From another site, extract:
Who would do such a thing? The same sort of people who have perpetuated some of the top urban legends such as the claim that Mr. Rogers had a former secret career as a trained assassin, and that ATM users can quickly contact police in the event of an attempted robbery by entering their PIN in reverse. The cyberspace is full of lies disguised as inspiration, political alerts, health warnings, and prayers. Many come complete with enhanced photographs. The ones that are especially ironic are those that state, “Even Snopes has confirmed this,” along with a link to Snopes that attributes it as false. People who forward such emails, obviously do not check the link themselves. (source: To Forward or Not to Forward? By Patti Maguire Armstrong catholicmom.com)
"Email subjects quite often play a big role in the success of a phishing campaign. Cybercriminals are, therefore, increasingly attempting to fool recipients into clicking a malicious link or downloading an infected file by using business-oriented and legitimate-seeming subject lines...
Websense Research has revealed that email subjects alone are most likely to ensure a phishing lure. Here are five of the most risky email subjects that you should never open:
Invitation to connect on LinkedIn; Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender; Dear … Customer; Comunicazione importante / important communication; Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender ... Continue reading: '5 emails you should never open' http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
In addition to social engineering, geographic location also plays an intricate role in phishing. By rank, here’s a list of the top 10 countries hosting phishing URLs: (Based on research conducted 1/1/13-9/30/13)
1. China
2. United States
3. Germany
4. United Kingdom
5. Canada
6. Russia
7. France
8. Hong Kong
9. Netherlands
10. Brazil ... continue reading: Five Most Dangerous Subject Lines @ websense.com
"Even if you've never embarrassed yourself by unknowingly spreading an urban legend as fact to friends and family, you've at least been on the receiving end of one of these misinformed messages. Next time an email, tweet, or link seems a little fishy, here's how to spot it before your itchy trigger finger sends it to all your friends or followers. ... How do you identify and avoid spreading misinformation, myths, and urban legends on the internet?
Step One: If It Walks Like a Duck
Step Two: Do Your Research
Step Three: Don't Hit Send
Step Four: Absolution
continue reading: Adam Pash's myth busting How to Avoid Spreading Myths and Misinformation Online
Russ Kick Anne P. Mintz Steven WyerAdvice for JournalistsOn the same shelf from Centre for Faith and the Media:
If you're a journalist, and you're not sure whether a funny story you read about a Muslim is news-worthy, copy the text of the story and remove all references to Islam, Muslims, and Saudi Arabia- and then read it again. Now, ask yourself a few questions:
- Can the story be verified?
- Is the content genuinely interesting, significant, or relevant to your readership?
- Was a real person willing to put their name on this? Is there an original, reliable source or byline?
- Could the text of this email be mistaken for a chain letter?
- If you published this religion-free version, would your editor call you an idiot with no news sense? continue reading : How Mars Became Haram: A Guide to Freaky Fatwa News
"I am generally opposed to to forwarding or otherwise disseminating things I receive in emails (GrOw yOuR p3ni5! lo5e w319ht! l34rn hOw tO ty93 u51n6 0n1y num6er5!), but there are some that sneak through my filter and rise to such a level of usefulness that I feel the need to introduce them to an unsuspecting world.
I r3ceiv36..sorry, I received one such email today from a family member in the Middle West, and I present it here in its entirety.
The subject line read simply “The dead cow lecture.” That alone was worth the price of admission and grabbed my attention straight away. I have no idea if this really happened at my esteemed institution of higher learning or if it’s completely apocryphal, but I glowed with pride when I read it.
I can only hope that the information I pass on to my students is as practical, profound and utterly gross as the information that this professor passes on to his: THE DEAD COW LECTURE..." continue reading the story
11. This email needs to circulate forever...See samples from 2008-2013...
Snopes.com say's it is a mixture of fact and fiction:
The advice given in this much-circulated28th International Stroke Conference, and news of it can be found on the American Heart Association's (AHA) web site. However, as the ASA says in its official statement about the report, though the research was funded by a grant from the ASA, that body has not taken a position on the topic nor endorsed the test because the results, though positive, arose from a very small study.
TRUE: Three simple tests can help diagnose the occurrence of a stroke.
FALSE: Making a stroke victim bleed from his fingers will prevent further harm.
PARTLY TRUE: Asking a stricken victim to stick out his tongue can help diagnose a stroke.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com
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