14 DAY TRIAL // I know this may sound a bit awkward to some of you, but this has been the week of porn in cyber-security. Perhaps you are wondering why I have named it so - well, each week is named after the incidents that happen most frequently in that particular week or after their cause, and this has been the week of porn. Just let me explain - for one thing, free porn took down some servers in Germany. Then, we also found out that porn is back at the top of the spam chart - it still can't beat drug-related spam, but at least it's on #2. In addition, another porn-related fact was some rather dubious spam I received on my blog.
And allow me to detail - porn is something you have to pay for, even if it's so easy to get it for free from the web. Not only is it illegal to download without paying, but this will also have an impact on the industry - if these people don't get paid, they won't make any of those movies. So, if you are a porn fan, it's just like being a fan of anything else - if you don't support the artists, the industry will die. And since users aren't doing much about this, the International Federation of the Porn Industry has decided to get involved in this matter. They used the German laws to take down 7 of eDonkey's servers, all distributing copyright infringing pornographic material.
That was one thing, which was good, but the other two facts about porn this week do not sound so good. One thing is that people like pornography (nothing bad about that) and sexy pictures as well. Hackers and spammers know this (they probably like porn too) so they are exploiting it to the maximum, sending their spam messages all over. Some people are careful, but others take the bait and end-up getting their machines infected. However, it seems that normal, porn related spam is just not enough. Remember that message I said I got on my blog? To say it briefly, I got a message from a user who had a picture of a half-naked sexy woman as a profile pic; it was a spammy invitation to some poker site, in which the user confessed to be involved. So, things are far worse than they used to be - if somehow you don't find poker appealing, then you're bound to be attracted to the sexy woman that wants to know you. Here is my material on it, in case you wish to read the story in full.
Other interesting news this week were related to the potential of hacking and other types of spam. Sure, a lot of us knew that hackers can cause a lot of damage in the cyber-world, but, really now, how many of you knew that the threat caused by hackers could extend to the real world? A movie made by the US Department of Homeland Security showed how a hacker exploiting a flaw (that has been fixed for 6 months) could make an industrial fan spin so fast it melts down. If some machine is controlled by a computer and hacker gains full access to that computer, then he gains access to the first machine - how scary does that sound?
Further more, as if that didn't seem enough, there has been news about the fact that the feds have reasons to think Al Qaeda is going to start cyber-attacks against the United States. Terrorists might just be moving to the Internet!
But don't worry about that, because there's not much us, simple users can do about it, as the problem lies more with governments than with individuals. Let's try and think about the news that made us laugh this week. For instance, I had a story on Friday that was rather funny. Some wannabe hacker wanted to do some damage to a (chat channel) moderator's machine. But I guess he just didn't have what it takes, to say the least. Instead of employing sophisticated methods to find out the moderator's IP and hack his computer stealthily he went and asked the moderator for his IP. Then, he started his work and deleted a hard drive - his own! The moderator had given the hacker his own IP, so the guy hacked himself. Now, that's funny!
However, my favorite article this week was on the hidden aspects of hacking and viruses. Using a great report written by a Sophos expert, I backed up my older statements and explained that things aren't as simple as they seem to be. Be my guest and read it, you're bound to learn a thing or two!
And here is this week's piece of advice:
Since this was porn week, the advice is porn-related. A lot of parents consider porn to be a threat for their children, and I have to agree - some scenes could really mess up the little ones' mind. But porn should not be regarded as the worst threat out there, for kids, that is. If you're filtering sites for your child, please take into consideration blacklisting the ones that show brutal scenes with a lot of blood (liveleak for instance) - those scenes are far worse than any pornographic material!
