January 2011
140 posts
Cracked: 5 Terrifying Online Trends (Invented By... →
“If there’s a story involving crime or violence against a child that has even the most remote connection to some kind of networked technology, the technology itself becomes the center of the story. The stories follow the same template as when they were blaming music or games, and they’re equally rock-fuck stupid.”
Jan 31st
The Day Before Zero: Egyptian Botnets →
“An obvious question for many threatologists is whether Egypt’s abrupt absence from the Internet had (and has) any consequences for cyber-crime. As it happens, Egypt isn’t a global player in cyber-crime.”
Jan 30th
Naked Security: Facebook awarded over $360 million... →
“Porembski was alleged to have obtained the login details of at least 116,000 Facebook users, and sent more than 7.2 million spam messages to victims’ online friends.”
Jan 30th
Computerworld: Alleged 'scareware' vendors to pay... →
“The defendants in the case, doing business under several company names including Innovative Marketing and ByteHosting Internet Services, falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware and illegal pornography on consumers’ computers, the FTC said. The defendants sold more than 1 million software products, with names such as Winfixer, Drive Cleaner and Antivirus XP, to...
Jan 30th
threatpost: Why Takedowns Don't Reduce Online... →
“The last year has seen a string of takedowns of botnet command-and-control servers, malware drop zones, spam operations and other pieces of the crimeware infrastructure, each of which made a dent in one way or another. But the question of whether the takedowns have had any lasting effect on the overall level of crime and fraud online is a more complicated one.”
Jan 30th
NetworkWorld: Pope promotes Christian netiquette →
“The pope said new technologies were creating unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship but warned against creating false online profiles out of vanity or diluting the Christian message to achieve popularity.”
Jan 29th
Naked Security: Mark Zuckerberg fan page hacked on... →
Jan 29th
Zach Holman: OAuth Will Murder Your Children →
“OAuth has matured under Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and a multitude of other sites, but almost every third-party app that plugs into OAuth abuses it.”
Jan 29th
Darkreading: Combating Conficker: What Worked,... →
“…while the Conficker Working Group (CWG) was able to prevent the worm from becoming a massive botnet that threatened critical infrastructure, millions of infected machines are still out there….”
Jan 29th
Technolog: Did spam text kill a Russian suicide... →
“…the woman’s mobile phone, which served as the device’s detonator, was activated hours early by a spam message wishing her a happy new year.”
Jan 29th
AP: Facebook to let advertisers republish user... →
‘Facebook users who check in to a store or click the “like” button for a brand may soon find those actions retransmitted on their friends’ pages as a “Sponsored Story” paid for by advertisers. Currently there is no way for users to decline this feature.’
Jan 28th
The Onion: Study: 89 Percent Of Networking... →
“A new study published Tuesday by Emory University determined that 89 percent of networking encounters occur forcibly and without the consent of one of the parties involved….”
Jan 28th
Eye on the Hill: Say hello to CSIS Surveillance... →
“Friend of mine goes into a coffee joint in Kitchener last night, fires up his laptop to connect with the wi-fi, and look what he finds on the available networks list!”
Jan 28th
The Atlantic: The Inside Story of How Facebook... →
“The software was basically a country-level keystroke logger, with the passwords presumably being fed from the ISPs to the Ben Ali regime. As a user, you just logged into some part of the cloud, Facebook or your email, say, and it snatched up that information.”
Jan 28th
Internet Storm Center: Reviewing our... →
“One of the challenges faced in the IT industry is to break poorly conceived or mistaken preconceptions held by others. What happens when we’re the ones holding on to out dated ideas or are just wrong, as technology has taken another huge leap forward and we’re left standing clutching on to something that’s now infective?”
Jan 27th
The Security Practice: Do-Not-Track Must First "Do... →
“I continue to be disappointed by the Do-Not-Track discussion as captured by the media and blogosphere for its continued disregard for the security considerations of this new header.  Our concern is not about some geeky, low-level afterthought.  We are talking about a fundamental negative consequence on internet security brought about by an industry-wide knee-jerk...
Jan 27th
Securosis: Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)... →
‘Officials today revealed that the “Advanced Persistent Threat” (APT) has been completely defeated by vendor marketure, analyst/pundit tweets, and PowerPoint presentations.’
