Don't Let Spammers Find You Through A Blog

Spammers thrive on being able to harvest emails from unwitting participants in Web 2.0's dialogue. One of the biggest and best sources for this is blogs where both bloggers and those commenting on their entries make the mistake of posting email addresses without taking precautions, and it's important that bloggers know how to keep spammers from harvesting emails from their sites - both for their protection, and that of the readers who are leaving comments on your pages.

One simple way of preventing spammers from getting your website is by posting your email graphically, rather than by using text. You can also try to use a spam filter, or scripts that prevent spammer's email-harvesting bots from noticing your page, although these have varying degrees of success depending on the sophistication of the spammer in question.

If your blog is located on a site like wordpress, livejournal, or blogger, you have the option of protecting your updates so they can be seen only by those you allow, or by those who are also members of the site. This can have the unintended result of limiting your readership, although new sites such as Dreamwidth are supposedly offering aggregations of other sites in an attempt to allow cross-posting to scale new heights.

When commenting on blogs and forums, one technique a number of web surfers have used to try and protect their email addresses from being harvested by spammers is by inserting random punctuation into their email addresses, breaking the address up with spaces, or spelling out certain punctuation marks which are included in their email; for example, instead of writing spamhater@spamhater.com, someone might write their email address as "ess pee eh em aytch eh why tee eee are at" ...and so on, or spamhater/at/spamhater/dot/com. This method can work, if your readers and the others commenting on your blog or forum have the patience to decipher those characters then retype them, but it can be a killer for communications if they a) miss the point or pronunciation you've used or b) can't be bothered to retype the address. Plus, using uniform punctuation as in the "/" example above isn't all that tough for spammers to program their bots around, and so its effectiveness is limited.

No method for protecting your blog from spammers is going to be a hundred percent foolproof, but by even attempting to make it harder for spammers to read addresses off your site, you help make it harder for crime syndicates who run spam rings to find more unwitting victims for their next ploy. That, more than anything else, makes the attempt to safeguard your blog from email harvesting spammers worth the extra effort.

Economic Stimulus Scam

Some scams are so convincing, it can be difficult to tell when an email is legitimate. After all, it walks like a duck and looks like a duck.

That's why it's so important that people remain vigilant regarding email scams.

The latest seems to be around the Economic Stimulus Package checks.

Most of us have received our checks so this may seem like one of the more innocuous scams, but for some folks who may not have even qualified in the first place (they would have received their checks already), it can prove as dangerous as any other we've told you about.

Potential victims get an email instructing them to open a link (supposedly to an IRS site) where they are asked for typical information those phishers love to get including social security and checking account numbers.

The email states that the recipient must provide all information to get their check. In addition to the potential dangers of providing unknown, faceless Internet criminals with sensitive information, you may also be downloading malicious software spyware to your computer.

This is obviously not the work of the IRS. Like banks and other respectable institutions, government agencies don't make a habit of requesting information they work to help you keep private. They also remind taxpayers that to qualify get an economic stimulus check, all one had to do was file a 2007 tax return and meet the eligibility requirements.

People who receive scam emails can help the IRS by forwarding the original email message to them at phishing@irs.gov.

The e-mail must be forwarded using special instructions at http://www.irs.gov/ or it loses the encoding needed to track it to its source.

To be eligible for the tax stimulus, taxpayers had to meet the following requirements:

Families who gained a qualifying child or an additional qualified child by birth, adoption, etc, during 2008.

An individual who was otherwise eligible based on his/her 2007 tax return but who could be claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2007 tax return and therefore received no ESP and who is eligible based on his/her 2008 tax return and cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2008 tax return.

Someone who received less than the maximum stimulus payment ($600 individual/$1,200 married filing joint) during 2008 because their 2007 income was too high or too low, and their 2008 income has changed.

Someone who did not file a 2007 tax return by Oct. 15.

By-line : This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of cell phone deals. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

Trend Micro Anti VirusTurns 20

Trend Micro Anti VirusTurns 20.

Global security leader celebrates two decades of catching viruses, snuffing out cybercrime and helping to make the Internet safer for its customers.

Trend Micro Inc. was launched in a make-shift California office with no bathrooms, in a world with only five known computer viruses, and in a security landscape that barely existed.

It was during the 80's that the founders of Trend Micro -- Steve Chang, Jenny Chang and Eva Chen -- got their first look at a virus, a program that kept expanding to infect one computer file after another.

As the Internet and networks grew, Trend Micro evolved to focus on total network security and brought a number of "firsts" to market, including:-

In 1991 -- The First Server-based Virus Protection -- ServerProtect™

In 1996 -- The First Gateway Virus Protection -- InterScan™

In 1997 -- The First Server-based Email Virus Protection -- ScanMail™

In 1998 -- The First Web-based Centralized Management -- Trend Micro Control Manager™

In 2002 -- The First 2-Hour Virus Response Service Level Agreement

For 20 years, Trend Micro has been devoted to technological innovation, sustained business growth and customer commitment. With a start-up's mentality of creativity and innovation, it had the ability to rapidly adapt to a changing threat landscape that started out with a small population of viruses designed by individuals simply looking for fame and notoriety, to a flourishing, complex underground cybercrime economy that costs businesses and consumers billions of dollars each year -- all headed by criminals whose vision is financial gain.

Despite its modest beginnings, Trend Micro has become one of the world's largest security software companies in the world, growing faster than the top 5 largest competitors in the industry which together make up almost half the US$13.2 billion market. For over eleven years, the company has experienced sustained growth.

