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!

• 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!

Twitter hack claimed by Iranian group

The hack that occurred on Twitter itself is significant beyond any wider political motives. It shows that what is the world’s fastest growing communication network is rather insecure.

Being able to change the DNS records of a website means that rather than simply redirecting users to a vanity page identifying the hack, hackers could actually have redirected people to a site that looked rather like Twitter itself.

In a similar way to phishing attacks that mimic online bank accounts, the hackers could have encouraged users to login, thus revealing usernames and passwords.

Expert Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro told me: “One has to wonder how quickly the attack would be noted if the dummy site was an exact replica of the victim and was simply there to harvest credentials and redirect the user then into the real site.  The hack that occurred on Twitter itself is significant beyond any wider political motives. It shows that what is the world’s fastest growing communication network is rather insecure.   –channel4news

Twitter: @channel4news |  @rik_ferguson

Web-Based Worms: How XSS Is Paving the Way for Future Malware

I first became aware of cross-site scripting (XSS) nearly a decade ago. At the time, despite being an all too prevalent bug in Web applications, the risk posed by the flaw was of limited value. It was the go-to vulnerability for any pen tester that was having trouble digging up a meaningful vulnerability to add to his audit report.

That has all changed now. Today, XSS represents a meaningful threat — a threat that is not only leveraged by attackers to harvest authentication credentials, but also is enabling a new generation of malware in the form of Web-based worms.

Depending upon whom you listen to, the statistics may be different, but virtually all agree that XSS remains the most prevalent Web application vulnerability that we face today.  –TechNewsWorld

@technewsworld on Twitter

Cisco gives Zeus, Koobface and Conficker awards

Zeus is the most audacious criminal operation of the year and Koobface the most notable criminal innovation, according to Cisco’s Annual 2009 Security Report. On a positive note, the cybercrime sign of hope award goes to the Conficker Working Group.

Cisco Systems Inc. presented its first-ever Cybercrime Showcase awards as part of its 2009 Annual Security Report, released Tuesday.

Zeus: the most audacious criminal operation – Designed for information stealing and specializing in online banking fraud, Zeus is a shrink-wrapped piece of malware that any criminal is able to buy, explained Henry Stern, senior security researcher at Cisco. Some vendors are selling it as service for about $700 a month, he said.

Koobface: the most notable criminal innovation – Koobface is a piece of malware that takes over a user’s social networking account, explained Stern. “As soon as you get infected, it will send messages to all of your friends and it will try to lure them into becoming infected as well,” he said. –ITWorldCanada

@itworldca on Twitter

New Facebook Privacy Settings Under Fire

Facebook is making major changes to its privacy settings, giving you the opportunity to share your personal information with “everyone” on the Internet. But is that wise?

Facebook’s huge user base is signing onto their favorite social network today, and viewing an important message.

They’re being encouraged to review their privacy settings, as Facebook effectively encourages its 350 million users to share more information with everybody on the Internet.

The worry is, of course, that Facebook’s recommendations may be in the best interests of Facebook — but they may not necessarily be in the best interests of all of its users.     –DarkReading

Twitter: @DarkReading |  @Gcluley

Until next time — Stay safe Online!

I’ve been following the Tweeterfollow musical domain saga since late September 2009.  The theme never changes.  I’ve also written about their scam/phishing/twitter account hijackings here.

Yesterday the Tweeterfollow (AKA: TF) domain push on Twitter was via Twtxtreme.info (currently disabled) using short url services tinyURL and retwt.me.  Today it looks like TF is promoting twtkingz.info via retwt.me and kiwi.url.  TF consistently uses IP: 124.217.246.188 but because TF switches domains frequently, they have not been blacklisted.

The web login page is always the same:

Description: A place to add more followers for your twitter page. This is a twitter adder site

Keywords: get more twitter followers, tweet, twitter network,twitter train, get more followers on twitter, twitter, tweeter, tweeteradder, tweeterfollow, deadlyx, rawhood, hoodzone, followers, train, vip, tweet

Logged in to the TF Web GUI

Once you are logged in to their website you will automatically follow all VIP members. Then you click  on Twitter profile random images [graphics from a3.twimg.com] to follow regular users [SIC].

