Facebook friend suggestions can occasionally spit out social algorithms of friends or family who have passed on. The People You May Know box is also capable of producing the same results.

In a blog post Facebook writes:

“The question soon came up: What do we do about his Facebook profile? We had never really thought about this before in such a personal way. Obviously, we wanted to be able to model people’s relationships on Facebook, but how do you deal with an interaction with someone who is no longer able to log on? When someone leaves us, they don’t leave our memories or our social network. To reflect that reality, we created the idea of “memorialized” profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who’ve passed.”

If you have a deceased  friend or family member who did not include advance directives for their Facebook account, the form to memorialize or remove their profile is located here.

If you choose to memorialize the profile you must provide a link to the obituary as Proof of death so that a staff member can review and authenticate the request.

There is a site on the web that deals with social networking directives:

Legacy Locker is a safe, secure repository for your digital property that lets you grant access to online acounts for friends and loved ones in the event of death or disability. It’s like a digital safety deposit box.

Until next time – stay safe online!

LIKE the latest Teksquisite fan pages today and  stay current on security news, technical information, tech tips, and more on Facebook!

Promote Your Page Too

Until next time — Stay safe online!

Twitter is not just another social networking site! The main core of the Twitter messaging platform consists of SMS-type messages known as a “tweet”, subscribers known as “followers” and an author (profile) capable of engaging an audience with succinct tweets of up to 140 characters. To learn more about Twitter check out Twitter Beginner for basic information or Twitter 101 for business.

Every twitter account has a profile page that can be tailored to accommodate business, organizational, or individual author information. You can also upload your own background and avatar, or choose from an impressive selection of generic designs.

Though Twitter is representative of a microblogging, social networking service – it is also highly informative in political, as well as emergency situations. As a communications media, Twitter was essential in the dissemination of information during the 2009 Iranian elections.

Twitter was so integral to the Iranian election process that the U.S. State Department asked Twitter to delay scheduled website maintenance. Why? Evgeny Morozov wrote in the Washington Post (2009) that it was necessary “to avoid disrupting communications among tech-savvy Iranian citizens as they took to the streets to protest Friday’s reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

Twitter also played an impressive role within international dialogues during the Haiti earthquake of January 2010. From the initial shock of coordinating lifesaving relief efforts to the initiating of long-term restoration plans, Twitter has been on the cutting edge of myriad social goodwill campaigns.

Twitter often uses hashtags (#) as a means to search for tweets that have a common topic. Hashtags allow communities to engage in conversations that tailor shared interests. The most important hashtags for the Iran elections were #iranelection and #gr88. To confuse Iranian censors, the Twitterverse also engaged in changing their geographical location to Tehran, and their time zone to GMT +03:30. The intention was to overwhelm the censors so that they would not be able to pinpoint subversive tweets.

During the catastrophic events of the Haitian earthquake, a new Twitter hashtag syntax was developed By Project Epic called Tweak the Tweet (TtT) for sharing information during catastrophes.

Twitter is vogue! You can’t listen to the nightly news or your favorite radio station without hearing the words “you can now follow us on Twitter.” Yes, the world is all a-tweet about Twitter!

You can now follow me on Twitter

Until next time — Stay safe online!

Update for July 3, 2010:  Whatever happened to #ch140 on #Twitter?

____________

While working on a Google doc about windows security tips for home users this afternoon, I asked @mikerigsby [Twitter] for windows security advice.  Mike responded that he could “type “home internet security tips” into Google & 2 out of 1st 10 hits is malware.”

This revelation alerted @technobozo (Donna) to ask “Mike, where did you come up with those stats?”  Mike responded, “it’s not an official %. Just from my personal experience.”

Unfortunately, we did not #tag these tweets, so I took the liberty to place this conversation into a Google doc – enjoy!

NOW Let’s continue in 140ch…

As Donna ended the conversation with >140ch, she left Mike and I completely dummiefied. Behind the scenes, we were direct messaging what “140ch” could possibly mean!

