Archive for the 'Communication' Category

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FireFox Pdf It! Addon

Published on December 18, 2009 in Communication and Power User Tips. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Pdf It! is more than PDF

The Pdf It! extension is designed for FireFox running on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. The Pdf It! menu item appears in the Tools menu as well as context menu.

The Pdf It! extension features are as follows:

  • Convert current page(Whole Page or Visible Part) to Image(PNG or JPEG)
  • Add title to generated image (Firefox 3 only)
  • Specify the color/position/font size for title
  • Apply up to 16 filters while converting page to Image

ImageVenue

I don’t have much use for the PDF function of this addon (based on an online service) . The PDF function does not provide a full colour rendition of the Web page. It is the ability to create a JPEG of a web page that can be emailed or put up on a site like ImageVenue.

If you use ImageVenue, then you only need to send a link to the image, which must be either JPEG or JPG with a maximum size of 3 meg. For example, an image of our web page  is easier to send as a link than as an image file. Of course this is not secure from outside viewing but it is handy for some things.

Pocket Spy

Published on November 20, 2009 in Communication, Privacy and Security. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

The pocket spy: Will your Smartphone rat you out?
by Linda Geddes,14 October 2009 issue of New Scientist

  • learn where to get an app that will encrypt all the data on your phone
  • should you lose it
  • what happens with recycled cell phones
  • a smashed my SIM card can still have data extracted from it
  • and much more

Email Overload

Published on August 10, 2009 in Communication. 0 Comments Tags: .

How to write attention-grabbing e-mail messages

Email filled with typos, spelling mistakes and irrelevant information can make you look stupid. This article contains seven tips to improve your use of e-mail to make look more professional.

The article also points-out things for which you should not use email. For example, document collaboration.

Expert tips to guard against e-mail overload

“We have created a cultural urgency with e-mail that is not correct.”

“You can fight e-mail overload with a few commonsense practices, experts say.”

Where did this email come from?

Published on July 8, 2009 in Communication, Methods, Private Investigator and Sources. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Tracking down the origin of email messages has become a staple of many Private Investigators. Without getting into  mind-numbing technical details, here are the steps I take to find the origin of anonymous email missives.

  1. Search the sender’s email address using Google, Bing, and other search engines to see if it appears. Next search using Intelius’ reverse email lookup.  If the email appears registered to a name, you can pay a fee of $4.95.
  2. Even when a misleading email address is the origin, read the IP addresses in the header from bottom to  top. The IP address in square brackets is the origin IP.  Or, use IP tool to track the IP address. Copy the headers into the box and select your email system.
  3. Go to What Is My IP Address and enter the IP address to see where it originates.
  4. Search the email address using Spokeo.
  5. Try ReadNotify.com and email the anonymous correspondent. If he opens your message, then it will notify you and send back the reader’s IP address, the date and time the message was opened, location of recipient, map of location, apparent email address of opening (if available), referrer details (ie; if accessed via web mail etc), URL clicks, how long the email was read for, how many times your email was opened and if your email was forwarded, or opened on a different computer. If he opens your message in his office, then you will know where he works. However, this seems to only work with HTML enabled email programs. Remember, the header data from the original message will probably tell you what email program sent the message. NOTE: This does not work if the recipient opens the email in the Web version of Gmail. If he receives it in a desktop client that polls Gmail, then it will work.

 

 

Secure File Delivery

Published on May 22, 2009 in Communication, Methods, Privacy, Security and The Investigator's Computer. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Delivery of large reports and file material is becoming a problem for many organisations. Electronic file delivery poses risks to the integrity and security of the data, and delivery of printed copies is too slow and expensive. Email delivery is not possible in many cases as the files may be too large, even when zipped.

You can resort to establishing an FTP site of your own, or create a secure delivery site using something like OWL, or use a third party service.

A usable third party solution to this problem is YouSendIt. This lets you send and receive files up to 2GB in size. A zipped 2GB file represents a large volume of data. Passwords control access to files you are sending and receiving, but YouSendIt does not encrypted files on their servers.

Regardless of the solution selected, the person transmitting the data must assume responsibility for the encryption. Never, ever, let somebody else take responsibility for the encryption — do it yourself on your own computer.

China’s Espionage and Cyber Attack Strategy

Published on April 29, 2009 in Communication, Industrial Espionage, Intellectual Property Rights, Intelligence Services and Surveillance. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

An excellent article about the “recent discovery of Chinese cyber warfare attacks on foreign computers, on communication computers of visiting dignitaries, and espionage activities to assist a friendly country is building weapons of mass destruction (WMDI)” entitled China’s Silent Warfare at BLOg Source INTelligence reveals a lot about China’s espionage and cyber attack strategy.

