The Dark side of Dating sites!

Come to The Dark Side, We have cookies Shirt -- Cafepress (Click image to check it out!)

You Don't know the Power of the Dark Side on Dating sites!

When your looking for that special someone you probably have been on several different sites.  It however is nothing compared to some of the things I've seen.   I'd get emails with the heading:

• Someone sent you a Flirt
• Someone's Trying to Get in Touch With You!
• A Zoosk member would like to chat with you on Zoosk
• A Zoosk member sent you a flirt on Zoosk!
• Someone wants to meet you!

These are a few of the emails I would get from time on these sites.   Some times it is a legit email and other times.   You have to wonder who comes up with the email.   Most of the time you get emails from people with phone numbers and email addresses they usually use "/" to avoid the filters on the said dating sites.   Now here are a few observations from not being scammed on dating sites!

Ways to tell you it's a fake profile!

It doesn't make much since but these people who send you some stuff makes me worry.   For example here are my tips to know if this is a spam and probably just a scam email in the same process.

• Gives out the Email address the first email!
• Gives out the text number to text them on the first email!
• They claim to be living in another country in the first or few emails in!
• The person profile isn't complete!
• The picture on the profile is super hot!

These are just a few observations that tell me a profile is either fake, but it isn't the only indication.   Usually if I am curious I will still use one of my many email address specifically designed for the spam catching emails addresses.  Just to see if this is a real person or not.   You can usually tell by checking out the email headers.  If you ever want to know for sure this is the best possible way to tell if this email is coming from Germany, Africa, or Some other country besides the one you are on.   It just takes a little patients!  Hope this helps you out!

Paul Sylvester

Amazon Affiliate Link

JSRedir-R/Gumblar The underlying problem!!

Some people have made comments about there website being hosted to Malware injection into there site.  I've been seing a Lot of talk about JSRedir-R/Gumblar found to be the biggest malware threat on the Web.  They estimate that it is 42% of infected websites to be carrying this malware threat, last week.  I have heard some think it is weak login creditals.

[ad]See the Graph from Sophos about the percentage.  I also wanted to tell people how to identify if you have the infection or not.  This is very important to check because people are letting this Malware spread and all.  

I on the other hand think the way this is spreading is a Cross Site Scripting vulnerability for these websites but there are a few websites that do keep your login cache on your system.   I would recommend if your a web site owner to have your cache deleted everytime you exit your web browser.   This should in theory help prevent Cross Site scripting and Website owners should also either buy [intlink id="2205" type="page"]Anti-virus and Firewall software or install the Free version[/intlink] to better protect your website.

Just like the[intlink id="3308" type="post"]Twitter Cross Site Scripting tom foolery [/intlink]this is my theory on how websites are being injected with this malware.   It is however just a theory.  I was never logged into my account on twitter through my web browser when this happened and that is what kept me from spreading it to my Twitter users.   You should also consider always logging off your web site when your done doing what you do!   Just my thoughts on the matter,  Remember only you can prevent from getting a Virus.

Careless Facebook profiling can lead to Identity Theft!

I just got in contact with a old friend from High school and another friend of mine suggest the new friend. I was looking at her profile and couldn't believe what I saw:

As you can see this is not good I was amazed at how many people are giving out there birthdays and who they are married to to friends and family. So we heard about how people are claiming they need help or are in need of desperate money. This is nothing new, as you know people are having hard economy times and people are using the social engineering to scam people out of money.

I feel that I should warn people the important necessity.   You shouldn't be broadcasting your DOB and who your married to to your friends, just in case they get hacked.

Recent activity indicates that identity thieves are hacking into trustworthy profiles before selling on the login details to interested parties. This information is used by spammers to target legitimate users, posting misleading links on their "walls" – personalized message boards.

[Via Computing.Co.UK]

This deservese a little mind and a lot of understanding.   By the spammers hacking into facebook accounts they have the chance to scam or spam people with links to possibly have a virus or trojan installer.

[ad#ad2-right]For example This one blog talks about the Virus:

Symantec's Norton Antivirus software has flagged this as a "high risk" Infostealer.Gampass virus. More info on this particular Trojan vius is here. (Note: Symantec warns the risk level is "low," since it originated in 2006, but this new Facebook email is a new iteration of the same virus.)