D mikerigsby “what is 140ch?”
D teksquisite “Lol. I was wondering the same thing.”
D teksquisite “140 characters but I totally didn’t get it either so don’t feel bad. Lol”
D mikerigsby “it just means 140 characters later! I was thinking it was 4square and meet in room 140ch LOL”
[Obviously I know nothing about Foursquare]

Until Next time – Stay safe online!

• I almost always follow infosec/tech people back (unless they are unknown to either community.)

• Most new follows are placed on a private Teksquisite “examine” list.  I check this list on a regular basis in order to gauge if this is an account that I am interested in following.

• If I choose not to follow you back, please don’t take it personally!

1. You might already be on a private list of very special people, otherwise known as VSP’s
   
2. You may have tweeted some marketing campaign or be one of those nasty affiliates
3. You might be a spammer
4. Signal-to-noise ratio: your noise might be too high
5. You didn’t wash your tweets
6. You bully people
7. I might not know that you are following me. Please send a tweet signal to @teksquisite

Until next time – stay safe online!

Internet tools such as sleepingtime.org that analyze personal sleeping patterns when combined with Twitter’s geo-location feature, is, in my opinion — a privacy breaching technology.

A potential victim of cyberstalking/stalking who is not savvy on social networking privacy settings, could inadvertently invite a stalker to their physical location.The stalker could use the victims sleep time to gain access to their home or apartment.You get the gist — the combination of human patterns and physical location could put a person or family at risk!

Should social networking sites police it’s borders?

What applications and services are harmful or beneficial to social networking when privacy enters the arena?  Will knowledge of your physical location, the hours that you sleep, the town that you live in, the restaurant that you are currently dining at place your privacy at risk?  Or better yet, could it open a new chapter to that of information-based harm?

Schneier on Security wrote at his blog about Privacy Salience and Social Networking Sites stating “Privacy salience does a lot to explain social networking sites and their attitudes towards privacy. From a business perspective, social networking sites don’t want their members to exercise their privacy rights very much. They want members to be comfortable disclosing a lot of data about themselves.”

Since social networking sites want members to disclose a lot of data about themselves, this will obviously erode personal information anonymity online. Where do you draw the line?

Basic Online Privacy Advice:

Anyone who posts at social networking sites who is concerned about their privacy online should take the following four precautions:

1. Be aware of your profile settings at each site and use the privacy levels that will work for you.
2. Think ahead about what you are going to post. Be aware that any information you post could become a matter of public record for a very long time. This means posting personal pictures, comments, tweets, likes, dislikes, gossip, is all up for grabs and apt to follow the poster indefinitely.
3. Be especially observant not to post private information online such as your real name, address, or telephone number to strangers. For the super savvy privacy buffs: create a public profile that cannot be traced back to you and do  turn geo-location off at all social networking sites or use a proxy or anonymity service .
4. A few times a year go to www.google.com and do a search for all online names that you use. If you see any private identifiable information that is publicly available on the web, contact the appropriate sites to have your personal information removed.

Until next time — Stay safe online!

Great Facebook communication!  Are you simply too huge, too cool, and too awesome to share GUI changes with our community?

Ermmm, Happy 6th Anniversary!

Facebook Is Going To Start Charging Money!

This scam first appeared on Facebook during December 2009. Users who joined this group were tricked into clicking a malicious link that took them off-site while secretly dumping malware on their computer.

“The ongoing thread that Facebook will soon begin charging for their site doesn’t appear to be slowing. The other night I was having dinner with a family friend who told me about a scoop he had that Facebook would soon begin charging for the site and proceeded to explain why he would pay. While it’s great that Facebook has provided value to his life and millions of others, the company will not charge users to access the site.” –All Facebook

Researching current 14,99 groups/pages appears to be harmless with no suspicious links found.   You can read more about this group at All Facebook.

Get A Free Pair Of UGGS!

You have to first verify that you can give out some private information, via taking one of the offered quizzes:

Does this IQ Challenge seem a little too familiar to you?  In July 2009 WBZ-TV 4 in Boston reported on the “I.Q. Test” scam occurring on Facebook.  Six months later, this scam is still connected to Facebook.  Check out the details at WBZ-TV video.

