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directorblue
Lt.Jg.
Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 121
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 Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 12:55 pm Post subject: Detecting and Fighting the Phishing Scammers |
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For those sick of receiving phishing spam emails (supposedly from Paypal, Citibank, etc.), I've posted a hopefully helpful blog entry about how to recognize these emails, trace 'em to their sources, and fight back:
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2005/05/detecting-and-fighting-phishers.html |
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Bob51
Seaman
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 156
Location: Belfast
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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Very good, directorblue,
Any idea why Paypal, Citibank and the other banks are so hopeless at taking action themselves?
Bob51 |
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directorblue
Lt.Jg.
Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 4:04 pm Post subject: a |
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Good question. I think they've tried some outreach to teach security issues, but the problem is their outreach messages resemble the scam messages!
The takeaway is that users have to be able to figure out the sources of these messages if they intend to click on them. Otherwise, you're risking alot.
Maybe someday the email clients themselves will get smart enough to instantly recognize and reject phishing messages. Until then, it's every man (and woman) for themselves!
_________________
http://directorblue.blogspot.com - click for various missives on the folly of John Kerry's candidacy. |
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Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortunately there's probably a near endless supply of ignorant computer users upon whom these vermin will prey as well as service providers/hosts who could care less as long as the scum pay their broadband bill. Then there's the problem of even reputable providers with clients who've had their boxes compromised and serve as conduits for these scams.
One thing fersure, if identified and apprehended, these scum should be made an example of...BIG TIME. |
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Bob51
Seaman
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 156
Location: Belfast
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| Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 10:14 am Post subject: |
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Directorblue,
Looking at your technical reviews, you obviously have some INFOSEC/COMPSEC background. Anything you'd like to share on Schneier's views from his latest CRYPTO-GRAM of May 15th?
Bob51 |
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directorblue
Lt.Jg.
Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 11:08 am Post subject: . |
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Bob51 - you must be prescient! I just posted an entry on REAL ID...
check it out when you have a chance and let me know what you think.
thanks.
http://directorblue.blogspot.com |
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Bob51
Seaman
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 156
Location: Belfast
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| Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 2:00 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I do live in the land of compulsory smart ID cards....
and talking of compulsory, it's always worth checking on the progress of the darker side of Athena, Palladium, TCPA and NGSCB (or whatever MS calls this stuff these days).
Anderson's paper on this is old but worth rereading from time to time:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
He has little time for the Common Criteria and EAL ratings but he's quite consistent in his views over the years.
At least here we have an Office of the Privacy Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data (though its teeth are not as sharp as they should be).
http://www.pco.org.hk/
Regards
Bob51 |
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directorblue
Lt.Jg.
Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 4:51 pm Post subject: a |
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The good news about the whole TC initiative is how slow it's coming together.
At the recent WinHEC conference, it looks like TC has melted down to only a "secure startup". In addition, that startup sequence requires a chip that none of the hardware vendors appear ready to integrate.
Given the combination of grass-roots pressure and technology difficulties, I'm hoping TC will never be real. Or maybe only in China 
_________________
http://directorblue.blogspot.com - click for various missives on the folly of John Kerry's candidacy. |
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Bob51
Seaman
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 156
Location: Belfast
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 6:53 am Post subject: Re: a |
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| directorblue wrote: | | I'm hoping TC will never be real. Or maybe only in China |
Directorblue,
Here's one for you from today's SCMP. Maybe the Party has been learning from SwiftVets 
| Quote: | Special force tackles negative chat on Net
Officials have formed a special force of undercover online commentators to try to sway public opinion on controversial issues on the internet, the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Weekly has reported.
Beijing has struggled to gain control over the internet as more people gain access to information beyond official sources. The mainland has nearly 100 million internet users, according to official figures, and the numbers are rising.
A special force of online commentators had been operating in Suqian city in Jiangsu since last month, the weekly said.
