London Calling...
May 18, 2012
Our phones are our lives—where we go, who we call, what we text and write.
Now the police in London have a system in place to suck out all the information from a target’s mobile phone. This from ComputerWorld UK:
The Metropolitan Police has rolled out a mobile device data extraction system to allow officers to extract data “within minutes” from suspects’ phones while they are in custody.
The police insist they have safeguards in place to guard against the misuse of any personal information they acquire. It is hard to imagine this degree of warrantless invasion being allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court on this side of the pond.
The bigger point is that what can be done will be done—if not by the police, then by somebody else.
CFO Fired for Facebook, Twitter Posts
May 16, 2012
When you hear about big Facebook and Twitter fails, it is usually a student who didn’t get into the college of choice because of an incriminating photo, or a lower-level employee or middle-manager who made an incredibly indiscreet remark.
You would expect that there should be an even higher standard for those in the C-suite, especially executives who have access to information that is proprietary and highly confidential.
Now the CFO of a Houston-based company lost his million-dollar plus job after making Facebook posts like:
“Earnings released. Conference call completed. How do you like me now Mr. Shorty?”
And—
“Dinner w/Board tonite. Used to be fun. Now one must be on guard every second.”
In some cases, the government has forced employers to reinstate employees under the National Labor Relations Act who vented on social media after working hours—under the theory that such discussions enable their collective bargaining rights.
Hard to make that case in the C-Suite.
Answering the Porn Question
May 11, 2012
A must-read New York Times article concerns the different ways parents deal with the issue of Internet porn and their kids. Some parents install strong filters and closely monitor what their children watch. Others take a fatalistic attitude—and try to engage their kids in calm and non-accusatory conversations.
Among the more disturbing episodes in this story.
- One 6-year-old girl, watching “My Little Pony” videos, clicked a related link that led her right to sexually explicit material based on cartoon characters.
- One 13-year-old boy asked his mom why women like to be choked.
- One father worried that the search terms entered by his 14-year-old son could unintentionally violate child-porn laws.
The Times repeats what we always say—if you worry if your children are going to see porn, you can quit worrying. They will.
Our bottom-line advice stands: The best filters we can install are the one’s we cultivate in our children’s heads.
More Stats! McKinsey Quarterly reports on executives use of social media
May 10, 2012
For the tech savvy, it is important to remember the pace at which organizations are catching up with technology.
McKinsey Quarterly reports on a recent survey of how deeply some 4,200 executives have integrated social tools and technology into their operations.
They report that social networking, video sharing, blogs and microblogging are at critical scale, with 72 percent of respondents reporting that they use at least one of these platforms.
Upward of 40 percent specify that they use social networks or blogs. We think the right hand column is the most interesting—the rise of video sharing and microblogging (though most have yet to enter the Twitterverse).
Consumer Reports on Digital Attacks
May 9, 2012
Consumer Reports’s National Research Center did a nationally representative survey of 2,002 respondents on personal sercurity.
-- Projecting from that, it estimates that 16 million households have become victims of identity theft over the past year. That’s up by 50 percent.
-- Almost half of the victims—7.8 million people—were notified that their personal information was hacked or lost by a company, government agency or some other organization. That’s more than double CR’s projection a year ago.
And most disturbing of all . . .
-- About 7.4 million households reported that an unauthorized person placed charges on one of their existing credit-card accounts.
-- 1.6 million households had to replace an infected computer, with total national cost due to malware infections almost .3 billion.
Principal Resigns Over Phony Facebook Persona
May 8, 2012
A high school principal in Clayton, Missouri, resigned after appearing to have been outed by students as “Suzie Harriston,” a phony student on Facebook.
Many students thoughtlessly accepted “Suzy’s” friend request. After one student questioned if Suzy might, in fact, be the principal—the resignation of the high school principal was suddenly announced.
We’ve heard from high school students for several years now about supposed classmates on Facebook that no one seems to know. It is taken as a matter of accepted fact by students that high school administrators use social media to snoop on them—mainly just to keep an eye on what’s going around and coming down.