Since its listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1998, Trend Micro has been on both the Nikkei Excellent Companies Ranking and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, listed among other internationally renowned companies.

Trend Micro now has over 40 market-leading products and solutions, and 4000 employees worldwide that offer 24x7 global support operations and a dedication to innovative technologies. It is a known leader in the advancement of integrated threat management technology to protect personal information and property from malware, spam, data leaks and the newest Web threats.

True to its pioneering spirit, the company is now leading the security industry towards cloud-client technology with the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, a next-generation cloud-client content security infrastructure designed to protect customers from Web threats.

Size hasn't changed Trend Micro's dedication to its customers and partners -- the company has been consistently recognized for its channel-friendliness and superior customer service.

"Even though Internet security technology is variable and constantly shifting, two things have remained constant when it comes to our long-time relationship with Trend Micro: quality solutions that meet our IT needs and exceptional customer service," said Bill S. Dishman, IT technical manager for global infrastructure, AMEC plc.

"We have been very satisfied with Trend Micro for the last 10 years and we look forward to continuing this rewarding partnership."

"Trend Micro's vision for the last and next 20 years remains the same: to make the world safe for the exchange of digital information," said Eva Chen, co-founder and CEO.

"Inside Trend Micro, we are focused on better serving our customers based on their needs, how they use computing technologies, and how they are impacted by a changing threat landscape. I want to assure our customers what they can always expect from Trend Micro: continuous innovation and customer commitment."

Looking ahead as a global citizen

In fulfilling its responsibility as a global citizen, Trend Micro continues to commit a portion of its resources to the Global Citizenship Program, established to improve the economic conditions of impoverished countries, as well as to advance awareness among parents and educators of the Internet safety issues young people face today.

"We can't forget the bigger world beyond the digital one. It's not enough that we are securing computers and digital data -- we are global citizens and have a responsibility to make the world a better place," said Chen.

"In our twenty years of existence, we have enjoyed many successes, and we want to share that success with the communities where we work, live, and aspire to make a difference."

For more information on Trend Micro's 20th Anniversary celebration, please visit:
http://us.trendmicro.com/us/about-us/company/20th-anniversary/index.html

About Trend Micro:

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in Internet content security, focuses on securing the exchange of digital information for businesses and consumers. A pioneer and industry vanguard, Trend Micro is advancing integrated threat management technology to protect operational continuity, personal information, and property from malware, spam, data leaks and the newest Web threats.

Visit TrendWatch at
http://www.trendmicro.com/go/trendwatch to learn more about the threats. Trend Micro's flexible solutions, available in multiple form factors, are supported 24/7 by threat intelligence experts around the globe.

A transnational company, with headquarters in Tokyo, Trend Micro's trusted security solutions are sold through its business partners worldwide. Please visit http://www.trendmicro.com/.

Email Chain Letters - Ripping Off The Cyber Population $1 At a Time

Email Chain Letters - Ripping Off The Cyber Population $1 At a Time

What is it with people sending on these email scams that promise you a lifetime of riches and good luck?

They are so friendly telling you that you deserve all of this wealth, pulling you into their web of deceit.

The originator of these scam emails knows exactly what it is you want to hear, and offers you an abundance of it.

Then comes the punch line - it's going to cost you something!

Just put one dollar in an envelope and send it to the first x number of people on the list, and then add your name to the bottom of the list and send the email on to more people from your mailing list. These people don't just want to con you - they want you to perpetuate the con by adding your friends and family to the list.

But wait a minute - how did you get on the list? Well there's two main possibilities: either the originator took your email address from a mailing list that you appear on and found you that way, or, you got on the list because someone you know was sucked into the con and thought you'd play along too.

Think about it for a moment. Have any of your friends suddenly become rich? Overnight have they resigned from their job and took off on a luxury round the world cruise? No? That's what I thought!

So why do scam emails like this keep arriving in your mailing box? Well for one reason, one of those top names on the list is probably going to be the originator of the scam.

They will receive $1 for every person who falls for this desperate urge to become rich, and let's face it - it's only about $5 in total and so many people will take the gamble right? That means the originator of the list is going to be getting rich $1 at a time.

Mightn't seem a lot but like your mother always told you cents soon make dollars, and dollars soon start to add up when they are constantly coming through the mail.

Let's look at another possibility. You actually do get money back. Do you seriously think it's going to be the huge amount of money that the original email promises you? I don't think so.

The reason for this is quite simple. Whilst there are some people who can afford to gamble the dollar - or alternatively are needing money so badly they'll try again - most people will do what you probably will do - hit the kill key and delete the email for the rubbish that it really is.

The only reason that these emails keep going is that they do work - but only for one person, the person who sent out the first original email. Chances are they didn't just send it to their friends, but rather they bought a mailing list, or trawled through membership lists on email groups, and created the master list from which to start this scam.

There are so many millions of people with online access that it's not too hard to believe that they could send this to a lot of people and still not send it to two people who actually know each other - at least not well enough to talk about what's in the scam mail each day!

If you get one of these, do what you would do with a regular chain mail letter that dropped through your home's mailbox, bin it. Don't take any notice of any supposed bad luck or bad karma messages that come at the end of the scam letter.

Take a stand for the non-scammers and don't send on that dollar, don't add more names to the list, just delete it and never think of it again.

If everyone did that, pretty soon they'd give up - until they found a new way to entice money from unsuspecting people!

Katie-Anne Gustafsson, 2006