Once you have clicked on all 20 default regular users profiles, the pop-up below appears:

Click on the OK button and 20 new profiles will reappear.  You can click all day long and into the night and you will still get the congratulatory pop-up each time you click the 20th profile.

You are also encouraged to purchase a VIP membership using PayPal or a credit card. The account that TF is currently using at PayPal is registered to ryann.johnson2009@gmail.com.

Ability to view protected tweets

Using http://isfollow.com/ I wanted to see if the locked accounts that I randomly followed through the TF API were following me.  The accounts listed below were not following me but I was able to view their PROTECTED TWEETS!

afrheyy
aliamutia
ibaddbxtch
IamHoodBarbie
ohannaweb

Since the above account is not following my test account I should not have been able to view IamHoodBarbies protected twitter stream. Obviously these Twitter profiles are all compromised accounts. A simple change of password is probably not the band-aid that should be used.

The Twitter filter managed to nab the “100 followers” string and filtered these tweets from the test account Twitter stream.  The test account is also not currently accruing a steady stream of profiles from Twtkingz[TOX]info API like it was yesterday.  During the past six hours the test account has only followed one protected account via the TF API.  The test account is still able to view protected tweets of accounts that are not following the test account.

Who is behind all this?

With all the emphasis on botnets, security breaches, and malware; In comparison, Tweeterfollow appears harmless.  Is it?

Domain ID:D30737265-LRMS
Domain Name: TWTKINGZ.INFO
Created On:10-Dec-2009 15:10:50 UTC

Last Updated On:10-Dec-2009 15:10:59 UT

There is something big going down on Twitter

Any website hosted at Piradius.net in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia should immediately raise  a red flag.

Update:  12-15-09  8:13 pm EDT

Update:  12-16-09

Update:  12-17-09

Update:  12-22-09

Test account data:

December 18:
5 tweets Total

Timing:
2 tweets @8:08  pm from API
1 tweet  @9:54  pm from API
1 tweet  @9:55  pm from API
1 tweet  @10:25 pm from API

URL Breakdown:
3 tweets to twtfollow[TOX] info via ohurl.com
1 tweet to twtfollow[TOX] info via retwt.me
1 tweet = “This site just gave me 100 followers using” no URL

December 19:
9 tweets Total

Timing:
1 tweet   @6:09  am from API
1 tweet   @8:33  am from API
1 tweet   @2:10  pm from API
1 tweet   @4:34  pm from API
4 tweets  @7:09  pm from API
1 tweet   @10:10 pm from API

URL Breakdown:
1 tweet to youtube.com [generic]
1 tweet to twtspeedy[TOX] info [via retwt.me]
2 tweets to twtfollow[TOX] info [via Safe.mn = flagged as a "Dangerous website: Phishing/Malicious Content"]
2 tweets to twtspeedy[TOX] info [via TinyUrl]
1 tweet to twtfollow[TOX] info [kiwiurl.com]
1 tweet to twtfollow[TOX] info [via shorten.ws]
1 tweet to twtfollow[TOX] info [via snipr.com]

December 20:
15 tweets Total

Timing:
1 tweet   @12:34 am from API
1 tweet   @1:10  am from API
1 tweet   @6:11  am from API
1 tweet   @7:12  am from API
1 tweet   @8:34  am from API
2 tweets  @1:31  pm from API
2 tweets  @1:32  pm from API
1 tweet   @1:33  pm from API
1 tweet   @2:11  pm from API
1 tweet   @6:36  pm from API
1 tweet   @7:29  pm from API
1 tweet   @7:33  pm from API
1 tweet   @10:12 pm from API

URL Breakdown is getting spammy, so for the sake of brevity – here goes:
The shorl you requested has been disabled due to abuse. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
lu.mu disabled
kiwiurl.com disabled
nvg8.it disabled
twtfollows {TOX] Info still online
twtlimit {TOX] Inf still online
retwt.me = .twtspeedy[TOX] info

December 21:
26 tweets Total

Currently pushing the following Toxic URLs:

twtfollows[TOX] info
twtlimit[TOX] info
twtspeedy[TOX] info

Stay Safe Online!

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!

