The typical user of social networking sites would appear, to my mind at least, to be rather cavalier about their online security.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

For instance, many profile pages are crammed full of personally identifying information.

This includes real names, dates of birth, locations, phone numbers, relative’s details and email addresses.

In other words, everything an identity thief needs to steal their proverbial soul.

Additionally, such information can be used to fuel phishing attempts in order to acquire more information.

AVOID THIS SCAM

The most effective way to limit the chances of identity theft being committed against you is to limit the amount of information you give away on your profile page.

Phishing attempts can be avoided by not clicking on unknown links and by not giving sign-in information out via email.

This is just one of five posts in a series on social networking scams.

Read the rest here -

• Part 1 - The Fake Identity
• Part 2 - Malware
• Part 3 - Profile Hacking
• Part 4 - Identity Theft
• Part 5 - Spam

However, it is just as easy for them to hack existing ones too.

All that is required is the correct username and password.

Some hackers take over accounts in order to have their own brand of fun, such as messing up someone’s profile page.

However, others will take the opportunity to install invisible code that they can then use for their malicious purposes.

MEGAN MEIER

In some instances the hacker’s motives are even more dire.

Recently there was a well publicised case in which false identities were used on MySpace in order to cyber bully a young girl.

Her profile was repeatedly defaced with malicious comments.

The victim, Megan Meier, subsequently committed suicide.

AVOID THIS SCAM

The primary means of avoiding this type of social networking scam is to use strong passwords and also to change them often.

If you believe that someone else has gained access to your profile then inform the site’s operator as quickly as possible.

If threats are made against you by anyone then inform the police or, at the very least, a responsible adult.

This is just one of five posts in a series on social networking scams.

Read the rest here -

• Part 1 - The Fake Identity
• Part 2 - Malware
• Part 3 - Profile Hacking
• Part 4 - Identity Theft
• Part 5 - Spam

Therefore, it is not surprising that owners are constantly looking to upgrade their sites, both in terms of appearance and functionality.

THE TROUBLE WITH FUNCTIONALITY

One popular such function is the ability for users to add their own applications to their profile pages.

Typically these tend to be calenders, small games, animations, etc.

The downside of such functionality, however, is that it makes it extremely hard for the site administrators to police every piece of code running on their sites.

This presents an opportunity to the less than honest, a place where their spyware, trojans and viruses can live before either being downloaded to their victim’s own computers or posted onto their profile pages.

TRUST = VULNERABILITY

Users of social networking sites, for the most part, would appear to be a trusting group of people.

They don’t expect to be scammed by other members and that can often be their downfall as it leads to lapses in security consciousness.

AVOID THIS SCAM

Key to avoiding this type of social networking scam is up to date security software.

Current versions of anti-virus and anti-spyware products should provide a strong first line of defence against malware and other gremlins that may try to enter your system.

As ever, always be cautious when downloading applications from unknown or untrusted providers.

Also, remember that just because an application claims it originated with a certain company or site doesn’t make it true.

This is just one of five posts in a series on social networking scams.

Read the rest here -

• Part 1 - The Fake Identity
• Part 2 - Malware
• Part 3 - Profile Hacking
• Part 4 - Identity Theft
• Part 5 - Spam

With some 100 million or more people belonging to such sites, the opportunities for cyber crime are immense.

It’s not only the members of such sites who are at risk either. There have been many cases of impersonation on social networking sites, meaning YOU could become the next victim, even if you never visit such internet sites.

If you’ve been paying attention then you will already know how to keep your kids safe on MySpace.

Now it’s time to clue yourself up on the 5 main types of scams that are to be found on social networking sites.

Over the coming days I will look at each of them and offer tips on how to avoid them.

THE FAKE IDENTITY

Setting up a new profile on the major social networking sites is an incredibly simple thing to do.

For criminals this presents a tremendous opportunity as it allows them to affiliate themselves with just about any identity, whether that is a real person or not.

For some, a fake identity may just be a means of having fun online, however warped that intention may be.

For others, far more sinister motives guide them, from arranging risky meetings to making abusable connections and many other shady reasons.

I personally have a MySpace profile, though I probably only access it once or twice a year.

Designed as an experiment, I have acquired over 1,000 friends in the last few years, despite the fact that I have never interacted with anyone there.

Of course some of those may just be genuine, friendly people. Others, however, have peppered me with unsavoury links and even marriage proposals!

AVOID THIS SCAM

Protecting yourself from fake identity scams on social networking sites is very easy.