The only real surprise here is that someone finally lost their job over it.
TSA APP
May 4, 2012
Feel discriminated against by the TSA, and want to report them?
Well, there’s an app for that!
Want to stay current with an aggregator of TSA outrages?
Well, there’s a wiki for that!
Want to get a different perspective on the fears that motivate TSA’s seemingly aggressive approach? Well, there’s a blog post for that—by one of the authors of Digital Assassination!
“It’s Like I’m Living in a Kafka Novel”
April 24, 2012
Wired details a chilling case of digital assassination in which Korean hip hop artist Daniel Lee had his soaring career cut short by an orchestrated campaign to cast doubt on his real and verifiable achievements.
This purposeful campaign got Lee’s brother fired and, according to Wired, threats to stab Lee and his brother to death proliferated.
Now the former hip hop star, a new father, has become a hermit at age 30, hiding out with his family.
In our book, we document the terror victims suffer when in the grips of the Human Flesh Search Engine and its mindless rage. What is unique here is the ability of this particular campaign to continue unabated even after its lies have been exposed, its logic utterly debunked. That it does, speaks of something worse than just misguided resentment, wrong channeled.
It speaks of a kind of nihilism, an enjoyment of a public spectacle of cruelty.
South Korea’s Human Flesh Search Engine is impervious to any amount of documentation.
Longhorn Justice
April 23, 2012
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The police blotter at the University of Texas at Austin reports a recent case that should be of interest to everyone.
A student reported that her Apple iPad, Tom Tom, several credit cards, personal identification, purse and a musical instrument were stolen.
After calling the police, she quickly led officers right to the thieves, who were arrested. All the items were recovered.
The police credited the cracking of this case to the young woman having taken the time to install tracking software onto her computer—advice that the UT compared to “lock your doors when you leave.”
Generation P (for “Porn”)
April 19, 2012
This just in from the UK’s Mail Online:
A 'guinea pig’ generation of children is growing up addicted to hardcore internet pornography, MPs were warned last night.
Four out of five 16-year-old boys and girls regularly access porn online while one in three ten-year-olds has seen explicit material, a disturbing cross-party report reveals.
Clearly, the time has come for technology companies to look for ways to protect kids. With all the mobile devices in play, the effectiveness of simple parental filtering is no longer very effective.
While we would be the last ones to advocate censorship, we wonder if there is some way to virtually “zone” porn?
Is someone spying on your phone?
April 10, 2012
There are apps out there that can run on your phone undetected tracking your every keystroke and phone call. Christina DesMarais of MSNBC.com tech blog Gadgetbox outlines signs your phone may have been hacked and what do if you think your privacy has been comprised. Read the story here.
Bleeding the Cow -- Or Your Credit
April 3, 2012
In light of the new breach of as many as 1.5 million credit card numbers from Global Payments (which processes MasterCard and Discover), keep in mind that the tactics of the criminal syndicates behind these hacks has changed.
Rather than put big charges on your card—which will trigger automatic scrutiny—they are now nicking millions of accounts for small charges. They don’t slaughter the cow. They bleed it a little each day knowing that most people will write off small charges, writing them off to forgetful memories.
The takeaway: Scrutinize your credit card statement, and report anything that seems off—even if it is a small charge.
Should You Give Out Your Facebook Password in a Job Interview?
March 26, 2012
Why not? Give them the keys to you house and your car while you’re at it. Oh, and here’s my diary. The juicy stuff is on page 66.
This newest intrusion, this time by corporate HR, into our personal lives is too ridiculous to stand. In fact, no sooner did the first articles appear on this last week than New York’s ever-eager headline hound, Sen. Chuck Schumer, joined by another shrinking violet, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut (a former state AG alert to the power of consumer outrage), to call on Department of Justice and the EEOC to investigate.
