2010
We’ve got to hand it to the hackers, phishers and identity thieves: They’re getting good. Their emails are beginning to look so legitimate, they've almost fooled us.
Yeah, the bad guys are getting good. But we’re better. And we’re going to help our members be better too.
Scam emails can often include legitimate company logos, return addresses and even 1-800 phone numbers. It’s understandable that you might think they are real. If you’ve received an email that appears to be from AOL, try applying the SCAMD method to it. Check for:
S – Spelling and grammar. It never ceases to amaze us that a phisher or identity thief will put a good amount of time and effort into creating a truly genuine-looking email and then spell every other word wrong or add gratuitous commas. Rest assured, a real AOL email goes through a rigorous review and approval process. If you’ve received an email with multiple spelling or grammar errors, it’s probably a scam.
C – Certified Mail. Typically AOL sends official communications as Certified Mail. Certified AOL Mail is a feature designed to help you easily identify email that has been sent by AOL. You can recognize certified mail before you even open it by the envelope type in your inbox. If it has a blue ribbon, then it’s certified.
A – Asking for personal information. Almost no legitimate company will email you requesting personal information such as your password or your social security number. If you receive an email claiming you need to update your billing information, check all the other factors first (are the logos correct, is everything spelled right, did it arrive as a certified mail?). If you have any suspicions about the email, call the company before you click on any links within the email or provide any personal information. NOTE: Do not use a phone number provided in a suspicious email. Many phishers have gotten so sophisticated that they will set up fake toll-free phone numbers to collect your information. Go to the website of the company and use the “Contact Us” link to find the company’s phone number.
M – Mass Mailings. If you got an email claiming you’ve been selected to win a prize or your credit information has expired and there are 500 other recipients listed in the “to” or “cc” fields, chances are it’s a scam.
D – Details. You can often find out the true return email address of a sender by clicking on the “Details” link under the “To:” section, in the header of your email. There is typically a lot of information in this view, but if the sender is using a fake “from” address, you’ll see the real one in the details view, usually under “Reply to.”
One final word of advice: Never, ever respond to a spam email. By doing so, you confirm that your email account is active, and you'll likely be flooded with more spam and scam attempts.
If you are unsure of an email's authenticity, forward the email to abuse@aol.com. Highlight the message you want to forward, and then click Forward to ensure that we receive the email along with the original message. If you prefer, you can also provide additional information before sending the email.
2010
by Lance Whitney
Most teenagers have driven while distracted even though most know such behavior is dangerous, according to a new survey released Monday.
Almost 86 percent admitted to driving while texting, talking on a phone, or doing other distracting things behind the wheel, according to the results of a survey conducted by Seventeen magazine and the AAA, formally known as the American Automobile Association. The teens said they texted, talked, and ate while driving even though 84 percent of them said they know it's dangerous.
Among those surveyed, 73 percent said they've adjusted their radios while driving, 61 percent said they've eaten food, and 60 percent admitted to chatting on a cell phone. Though most know it's wrong, many of them still came up with ways to justify their behavior. About 41 percent said they think their action will only take a split second, 35 percent don't think they'll get hurt, 34 percent claimed they're used to multitasking, and 32 percent don't think anything bad will happen as a result.
But when teens are the passengers, their attitude seems to change a bit. Among those surveyed, 38 percent said they've been afraid they would get hurt in a car because the driver was distracted by doing something else. And no matter who's driving, many teenagers have come close to danger. More than 36 percent said they believe they've been involved in a near-accident because of their own or someone else's distracted driving.
"It's great that so many teens are able to identify the bad driving habits that will put them and their friends in danger," Seventeen editor in chief Ann Shoket said in a statement. "But the bigger challenge we face now is to give them the tools they need to stop driving while distracted."
Texting while driving is still among the top riskest behaviors, especially among teenagers who are still learning safe driving skills, according to the AAA. But the survey found that teen drivers who texted sent on average 23 messages over the past month.
"Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teen drivers and the proliferation of distracted driving among teens is a challenge all of us must face head-on," AAA President and CEO Robert Darbelnet said in a statement. "Because of their lack of driving experience and penchant to take risks, it's imperative that teen drivers--like all drivers--remain focused behind the wheel at all times."
Almost 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, while more than a half million were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Conducted in May, the survey questioned almost 2,000 male and female drivers between the ages of 16 and 19. The results of the survey will appear in the September issue of Seventeen.
2010
by Chris Matyszczyk
Strange things can happen when you call tech support.
But perhaps not quite as strange as what allegedly happened to Tara Fitzgerald. According to News10 in Sacramento, Calif., Fitzgerald wanted to send some pictures of herself to her boyfriend, but she couldn't find them on her Dell computer.
Her urgent need to find these pictures drove her, quite naturally, to call Dell tech support. Her call was answered, she said, by a gentleman in Mumbai, India, named Riyaz Shaikh.
