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Kim Davis
Thinkernetter
Friday March 1, 2013 2:25:15 PM
no ratings

On the one hand, it's good that Kaspersky was so transparent about the details of the attack.  On the other hand, won't it help hackers replicate it?

sarahp
IQ Crew
Thursday February 28, 2013 11:41:22 PM
no ratings

Well, they are lucky that they caught it pretty early to warn people and governments. Hopefully it hasn't done too much damage yet, but I doubt them catching it will mean it will stop being spread. That seems highly unlikely in so many ways since malware never stops sadly. However, with that being said we might have a fighting chance against this possible infection/

Kim Davis
Thinkernetter
Thursday February 28, 2013 4:50:41 PM
no ratings

Yes indeed, Scott.  And it relates to the point I keep making about people needing to think about what they've posted online before choosing something as lame as "Place of birth" or "First school" or "Mother's maiden name" as their security question.

aum007
Thinkernetter
Thursday February 28, 2013 4:12:20 PM

Guys,

I just came across this article

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/021413-ditch-the-pdf-headaches-three-266721.html

Given how terrible Adobe's patching Cycle for the Reader has gotten ;I dont think this is a bad idea to try out

Also,Mozilla is planning some new improvements to tackle PDF based threats once and for all.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/011113-firefox-getting-built-in-html5-based-pdf-265749.html

More Intriguing from this article

"The PDF.js project clearly shows that HTML5 and JavaScript are now powerful enough to create applications that could previously have only been created as native applications," the Mozilla software engineers said. "Not only do most PDFs load and render quickly, they run securely and have an interface that feels at home in the browser." - See more at: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/011113-firefox-getting-built-in-html5-based-pdf-265749.html#sthash.nWWgyBeZ.dpuf

"The PDF.js project clearly shows that HTML5 and JavaScript are now powerful enough to create applications that could previously have only been created as native applications," the Mozilla software engineers said. "Not only do most PDFs load and render quickly, they run securely and have an interface that feels at home in the browser."

Wow!!!


Can I say double Wow!!!

Brian Newby
IQ Crew
Thursday February 28, 2013 3:52:00 PM
no ratings

smkinoshita:

I've thought the English/second language thing as well.

I've also thought that maybe it's not intentional, that some people have seen the types of emails before and just started typing.

But, given that there is a science to whole cyber crime "movement," I think it would be fascinating to see the playbook.

smkinoshita
Thinkernetter
Thursday February 28, 2013 3:42:49 PM
no ratings

@Brian:  The answer I've heard for that is that those phishing mails are looking for gullible or otherwise vulnerable individuals who would take longer to realize they'd been scammed and have less an idea of what to do about it. 

Personally, I think it's more an English-as-second-language.  Western languages are extremely difficult for Eastern-language speakers and vice-versa.  Translation is hard.

Brian Newby
IQ Crew
Thursday February 28, 2013 3:39:19 PM
no ratings

I've always wondered, and maybe someone here knows, why many phishing emails are laden with typos or poor grammar. 

There has to be some science to that.  I wonder if it's intentional to look more like someone was in a hurry or an actual human?

I get that criminals could just be bad spellers, but to the conversion rate, I've always suspected there was more to it.

smkinoshita
Thinkernetter
Thursday February 28, 2013 3:18:01 PM
no ratings

@Kim -- that was my original point.  Most marketers would be jealous of that kind of "conversion rate".  It's also why privacy should be a concern -- not because of advertisers, but phishers.  Yet every time I hear about complaints, it's always because "advertisers will use it" when they're the least of our worries.

Kim Davis
Thinkernetter
Thursday February 28, 2013 3:15:21 PM
no ratings

There are examples of the phishing emails in the Kaspersky report, and clearly a lot of thought and research went into them.  It would be hard for anyone not to be hooked by that kind of content.

aum007
Thinkernetter
Thursday February 28, 2013 3:00:53 PM
no ratings

Smk,

You kinda hit the nail right on the Head here!!!

Its kinda sad but true that Customers still continue to fall for such tricks routinely even today!

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David Weldon
David Weldon   5/22/2013   8 comments
In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
Paul Korzeniowski
The smartphone market reached a significant milestone, a breakthrough that may cause vendors to celebrate but could strain the capabilities of IT service desks.
Maria Korolov
Maria Korolov   5/21/2013   15 comments
In the fall of 2011, around 160,000 students in 190 countries enrolled in a Stanford-sponsored online course about artificial intelligence. About 23,000 completed the course and got certificates, including 248 who got a perfect score. The university offered the same course the old-fashioned way to students sitting in Stanford classrooms. None of the those students got a perfect score.
Joe Stanganelli
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IETV: the thinkerNet on film
5
of
Kim Davis
Big-Data Can’t Always Sell Wine

5|21|13   |   2:23   |   3 comments


Whole Foods Global Wine Purchaser Doug Bell told me about some of the constraints on using analytics in the US wine market.
Paul J. Fleuranges
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5|6|13   |   3:51   |   No comments


New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
Kim Davis
Fast Forward to the Future

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A look back at tech writing in the 90s makes us wonder where enterprise IT will be 20 years from now.
Mitch Wagner
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Google's new Inactive Account Manager lets you control how Google disposes of your accounts when you die.
Second Shooter
Argument Over Top-Level Domains Is 'Stupid'

4|11|13   |   2:07   |   3 comments


The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
Kim Davis
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ePad Femme is the world’s first tablet “made exclusively for women.”
Wisdom of the Big Chair
NFC Moves Into the Mainstream

3|20|13   |   2:16   |   No comments


While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Wisdom of the Big Chair
Integrating Security Into Your Cloud Contract

3|19|13   |   3:35   |   No comments


Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Brian Baron
How Edmunds.com Collects Customer Information

3|18|13   |   1:15   |   No comments


Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Brian Baron
How Edmunds.com Uses Analytics to Customize Site

3|14|13   |   0:47   |   No comments


The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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Keep Critical Data With a Knowledge Management System
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Fortune 500 companies lose at least
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet
David Weldon
In the 1970 science fiction thriller
Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.

CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet
David Weldon
In the 1970 science fiction thriller
Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.

CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet
David Weldon
In the 1970 science fiction thriller
Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.

CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet
David Weldon
In the 1970 science fiction thriller
Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.

CLICK FOR MORE
Yahoo Needs to Break Tumblr in Order to Fix It
Joe Stanganelli
As
Mitch Wagner discussed today, Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr. The big Internet debate at the moment is whether Tumblr will be good or bad for Yahoo. Regardless of their stances on the future of Yahoo itself, many claim that Yahoo will somehow ruin Tumblr.

CLICK FOR MORE