Update: 10/06/2009

Though this was not an obvious phishing campaign that takes your money, McAfee Site Advisor Rating:

Phishing or other scams

This site uses your Twitter account info to send spammy messages to your followers. Here is an example:
“I got 100 followers using http://TwitPWR.com/swf/ . Check it out!”

This is a clear case identity theft. I advise you to not fill your twitter username and password in this site.
Posted at 09/23/2009-08:49:43 PM by Alexis Kauffmann

Ryan Johnson is currently running another spam campaign on Twitter via Followersquick<>info [IP:124.217.246.188] .

Toxic URLs on Twitter can get me fired up faster than any other social networking site.  I think it is because the time it takes for Twitter to notice that there is a problem, and then for Twitter to act on it —  leaves a huge security hole and enables the bad guys to maximize and control the dark side of Twitter.

I’ve been watching the dark side of Twitter for over 7 months now, and there is a lot of malware stories that do not unfold at my blog.  There are also security experts outside of Twitter who follow up and have become just as frustrated with Twitter Internet security as I have become.

For the record, I am highly vocal about the fact that I think Twitter has a social obligation to the Internet community as a whole.   I think that they need to act upon social networking threats that transpire at their site immediately, and to have a rapid response system in place to confirm or deny the validity of reported offenses and offenders.

Current keyword culprits that have gone viral are [note that all are posted via API abuse]:

“This site just gave me 100 followers using hxxp://xrl<>us/bfosj8″

“I just got 100 followers using hxxp://TwitPWR<>com/swb/”

“I got 100 followers using http://is<>gd/3BP6e Go check it out”

“This site is great I got 100 followers in a day using hxxp://twi<>cc/Bjry”

“Hey Get 100 followers a day using xxtp://yumurl<>com/9yPYKZ.  Its super fast!”

“You should check this site out if you want 100 followers a day” hxxp://tinyurl<>com/n3oeal

“If you want 100 followers a day use” hxxp://alturl<>com/kdqj

“I use hxxp://TwitPWR<>com/swg/ to get 100 followers a day. It work great”

“If you trying to get more followers go to hxxp://shorten<>ws/bee0c2.You will get 100 followers fast!”

tweeterfast<>com Originates from IP: 124.217.246.188.

tweeterfast<>com
tweeteradder<>com
www.tweeteradder<>com
www.tweeterfollow<>com
www.tweeterpro<>com

tweeterfast<>com has a 301 from quick-followers<>com

Whois Information for tweeterfast.com

Registar ENOM, INC.
Registration Data:
Registered on 2009-09-23
Last updated on 2009-09-23
Expires on 2010-09-23

Nameservers:
ns1.tweeterfollow.com: 124.217.246.188
ns2.tweeterfollow.com: (DOES NOT EXIST)

Owner:
Admin:
Tech:
ryanjohnson2007hotmail.com
Ryan Johnson
+1.4103563433
+1.5555555555
Deadly Is Great
1533 Blue St.
Baltimore, Maryland 21217
US

Current nameservers are listed under tweeterfollow<>com. Check out this interesting archived page.
Rest assured that before this campaign is done — TWEETERFAST will give you more than 100 followers…

Don’t forget to check out their rules. When you sign up for an account at Tweeterfast, you are giving them the login and password to your account to further promote their site and your Twitter account will be hijacked.

Stay tuned for continued updates on Twitter as they become available.

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!

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!

According to the 33 News, the “Google Work at Home Scam” is a not so nice scam that boasts monthly charges of $ 79.90 to your credit card with no response from the company when you try to cancel.

Google “Work From Home” Scam Victim: “These are awful people and I hope they get caught and brought to justice.”

New Twitter spam-bomb offers A Job With Google
“Twitter has just become inundated with spam accounts promoting a site called ajobwithgoogle.com. We highly recommend you DON’T visit that site.”

While monitoring Twazzup this morning, it appears that new accounts are being created every five minutes.

