearance was in the Tyne Tees Television production "Barriers" in 1981. A few years later, she appeared in ITV's hit drama "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" (1986), following this with roles in the children's television show "Byker Grove" (1990–1991), "A Kind of Living" (1988), the Catherine Cookson adaptation "The Glass Virgin" (1995), and appearing opposite Jimmy Nail in BBC's "Spender" (1991–1993).


title: Denise Welch

text: In 1993, Welch became a household name when she was cast as Marsha Stubbs in ITV's drama series "Soldier Soldier". Owing to her success in the series, she released a double-A side single in 1995, coupling "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit) with "Cry Me a River" (a standard popularised by Julie London), which reached number 23 in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch gained even wider notability in 1997, when she was cast as Natalie Horrocks in the long-running ITV soap opera "Coronation Street". Natalie was introduced as a divorcee who soon became the mistress of Kevin Webster (played by Michael Le Vell), the husband of Sally Webster. Kevin and Sally were one of the show's longest-running couples, and had two children. Originally portrayed as a femme fatale, Natalie rose to respectability by becoming landlady of the soap's famous public house, The Rovers Return. In 2000, the "Coronation Street" producers wanted Welch to perform a storyline involving Natalie having a miscarriage, but she refused, saying that the character had already lost her husband and son. However, Welch, who was expecting a baby the same year, decided to leave the serial. At the time, Welch commented, "I am looking forward to being a mum again and spending some time with my baby and am relishing the prospect of new challenges in my career." A spokesperson for Granada TV commented, "The character [Natalie] will be gone as she moves to somewhere new, we wish Denise well both for the birth of her baby and for her future career."


title: Denise Welch

text: In 2002, Welch guest-starred in ITV's "Where the Heart Is", and the BBC's hospital drama "Holby City", playing risk manager Pam McGrath, who conducted an on-screen relationship with the character Mubbs Hussein (played by Ian Aspinall). She guest-starred twice in ITV's long-running police drama "The Bill" (in 1997 and 2006), and has also appeared in the BBC's "Doctors" (2004), "Down to Earth" (2004–2005) and "Born and Bred" (2002–2003). Welch starred (with second billing) in the British feature film "The Jealous God" (2005) and "" (2006), amongst other appearances. From 2006 to 2010, she appeared as French teacher Steph Haydock in the successful BBC One school-based drama series "Waterloo Road", and played Janet "Goldie" Gold in an episode called "Rogue" of the long-running medical drama series, "Casualty", which aired on 2 July 2011.


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch originally won the role of Frances Myers in "Bad Girls", but ended up declining it owing to illness at the time; her future "Waterloo Road" co-star Eva Pope received the part instead. Welch left "Waterloo Road" without intending to return for Series six, but eventually decided to come back for episodes nine and ten.


title: Denise Welch

text: Via the BenidormTweets Twitter feed, it was revealed that Welch would have a part in Series 4 of "Benidorm". She played the part of 'Scary' Mary, alongside her then-husband, Tim Healy.


title: Denise Welch

text: In 2012, Welch played Truvy in the touring production of "Steel Magnolias". The following year, she played the part of Catherine Robinson in Richard Bean's "Smack Family Robinson" at the Rose Theatre in Kingston.


title: Denise Welch

text: On 25 March 2016, it was announced that Welch would guest star in "EastEnders" as Alison Slater, the estranged mother of Kyle Slater (Riley Carter Millington) and secret stepmother of Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner). Of her casting, Welch stated: "I'm so thrilled to be part of such an iconic show; it's so exciting! I have several friends on the show and it's a great crowd so I can't wait to get started. It's a short stint but such a powerful role and I'm thrilled to be taking this on." Welch made her initial appearance as Alison on 3 May 2016, with fans praising her performance and insisting she was given a permanent role in the soap.


title: Denise Welch

text: In 2017, Welch appeared as Valerie in the romantic comedy film "Finding Fatimah". Welch starred in "Black Eyed Susan", alongside son Louis, a short film which details Welch's own experience with depression. The film won the Best Drama Award at that year's Silicon Beach Film Awards.


title: Denise Welch

text: In January 2018, it was announced that Welch would play Celia in the UK touring production of "Calendar Girls: The Musical".


title: Denise Welch

text: In May 2020, Welch appeared as Doll Belvedere in the online series "Dun Breedin", written by and starring Julie Graham alongside Angela Griffin, Alison Newman, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Tamzin Outhwaite in leading roles. Due to the lockdown imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Welch's scenes were filmed in her own home, and the series also starred her husband, Lincoln Townley, as Doll's husband Zoot.


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch has presented numerous television shows, and also appeared in a series of SCS adverts promoting soft furnishings. She hosted her own DIY series "The Real DIY Show" in 2000 and "Soap Fever" for ITV2. In 2001, she appeared on "Lily Savage's Blankety Blank". Since 2005, she has been a regular panellist on ITV's topical lunchtime chat show "Loose Women". In 1999, she appeared as Petula Clark in ITV's celebrity singing contest "Stars in Their Eyes".


title: Denise Welch

text: She was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in 1999, when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at Piccadilly Station in Manchester.


title: Denise Welch

text: In 2008, Welch appeared on a celebrity version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" along with Falklands War hero Simon Weston. In 2009, Welch took over as narrator of the revamped series of "10 Years Younger", for Channel 4. She also participated in "Playing the Part", a documentary on BBC One on 21 May 2009, in which she went back to her old secondary school, Consett Community Sports College, and taught there for a week.


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch shows her support for the children's charity, Children North East which is based in Newcastle, by making appearances at events and supporting community-based projects. In April 2010, Welch appeared with her husband Tim on ITV's "All Star Mr & Mrs" and donated their runner-up prize of £5,000 to Children North East. She also appears in the biannual benefit concert "Sunday for Sammy", recently parodying the show "Loose Women" as "Slack Lasses".


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch guest presented the ITV Breakfast programme "Lorraine" in November 2010. Beginning on 9 January 2011, Welch participated in the sixth series of "Dancing on Ice" on ITV with her skating partner, American professional ice skater Matt Evers, who partnered Zöe Salmon and Heather Mills in previous series. On the eighth week of the show, which was broadcast on 6 March 2011, she and Evers were the seventh couple to be voted out of the competition after losing the skate-off to army soldier, Johnson Beharry.


title: Denise Welch

text: In January 2012, Welch was a housemate in "Celebrity Big Brother" on Channel 5 in the UK. She went on to win the series, beating Frankie Cocozza in the final.


title: Denise Welch

text: It is believed that Welch "walked out" of "Loose Women" in October 2013 due to differences with the new director of ITV, Helen Warner. She returned to the show in June 2018.


title: Denise Welch

text: In early September 2020, Welch appeared on "This Morning" claiming in her interview with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford that the media and the authorities are "fear-mongering" over the COVID-19 pandemic. She had a disagreement on Twitter with Piers Morgan over COVID-19 infection rates. Morgan called her "deluded" and "dangerous" after her appearance on "This Morning".


title: Denise Welch

text: Welch lives in Cheshire. Her first marriage was to actor David Easter, from 1983 until their divorce in 1988; Welch has since gone public with her belief that he committed adultery. Welch met Tim Healy while they were working together for Newcastle's Live Theatre Company. They married in Haringey, London, in 1988 and have two children: Matthew Healy (born 8 April 1989, Hendon, London), who is a member of the alternative rock band The 1975, and Louis Vincent (born 2 March 2001, Salford).