Pay Attention To Possible Scams And Scammers!

Become a fan of  *** Project NOSCAM *** and follow the weekly updated lists of:

SCAMS

SCAMMERS

** Notable Facebook Scams to be aware of **

If you find a scam or scammer on Facebook, do the site a favor and report it within the Group/Page  and also report the scam Group/Page to Project NOSCAM.

“If you allow an application or website to connect with your Facebook account, that application or website can access information on Facebook related to you and your friends and generate and publish stories about actions you take on that application or website without any additional permission.”   –Facebook

Help take a Byte out of Facebook Scams!

Dinner_Guest

Twitter Bio: I can’t help myself and i need to tell someone. Love the kill
Joined: Tue 10 Nov 2009 21:41

Following: 1  |  Followers: 100  |  Updates: 41

Being an avid Techcrunch fan, I was intrigued with Mike Butchers article “Is @Dinner Guest a sick joke or a real murderer on Twitter?” Who is this Dinner_Guest tweeter who has gone from 4 followers to over 100 followers as of this writing?

I’m watching this account now via Tweetdeck as Dinner_Guest plays a dumbed down version of a Twitter newbie.

Why did Dinner_Guest choose to follow RACarter?

• Bio CFO for hire by the day to StartUps. Now myself a StartUp. I work a lot with the London tech scene.

And what are the the social implications of such shockingly dark tweets?

Is this a PR stunt or ?

I honestly think that this is a PR stunt.  I added this person to one of my lists so that I can keep a close eye on tweets without having to follow the profile.

Stay tuned for future revelations as the plot thickens…

Twitter ‘serial killer’ comes to Brighton Brighton and Hove News

Why @Dinner_Guest is probably a fake

The mystery has ended.            Update 11/18/09

New Bio: “A fictional character born out of an artists mind. A meme experiment. & analysis.”

Until next time — Stay safe online!

Today I received a friendly little email purportedly from someone that had a question about my business, and who also wanted me to add them to my friends list from the supplied link in the email.  The email address that the sender used immediately raised a red warning flag because I currently use this particular email address specifically to monitor iffy stuff on the Internet. 

Analysis at ThreatExpert exposed some pretty serious threats:

There were five .js links on the Facebook landing page <REMOVED>

Canonical name: gateway02.websitewelcome.com -all IP’s consistent with that of a Mail Server.
Addresses:
69.41.248.84
69.56.142.20
69.56.159.20
69.56.170.20
69.56.176.20
69.56.184.20
69.56.212.20
69.56.216.20
69.56.224.20
69.56.236.20
69.93.106.20
69.93.115.20
69.93.126.20
69.93.136.20
69.93.139.20
74.52.222.226
67.18.36.20
67.18.53.20
67.18.62.20
67.18.65.20
67.18.66.20
67.18.80.20
67.18.81.20
69.41.242.20
69.41.247.20
69.41.248.20

That is about all I know for today!  If any security expert needs more info – just ask!

Update:  10-22-2009 7:05 PM

Until Next time — one-off, security terrior here, and I never let go of a bad guy (wink)

Another scam site with a very bad T.O.S. (Terms of Service) – “THROUGH THE SITE” means TWITTERVIDEOS<>COM and they are absolutely NOT TAKING ANY RESPONSIBILITY for files that you may DOWNLOAD from their site!  

Be sure to read this section of their T.O.S. closely:

Not even a FAQ exists, and a Whois look-up reveals that they have masked their domain via a shield of anonymity with Domains by Proxy, Inc.

This is just one example of the many scam affiliate operatives that promote this type of rubbish on Twitter.

Until Next time — one-off, security terrior here, and I never let go of a bad guy (wink)

After tweeting to myself for an hour or longer this morning (approximately 11 am EDT),  I am able to post tweets but unable to see tweets from those that I follow. I thought NOW would be a good time to update the Tekblog.  As many of you may recall, I’ve had a very bad case of BlogBlock lately.