Their job was to defend the government when negative comments appeared on internet bulletin boards and chat rooms, the weekly quoted local officials as saying.
Suqian's publicity department recruited the commentators from among government officials, the weekly said, adding that they must "understand [government] policies, be versed in [political] theories and be politically reliable".
"They will guide public opinion as ordinary netizens. This is both important and effective," said Ma Zhichun , one of the commentators quoted in the report.
"We are not the first and won't be the last [to have online commentators]. The whole nation is playing the same game," Mr Ma was quoted as saying.
The Communist Party's top disciplinary and supervision body trained 127 officials for such jobs last year to "strengthen internet propaganda on its anti-corruption undertaking", the weekly said. |
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Bob51
Seaman
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 156
Location: Belfast
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 7:11 am Post subject: Golden Shield |
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| directorblue wrote: | | only in China |
Directorblue, If Ma Jian is anywhere near correct in these observations, this really should be "only in China".
| Quote: | INTERNET POLICING
China's virtual Big Brother
Eleven years after its initial connection to the World Wide Web, China's access to the internet is still guarded by firewalls, embedded in its proxy servers, which have proved to be more practical and impenetrable than the Berlin wall.
Moreover, an increase in the demand for broadband connection has triggered the launch of an US$800 million Jin Dun (Golden Shield) project, an automatic digital system of public policing that will help prolong communist rule by denying people the right to information.
The principle underlying the Golden Shield is that "as virtue rises one foot, vice rises 10". Using systems developed by western intelligence agencies, China has forged a virtual sword that threatens to block the path to democracy.
Internet "gateways" mainly supervise and filter political information in China. Their technical functions include blocking overseas websites, filtering content and key words on webpages, monitoring e-mails and internet cafes, hijacking personal computers, sending out viruses, and interconnecting with the monitoring systems of the public security bureaus.
Rather than heralding a new era of freedom, the internet is enabling the mainland authorities to perfect totalitarian control in a way that puts the rulers in George Orwell's 1984 to shame. Since mid-April, Golden Shield's advanced science and technology has been monitoring every thought and action of the Chinese people who use the internet.
Today, China is the only country in the world that has enshrined in law the concept of a "web political criminal". Publishing articles on the internet can amount to committing an offence, and "radical views" may result in imprisonment.
The real criminals, the officers of the companies - Nortel, Cisco and Sun Microsystems - that built this sinister system of mind control, will never get closer to a prison than China's five-star hotels.
Since the first Chinese web criminal, Lin Haiyin, was jailed for instigating subversive actions in 2000 to the recent arrest of writer Shi Tao , more than 100 independent intellectuals have been imprisoned for expressing their views.
Internet monitoring is also behind the constant rise in the number of Falun Gong practitioners executed by the state - a total of 1,692 as of April 18.
Internet communication in China is filled with baits and traps: user-friendly webpage designs, easy-to-click icons and symbolised facial expressions, beautiful female stars in online ads, and constantly updated international news induce users to participate and express their own views. But once someone's fingertips touch the keyboard, he or she may find themselves stepping into a trap, because the internet police monitor every word that is typed.
In a country where freedom of expression has been off limits for half a century, the internet had at first proved to be a godsend: people poured their enthusiasm into it by building websites and personal homepages. Now these people find themselves exposed to the public security bureaus.
Today, the average online lifespan of proxy servers in China is a mere 30 minutes, and 17,000 internet cafes have been shut down. The online filtering technology is capable of blocking or intercepting the e-mails of the 80 million or so "net citizens" in China.
Although the Golden Shield project is the Communist Party's largest single investment in the ideological field since it came to power in 1949, it is also likely to be the last big bet before the party's collapse. Like the Berlin wall, China's internet restrictions may be technically sound, even as they defend the indefensible and sustain the unsustainable |
Of course, I'm reading this in a Special Administrative Region of the aforementioned totalitarian state, so Ma Jian's views from exile may be a bit out of date  |
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