Facebook itself is warning prospective employers off of this tactic, saying it is a lawsuit magnet.
Caught between trial lawyers and the feds, employers will surely back off. So you likely won’t have to choose between putting bread on the table, and opening your digital kimono.
Of course, none of this matters if you have liberal privacy settings that allow anyone to see what you post.
The larger issue is tagged by a Digital Assassination reader on our Facebook page:
"The fine line of freedom of expression vs. ethical restraint is cracking in the age of social media, distorted on both sides."
What is lacking—and appalling—whether it is the Facebook scraping scandal, in which vendors were allowed to correlate mountains of personal data with actual identities, or this overreach by corporate HR—is a fundamental lack of common sense.
The Weekly Weigh-In
March 26, 2012
What is the biggest threat to national security right now?Leave a comment and weigh in on the debate. Or cast your vote on our Facebook page
Social Media Sells
March 25, 2012
Whether it's car insurance or the next President there’s no denying social media is a persuasion powerhouse.
The Wall Street Journal took a look at consumer and political digital advertising in two stories over the weekend. Like many of the issues we discuss in the book, the idea of selling candidates like consumer products is nothing new…It’s the technology that’s different.
Read More: In Hot Pursuit of the Digital Voter - The Wall Street Journal
Knights, Pirates, Trees Flock to Facebook - The Wall Street Journal
Miranda Makeover
March 21, 2012
Occupy protesters are learning firsthand the Miranda rights have been rewritten. "What you tweet will be held against you in a court of law!"
Manhattan prosecutors are using subpoenaed Twitter records to prove Occupy Wall Street protestors intended to break the law as they marched over the Brooklyn Bridge in October -- making their ‘entrapment’ claims less believable.
What you post on the internet stays on the internet…FOREVER.
Read More: Protesters See Tweets Used Against Them – Wall Street Journal
Santorum’s War on Internet Porn
March 19, 2012
One of the authors was just in Farmington, New Mexico, and stopped to take this irresistible picture. Which brings to mind Rick Santorum’s promise to crack down on Internet porn. UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh says that Santorum’s proposal has a solid legal basis. But is it technically realistic?
And do we want our government to have that much oversight over us?
Santorum’s effort would require legions of prosecutors to shut down domestic porn sites and aggressive use of filters to black out foreign sites. Even then, Santorum’s war would be a permanent stalemate and a constant game of whack-a-mole. The only filters that truly work are those we install in our heads.
When Will They Ever Learn? When Will They E-V-E-R Learn?
March 16, 2012
Search powerhouse Google is under investigation in both the U.S. and E.U. for the pushing the privacy envelope once again. This time they have been accused on bypassing the privacy settings of millions of Apple Safari users -- installing “cookies” to track users movements.
The question becomes what is more important: gathering user data by any means necessary...or obeying the law...and respecting your users?
Sadly, it’s the answer is the latter.
Read More: Google in New Privacy Probes - Wall Street Journal
Big Changes for Google
March 15, 2012
In a Siri-like move, Google will begin act more human.
“Google's search engine will begin spitting out more than a list of blue Web links. It will also present more facts and direct answers to queries at the top of the search-results page,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The infamous algorithm will face a revamp -- transforming from a keyword model to one based on semantics. It will use its massive database to understand searches in context. One commonly used example: a semantic search “Can differentiate between words with more than one meaning, such as the car brand 'Jaguar' and the animal 'jaguar.’”
It will be interesting to see the effect this has on SEO practices.
Read More: Google Gives Search a Refresh - Wall Street Journal
New Interest in Hacking as Threat to Security
March 14, 2012
86.
That’s the number of hack attacks on computer systems in the U.S. that control critical infrastructure, factories and databases in the past five months, the Department of Homeland Security reports.
None caused significant damage, but with those kinds of number it’s only a matter of time until one assassin succeeds.