I’ve been hanging out over at Twazzup to follow the real time tweets for “Twitter is Frozen” and checking the status, but it appears as if Twitter status is also currently frozen.  So come on over to Twazzup!

Until next time — Stay safe online!

I am having plenty of technical difficulty trying to access Twitter today.

If I do manage to get to the site and attempt to perform a people search, I end up with this fail:

All this “unavailable” jargon and “search servers wandering  off” is starting to get on my twit-nerves. Please bring back the old Twitter — aesthetically appealing, no-nonsense FAIL WHALE.

There is plenty of 503 talk on Twitter today!

Until Next Time — Stay Safe Online!

It appears that twitter search is down to one How to Hack twitter bot account!  This profile is not using short urls either.  _dc12 is currently driving visitors to two domains:

IP: 99.67.172.244
myspacehacking<>net

Registrant:
John Brown  ()
ATX
5465 Brawnson
San Diego, CA  90216
US
3102568859

IP: 99.67.172.244
facebookhacking<>info
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CR7602229
www.my5pace.us
Registrant Name:Chuck Brawns
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street1:4500 N Highway 67
Registrant City:Pasedena
Registrant State/Province:Texas
Registrant Postal Code:77581
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.7135550125

Both sites are hosted on the same server.  Canonical name: adsl-99-67-172-244.dsl.hstntx.sbcglobal.net

I did indeed have a good laugh when I perused the facebookhacking<>info site, and BTW I am still laughing…

It appears that atxseo<>com is lying quietly in the background.

Until next time — Stay safe online!

Not much is happening on twitter this morning. I’ve just been casually observing nine twitter bots running “how to hack” scripts.  All bots were born on Monday, September 7, 2009 and have a mean tweet score of 2464.

I have placed current Twitter bots in in alphabetical order:

dailychin Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 14:15
Following: 0
Followers: 119
Updates: 2876

giiive Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 14:19
Following: 0
Followers: 62
Updates: 1384

martinse7en Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 14:12
Following: 0
Followers: 106
Updates: 2874

marydelakoko Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 13:52
Following: 0
Followers: 117
Updates: 2799

mrdeeegle Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 13:46
Following: 0
Followers: 67
Updates: 1441

newketket Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009  14:08
Following: 0
Followers: 111
Updates: 2905

perrynelly Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 14:05
Following: 0
Followers: 111
Updates: 2481

razerdemo Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 13:56
Following: 0
Followers: 96

Updates: 254
rebewhite Joined: Mon 07 Sep 2009 13:49
Following: 0
Followers: 118
Updates: 2873

Originating from Russia, this site is engaged in the distribution of malware.  Some links connect to a fake flash player update from hxxp://exonlinebox.com/flash-plugin_update.45019.exe.  This site has been blacklisted.

Until next time — Stay safe online!

The After midnight update: Still no word from Twitter about the suspension of the gov20e accounts, though  I did find a post by Nicole Ferraro: Twitter Suspends Verified Accounts.

________________________________________________________________________

The Afternoon Update: Tim O’Reilly is back on twitter, as is Debbie Weil –> and she wants an explanation!

_________________________________________________________________________

This morning I woke up to the suspension of Tim O’Reilly via reading this Techcrunch article:

Other than Techcrunch’s early morning post – I could not find any information on the gov20e suspensions until later in the morning, when Debbie Weil posted this at her blog:

The question for today: Why are THEIR accounts suspended?

They are real people who post in real time, unlike bot accounts such as: Registry Easy who post scam links while  earning up to 75% profit, harm consumer computers, and spew scripted spam all over the Twitterverse…

(Read Rik Ferguson’s informative article in his Trend Micro Blog :  New Malicious tweet run on Twitter

Netbizsoftware, is another nasty bot account at twitter that pushes toxic URLs such as Registry Easy and MALWAREREMOVALBOT.

