Don’t look now, but that “LinkedIn” invite you just received from a “colleague” may in fact be yet another cleverly disguised piece of spam…
Other LinkedIn spam isn’t so obvious or so benign though. I also received fake invites that lacked the Viagra Houdini image but still lead to weird sites (like one called “Cernoma”)…
This is not the first time social media has been abused by spammers, and it appears to be a rising trend. (I’ve also written about bogus Amazon spam here.)
This is an excellent article with lots of links to more accounts of social media being used as a vector for spam and malicious code.
Google introduced encrypted search which gives the user the option to use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to prevent packet sniffing which in turn could reveal user’s searches on the site. The encrypted search service moved to https://encrypted.google.com.
Only Google web search is available over SSL. Other search products like Google Images and Google Maps are not currently available over SSL.
I have written previously on taking notes using audio, images, and handwritten notes. Quite a while back I wrote about video notes using a simple camcorder called the FlipUltra.
Kodak Zi8
Now the Kodak Zi8 seems like a better pocket-sized point-and-shoot video camera. The digital image stabilization provides better video than the Flip. It has some hardware and software advantages over the Flip. It needs SD or SDHC memory cards which I see as an advantage even if it makes the Zi8 cost more.
I have written previously on taking notes using audio, images, and handwritten notes. Now I am contemplating taking video notes using a simple camcorder called the FlipUltra. This seems like a briefcase-friendly device for this purpose. The problem with the alternatives is the size and weight of the device. This simple plug-and-play device is good for conducting interviews, taking street scenes, and other recordings that use-up less than 60 minutes of recording time. Using the FlipUltra should be a lot easier and give better results than using my point-and-shoot Lumix camera and of course, longer recording time.
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.
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?
For some time we have been trying to integrate email, calendar, and contacts with our work-flow system using Outlook with Business Contact Management.
Vampire in the machine – don’t let Microsoft Outlook bleed you dry seems to summarize our experience with Outlook.
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 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’
The Pen Communicator from the Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series would connect agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin with U.N.C.L.E. headquarters in New York City if they said the phrase “Open Channel D”. It also included amnesia inducer and electronic scanner functions.
Now we have the Pulse smartpen that records conversations and indexes them to what you write using special notebook paper. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of ways one might use this during investigations.
The Web browser has become one of the Investigator’s or Researcher’s most basic tools. Add-ons make this tool more complete, easier, and faster to use.
ErrorZilla: The standard “server not found” page is useless if you’re looking for a Web site that’s gone AWOL. ErrorZilla adds a series of buttons to the bottom of the standard “Firefox can’t find the server” message, providing instant access to the Wayback machine, Google Cache, Whois lookup, Ping and Trace
A similar add-on, Resurrect Pages, allows you to see dead pages, broken links by searching through five big page cache/mirrors: CoralCDN, Google Cache, Yahoo! Cache, The Internet Archive, and the MSN Cache. Unlike ErrorZilla, this doesn’t offer Whois lookup, Ping and Trace.
PDF Download manages the download of large PDF files. This remains necessary to handle PDF files in Firefox V.3.
Download Statusbar allows you to view and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar – without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.
Morning Coffee allows you to bring up a whole menu of websites with a single click. MorningCoffee is particularly useful for routinely monitoring several sites simultaneously.
Ubiquity promises to become the most advanced tool for Firefox. It is in early beta now but getting better. It requires Firefox 3. Check out the video below.
Beware that this can be abused. It will allow you to alter the content of a web page then email it as part of a mash-up. In the current version, there are well-documented ways that a command author could smuggle malicious code into your machine.
With Windows XP, to clear the page file on shutdown go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools-> Local Security Policy->Local Policies->Security Options->Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile … enable it. It is wise to enable this setting on every computer you use.
We tell people to travel with a “clean” laptop. However, Windows creates a lot of temporary files. The most damaging can be the Page file. Everything that went into virtual memory is there in a file on the hard drive. Of course you should also use a good file erasure programme before shutting off the laptop.
Evidence Eliminator and similar software can kill out files and perform other tasks. But their use can raise red flags in a legal dispute.
But the wiper programs don’t ensure a clean getaway. They leave behind a kind of digital calling card.
“Not only do these programs leave a trace that they were used, they each have a distinctive fingerprint,” Kessler said. “Evidence Eliminator leaves one that’s different from Window Washer, and so on.”
I recommend the use of file erasure tools, especially when crossing international borders with computers. If you use such a programme regularly you have plausible deniability if you’re accused of erasing data to keep it from the police or the courts. If you always use it, then its “fingerprint” will always be there. If the install date matches the computer’s purchase date, then they can’t say you did this to eliminate the evidence the courts or police were seeking. Also, get a receipt for the wiper programme to show when it was purchased for the same reason.
File erasure programmes are part of prudent security practices and should not be viewed as something suspicious.
I don’t know how I ever lived without it — I really don’t. BIG monitors are great. Size does matter! Two big monitors are even better. I used to do real manly work, but I swear, having those two big monitors is better that driving a 200 ton dump truck or blowing-up a bridge.
When I produce a report, two monitors makes it much easier to arrange the source material, cut and paste, create citations and foot notes. This is more than a convenience. This allows me to produce a better product with less effort and to do it quicker.
To use two monitors you require a true video card. A video card built into the motherboard will not work. You will need a DVI cable for the main monitor and an analog cable for the second monitor. When you first connect the monitors it is not likely that the second monitor will work until you go into Display Properties >Settings and check “Use this device as the primary monitor” for the DVI monitor and then select the second monitor’s icon and select “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor”.