Shanktified!

The personal thoughts, opinions and typos of Ron Shank

Speaker Invitation/Request Scam

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This email is a scam a friend got recently. The trick is to get you to eventually pay a “work visa” to get you to the country. Don’t fall for this or even bother replying.

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Xavier [mailto:stjohnanglicanchurch@imail.com]
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 9:53 AM
To: [removed]
Cc: [removed]
Subject: INVITATION REQUEST

St John Anglican Church,
Address: 39 Eccleston Square,
London, SW1V 1BX,
E-mail: Stjohnanglicanchurch@imail.com
E-mail: Helpdesk@Achurchnearyou.com
Website: http://www.achurchnearyou.com/
Telephone: + 44 704 205 6151
Telephone: + 44 795 276 3257

Dear [removed],

My Name is Rev Don Xavier from the St John Anglican Church we are writing to Invite you to be our guest speaker at the up Coming St John Anglican Church 2013 Anniversary which is taking place here In UK England, We are writing to invite and confirm your booking to be our Guest Speaker at up Coming St John Anglican Church 2013 Anniversary. Other Ministers Of God are coming from Different part of the World.

Expected audience: 500 people Duration of speech per speaker: 1 Hour
Host: Rev Don Xavier
Topic: EDUCATION BUSINESS HEALTH INSPIRATION
DATE: 20th Match 2013

The purpose of these conference is to re-brand the heart,mind,body and soul of Christians who have gone astray and are diverting their whole attention into mundane affairs and ensuring that it is possible for Christians, whether new or of long standing, to deepen their spiritual lives and gain eternal life. Also bringing a heart of deep compassion and a strong commitment to the fullness of life that is found only in the redemptive love of Christ, we are Sorry about our late invitation it is due to the fact that our Speaker had back out because of her sudden illness.

We came across your profile on http://[removed] we also listen to you on Radio and we say it’s up to standard and we will be very glad to have such an outstanding personality in our mist for these overwhelming gathering. With your Multi talented speech more lives will come close to GOD. Arrangement to welcome you here will be discussed as soon as you honor our invitation. If you have any more publicity material, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are taking care of your traveling and Hotel Accommodation expenses including your Speaker fees you are bless as you honor this invitation it is a pleasure writing you.

Hope to hear from you Asap.

In His Services,
Rev Don Xavier
St John Anglican Church.

[now fixed] Facebook refuses to fix obvious security flaw

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[ UPDATE:  Facebook has reversed itself and fixed this vulnerability ]

ZDNet.com reports:

The Register’s Dan Goodin has the scoop on an obvious security vulnerability that’s being ignored by the powers at Facebook.

The issue, as demonstrated by this proof-of-concept, shows how a social network application can be rigged to hijack a Facebook user’s session identification cookies, deliver pop-up messages or change the color of Facebook pages.  [Read more…] about [now fixed] Facebook refuses to fix obvious security flaw

The ugly truth: Satan, social networks and security

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This is mostly a geek-read, so let me sum it up for you.  The more apps you add to facebook and myspace, the less safe you are.  Don’t add people you don’t know well (ouch, log in my own eye) and use unique passwords for each account. This or this may help.

“A quick (and very much incomplete) hall of shame here includes MySpace, LiveJournal, and Hi5, all of which we’re surprised haven’t sunk into the East Bay under the weight of their own pwnability.”

More here >> The ugly truth: Satan, social networks and security.

Is an Iphone Secure?

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One of the things stopping me from getting an Iphone is what appears to be a lack of secure email (at least in my preliminary research).   For example, I think an OpenPGP is great and I use it often in thunderbird (more on that here).  But If I send a PGP encrypted email to someone who would otherwise be able to open the email with OpenPGP/Enigmail setup on Thunderbird, they won’t be able to read it on thier Iphone.

Any of you have experience with Iphone email security?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section.