Our last report was on the 14th, and a lot can happen in two weeks. Among others, we were blown away by the report that spammers make 7-grand a day! Others include: * Your social media profile: Watch out for the risks
* Using Google Alerts For Reputation Management
* Could Facebook Keep Your Kid Out of College?
* The Risks of Social Media: Avoiding Disaster
* Spotify splattered with malware-tainted ads
* Web-search box at top of Facebook page may be malware
* NetQin Denies Claims That It Uploads Malware to Phones With Its Antivirus Software
* Securing against identity theft
* Spammers Make $7000 a Day
* Dvorak : The Worst Spam Filter
* ID thief sentenced to more than 16 years in prison
* and more …
Web-search box at top of Facebook page may be malware
A web-search box was recently seen at the top of a Facebook page, indicating that the world’s most popular social-networking giant is preparing to encroach into Web search giant Google’s jurisdiction.
According to many, the web-search box at the top of a Facebook page is part of a beta testing of a new search feature. 
Full story : topnews.net
The Risks of Social Media: Avoiding Disaster
In this day and age, most every large organization or company has a Facebook or Twitter page (if they’re not living in the dark ages, that is). But just because a company puts itself out there in the world of modern marketing does not mean mayhem won’t ensue.
Tweets or Facebook posts on a company’s site can help or harm said company — and it’s a fine line between the two. For this issue, a social media policy should be put in place at any company that plays the social media game. If you want to take it a step further, a community manager should be responsible for all social media outlets that pertain to your brand. Full story : Emily Holbrook – riskmanagementmonitor.com
Spotify splattered with malware-tainted ads
Users of the ad-supported version of Spotify were hit by a malware-based attack on Thursday. But the problems was far from isolated, with several Twitter users reporting the same issue over the last day or so. Both Avast and AVG are detecting the exploit.
The assault takes advantage of a Java-based exploit to deposit Trojan horse malware or exploit kits on vulnerable Windows machines. Only users of the free version of the music streaming service seem to be affected. Full story : www.theregister.co.uk
NetQin Denies Claims That It Uploads Malware to Phones With Its Antivirus Software
NetQin Mobile on Friday denied reports that claimed it had deliberately installed viruses on customers’ mobile phones along with its antivirus software and then charged customers to remove the malware.
NetQin’s denial follows a written rebuttal in its initial public offering prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated March 15 that referred to a China State TV report of “uploading virus to imported mobile phones to promote our mobile security products by Beijing Feiliu,” a company in which NetQin holds a 33% interest. Full story : www.pcworld.com
Securing against identity theft
The FBI says identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the United States. And tax time — when personal information is floating around the Internet and in people’s mailboxes — is a prime time for the unscrupulous to attempt to steal your personal data.
There’s good news: E-filing through the IRS or New York state is safe — in fact, many computer security experts recommend it. There’s also bad news: You should be very careful with everything else, including leaving personal information in your mailbox. Full story : Times Herald-Record
Spammers Make $7000 a Day
E-mail spammers make 7 grand a day. Why the hell are you working a day job when you could be filling peoples inboxes with parts enlargement ads?
After years of receiving and deleting spam mail, Computer Scientist Chris Kanich wondered if spamming email really pays off. So he and a team of curious scientists hijacked a spammer’s botnet and found that yeah, spamming pays off – to the tune of $7000 per day. Full story : Escapist Magazine
Dvorak : The Worst Spam Filter
A challenge-response spam filtering system was once a clever idea, but now it doesn’t work, and it insults email recipients to make them answer questions to send a reply. Please stop using it.
Challenge-response is a type of spam filtering that requires anyone sending an email to someone with this filter to verify that they are a real person. You press send on the email to this person, and then you get back a question and answer message, asking you to go through a rigmarole to prove you are not a spammer. Full story : John C. Dvorak – PC Magazine
ID thief sentenced to more than 16 years in prison
An identity thief who used a people search website to confirm stolen Social Security numbers has been sentenced to 16 years and seven months in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Todd Yurgin, 41, of Newark, Delaware, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware for his role in a “massive” ID theft scheme, the DOJ said in a news release. The scheme resulted in a loss of nearly US$1 million to credit card-issuing financial institutions, the DOJ said. Full story : www.computerworld.com
Your social media profile: Watch out for the risks
Big Brother is watching you. On Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn and Twitter. And other social networking sites that you put up your profile on. Are sure the contents will not cause any personal or professional damage to you?
Here are some tips to keep in mind to stay safe when you have put up a good part of your life online for the world to see Full story : Ajay Jain – socialambit.com
Using Google Alerts For Reputation Management
Using Google Alerts to monitor your competition, manage your online reputation and keep current on news in your industry using Google Alerts. Do this today! Monte Huebsch Full story : Monte Huebsch
Could Facebook Keep Your Kid Out of College?
A few mindless posts could prove to be your kid’s undoing when it comes to college admissions.
As the first generation to grow up with the Internet, our kids think nothing of revealing the most intimate details of their lives (and ours) online — with little consideration for the consequences. Full story : Honey Berk – www.parentdish.com
Follow the Phishing / Malware InfoManager
Net Safety InfoManager 1103.14 … and if you run across news, or have personal experience — contact us.
Thanks for reading…
You can also keep up with the efforts to curb spam and cybercrime by reading the news at Knujon and HostExploit.com. And, you should switch to SpamCop and take a stand against spam.