You might be inclined to click on this link because it's from a friend, but they did not intentionally send it to you -- and yes, their Facebook photo is attached, too.

[Via Sync-blog]

Now I went searching through my friends list and also found this little bit of information.  As you can see this one is asking for people to use there account to scam people out of money.  They could use this to find out even more information of the Other partner and make you believe your talking to the real deal.   Saying they need money because they are stuck over seas or something like that.   I've seen this on other blogs where people have sent money to "friends" but are actually people who are the scammers.  Then if you send the money you are out of luck with your money and possibly your friends to.  I am sure there are more but this is prime examples of what you shouldn't do and why.

So what can you do to prevent Identity Theft and/or being scammed?

[ad#cricket-right-ez]

• Roboform Review — A Password Manager that will help protect your passwords from key loggers and other such phishing sites.    I strongly recommend it to to all who are security minded. (Never use the same password for all your accounts)


• Are you worried about your identity? -- This is good information in checking out sites that might be questionable.  You can find out what type of site it by using your brains.


• Old Phish Become New again -- This is blog post about twitter and what may happen if you did give out your password.   This is a good example of why you never should give out your password to third party websites.


• Twitter Spammers a getting more smarter -- This is also good example of what happens when you see become friends with someone who isn't real.   You could be the next to be spammed and/or impersonated.

If you follow some common steps you to could prevent from being the victim or getting your Identitiy stolen.   Some things to remember is Never tell anyone your Birthday the whole date like someone did on twitter a few days ago.  It's nice that they are growing older but that gives people that much more information to use to steal your money or your idenitiy.   Think before you give out any personal information like Age, Married, who your married to and anything that might be used to be able to access your account or your impersonate you.  Remember only you can prevent from being scammed or lossing your identity, you wouldn't want to have to pay for your mistakes.

People coming from Sites that don't exist

So I woke up today checking out my sites, and looking outside.   So As I was checking my Stats for my blog.  I cam across a referring site that brought Supposedly Two people to my site.  I looked at the URL for the site:

• http://trojan.fiftystatesclassifiedads.com/index.php

[ad#ad2-right]So after seeing the "trojan" Prefix and I am wondering if this was an attempt by Malware to infect my domain.   So I go check this domain out.   I got to it and I get a 404.  I then do a Cache Check with OPENDNS.  I also Then decided to see if it was even Registered domain by the doing a Whois.  So I am opening this up to people who might know.   I did do some research and here's wha I've found out so far.

According to How2hack, they talk about how people want privacy and that it might be someone who does not want to be found.  I tend to agree with them, Privacy for Privacy sake is good but if you want to be private you would you even be checking out websites knowing people will want to find out who really is coming to your site.  The How2Hack site also talks about how this might happen and I see where they are coming from.

This was the only site I could find that even looked like it was relevant to what I was searching for.  I don't see how someone can come to my site saying they were referred by another site and that site does not exist?  Anyone want to try to answer this question and give insight as to why this would happen?

Facebook: Virus Variant comes back from the dead!

In my recent post, I talked about a Virus that is circulating around on Facebook.  It is know as the Koobface virus and has been changed a little by the programers.   So I what is Techworld saying, just this:

[ad#ad2-right]

In fact, Koobface is now using one of Facebook's own features against it, Lovet said. The latest variant uses Facebook's ability to redirect web links to drive users to malicious websites, often hosted on Geocities.com, Lovet said.

[Via Techworld]

If you have been victim to this little virus, you should check out my Virus removal page and download the programs that should fix this little virus for good on your system.  You should also check out my Previous post I also have some good tips and tricks to prevent the user(YOU) from getting hit by this virus in the first place. This virus is a Good social engineered virus, so please be careful.

sinowal.trojan Problems.

Trojan-PSW:W32/Sinowal.CP drops and loads a password stealing component on the infected system and tries to steal account information from it. It also tries to steal information that is required to access certain online banks' and online payment systems' websites.