Jan 27th
Techdirt: Google Effectively Puts Demand Media On... →
‘Over the last year or so, there was growing concern about how “content farms” like Demand Media and Associated Content were “clogging up” search engines and cluttering the web with junk content. …It looks like Google is finally waking up to this issue.’
Jan 27th
Scott Bradner in Network World: The IETF at 25:... →
“The Internet we have today, and that most enterprises heavily depend on, is largely a result of IETF technologies, and more importantly, the IETF philosophy of the proper role of the network. The network that sprang from this philosophy is now under sustained attack and the future role of the IETF will depend on how well it responds to this attack.”
Jan 27th
John Levine in CircleID: Domains and the Freedom... →
“For a very long time, predating the birth of ICANN, there’s been a running battle about what should be required when one registers domain names. …This has led to endless skirmishes about the WHOIS service, one side wanting to abolish it or make it as hard as possible to get info about registrants, the other wanting ICANN to enforce the widely ignored rules that every domain...
Jan 27th
Darkreading: A Job Applicant? Nope, It's A Malware... →
“Cybercriminals engaging in ACH/wire transfer fraud are targeting businesses by responding via email to employment opportunities posted online, according to federal authorities.”
Jan 27th
Chicago Reader: Dear John: You've Been Scanned →
“As it puts old yearbooks online, classmates.com brings public attention to private messages and broken hearts”
Jan 26th
Sydney Morning Herald: Virgin Blue pays $110,000... →
“The spam has hit the fan and cost Virgin Blue $110,000 after Australia’s communications watchdog found the airline breached the law over its email marketing.”
Jan 22nd
io9: 10 devious new ways that computer hackers can... →
“Straight from CCC, here are ten ways hackers will subvert your computer, phone, bank card, and life in 2011.”
Jan 18th
io9: 10 devious new ways that computer hackers can... →
“Straight from CCC, here are ten ways hackers will subvert your computer, phone, bank card, and life in 2011.”
Jan 18th
ReadWriteWeb: Facebook Suspends Phone & Address... →
“Facebook announced that it would begin allowing third-party applications and websites to request that users share both their mobile phone number and address. Now, the company has said that it will be putting the new feature on hold while it makes changes to make sure that Facebook users are aware of the potential for data sharing.”
Jan 18th
ReadWriteWeb: Facebook Suspends Phone & Address... →
“Facebook announced that it would begin allowing third-party applications and websites to request that users share both their mobile phone number and address. Now, the company has said that it will be putting the new feature on hold while it makes changes to make sure that Facebook users are aware of the potential for data sharing.”
Jan 18th
Royal Pingdom: Internet 2010 in numbers →
“What happened with the Internet in 2010? How many websites were added? How many emails were sent? How many Internet users were there? This post will answer all of those questions and many, many more.”
Jan 15th
Royal Pingdom: Internet 2010 in numbers →
“What happened with the Internet in 2010? How many websites were added? How many emails were sent? How many Internet users were there? This post will answer all of those questions and many, many more.”
Jan 15th
Benlog: Facebook, the Control Revolution, and the... →
“The Internet has been vastly more empowering to mediators than to individuals. And so we have, in fact, a Control Revolution of a very different nature: one company, namely Facebook, is effectively shaping the future of social interactions, what’s acceptable and what’s frowned upon, what’s private and what’s not.”
Jan 15th
Benlog: Facebook, the Control Revolution, and the... →
“The Internet has been vastly more empowering to mediators than to individuals. And so we have, in fact, a Control Revolution of a very different nature: one company, namely Facebook, is effectively shaping the future of social interactions, what’s acceptable and what’s frowned upon, what’s private and what’s not.”
Jan 15th
1 note
Darkreading: Adobe Helps Users Wipe Out Flash... →
“New features will make it easier for users to clear local storage in Flash via a new browser API developed by Adobe, Mozilla, and Google. This provides users with more privacy protection.”
Jan 15th
Darkreading: Adobe Helps Users Wipe Out Flash... →
“New features will make it easier for users to clear local storage in Flash via a new browser API developed by Adobe, Mozilla, and Google. This provides users with more privacy protection.”
Jan 15th
Securosis: Funding Security and Playing God →
“If your executives don’t want to pay for security testing, use a judo move and tell them you agree; but the next time the company builds software, do it without QA. Tell your management team that they have to PROVE there is a problem first. Seriously.”
