Michael Gracie

I’m out of the office all day, taking a class over at Spam University. I figure it takes one to know one.

And Microsoft has one of the biggest in the fleet. So they are chasing phishers in a big way, and promising a motherload of legal action against perpetrators on three continents.

The company has a new initiative cranking into gear called the Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative, which they announced at a recent conference. Interesting, but not surprising - the Anti-Phishing Working Group is not mentioned.

So much for cooperation?

According to the WSJ:

“The market for high-technology start-up businesses is so intense in Silicon Valley that some companies are being showered with millions of dollars from investors — without even asking for it.”

I don’t see a problem with all the liquidity here. The IPO market is not wide open, therefore exits are based on M&A instead of someone’s IRA. In other words, the right people are buying into the investments. Private equity overhang has been part and parcel low startup costs, so it is nice to see the capital finally being deployed. It is going to lead to job creation, and a few blockbuster products.

There is no question that some hype is good - all we need to ask now is where we are in the hype cycle, and how much hype is too much.

But no matter, Aunty Belle’s retirement money likely won’t get burned this time.
Read more »

It used to be you watched out for purse snatchers and pickpockets at the mall, and only around the shopping season. Now you get to worry about them when shopping online. An army of botnets is doing exactly that - snatching personal information while you are loading your virtual shopping cart.

First while banking, and now while picking up Mother’s Day flowers. Well at least its an excuse for forgetting (fear).

Having someone peer over your shoulder to catch your password as you typed never sounded so good.

Google just avoided providing the government with person-specific search data, but has to lift the hood on their engine for them nonetheless (whatever the hell that means).

Meanwhile, the center of the internet universe (according to some) has been ordered by a Federal Magistrate to turn over some crook’s Gmail account data, including any deleted emails.

With the search stuff, who cares? Everyone looking for bad stuff on the net most likely already knows where to find it. But in the second regard, I’d say this is a nail in the coffin for free, web-based email services. Even those folks (like me) who use services like Gmail on a “POP only, Delete After Download” basis now get to wonder when and where all those emails they thought they deleted might…well…er…pop up again.

I suspect that for many, Gmail is the defacto address for every Craigslist communication and email newsletter they don’t really want, so its not a problem. But, if you use such services to correspond with the attorneys forming your irrevocable trust, or set up meeting times with the boyfriend or girlfriend your husband or wife doesn’t know about, I’d say you could get finely screwed (not that you aren’t already, in either case). If these services become useless for anything but cat and mouse games with internet marketers, I don’t see longevity in them.

Of course, if your surreptitious liaison schedule is already wrapped in one of those extremely long encryption keys you generated for the sender, you aren’t going to care who gets their hands on that email - you’ll be the one in the coffin before anyone gets around to reading it.

I doubt it.

SecurityPark noted that 1 in 5 emails is pharmaceutical spam, based on a recent analysis by BlackSpider Technologies.

What do you expect in such a pharmacologically enhanced society? Personally, I think spammers are wasting their time - 4 out of 5 people already have plenty of pills, and the others don’t have internet access.

Straight talk and common sense, in today’s New York Times.

A trojan horse is running around, encrypting folks’ data, and demanding cash for its safe unravelling. Sophos has already found the password, but I wouldn’t have been worried anyway. Why?

Because I back my stuff up. And you should too. Whether it is a sneaky virus trying to empty your pockets, or a hard drive head slamming down on a platter, it makes no difference. Your data is now toast.
Read more »

I wish there was a company out there that made nothing but shredders. I would be buying their stock, and posting this story, repeatedly, each day.

PS: When you hit Office Depot for that new shredder, don’t skimp on a cheap one, but beware of the “ultra-secure” cross-cut variety. They jam a lot more than strip-cut family. And buy the extended warranty - when it finally breaks (after you jammed a copy of some politician’s memoirs down it) - you’ll be glad you did.

According to a recent study by Counterpane Internet Security and MessageLabs, the healthcare industry is bearing the brunt of a majority of spyware attacks. While providers (and insurers) make it extraordinarily difficult for a person to gain access to their own medical records (in the name of privacy), have malcreants decided that it is easier not to play by the rules?