[via F-secure]

[ad#ad2-right]It seems to be a very hard virus to remove but there are ways to get rid of this virus.   Some tips and tricks to get rid are:

• Check out my Anti-Virus Page


• Computing.net


• The Geek Police


• How to Detect Sinowal

This are the beginning steps to get rid of a Virus but it will be a really hard virus because it wants to stay in your system.  You should also Restart in Safe mode and Try to remove that virus that one.   You will also want to disable your system restore due to the fact that it will be in there and might come back if you restore your system.  Just some simple tips to help keep you safe on the net.

Reports are coming in that WPA is no longer secure!

[ad#ad2-left-1]

According to a media reports, Erik Tews and Martin Beck claim that they have found a way to unlock the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) key, used by WPA, to read data sent from a wireless router to laptop computers. According to the researchers, the key can be cracked in 12-15 minutes.

[via Sophos]

According to Sophos, they are claim that people can now watch what you are doing on a Wireless router to a laptop. Although this isn't to be unexpected this is a very serious out come. It is now easier to watch what people are doing online. So does that mean people can see everything you do? Not necessary. According to some people this is harder than it seems, most of the websites you visit are not encrypted, but websites that use the "https" protocol are more safer to use online. You should be safe if you are buying things online as long as you are sure it is secure. Some other steps to take to help make it harder to unencrypte your wireless single is to use Roboform promotion codes you will get for 10% or 20% off the purchase price!!

[ad#ad2-right]Some other steps to consider are:

• 10 ways to keep your wireless router Secure


• Understanding your wireless router

If you have a wireless router and want to be secure with any transactions online you might think about hooking up to the internet via the CAT5 cable.  This is one way to prevent anyone from seeing what you are doing online and protects your privacy.  Although this too can be overcome in certain circumstances they are much harder to do and implement so you are safer this way than with most others.

Sites that you need not Visit:

[ad#ad2-right]I've had some Anti-virus problems in the past few weeks and have been trying to see if it is my system or if it was just luck of the draw.  So I did some research and found some sites that you should not go to, or download from.   These sites have been know to spread the fake anti-virus malware software.   So I wanted to warn people of some common websites that have been known to have viruses on them:

• hxxp://movieportal2008q.com/freemovie/Movie/xxxx/x/ -- this site usually tries to send you the "Trojan.HTML.Zlob.AG" Virus.



• hxxp://porntubedot.com/xxxxxxxx/WatchFreeMovie.php --This site usually tries to send you the "Trojan.Dropper.SMN" Virus.



• hxxp://handballfondi.it/xxxxxx1.php -- This site is one of the new Malware sites that looks like Youtube,   When you go to this site they say you need a special to play a video clip.  Most of the time when you get something like this, it is going to try to install Malware. A good broad set of Codecs that you may want to download is called Klite Mega Codec, which if you us that you should never need to download any other codec to play a movie clip from any site online.



• hxxp://0scanner.com/---censored---/ --  This site usually tries to send you the "Adware.FakeAntiVirus.L" virus.  Another site trying to install malware. [ad#ad2-left]
  
  

If you want to check your system, here are some places to go to get a free Anti-virus check:

• Panda Security Active Scan


• Trend Micro House Call


• Kaspersky Labs Free Virus Scan


• Symantec Free Antivirus Scan


• Bitdefender Free Online Scanner


• F-Secure Online Scanner

If you have any other ways sites that we should avoid by all means comment about it. I would love to hear sites that you know are bad!!

Mahalo Lay's off around 10% of it's workforce!!

[ad#ad2-left]In an email he sent to the readers of his publication, Jason Calicanis talks about having to lay off around 10% of people from Mahalo.  Here's the quote:

We've laid off a just under 10% of our full-time staff, cut our overhead by doing smart things like renting desks (we have six desks/offices available fyi), and reorganized our editorial department to focus on freelance positions over in-house editors. The net result
of the effort is we are giving Mahalo another year of "dry powder" (or runway) to complete our mission.

This is not to be unexpected after all the talk about the recession coming our way. It does however emphasizes the need for companies to consider there profit margins and accounting strategy.

