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
4 Things you might not have known about your Cell Phone
There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:
FIRST : Emergency
SECOND: Hidden Battery Power
THIRD: How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
FOURTH: Free Directory Service for Cells
Good morning!
We wanted you to know that you received Honorable Mention in yesterday's article titled "Who's Who in Local Communities" by Stephen Bozanek, recognizing individuals and businesses who have recently contributed to improving their local communities.
The article will remain available at www.newsdigest.co for the next few hours and is available for on-demand download and printing.
We wish you the best of continued success.
Sincerely,
Lisa Davis
News Digest International
http://www.newsdigest.co
----------Yet another, received previously:
Advise on how to 'treat' such lovely message is by Beware of Who’s Who ScamsDear Candidate,You were recently appointed as a biographical candidate to represent your industry in the Who's Who Among Executives and Professionals, and for inclusion into the upcoming 2008-2009 "Honors Edition" of the registry.
We are pleased to inform you that on November the 10th, your candidacy was approved. Your confirmation for inclusion will be effective within five business days, pending our receipt of the enclosed application.
The Office of the Managing Director appoints individuals based on a candidate's current position, and usually with information obtained from researched executive and professional listings. The director thinks you may make an interesting biographical subject, as individual achievement is what Who's Who is all about. Upon final confirmation you will be listed among thousands of accomplished individuals in the Who's Who Registry. There is no cost to be included.
We do require additional information to complete the selection process and kindly ask that you access this form on our website by Clicking Here
Sincerely,
Bill Fields
Managing Director
Extract:
On the same shelf:"If nothing jumped out at you in the above, then you need to learn more about how to identify a potential scam.First, if what is being referred to really involved a selection process and your identification as worthy from among a larger pool of people, you would expect the e-mail to address you by name. A generic form of address indicates that this is a mass mailing, and the link offering you the opportunity to unsubscribe confirms this...."
by
G. Ram Kumar>> In-laws
>> Pay cheques
>> Your offspring
>> Your wife's cooking with your mother
>> Exes.
>> An old photo of your spouse to a more recent one
Source: Compare much more here: Things you shouldn't compare www.kia.ca/daretocompare
On the same shelf:
Extract from The Right Click By Tori Floyd:
"Nevertheless, many people have likely seen this post appear on their Facebook wall, asking them to spread the word:
"Share this message with at least 15 of your friends for the best chance of alerting everyone," reads a message circulating on Facebook, according to Mother Nature Network. "Many people will try to log in from February 29 to 31, just to find the site closed down for those days with no warning."...
If you're faced with what appears to be a chain message via Facebook, there are some basic rules to follow:
- If it asks you to click a link or send along personal info, don't. Facebook has more official means of contacting you than a Wall Post put up by one of your friends.
- Before entering in any sensitive information, including your Facebook password (or any other password), banking information, or home address, verify that the URL you're visiting is actually Facebook. And as a point of common sense, you probably shouldn't be too generous with your banking info and address to Facebook, either.
- Use common sense. Read 'important messages' that are meant to be official communications from Facebook twice, since chances are good they aren't real. And if a message is promising something that sounds too good to be true — like a free iPad or money just for reposting —then it almost always is. ... continue reading: The Right Click
.A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard."... if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it." Read the full story at Snopes.com
When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen. The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.
Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it.. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.
Mayo Clinic News
Medical and Scientific News and Stories about Mayo Clinic
Extract:
We have been informed of a recently circulated email regarding the use of aspirin, which included mention of Dr. Virend Somers and of Mayo Clinic. Neither Dr. Somers nor Mayo Clinic contributed to this email, which contains some information that is inaccurate and potentially harmful. We recommend that you speak with your physician if you have specific questions. continue reading the Mayo Clinic News
The No. 1 question to ask yourself before hitting “send” on the next e-mail, Mr. Godin says, is this: “Is this going to one person?”
ONE BOTTOMLINE:
¶ Don’t forward chain e-mails. Don’t forward chain e-mails. Don’t forward chain e-mails.
Continue reading @ New York Times See also 408 comments and growing
With the new 'FB timeline' on its way this week for EVERYONE...please do both of us a solid: Hover over my name above. In a few seconds you'll see a box that says "Subscribed." Hover over that, then go to "Comments and Likes" and unclick it. That will stop my posts and yours to me from showing up on the side bar for everyone to see, but MOST IMPORTANTLY it LIMITS HACKERS from invading our profiles. If you re-post this I will do the same for you.
Extract: As a company, Facebook has tried to educate its millions of users, pointing out options, updating security information, and answering privacy concerns. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's been enough, with more than 70,000 people joining anti-Timeline pages across the board.
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