Archive for August, 2010
Did you kill the web?
Let’s check your alibi. Think of how you spent your morning. Normally, I’d share my morning with you here, what websites I’ve visited and what apps I’ve used, but my boss reads my blog posts, and if she knew how much time I spent on … well, let’s let Chris Anderson illustrate the point I’m trying to make:
“You wake up and check your email on your bedside iPad — that’s one app. During breakfast you browse Facebook, Twitter, and The New York Times — three more apps. On the way to the office, you listen to a podcast on your smartphone. Another app. At work, you scroll through RSS feeds in a reader and have Skype and IM conversations. More apps. At the end of the day, you come home, make dinner while listening to Pandora, play some games on Xbox Live, and watch a movie on Netflix’s streaming service. You’ve spent the day on the Internet — but not on the Web. And you are not alone.”
Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff, in an article on Wired.com titled “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet“, present a compelling argument for the demise of the World Wide Web and how “simpler, sleeker services“, like apps, “are less about the searching and more about the getting.”
Peer to peer file transfers are among the suspects at the crime scene:
“The applications that account for more of the Internet’s traffic include peer-to-peer file transfers, email, company VPNs, the machine-to-machine communications of APIs, Skype calls, World of Warcraft and other online games, Xbox Live, iTunes, voice-over-IP phones, iChat, and Netflix movie streaming. Many of the newer Net applications are closed, often proprietary, networks.”
This is one of the most interesting articles I’ve read in a while, give it a read and feel free to share your thoughts and whether or not you’re placing any yellow crime scene tape over your PC.
“Beware of the fake Facebook ‘dislike’ button. As always, we advise you not to click on suspicious links on Facebook. We’re working hard to stop these from spreading. If you see one, report it to us, and warn any friends who might be affected.”
Facebook Security posted on their Facebook wall
Reminiscent of “beware of the brown acid” at Woodstock, we now have “beware of the fake Facebook ‘dislike’ button“, and it seems that lately there have been a lot of problems over at Yasker’s farm, er, sorry, Facebook.
Riva Richmond, on The New York Times’ “Gadgetwise” blog explains what’s going on with this latest shenanigans in her post simply titled: “Facebook ‘Dislike’ Button Is a Scam”
Richmond explains that the latest scam happening on Facebook has to do with a malicious Facebook app. She says that “a ‘dislike’ button is the latest in a string of cons circulating on the social-networking site. It purports to offer users a way to express their aversion to links, videos and other annoying content posted by friends on Facebook, as an alternative to giving a thumbs up with Facebook’s ‘Like’ button. To get it, they supposedly have to fill out a survey – at which point they unwittingly agree to recurring cellphone charges.”
What makes this scam so effective is that many Facebook users have been clamoring to get a “Dislike” button for years, and seeing a friend post “I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!” makes it all the more enticing.
So, before you update your status today, give Riva’s post a read, better to be informed, but “of course it’s your own trip. So be my guest, but please be advised that there is a warning on that one, ok?“
“Once I have the name and URL of a user, I can view, by default, their picture, friends, information about them, and some other details.”
Ron Bowes | SkullSecurity.org
Remember Ron Bowes?
Ron Bowes is the guy that used code to scan the 500 million Facebook profiles for information not hidden by privacy settings, he collected the personal information of 100 million Facebook users, and yes, Ron Bowes is the guy that posted all that information online.
Seems Facebook (surprise surprise) is having some more privacy problems. There was a bug last week that could be played with by spammers to snatch user names and photographs.
Let’s say someone enters the e-mail address of a Facebook user along with the wrong password, well, Facebook would then return a special “Please re-enter your password” page, which just so happens to include the Facebook photo and the full name of the person associated with the email address.
Thanks to Sharon Gaudin for writing “5 tips to protect yourself on Facebook” on Computerworld.com. Where she makes a great point about what people are, or are not doing to protect themselves.
After all the problems, after Ron Bowes, after this most recent bug, and even after Facebook users have been told what to do to protect themselves, Sharon says that:
“Oddly enough, though, that doesn’t mean that most users have battened down their security hatches or have even rethought the kind of information they routinely post about themselves.” She goes on to say that “in light of the concern about privacy and security — and the fact that users don’t seem to be doing what they should be doing to safeguard their information — Computerworld talked with analysts to come up with five suggestions to protect you and your personal information if you’re one of the half a billion Facebook users sharing pictures, videos and updates about your latest dates or upcoming vacations.”
It’s worth a read, it’s pretty much a safe bet that anything titled “5 Tips To …” is going to be good.
“As more and more of our personal information is collected and stored online and on computers, we need to ensure that the businesses storing this information are keeping it safe and giving us quick warning if it falls into the wrong hands.”
Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and chairman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance.
Senator John Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) have introduced The Data Security and Breach Notification Act. The goal of this is to make sure that any firm that collects and stores personal information must then be responsible for making sure that they have “reasonable security policies and procedures” put into place that will prevent leaks or breaches.
Kenneth Corbin, Associate Editor at InternetNews.com, gives his account of this bill, and what’s happening with it, in this recent article.
It’s interesting that there have been two similar bills introduced, but those bills never made it past the senate floor.
With all the threats and breaches we’ve been seeing, coming from outside organizations AND inside them, you’ll want to give Corbin’s article a read and see where your tax dollars (if you’re in the US) are going.
Big shout out to GKlausner for his video on WS_FTP. Your creativity, knowledge and love of Polly Pocket dolls and WS_FTP is both informative and amusing!
Pantless geeky flight attendant: “Check out a company called Ipswitch. They have a product called WS_FTP, and this thing is the private luxury liner of safe and speedy data movement…. WS_FTP ROCKS!”
This blog post is also an open invitation to the millions of Ipswitch File Transfer customers out there around the globe….. We’d love to hear about how you’re using our solutions too, just email us at MyStories@ipswitch.com. Dolls optional.