Google Job Spam Scam accounts available in search status this morning:
All profile urls go to jamesmakinmoney<>com
@adaelcdp
@adriennerjopq
@aidenbgxyr
@aletagbfcy
@albertaergdy
@Allinedotgm
@anamariarzbdm
@anderaonhzr
@angilaavbtj
@annettenslrx
@Arcadioblnxj
@ardithpfrki
@Arnoldopokam
@beaufgyhb
@brandynezezv
@brennanhmcle
@bookersodcw
@carlillahg
@ceciliasuhvm
@cherellekfphw
@christoperefclz
@clemenciajxrmw
@codiakgrg
@Coltenujper
@concettacfrgo
@cynthiazszxm
@darinjiaqx
@Diannzdjxx
@doretheajordj
@durwoodikqfm
@edmondflmrz
@edrislnfdl
@ellannsavg
@emmypvrrz
@ezekieluqfwv
@Faezmmlg
@fayehpsjr
@Gilbertemjrgr
@graciaairqy
@hermilaoztql
@hyeapxob
@hurleynquko
@jackpflks
@jasmineptire
@jolandapmvug
@jonniemgwwy
@izettayiimt
@jeannarsxfa
@jerrialqbw
@kameronzjwkx
@karenkxazn
@kathleengyjfe
@Kennithlebnz
@Kerivvxxd
@kerstinxolcg
@Langwlwnj
@lanioopdc
@laureenszdgl
@linlvrgk
@lonaqvysl
@loreleibtkpo
@loretteyxbdm
@laureenszdgl
@lynnevppu
@Madelynvveps
@mafaldalzftw
@maooqahx
@Marianelakrabl
@mariotzadc
@marvellamwmrm
@mckenzieochwe
@mercedezbevxh
@michellxqlhj
@Mollypdebx
@Muintpcl
@myrlleahl
@nestorpoezk
@okgblqk
@paijlto
@pamelianrlyg
@patricarhtzi
@phuonglgybd
@providenciaqynl
@Rebbecaasgjt
@rorypycgm
@rosemaryyrhxq
@sabinatmkyk
@shanehmrvb
@shauntafdszq
@sherellzlrff
@solomonumyqv
@tabithatsajx
@tamathayulbn
@teganhidle
@tilliegdgzi
@tishctndj
@vnefha
@wanetanngdq
@willenejjldf
@winonaafwdj

Arranging the search by date @twazzup will show all Google “work at home” scam spammers

Until Next Time — Stay Safe Online!

Listed below are account profiles guilty of promoting  rogue malware scam RegistryEasy on Twitter:

1world4
bestelectronix
bgoebel2
collin_creev
createwealthx
DaNetbookGuy
dmiddleton2
dwes456
dmiddleton2
dougsanders19
franzidee
guruassassin
johntukel
lelkins2
mw45
post_free_ad
registreasy
ronnie_ward
samfrankles
tommuecke

On July 25, 2009 Rik Ferguson wrote an informative article in his Trend Micro Blog about Registry Easy:  New Malicious tweet run on Twitter

Ironically, Registry Easy malware pushers are still allowed to scam Twitter users and people still pay $$$’s for a program that pays affiliates up to 75% profit.  The company site does not list a physical address, but doing a whois lookup the company is listed as:

Qiwang Computer Ltd
Luo Gang (business@registryeasy.com)
+86.7713219660
Fax: +86.
Keyuan Dadao Kechuang Dasha 626
Nanning, Guangxi 530003
CN

Registry Easy also produces fabulous reviews of its product online at such sites as  PCRegistryReport.com This particular review site is hidden behind the anonymity and privacy of WhoisGuard.

Adding convincing graphics to the review site:

With no obvious professional credentials, they also market the concept that these companies endorse their product.

About Registry Easy™ and RegistryEasy.com Last Updated Feb. 19, 2009

Since we start as a system utility company, RegistryEasy.com and its associates have always committed to delivering excellent products for PC tools, data recovery, computer security and OEM solutions for industrial uses. Our company has been dedicated in the development of professional system utilities for Windows users.

Until Next Time — Stay Safe Online!

Every time twitter burps or comes to a halt, hands shake, keyboards rattle, foreheads sweat, SKYPE is placed on green STANDBY status, YIM is alerted, tech forums are visited, twitter direct messages become profuse, and my home office becomes a blur of traceroutes and pings. I’d even be willing to ssh into level 3 and hop routers all the way to the twitterverse to see what is going on over yonder! (of course  I am just kidding

Be forewarned that this post might be a bit too dramatic for you if you are NOT a Twitter-holic-twit, otherwise known as a THT. Operating as a THT since February 2009, twitter has become a part of this gals virtual, (sometimes) private, and mainly professional lifestyle of choice.