Jan 15th
Securosis: Funding Security and Playing God →
“If your executives don’t want to pay for security testing, use a judo move and tell them you agree; but the next time the company builds software, do it without QA. Tell your management team that they have to PROVE there is a problem first. Seriously.”
Jan 15th
Return Path: This is a joke, right? →
‘You are receiving this email because sometime during the past 20+ years you have registered with PACE, or one of our affiliated companies, to receive free information and offers…. Marketers — THIS is what you are up against. For all the good you are trying to do, many, many consumers and even more people at ISPs think THIS represents the thinking of too many folks who claim the...
Jan 15th
Return Path: This is a joke, right? →
‘You are receiving this email because sometime during the past 20+ years you have registered with PACE, or one of our affiliated companies, to receive free information and offers…. Marketers — THIS is what you are up against. For all the good you are trying to do, many, many consumers and even more people at ISPs think THIS represents the thinking of too many folks who claim the...
Jan 15th
ZDNet: We need help with the strange disappearance... →
“Zero Day blogger and malware researcher Dancho Danchev (right) has gone missing since August last year and we have some troubling information that suggests he may have been harmed in his native Bulgaria.” (Also: more coverage from Threat Level.)
Jan 15th
Gizmodo: A New And Maybe Better Way To Stop People... →
“The people running the video game League of Legends knew they had a problem. They had the same problem that makes much of the Internet unpleasant. Too many people were being jerks online. They’re hatching a novel solution: citizen justice.”
Jan 14th
Gizmodo: A New And Maybe Better Way To Stop People... →
“The people running the video game League of Legends knew they had a problem. They had the same problem that makes much of the Internet unpleasant. Too many people were being jerks online. They’re hatching a novel solution: citizen justice.”
Jan 14th
Word to the Wise: Conversational foreplay →
“Most good sales reps spend a little time socializing with prospects before they launch into the sales process, particularly when they are cold calling the target. This courtesy doesn’t seem to apply when cold emailing a prospect, though.”
Jan 14th
Word to the Wise: Conversational foreplay →
“Most good sales reps spend a little time socializing with prospects before they launch into the sales process, particularly when they are cold calling the target. This courtesy doesn’t seem to apply when cold emailing a prospect, though.”
Jan 14th
Email Security Matters: Word of the Week:... →
“You carry out a search for your item of interest, find a website that looks promising and click on it to find out more. Since you don’t know the website, chances are you won’t even notice that the page has actually redirected you to its competitor, or worse still, a malicious website.”
Jan 14th
Email Security Matters: Word of the Week:... →
“You carry out a search for your item of interest, find a website that looks promising and click on it to find out more. Since you don’t know the website, chances are you won’t even notice that the page has actually redirected you to its competitor, or worse still, a malicious website.”
Jan 14th
Naked Security: Sarah Palin’s email hacker is... →
“It’s a pretty miserable end to a story that has run since the height of Palin’s ultimately unsuccessful campaign to become US Vice President. I’m not saying that what Kernell did was right, or that it’s excusable - but it’s always sad to hear about a young man being punished so severely for his naive antics when there are so many organised, ...
Jan 14th
Naked Security: Sarah Palin’s email hacker is... →
“It’s a pretty miserable end to a story that has run since the height of Palin’s ultimately unsuccessful campaign to become US Vice President. I’m not saying that what Kernell did was right, or that it’s excusable - but it’s always sad to hear about a young man being punished so severely for his naive antics when there are so many organised, ...
Jan 14th
Antony Van Couvering in CircleID: Confirmed: Bill... →
“The inevitable tech press that Clinton’s presence will generate will be good for ICANN and for Silicon Valley too…the ferocious energy and money of Silicon Valley will be bracing and salutary for the ICANN Board and staff and community and they might (maybe) begin to see the bigger picture.”
Jan 14th
Antony Van Couvering in CircleID: Confirmed: Bill... →
“The inevitable tech press that Clinton’s presence will generate will be good for ICANN and for Silicon Valley too…the ferocious energy and money of Silicon Valley will be bracing and salutary for the ICANN Board and staff and community and they might (maybe) begin to see the bigger picture.”
Jan 14th
Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising →
(Read the whole site. It won’t take long, but it just might change your life. -BoM)
Jan 13th
Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising →
(Read the whole site. It won’t take long, but it just might change your life. -BoM)
Jan 13th