The Modern Slave Bracelet

Published on April 24, 2009 in Communication, Dirty Tricks, Privacy, Security and Surveillance. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Your mobile phone can become a slave bracelet if it is compromised by malicious software.

Xerobank, Zero Customer Service

Published on March 27, 2009 in Communication, Privacy and Private Investigator. 14 Comments Tags: , , .

In a previous post we mentioned XeroBank as a possible alternative to TOR.

Once you’ve figured it out, XeroBank is a great system! It’s a VPN connection to their servers which assigns you either a Dutch,
US or Canadian IP address; other nation’s IP addresses are not available. There is some confusion on their website as to whether other countries are available or not. The website merely says you can choose a country.

Once connected via the VPN, you can use all your browser and other programs to access the internet. We did not try their email service. The system is fast and you can even stream in video quite easily. Basically, it’s a great service if you have lots of time to read up on it and figure it out on your own because there is no customer support or documentation from the company; the public forums are the only place you’ll get any answers.

The sign up process and administration process are not straightforward.  It is very hard to understand how to log in to the account and how to use it. Four emails to customer service over the course of 3 weeks after sign up and no answers.

They say the first month of the service is free but as you’re signing up you’re asked for your credit card and they charge you $1 for the first month; it is then very difficult to cancel your subscription, actually you can only put it on hold by going onto the website of the billing company that they use and suspend your account, but we only learned that by asking the question on their public forum where we received an answer from someone we presume to be an employee; emails to support were never answered.

Customer support is non-existent. They are more interested in the technology than their customers.   (If you want to see the people who might be behind the XeroBank, please have  look at the delegation they sent to the last DEFCON event.)

Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing

Published on March 20, 2009 in Communication, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator and Report Writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Poor writing is not a recent problem. In 1946, George Orwell wrote his essay, Politics and the English Language, about his five rules of writing effectively.  Orwell concluded that if you follow his five rules, then you would distinguish yourself by clearly communicating your ideas.

Orwell’s Rules

  1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech seen in print.
  2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
  3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
  4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
  5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Texter

Published on March 16, 2009 in Communication, Power User Tips, Report Writing and The Investigator's Computer. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Texter saves you countless keystrokes by replacing abbreviations with commonly used phrases that you define. It runs in the Windows system tray and works with applications you’re typing in. It can also set return-to markers for your cursor and insert clipboard contents into your replacement text, in addition to more advanced keyboard macros.

How did I ever live without this?

Caller ID Block Defeated

Published on February 26, 2009 in Communication and Telephone Resources. 3 Comments Tags: , .

Trapcall will reveal the caller name and number when transmission of caller ID is blocked. If the party receiving the call on his mobile telephone subscribes to the free service, they will see the caller’s phone number. If the called party subscribes to the paid service, they will also receive the name of the caller. Trapcall is not available on all cell phone networks in the US, but it does work where it is available. I don’t know if it will work in Canada.

This is something to be aware of when calling subjects of an investigation or making pretext calls.

Fact Checking

Published on February 13, 2009 in Communication, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator, Methods, Private Investigator and Report Writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Every writer, reporter, and investigator should read the article entitled Checkpoint by award-winning author John McPhee in the Feb. 9-16, 2009 issue of New Yorker Magazine . The abstract is available, but you must be a subscriber to read the full article online. Of course, you could go to the library and read the article, or just buy the magazine.

The Virtual Investigator

Published on February 4, 2009 in Communication, Methods and The Investigator's Computer. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Secret Identity

Secret Squirrel would be jealous of all the facilities available to the Virtual Investigator. These things let the Virtual Investigator ask questions and communicate without revealing his secret identity.

Secret Email

Setting-up your computer for TOR use, or XeroBank’s anonymous proxy server network, then getting an email address from www.hushmail.com or www.mail.com begins your transformation into a Virtual Investigator. Continue reading ‘The Virtual Investigator’

The Anonymous Investigator

Published on February 2, 2009 in Communication, Methods, Private Investigator, Security and The Investigator's Computer. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

The Onion Router (TOR)

Thousands of people around the world use Onion Routing or  TOR to do things on the Internet. Private Investigators should use it to maintain anonymity during investigations. Continue reading ‘The Anonymous Investigator’

Spread FUD Not Propaganda

Published on June 20, 2008 in Communication, Competitive Intelligence, News Media and Reputation Management. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

An excellent article at Knowledge Is Power about using a blog to spread FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) about competitors and manage the spin on news about its rivals while usually reporting positively about your own employer.

Another post about Black PR defines this as distinct from a disinformation campaign.