Hey Twitter, how about a trade. I’ll give you BOTS RegistryEasy and Netbizsoftware in exchange for the reinstatement of the REAL people accounts of Tim O’Reilly and Debbie Weil!

Other relevant posts:
Twitter suspends legitimate accounts, many related to oreilly; weeping ensues.

Until Next Time — Stay safe online!

If you can’t keep your WINDOWS computer and application software patched and updated, and your computer protected via updated anti-virus/anti-malware/anti-spyware, and FIREWALLED — DO NOT USE THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM. Please do not allow your computer to become an open relay for malware!

Draconian Interception

For just a moment, compare running your computer on the internet to those of safe driving habits.  Would you want a semi-truck driver flush behind you, operating with bad brakes on a steep mountain incline?   Think about it.

Driving a vehicle mandates that your vehicle pass a State safety inspection, proving that your vehicle does meet minimum standards for safe operation on public streets and highways.  I’m of the mindset that safe computing should be mandatory in order to connect your computer to the internet.

If all ISPs (Internet Service Providers) monitored every computer connecting to the internet for characteristics common to a potentially infected machine, and disconnected that machine from the internet until basic safety measures were installed and updated, we would not be experiencing such high degrees of cybercrime as is prevalent on a global basis today.

What you should do if you’re Machine Becomes Infected?

Once you discover that you have something bad on your computer, the first thing that you should do is DISCONNECT from the Internet IMMEDIATELY.  As a good netCitizen, I am sure that you don’t want to be pushing your malware down to the rest of us.

If you don’t know the first thing about using another resource (such as the library or friends computer) to download anti-malware tools then you need to hire a computer professional to do this.  Just as you would hire a mechanic to install new brakes on your vehicle, in order to pass the state safety inspection; you would hire a computer professional to deal with getting computer woes repaired, so that you can safely operate on the Internet highway.

Tools that you should have available to discover and clean nasties

First, install and run HijackThis[HJT] to scan your computer to find settings changed by spyware, malware or other unwanted programs. Analyze the logfile at Networktechs.  It is smart to be armed with the knowledge of what type of malware you will be dealing with. Many times you will have more than one type of malware present in your operating system.

Next, run these tools in the following order:

#1 Malwarebytes (MBAM). [Free] A site dedicated to fighting malware.  Run both the short and the long scan.
#2 SUPERAntiSpyware. [Free] A next generation company which specializes in anti-spyware technology.
#3 Rootkit Revealer v1.71

But I can’t run any of the anti-malware tools listed above!

You may need some of the tools listed below to figure out what processes are sabotaging your clean-up efforts:

SysInternals is a free program that controls auto-started programs.

SysInternals Process Explorer v11.33

SysInternals TCPView for Windows v2.54

Foundstone Intrusion Detection Tools [FREE]

Use Windows Task Manager to find:

• Random character file names
• High CPU usage
• Known legitimate services misspelled (example: svchost as scvhost)

Malware can hide just about anywhere!  It can replace .dll files, hide in the system32 folder, be disguised as a windows service, hang out in your user profile temp directory, or even in the default profile directory.  I recently found malware hidden in the program files folder itself, in a sub-directory of a legitimate software application!

If all the malware locations listed above are not enough to piss you off, malware can also load in the registry and even load while in safe mode!

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network

Other helper tools:

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool.

Secunia Software Inspector. Checks to see that all installed software is fully patched and up-to-date

Are you guilty of clicking on short URLs or disguised email links without batting an eyelash?

I personally stay on the good side of paranoia when it comes to clicking on short urls or email links. I check the source of what I consider iffy in email, and scan site urls with Sam Spade or Unmask Parasites or will even wget a site page if I happen to be in that particular environment.

Browsers AND security

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 or

Download Firefox and install the following add-ons:

Finjan Secure Browsing 1.314 – Secure Browsing by Finjan
McAfee SiteAdvisor 2.9
W.O.T. 20090414 – Web of Trust
Link Extend 1.5.2 – Gives you all the information for any website you are visiting
Go ahead and Install Additional layers of security…

Download Threatfire 3

“ThreatFire 3′s ability to block installation of malware strictly by identifying bad behavior is phenomenal. It did a better (and faster) job than Norton AntiBot and even beat out Spy Sweeper, our current Editors’ Choice for signature-based anti-spyware. This free tool is an excellent addition to your security arsenal.” –PC Magazine

Download Immunet Protect (get with the cloud!)

