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Posts tagged Internet
Nedbank phishing scam
Attempting to dupe Internet banking users out of their account numbers, PIN numbers and passwords seems to have become the latest hotbed of criminal activity. The attempt to catch unsuspecting FNB customers seemed amateurish – the fake website looked just that: fake, and unlikely to be taken seriously. The ABSA scam had me convinced after I had a look at the exact replica of the actual ABSA Internet banking site hosted at an obviously wrong location. In that case, the URL was the only giveaway.
Now, I’ve received a request to log on to a fake Nedbank Internet banking site. Scammers are taking advantage of the fact that Nedbank has indicated that some changes will be made to the official site and that additional services will be offered soon. The fake site lives at this URL: http://netbankonlinebanking.9hz.com and looks similar to the actual site.
Curiously, Nedbank refers to its own Internet banking service as Netbank, which I don’t fully understand. In any case, at first glance the fake website is quite convincing and mimics the style and layout of the actual site very well. All it takes is the entry of the Profile ID, PIN and password – don’t simply click on links and enter any details before you haven’t verified that you’re on the site you’re intending to be.
Call the institution if you suspect that something is awry and check the URL carefully before you do anything. At the time of writing, Firefox doesn’t yet block the URL as one that is dubious.
Google Dashboard
Google has quietly launched an interesting website related to all the services it provides. The Google dashboard shows a quick overview of all data associated with a Google account, all the way from GMail to the Google Calendar and including such services as Picasa. Basically, the dashboard is a springboard to all Google services you’re already using (and some you may have forgotten you signed up for). Summary information is displayed for the content those services contain and links are provided to quickly access the relevant information.
The page shows all of your data that Google is the custodian of. Scared yet? Time for a backup and a plan to fail-over to some other solutions in case Google ever goes pop, methinks…
Google Maps localized
With an eye on next year’s World Cup, Google has just announced the South African version of its online mapping resource, Google Maps. Anyone accessing maps.google.co.za should now see a default view of South Africa.
The usual levels of detail and various views are available.
One very useful addition is the ability to request driving directions. These are displayed on the map view and are also provided in textual form to assist in guiding eager tourists to the nearest shopping mall, B&B or liquor store. Locals will probably find the ability to request detailed route information useful to – we know where the cheapest liquor stores are located, natch!
And just in case you’re desperate for a drink, queries can be entered to assist you in finding what you’re looking for.
In time for the 2010 World Cup, Google Street View of five large metropolitan areas will be available online. For use on the go, Google Maps is accessible on most mobile phones that provide a browser.
ABSA phishing warning
The proliferation of phishing scams is increasing by leaps and bounds, as is the first-glance trust one may place in certain emails and websites that mimic services provided by real corporations. About two weeks ago, I received an email prompting me to enter my FNB account details. Today’s email from ABSA’s Online Account Directives is similar, but leads to a website that is an absolute dead ringer for the real thing.
Once again: the first thing to tip you off to the fact that this is a scam is the simple fact that no financial institution will ever request you to enter or update any information in this way. Still unsure? Pick up the telephone and call the call centre to find out whether or not a communication of this nature could be legitimate. In any case, I advise you not to react but simply to turf the email into your trash can and report it to the bank. In my case, GMail already completed the first step.
But since I enjoy sifting through my trash…I had a look at where the URL in the mail links. Even the mail is convincing, including a logo and various other details that make it look official. The URL in the mail does not, of course, link anywhere near the actual ABSA online banking website, a website you would generally not access directly but rather click on a link on the actual ABSA home page. The fraudster who has compiled this email has made use of the same trick the FNB email employed: spell out the URL to dupe the user into believing the actual text leads to the real website. Clicking on the URL leads to the following address: http://64.23.6.160/Renew/Main.html instead of the official https://ib.absa.co.za/ib/ib.jsp.
The fake website is absolutely indistinguishable from the real thing:
The only clue to indicate that the website is not the real ABSA online banking portal is the URL displayed in the address bar of the browser:
This is one scam that will catch many victims. As with the FNB scam, Firefox blocks access to the site whereas Internet Explorer does not.
Click with care and don’t divulge information anywhere without taking precautions.
FNB online fraud warning
I’m not an FNB customer, yet this mail still arrived in my inbox.
This is yet another example of a really poor phishing attempt, but one that is likely to catch out at least a few unsuspecting victims.
First off, never ever click on any link in an email provided without first checking where it goes to. In this case, the link for the online banking URL points to http://67.19.209.82/%7Eblack/www.fnb.co.za, which is in no way the official FNB banking URL. The page is already blocked by Firefox, but users with other browsers may still run into a phishing site.
Secondly, no bank or financial institution will ever request you to update your details in this way. Be wary of the Internet. Even though it’s a great place for gaining access to services that would ordinarily require us to spend a lot of time completing, it’s just as easy to be duped into providing too much personal information to the wrong people if you’re not careful.