Shaikh, who, by the time you finish this tale, might not turn out to be a gentleman, after all, offered to remotely access her computer so that he could find the pictures for her. Fitzgerald said she watched him as he located her snapshots.
It was another fine day in the helpful history of tech support. However, this success was ruined somewhat, when Fitzgerald allegedly received an e-mail from an unidentified source telling her that her pictures were now freely available for anyone to see on the Web. They were on a site called "bitchtara."
Perhaps I omitted to mention that many of these pictures depicted Fitzgerald in the nude. And the Web site, as well as clearly violating her privacy, unfortunately offered lewd descriptions of her proclivities that were not in line with reality.
When Fitzgerald contacted Shaikh again, he suggested that it was, indeed, her boyfriend who had created the site, and he allegedly offered to help take it down. He needed, though, a laptop on which he could work on this vexing problem from home, she said. So--and this is a very painful part of the story--she shipped him one.
"My conscience is talking to me, saying, 'Tara, don't send this. Are you crazy?' I sent it anyway," she told News10. This part of the tale occurred in January 2009. This is particularly notable, given that the site featuring her pictures was still active, News10 reported, as of last Wednesday.
Indeed, Fitzgerald claimed that her repeated attempts to solve this problem through official channels, both through Dell and the police, were entirely unsuccessful. It was only by turning to the media, she said, that she managed to finally get Dell's attention.
In the intervening period between sending the computer to India and this week, Fitzgerald discovered that Shaikh had allegedly used her credit card details to spend $802 on a computer and router for a woman in Tennessee.
Finding no way to reverse the alleged evildoings, Fitzgerald said she maintained contact with Shaikh through his personal e-mail account and his official Dell account. As late as this week, she said, he was still offering to pay for the charges and, she believed, still working for Dell.
However, once News10 contacted Dell, it received the following reply: "We investigated the issue, which involved a technical representative at one of Dell's vendors. We contacted the vendor about the allegation and can confirm that the representative no longer handles Dell calls. We've been in contact with Ms. Fitzgerald regarding this issue and continue to investigate her claims to best assist in a resolution."
One can, of course, accuse Fitzgerald of some considerable naivete in this matter. She had to break the whole story this week to her 14-year-old daughter. However, it seems that if her allegations are, indeed, substantiated by the facts that News10 says it has at its disposal, she might deserve some considerable restitution from Dell itself.
Tech support is a powerful position. It does give those occasionally supercilious anonymous voices at the end of a telephone, whether in India or elsewhere, peculiar access to people's inner workings.
Fitzgerald's accusations suggest that the inner workings of one or two people in tech support might deserve closer examination too.
2010
Sarah Gordon, Sky News Online
Facebook has 500 million users worldwide, the social-networking site announced, just six years after it started in a Harvard University dorm room.
The milestone figure means the social networking site has reached about 8% of the world's population -- a huge increase for a company with such humble beginnings and which still had only 150 million users in January last year.
The landmark figure comes a month after group chief executive, 26-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, said there is a "good chance" Facebook could have one billion users in the next three to five years.
In the UK, the network has around 26 million users -- more than a third of the population -- however, in Japan, South Korea, China and Russia, it is still a secondary provider.
Facebook has recently come under severe criticism for its complicated privacy settings and fears that they leave users unwittingly sharing personal information online.
Its delays in placing a Child Exploitation and Online Protection panic button on the site, to protect against child grooming and bullying, were also widely condemned.
In a further blow to the company, it was listed a poor 29th out of 30 online companies reviewed for customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Although this apparent customer service failing did not stop people signing up for Facebook, technology experts say it could prove problematic if a significant rival were created in the future.
And competition is certainly being developed.
A group of New York University graduates created a stir in June when they managed to raise funds for a new social networking site called Diaspora which they are still working on and hope to launch in the autumn.
There are also rumors that Google is creating its own Facebook competitor called Google Me, a claim on which the company has so far not commented.
2010
Tropical Storm Bonnie is moving across south Florida and will move into the eastern Gulf of Mexico during the afternoon. As of 11 a.m. Eastern Time Friday, the center of Bonnie was located about 30 miles south-southwest of Miami, or about 130 miles southeast of Fort Myers, FL with top winds near 40 miles per hour. Bonnie is currently moving to the west-northwest near 18 miles per hour, and is expected to maintain this general speed and direction over the next couple of days. Bonnie is expected to strengthen slightly over the next couple of days, but is currently not expected to become a hurricane. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for the west coast of Florida from Bonita Springs south to the Florida Keys. The eastern part of the state to just south of Ft. Lauderdale is also under a tropical storm warning.
As a precaution we suggest that any non critical IT systems like workstations be shut down since there is a good chance that power will fluctuate beginning tonight and possibly into the weekend. We will be have Engineers available Monday morning ready to assist you should you have any problems as a result of this storm. Please call on us with any issues!
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