Immunet Protect gathers strength daily as the Immunet Community grows and best of all its FREE. Already have Antivirus? Even better, install Immunet Protect alongside your existing product, and it will make the Immunet community even stronger.

So you want freedom from Big Brother?

It is the nature of the freedom beast within to want to be free from Internet control.  But for the good of the entire Internet community we need to deal with this issue of global Internet security now.  Think about what our banking systems and global economy would be like if the bad guys controlled it. Truth spoken, you have to give up a certain amount of personal freedom in order to maintain social freedom.

I do not personally want or desire to see the government controlling our Internet highway. I would not want to rename our beautiful country ChiAmerica…I strongly believe that we can begin to get a grip on botnets and malware if we hold ISP’s responsible for monitoring their networks for malware and all suspicious activities. The ISP should cut off all computers displaying suspicious activities from the Internet, until that particular node is safe to return to online status.  We practice security with private and corporate networks, why would an ISP be considered any different when it comes to best security practices?

There will always be new hooks for malware distribution and myriad innovative stealth methods that cyber-criminals employ to gain access to legitimate computer systems.  As long as we continue to fight the good fight and keep our Windows systems current, we can all rest assured that we are contributing to a healthy Internet and not opening up a back door to further global economic collapse.
Until Next Time — Stay Safe Online!

Update for July 3, 2010: Are you aware that Registry Easy Rogueware still operates under the following scam accounts on Twitter?

Registry Easy™ posing as @pcclean

Registry Easy posing as @registryeasy__

Until Next Time – Stay Safe Online!

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, recently told Bloomberg that he would be hiring 500 new employees by the end of 2009.  Facebook currently has 1000 employees who enjoy a premium working environment.

“As we grow quickly in every way, each of our employees has the opportunity to have an enormous impact. We’re looking for dynamic people that get excited by big questions and unsolved problems.” –Facebook Careers Page

Facebook benefits include:

• 100% of employee benefit premiums and 50% of any dependent premiums.
• 4 months of Paid Parental Leave, child care reimbursement for up to $3,000 per year
• 21 days of paid vacation per year
• 401K Savings $ Retirement Plan
• Laundry, dry cleaning, photo processing, and leather repair services

You can also get free breakfast, lunch and dinner at the facebook Cafe featuring Chef Josef along with his team of culinary geniuses. After you eat you can race around on ripsticks, rock out in the Facebook music room, or particpate in a number of fun things (invented weekly.) They also host Nacho Thursday and you can be a part of the Ultimate Frisbee Team too!

Since Facebook is synonymous with innovation and unprecedented opportunity, it would be wise to jump on the “get hired bandwagon” ASAP as there will be plenty of competition for these new positions.

You can view the interview at Bloomberg.com.

Also see:

Facebook’s Hiring Like Crazy Again

Facebook Plans Hiring Spree

Facebook began at Harvard University in Zuckerberg’s undergraduate dorm room with Facebook enjoying explosive growth since then. The company currently resides in Palo Alto, CA.

Until Next Time – Stay Safe Online!

With a global audience of more than 10 million business people, yourBusinessChannel.com launched a new app today that connects Facebook and YouTube with updates that appear simultaneously on both platforms.

“The App has been engineered by a team of specialist social media developers with expertise in Facebook, Twitter and Google integration. The development team says that it has built technology to allow a new level of synchronicity between almost any combination of platforms.” — Mark Sinclair, Features Editor at yourBusinessChannel.

YourBusinessChannel is also putting together a package of freebies for everyone who installs the facebook application.  Stay tuned for the grand prize draw of up to 60K USD to be announced next week!

yourBusinessChannel press release

Until next time – Stay safe online!