Mahalo was launched in May 2007 as an Alpha test. That is to say only a select number of people were able to access the site and create feedback to the development of the site. As of January of 2008 it is in what we call the Beta test phase. Which means more people are testing it out and find out it's flaws to report back about where they need to improve.  Mahalo's directory employs human editors to review websites and search engine results.



[ad#ad2-right]Saying that Mahalo is in Beta still doesn't lessen the fact that they are worried about there revenue model and expect a drastic decrease in revenue over the next 2 years due to the Recession still hanging over our heads.  This is where it comes to pure talent and understanding that most people in the business has to worry being laid off for example Merck Laid off 13% of it's workforce. Most people know the dread and fear of having the possibility of a Layoff hanging over your head and it is bound to affect even the most stubborn person and independent person.   It is going to come at a time like Christmas or the first a year and you will have to scrounge around and try to find another job.   It's tough and I've got a list that will help you :5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.

With this list you will be able to get a better grip of the future and maybe create a better future in the process.

Mahalo is still in it's infancy and will still need time to grow and mature and with this recession looming over everyone's head they will have quite a time making heads or tails of the future.  So why try to create the future if you don't know what will happen?  That comes with the territory of blogging and website that are 2.0.  It's a hit or miss when it comes to people finding the best content and sometimes finds the worst content.  This is where you as a reader have to choice what to listen to and who to listen too.  I don't say that will be easy but it is essential in finding what you need at the time you need it.

If we don't do anything, this will be the last you will see of some of these big name sites.  We need to gather around them and show our support, by reading there content and providing feedback if there is something that needs to be change.  That is your power to help these websites become the best they can.  So go comment on your favorite website, tell them something you think they can do to better the content.  So why aren't you doing that now?

Understanding a Bloggers Heart

I've had so many people talk about why blog? I've seen articles about blogging being dead. I say that's not going to happen, it is the heart of a blogger to talk about what they want to talk about. It comes from the idea that they have the understanding of the what a blogger is!

What's a blogger?

It's in the wikapedia as this : “A blog (a contraction of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.”  So what does that say about me? Well let us talk about this in terms we can understand. Having been blogging for the last few months or I should say year(s). I've got some things to say about this. Not all bloggers are bad and not all bloggers are professional. I hate to say this but it is the truth some bloggers have never went to school for writing class or other such education. We saw this as a way to talk about what we are passionate about and want to educate others. It comes from a desire to socialize with people who have the same interest and to be part of a greater plan.

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How do you find a good blogger?

Looking for good service is essential to finding the bloggers that have the best content. They want you to return to there site to see what else is going on. They want you to tell people to go check this site out. They post regularly and have a conversation with the readers. Having been thinking to myself, how to better make my blog accessibility is the hardest thing with an aging blog. It's really hard for us to ask for help. Sometimes a blog goes in the wrong direction and we as readers need to tell the blog author what you think by leaving a comment.

Why comment on a blog entry?

It's not that a comment makes or breaks a blog. It's the communication from the reader to the author of the blog. You can tell the blog owner or author what you think when it comes to a particular idea or particular way of thinking. Sometimes it is good to say you liked the blog entry or say where we missed it. It's the idea of washing the feet of the blogger. Yes you sometimes have to wash the feet of the blogger because if he is dirty, you can clean the feet of the blogger. By doing this you make it possible for the blogger to become better on his blog entries.

[ad]

How to not hurt the blogger feelings!

Even though you've not seen a blogger, they do have feelings and want to keep blogging. You can hurt the blogger's feelings by saying mean comments on the blog or talking bad about a blogger's website. Most blogs want to make money and I also know how hard it is to keep my blog going. I am playing 2^nd Fiddle with my blog and others blog. I want it to be that way to better help my readers.

Is playing 2^nd Fiddle as good as 1^st Fiddle?

I wonder how many of you play 2^nd Fiddle to produce harmony with blogging. I want my blog to be an outlet to better harmonize with other blogs that I read or help out. I am sacrificing a lot to better create a blog that people will come to my site. How have you created harmony with other bloggers? Most of the time we want to be better than others. Guess what? Being 2^nd is better than being first in the blog, in my opinion. I can do more and say more than being on top. I don't have to try to make come up with the hard articles or the ones that are Hot Topics articles. I can say it's good being 2^nd Fiddle and love it from time to time.