As an operative for social networking, twitter is the Alpha and the Omega.  I am not the only THT that partakes of the twitter platform in this capacity, there are quite a number of us tweeting around.  I’ve fallen madly in love and am all a-twitter with this 140 character constraint called micro-blogging!

Lets get back to the crux of my PTPSD trauma. Today it appeared that I might be lost from the twitter time-line once again.  This happened for the first time in July when twitter filtered my tweets (hence I was tossed into twitter purgatory) and subject to a profile of search tweet-lessness.

In July I did not know what was going on. I knew that I had a history of pointing out malware links that proliferated the twitter platform and I will admit that I did entertain the concept that I was possibly being censored by twitter. So the next step was to develop a strategic plan to get twitter to un-flag a tweet-less search account.  It was such an elaborate plan that I have only revealed it to one other person on twitter, and he was able to use the steps that I outlined, to get his account out of twitter purgatory.

So today when I was unable to peruse teksquisite tweets, I honestly thought that I had been TRANSPORTED BACK  TO TWITTER PURGATORY AGAIN! FLASHBACKS from July abounded! PTPSD was in a state of full flux!  Of course, I won’t sue @ev yet because they just had a baby, and I would not be able to live with myself if the twitter baby (TTB) went without twipers.

Until next time — Stay Safe!

Update [7:20 pm] : my account is not restricted!  Whatever happened to my tweets, I do not know.  I appreciate good communication from @netik/ twitter.

Begin original post……………………….

This morning I lost 18 tweets on twitter timeline search.  I am going to start posting missing timeline tweets at my blog and re-post the link on Twitter.  I do not expect this problem to go away any time soon, so I have decided to remain vigilant and I choose to be proactive.

Waledac/Storm. Past and present a threat

Panda Quarterly Report: Trojans account for 70 percent of new #malware

Rackspace backs blogger Scoble to popularise Web 2010

Internet hacks and hoaxes more sophisticated than ever, says Network Box

Identity fraud a growing problem, says finance website

Yahoo! needs to click its refresh button on Internet Censorship in China

Russian channel censors South Park’s Putin

Power.com Countersues Facebook Over Data Portability

60 million stung in social networking rip-off

RootZoo Sues Facebook for Click Fraud

DefCon17 Presentation: 0-day, gh0stnet and the inside story of the #Adobe JBIG2 vulnerability

RT @GlobalKnowledge: Top 5 Things About Windows Server 2008 You Might Not Know -

RT @SophosLabs: RT @gcluley: South Korean arrested for denial-of-service attack

MIT Geeks –> Camera-capable clothing created

N.K. cyber combat unit has 100 hackers’

50,000 ‘zombies’ triggered recent denial of service attacks

Let’s get going now –> #FBI wants more online security education

Another failure to communicate case –> CA anti-virus says Windows file is a virus

Until next MIA Twitter Timeline Tweet -#twitmiss  stay safe!

Earlier today I discovered quite a few poisoned links in a user profile @twitter- 16 URLs to be exact, and every one of them included “Trojan-Downloader.JS.Iframe.atl.”  So I hash-tagged my discovery to #spam and #malware.  Then I performed a twitter search under #malware to make sure that the information about this serious exploit in this particular twitter profile would be acknowledged by twitter.

No tweets from @teksquisite were included in the initial twitter search that i performed,  nor under the hash tag of #malware, or #spam.  It was at this point in the time-line that I noted something was quite amiss!  It was very odd that there was no teksquisite posts under #malware search (which happens to be my # of expertise.)

So what do you do if you become twitter-search-banned for posting information about twitter malware links or you have posted duplicate links (due to tweetdeck choking?)  Try to find the support link over at twitter help – it is not very intuitive but I was finally able to post a request.

Currently waiting for an answer…

Update July 7, 2009 6:55 pm

I finally got back in the twitter time-line.  Long story and not enough time here to write it all out.  Suffice it to say that it took a lot of work to figure it out.

