DHL, UPS Virus Email, What Next NZPost?

February 5, 2010 – 7:45 pm

Many times there are things that show the US Centricness (Is that a word?) of the internet:

• .com readily meaning US site
• US date formats in online forms
• USD as the default currency

Well another example is the idea that every country must use UPS and DHL for their parcels.

Why else would all of the post / courier etc virus emails sent all around the world have these two as the only options to use.

The phishers seem to have a better idea…use a local provider to have a better chance of success. (Even these guys get it wrong: Note to Spammers – I dont have any Commonwealth Bank of Australia accounts)

What is wrong with NZPost? I suspect that in any case like this, an email from a local bank / services company / postal service etc would be more troublesome to the local population.

So, look out for suspicious emails from local suppliers, and as should be usual practice, here are a few standard tips to protect you from email nasties:

• Any email asking for any form of login / password should be treated suspiciously
• Any email warning of a security breach should be treated suspiciously
• Don’t click on any links in emails that you are unsure of, instead go to the website manually
• Don’t open any attachment that is unexpected, this especially includes zip files
• Keep your virus software up to date and make sure email scanning is turned on!

Let me know of any other tips or other virus laden emails you have had to send to your trash bin.

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Twitter Phishing Problem or Twitter Security Breach?

February 2, 2010 – 10:04 pm

I have received a Twitter email saying that:

Due to concern that your account may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter, your password was reset. Please create a new password by opening this link in your browser:

Now, funnily enough, I don’t remember any phishing attempts coming my way, and by the number of similar issues that others are having, who also don’t remember any phishing attempts, it seems more likely a glitch at Twitter.

Phishing attacks are usually to capture logins and passwords so the attacker can gain access for some illicit purpose, but there were no bad tweets, no changing of settings, no damage I could see at all.

Again, none of the others I have read about have found any damage either.

I use some third party software and plugins to manage my Twitter account, so it could be one of those, but that isn’t phishing, that is a security breach.

No one seems to have any ideas, the closest I found was a reference to software such as Seesmic or Tweetdeck users having problems.

Some people were getting these emails ten times or more.

Here is a blog post about someone else’s experience (worse than mine, so far

Have you received one of these, have you had any issues resetting your Twitter password?

Let us know in the comments…

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Is this the needed Push Out the Door for IE6?

February 1, 2010 – 2:19 pm

Internet Explorer 6 is an old browser, in internet terms it is a dinosaur. Released in 2001, it has been the mainstay of peoples internet experience over the last 9 years.

The masses are often reluctant to change unless something pushes them along.

Firstly, Firefox gave users a good alternative browser to use (Better in my opinion)

Then came regular security issues, each time a further section of the browsing public moving to another browser. Most recently was the security hole that caused a breach in Google and over 30 other companies.

The key thing to note about this last issue was the speed and loudness of some governments urging people to look at other browsers to prevent further problems.

Some say that Firefox has overtaken Internet Explorer as the first choice in some countries.

However, there are still about 20% of the internet population using Internet Explorer 6.

I have now just read of Googles impending chang in in policy to cease support of IE6 from the 1st of March. This specifically deals with Google Docs and Sites, but shows a willingness to help push the remianing 20% into more modern browsers.

I support this as it has the following benefits:

1. Wider support for the new HTML5 (IE6 would not be able to offer this new technology)
2. Improved browser compatibilty with web standards
3. Speed

It would be great if those 20% could not use Google at all, that would really send a message!

If you want to know more you can visit IE6 No More, a site dedicated to helping it disappear as soon as possible

If you use IE6, why don’t you upgrade?

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New Clients for the new year, Welcome!

January 7, 2010 – 10:36 pm

Well as usual, the run up to Christmas was frenetic with lots of things to get done before the break. It has been quiet for the last few days as many clients in this part of the world are either on holiday, or are in the Tourism industry and are working hard during the peak of the season.

So I thought I would list up the latest clients into the Deepweb stable, welcome to all…

• Kerikeri Bed and Breakfast Group – Group of 7 local bed and breakfasts
• Kansai Fishing – sail assisted fishing vessel
• Whangarei Heads Tourism – Accommodation and Activity providers
• Reubens Cruises – Ferry service and other cruises
• Auckland Escape – Out to Kawau Island and other water tours
• Bounty Inn – Paihia accommodation
• Elvis the Voice – Elvis entertainer
• Far North iSite – Visitor Information for the Far North
• Bed of Roses – Kerikeri Accommodation
• One on One Swimming – Swimming Coach in Wellington
• RCToys – Remote Controlled Toys
• Breakaway Retreat – Accommodation on the Whangarei Heads

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Spam is a Great Source of Jokes!

January 6, 2010 – 1:34 pm

Some of the more common recent spam comments posted on this blog and others are obvious spam, but have the added benefit of including jokes.

Some are actually ok. Here are a few recent ones…

• Why did the dinosaur cross the road? Because there were no chickens in those times.
• What do you get when you play a country music song backward? You get your wife back, you get your job back, you stop drinking …
• Why do hurricanes travel so fast? If they traveled slowly, we would have to call them slow-i-canes

So OK, they are not great, but make spam less annoying

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