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You can't be an executive blogger without first learning to blog!

You have to learn to become a blogger before you can have a successful blog. It's teaching a child they can do anything they want with-in reason. That's like a newly created blog, they can do anything if they put there mind to it. That's why I've decided to talk about this topic. I want the bloggers who read this to come back with even more questions or suggest ideas. I find sometimes having questions is sometimes the way to make my blogger better. I throw out questions to get my juices flowing per say. I want to be a better blog and I need you to direct me and encourage me. So I throw this out at you, you want more stuff like this, please feel free to comment. If you want to see something on my blog, Leave a comment.

If you like this post please feel free in donating and helping support the blog!!

10 Sites Offering Free Linux Courses Online

10 Sites Offering Free Linux Courses Online.Whether you're new to Linux or an advanced user, you're bound to have questions. Read on to get a list of universities and other institutions offering free Linux courses, training and tutorials online.

read more | digg story

I thought people would like to learn more about this. I am sure to check this out. I feel Linux is becoming more and more popular each year and would like to ready myself for the time that I'll have to work on a system with Linux only O/S. So go check it yourselves. It seems they have been slammed so I'm putting the links in here:

Novell - OpenCourseWare Project (novell.com)

http://ocw.novell.com/novell-linux-desktop/getting ... - Novell Linux Desktop Starter Course

http://ocw.novell.com/suse-linux-enterprise/upgrad ... - Certified Linux Professional 10 Course

http://ocw.novell.com/suse-linux-enterprise/migrat ... - Linux Enterpise server 10 Course

-------------------------------------------
VTC University (vtc.com)

http://www.vtc.com/modules/products/titleDetails.p ... - Introduction to Linux Course
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IBM - Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Exam Prep (ibm.com)

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/edu/l-dw-l ... - Linux Kernel Tutorial

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/edu/l-dw-l ... - Linux System Startup Tutorial

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/edu/l-dw-l ... - Linux File Serving and Sharing Tutorial

-------------------------------------------
University of Surrey - Department of Electronic Engineering (http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk)

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/unix1.htm ... - Linux Tutorial One

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/unix2.htm ... - Linux Tutorial Two

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/unix3.htm ... - Linux Tutorial Three

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University of California at Davis - Professor Norm Matloff’s Unix and Linux Tutorial Center (ucdavis.edu)

http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/%7Ematloff/unix.html - Linux Tutorials

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Shuttleworth Foundation - Learn Linux Open Source Project (learnlinux.tsf.org)

http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/courses/web-fundament ... - Linux Fundamentals Course

http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/courses/web-sys-admin ... - System Administration Course

http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/courses/web-net-admin ... - Network Administration Course

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Linux Online (linux.org)

http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/index.html - Beginner’s Level Linux Course

http://www.linux.org/lessons/interm/index.html - Intermediate Level Linux Course

http://www.linux.org/lessons/advanced/index.html - Advanced Level Linux Course

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Begin Linux (beginlinux.org)

http://www.beginlinux.org/course/view.php?id=19 - PC LinuxOS 2007 Course

http://www.beginlinux.org/course/view.php?id=15 - Linux Commands Course

http://www.beginlinux.org/course/view.php?id=3 - Suse Desktop Course

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About.com Linux Courses (linux.about.com)

http://linux.about.com/c/ec/1.htm - Linux Desktop 101: 14 Weekly Lessons

http://linux.about.com/c/ec/16.htm - KDE: 6-Day Introduction Course

http://linux.about.com/c/ec/23.htm - OpenOffice.org: 4-Day Introduction Course

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The Linux Tutorial (linux-tutorial.info)

http://www.linux-tutorial.info/modules.php?name=MC ... - Introduction to Operating Systems

http://www.linux-tutorial.info/modules.php?name=MC ... - Linux Basics

http://www.linux-tutorial.info/modules.php?name=MC ... - Installing and Upgrading Linux

Let me know what you think!!