Update February 28, 2010

Open up a Twitter Support Ticket here: http://twitter.zendesk.com/requests/new

There was a question posted over at TwiTip regarding Twitter Bullies which is how this particular post started.

I have to admit that I’ve been privy to a few episodes of bullying on twitter since I joined in early February of this year.  I am sure that there are always plenty of other bully shenanigans going on around me, but I do not allow this to become part of my personal twitter experience.

The above paragraph may sound a bit callous, or it could make me appear to be indifferent to the suffering that surrounds emotional and mental abuse issues online.  For the record: I have a BS in Sociology, three years experience working with online organizations that deal specifically in cyber-abuse issues, three years of experience in high acuity units at a psychiatric hospital, and virtual experience of ten years plus dealing with varying degrees of online abuse.  I believe I am qualified to give intermediate advice regarding how to deal with online bullies!

Do you remember the schoolyard bully from yesteryear? The guy or gal who could raise an eyebrow at you, shake a fist, and make your knees turn to jello?  Perhaps even make you pee your pants? Those dreaded schoolyard bullies often grew up and took on abusive-style roles in adulthood too.

Emotional, mental, or physical abuse are areas that often invite a typical schoolyard bully to continue to embrace abusive-type behaviors as an ongoing ‘lifestyle of choice’ throughout the human lifespan.  Yes, bullies can make choices too!

Wikipedia: The National Crime Prevention Council‘s definition of cyber-bullying is “when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person. Other researchers use similar language to describe the phenomenon.

The number ONE rule in order to stop bullying in its tracks, is to turn on the IGNORE rule.  The bully no longer exists once you have turned on this rule.  There should never be any contact in any form ever, remember that the bully now ceases to exist.

The number TWO rule is to not give out any personal information online that you do not want everyone to know about!  There are people in the virtual-sphere that do not have your best interests at heart, and they could possibly ignite a stalking nightmare that could take years to extinguish.  You don’t want to go there!

The number THREE rule is to never engage in a battle of damaging tweets on twitter!  I have seen it in the raw and it is abrasive, derogatory, and often constitutes defamation of character.  I was shocked to observe a very popular twitter guy with almost 100K followers, stalked by an irate follower who ruthlessly displayed prior criminal record dirt in order to engage the masses. The guy who was attacked by his prior criminal record had to literally create a video to explain his naughty record.   After many direct messages from his attacker to me, I basically told the attacker that I was not interested in digging old dirt and that he needed to move on.

The number FOUR rule is that if the online twitter-bully refuses to stop bullying you, you need to seek help! Please do contact me regarding your particular situation and I will be happy to direct you to the appropriate available resources in order to assist you.

You can read all about the different types of bullies over at Bully Online, the world’s leading web site on bullying.  Though the bulk of information available at this particular site is work-related, there is plenty of useful advice that you can arm yourself with in order to deal with abusive online personalities.

Until next time – stay safe online!

Ed Bennett, manages Web services at the University of Maryland Medical System, and maintains a Hospital Social Network List. I found his list to be quite impressive, outlining hospitals that tweet, blog, facebook, and Youtube!  Alas, I was rather disappointed that the list did not include hospitals in New Hampshire or Vermont.  Though hospitals have been conservative by nature, some are finally breaking the mold!

Ed’s list: June 15, 2009 – U.S. Hospitals that use Social Networking tools:

* 297 Hospitals total
* 142 YouTube Channels
* 109 Facebook pages
* 213 Twitter Accounts
* 26 Blogs

Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston blogs!  Two Stories on Florida Hospital’s Interactive Care Experience are posted on Youtube, expounding patient empowerment as an industry trend in health care.  Mayo Clinic appears on Facebook as a group with 7500+ fans.  If we include Ed Bennet’s blog about The Top Ten Hospitals on Twitter, this could be indicative of possible trends that could be here to stay!

Until next time – stay safe online!