A new look
The observant folk among you will have noticed that I’ve finally changed the look of the blog. The blue, Mac-style theme was growing a bit long in the tooth.
The new theme is a rather attractive free theme from Web-kreation. It is called OneRoom and lends a change of colour and layout to the site.
There’s some work to be done. Sloppily, I haven’t yet had the time to update my own header image and to make sure it’s positioned correctly. I also need to do some work on the sidebar and a few other changes.
In addition to the installation of the theme, a whole bunch of updates to the plug-ins I use have been completed. I’ve once again reinstated the mobile themes, so the site should display appropriately formatted content for a variety of mobile devices.
Another year of blogging…
And another year has passed since August 2005 when I started this blog. It’s still an endeavour I enjoy, hence I’m able to maintain my goal of a post a day without too many exceptions.
With a change in interest, visitors will notice a change in direction and content. My switch to the Mac means that there is hardly any content regarding Linux, for example. That’s not to say I no longer dabble or have an interest in Linux, simply that I have something new that takes precedence.
There’s a reasonably steady stream of hits on a daily basis, though I find various peaks and troughs as my content veers from Windows Mobile to Symbian and then to the iPhone, as another example. I neglected to enable statistics after moving the blog to a new hosting provider, with the result that my statistical information for most of 2008 is not available. No matter, really. That’s just for interest in any case, but does provide even a slight assurance that hits are coming in.
Here’s what I had in 2008, provided by Awstats:
And here’s a view of 2009:
A slight increase overall, but reaching a plateau, it seems. Popular search terms that lead here still include GRUB error 17, lightscribe templates and iPod Touch firmware updates.
Overall, this site hovers in the top 30 at SA Top Sites, every now and then veering crazily towards the 50 mark.
Achieving good statistics and rankings is not the aim – I just find the information interesting and use it as a yardstick of sorts. The new versions of WordPress now include statistical information of their own. Here’s a sample for August:
Thanks to regular readers who find their way back here and to those who stumble on to this accidentally. Now, on to year 5…
Book publishing. Me. Online.
Who’d have thought that anyone would ever show any interest in publishing something I’ve written. Not me, for certain. I was intrigued by a mail I received from VDM Publishing, asking whether or not I’d be interested in having a real book made out of my PhD dissertation. Whilst I’m under no illusion that this request benefits the publisher and enables them to bolster their stock of available literature, I’m also quite interested in their model: free submission of the text, including some hold on the content with regard to rights and a slice of royalties received from any (in my mind unlikely) purchases.
Best of all, the entire book is created and submitted online, including cover generation. For a geek and aspiring author, that’s just too cool to miss out on!
The process is rather uncomplicated – once accepted by the publisher, the manuscript may be submitted electronically. To start, relevant personal details are entered into the online system and an ISBN number is assigned. I have an ISBN number. Fancy that…
I spent some time digging up the original Word document and pasted it together again. I’ll need to format some of the headers and footers, but for now I’ve uploaded the resulting 2MB PDF file. Enter text for the cover, blurb, author background, then on to the fun thing: choose a colour for the jacket. Orange, of course. VDM directs authors to PurestockX to select an image for the cover – the cost of that selection is carried by the publisher. A click later, and the draft version of the book’s jacket is presented:
Not bad.
How the books are marketed, I’m not sure. This is obviously a print-on-demand business, costing the publisher little more than the storage of electronic manuscripts, a few stock images and shipping of a complimentary printed copy to the author.
I expect you won’t find this at the local Exclusive Books 
As the author, I could (at my discretion, of course) provide loyal readers with an abstract. Or a discount. Or, how about a limited, signed edition? Hehehe….
25 years of Neuromancer
Yesterday saw the 25th anniversary of the publication of William Gibson‘s novel Neuromancer. It’s without doubt one of my favourites and I’ve read and re-read it many, many times.
Gibson made some astonishing predictions, primarily that millions of computers would be networked together and data universally accessible.
In 1984, when the novel had just been completed, the concept of the Internet already existed, albeit in a very limited form. Gibson managed to describe a world in which access to information is easy, fast and available to almost everyone. The novel went on to win three prestigious awards: the Nebula Award, Philip K. Dick Award and Hugo Award and was rated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential novels.
It’s still a good read, even after all this time. And, of course, it’s part of the greater Sprawl trilogy.
Check out this Wikipedia article with a summary of the plot to get started.
Firefox 3.5 released
The latest version of the popular Firefox browser is available for download from Mozilla.
The primary improvement is in the performance department. Firefox 3.5 is said to be quite a bit faster than the 3.0 version. Less memory should be consumed and a new feature to hide your browsing trails a la Safari is included. The ability to restart after an unfortunate browser crash has already been around before – it is now faster and improved.
Download the browser here.
Here’s hoping most add-ons I use will still work after the upgrade…
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