A little bit of common sense should be enough to remind you that not everyone online is who they say they are.

Before interacting with new friends be sure to check them out and never, ever, arrange to meet anyone in real life unless you take sufficient precautions to enable your safety.

Also, monitor the search engines, especially the most popular one - Google, in order to discover if your name or pictures are being used by others.

If they are, then you can at least warn your friends that you have been impersonated.

This is just one of five posts in a series on social networking scams.

Read the rest here -

• Part 1 - The Fake Identity
• Part 2 - Malware
• Part 3 - Profile Hacking
• Part 4 - Identity Theft
• Part 5 - Spam

Are you one of those people?

If so, then this poll is for you…

After voting, I would love to hear why you feel the way you do so please let me know via the comments…

Video of ‘The Turk‘ chess hoax.

However, long before the the computer age, The Turk successfully overcame and baffled a long line of competitors.

GRAND MASTER

Wolfgang von Kempelen constructed a device that baffled people from the time of it’s construction in 1770 until it’s untimely demise in 1854.

“The Turk” appeared as a life-sized man from the waist up, clothed in robes and a turban.

Sitting next to a cabinet, which opened to reveal all kinds of cogs and gears and complicated-looking machinery, no-one ever realised that a person was able to hide underneath on a sliding seat.

That person was able to maneuver around inside the cabinet, concealing themself as the presenter opened various cabinet doors in order to ‘prove’ that there was nothing was inside but machinery.

The concealed person would then use various levers to make the Turk move, pick up chess pieces and even shake his head disapprovingly when opponents attempted to cheat.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

The Turk claimed many victims over the years, including the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte.

All that came to an end, however, on July 5th 1854 when The Turk was destroyed in a fire.

Three years later, in 1857, the son of the Turk’s final owner decided to reveal the Turk’s secrets.

He wrote a series of articles for The Chess Monthly in which he revealed most of the device’s secrets.

It was one of those stories that sounded like a hoax, but wasn’t.

Now Thomas has just revealed that he is pregnant with his second child.

The 34 year old, who is legally recognised as a man, shared the joyous news in an announcement in a television interview with Barbara Walters of ABC News.

BORN FEMALE

Mr Beatie, born as Tracy Lagondin in Hawaii, underwent gender reassignment in his 20s, though he kept his female reproductive organs so that he could have a family.

Thomas told Barbara Walters that the new baby would be due in early June and that he felt good and everything was going well.

Beatie has been married to his wife, Nancy, for five years and the couple purchased the required sperm from a donor when they decided to start a family.

BABY DAUGHTER

Mr Beatie gave birth naturally to their first child, Susan, after a long labour.

He then told Ms Walters that he did not resume taking his male hormones as the couple wanted to have another baby.

The Beatie’s second child is due on 12 June.

Is the following story true, or not?

CAR CRASH

News reports coming from Brazil today suggest that a 67 year old was was killed following a bizarre incident involving her deceased husband’s coffin.

Apparently, the woman was struck by her husband’s casket after the hearse they were travelling in was involved in a car crash.

The as yet unnamed woman was en route to the cemetery in order to bury her husband, who had died the previous day.

Early police reports indicate that the hearse was struck from behind by an Alfa Romeo car.

The impact of the collision then caused the coffin to slam into the head of the woman, killing her instantly.

The woman and her family were on their way to a cemetery in the town of Alvorada in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul for her husband’s funeral.

HEART ATTACK

The dead husband, a 76 year old man, had succumbed to a heart attack on Sunday.

Following the incident, both the driver of the Alfa Romeo and the son of the dead man, who was also present in the hearse, were taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Police are now conducting an investigation in order to determine the cause of the accident.

Is this story the Truth or a Hoax?

What do you think???

However, security researchers Erik Tews and Martin Beck now claim that they have developed a way to partially crack the WPA encryption standard in only 12 to 15 minutes.

Details will be discussed at the sixth annual PacSec conference in Tokyo this week, which reportedly involve a ‘mathematical breakthrough’ rather than a pure dictionary type of attack.

Erik Tews is himself no stranger to cracking Wi-Fi encryption as last year he broke the WEP encryption standard and then, ironically, suggested switching to WPA as the solution.

The new method described by the researchers only compromises data sent from a router to a laptop, not the other way around, but could well mark the downfall of WPA as a reliable Wi-Fi security measure.

The more recent WPA2 encryption scheme is not vulnerable to the attack, however, it is not widely available in the marketplace right now and home users are not likely to updrade quickly.