The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC) defines spyware as a technology that can be used in two ways:

1- Tracking Software deployed without adequate notice, consent, or control for the user.
2- Spyware is used as a synonym for what the ASC calls “Spyware (and Other Potentially Unwanted Technologies).Technologies deployed without appropriate user consent and/or implemented in ways that impair user control…

Total tech defines spyware as: Software that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge, and Malware as: any program or file that is harmful to a computer user. Thus, malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and also spyware, and programming that gathers information about a computer user without permission.

In a nutshell, I would like to define spyware as a subset of malware that monitors and collects personal information about you and that is almost always involved in the realm of profit $$$s.

I joined Twitter on February 9, 2009 and did not really have a clue as to what I was going to do with it!  I knew what a tweet was, and I also knew small & medium businesses, corporations, family, friends, and Hollywood people utilized this form of social networking.

Being an IT Consultant (Information technology Consultant) leaves this gals technical arena wide open to some fairly bizarre and strange contracting and field tech jobs.

I work rural SW New Hampshire and Southern Vermont.  I have been taunted by a bull, stuck in mud, offered Dominus Estate Napanook Vineyard Wine- 1991, drank a very bad cup of coffee with a famous gay documentarists’ lover, been spat on by a Llama, had a monkey toss feces at me, and I now have enough fodder to write a best selling novel.

Being 99 Twitter days old– I am a bit wiser than I was at day 1, day 7 or even day 31!  I now know that I want nothing to do with making big bucks, MLM, tweeting about my every move, or scamming people via malware links.  I simply want to utilize twitter in the best way that works for me, and in a communicative format that will get the message out to those who need it.

This week I think that my followers need to stay informed about twitter links that push spyware, malware, and are grossly underestimated for harmful effects on those who decide to click on these BAD LINKS! I sincerely do have ulterior motives brewing within regarding a strong desire to want Twitter leadership to take responsibility for monitoring and aborting harmful links on the Twitter platform.
Enough personal agenda for now — pssst, I am currently celebrating a 99 day old Twitter Birthday and loving it.  I also want to acknowledge @jack, @ev, @biz for developing and promoting “messages entirely dependent upon the recipient” mindset – thank you for giving Twitter to the world, you wonderful and innovative guys!

Until Next time – stay safe!

In a severe recession you have to adjust rapidly, you have to be flexible, and you must be able to leverage transferable skills.  Surviving in a severe recession is new territory for most of us who grew up rarely lacking anything.  Now every one’s financial security is here today and possibly gone tomorrow.

“We’re in a very severe recession, and we haven’t seen the bottom of it yet, so things are not good right now,” said Steve Agee, professor of economics at Oklahoma City University. “We’re experiencing difficulty in most of our major components of aggregate demand, but we’re not even close to being at the same level as the Great Depression.”

Are you worried over the stress of losing a job or have you already lost your job?

Richard Hawk from Attack Stress suggests five steps that will help you with any type of worrying:

1- Describe exactly what you are worried about.
2- Make two lists.
List A – Worries that you can do something about
List B - Worries completely out of your control
3- Brainstorm and research.
4- DO SOMETHING!!!
5- Stop thinking about the things that are out of your control.

Why worry about something that you have no control over?  If you lost your job you should immediately begin planning what you need to do next. Go get that just-laid-off checklist from Recessionwire and heed the practical advice given at their site. Learn to use  transferable job skills from previous jobs, be flexible, and STOP WORRYING!

There are some things that you will not want to do in order to bang out the next buck. I do not specifically like working on HDTV’s because some of them are big, bulky, and difficult to dismantle. I would much rather be sitting comfortably at my desk, sipping a cup of fresh brewed coffee, twittering, and tracking malware botnets. Unfortunately tracking malware botnets will not pay my bills, but HDTV’ repair will supplement current income enough to keep the $$$’s above board financially.

What are the tricks of the trade during unsure economic times?

Be resourceful, stay committed to flexibility, and always give gratitude for what you have.  There will always be someone worse off than you are.

Other helpful links:

The 405 Club aptly named for New York’s maximum unemployment benefit of $495 a week. A place where the newly unemployed can share advice to navigate through the tough and treacherous environment of unemployment.

If you are hungry and can’t afford to purchase filet mignon, you can always wander over to Great Depression Cooking With Clara to learn how to make simple, inexpensive and delicious meals.

Until we meet again – stay safe!