Read More: New Interest in Hacking as Threat to Security - New York Times
March 13, 2012
Rebekah Brooks, former News International chief executive, was arrested in London early Tuesday according to an article posted at noon today in The New York Times online edition
Anonymous hacker planned to publish details of women who had abortions
March 10, 2012
Anonymous continues to top its own depravity.
This time a British man behind shield of Anonymous boasted on Twitter about securing the database records of 100,000 women who had received abortions. He threatened to release all the details.
Luckily, he was apprehended before he could go ahead with his twisted plan.
Read More: Anonymous hacker planned to publish details of women who had abortions - The GuardianU.S. Report to Warn on Cyberattack Threat From China
March 8, 2012
China has the capability to mount a massive cyberattack on the U.S., but the U.S. has no solid plan in place to respond to the threat, according to the a report by U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Should we send Obama a copy of our book?
Read More: U.S. Report to Warn on Cyberattack Threat From China - Wall Street JournalVillian or Vanguard?
February 29, 2012
A Stratfor email says that the U.S. has drawn up secret charges to prosecute Julian Assange. Is he an evil, terrorist-enabling jackanapes who should be behind bars? Or is he a fearless real-life version of Stieg Larsson’s Mikael Blomkvist?
The Data Debate Deepens
February 28, 2012
The New York Times was abuzz with the topic of privacy concerns yesterday, as they ran two stories on consumers’ right to their own data both abroad and at home.
Looks like the EU is taking a real stand – a proposed law would force all online businesses (including Big Brother Facebook) to wipe clean all consumer data upon request.
Could a law like this every make it in the USA? Probably not, but the Obama administration has pushed hard for a ‘Privacy Bill of Rights’ to give users a sense of control over their data…but is it really anything more than a sense?
Further Reading:
Risk and Riches in User Data for Facebook – New York Times
Opt-Out Provision Would Halt Some, but Not All, Web Tracking – New York TimesINSURANCE.AES256, HACKING AND CYBERCRIME
February 27, 2012
CP Note: Feb 23, 2012, Salon.com reported :
In 2010 WikiLeaks released a file named insurance.aes256 and on Wednesday released another “insurance” file with an “aes” name. AES-256, a currently unbreakable encryption scheme, appears to keep the files scrambled until a password is published. Assange has said little about them, but he did say “insurance files” would be released in a certain scenario: “if something happens to me or to WikiLeaks.”
February 27 2012, Wikileaks announced it had begun publishing “The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor.”
Richard Torrenzano and Mark Davis share more information about insurance.aes256 and the direction in which hacking and cyber crime are moving.
* * *
It’s called “insurance.aes256.”
It is a 1.4-gigabyte file large enough to hold hundreds of thousands of pages worth of information. It is protected by a 256-bit key encryption code. . . .
At this writing, what it contains is anybody’s guess. The claim is that it is something so damaging to the United States that its leaders will back down before pursuing charges against Assange.
Insurance.aes256 may be a hoax. But the suggestion that it might be a credible threat represents a monumental change in our civilization—the ability of loosely, self-organized hackers to intimidate governments and large corporations. And yet the WikiLeaks phenomenon is only the public manifestation of the extreme vulnerability of personal, business, and governmental systems to the seventh sword of clandestine combat...
Continue Reading INSURANCE.AES256, HACKING AND CYBERCRIME on CommandPost.com
Anonymous Strikes Again: Part II
February 27, 2012
This time taking on God, launching an attack on the Vatican website.
The underground hacking organization hell-bent on taking down some of the world’s biggest names has already feasted on Sony, PBS, The White House and the FBI.
But it turns out the Vatican isn’t as old fashioned as some might think. A full scale attack failed because the Vatican “invested in the infrastructure needed to repel both break-ins and full-scale assaults,” according to a New York Times article today.
What worries us about Anonymous is just that…its anonymity. That is what makes it as frighteningly effective as we’ve seen it over the past few months.
“Anyone can use the Anonymous umbrella to hack anyone at anytime,” warned Rob Rachwald, Imperva’s director of security in the same Times article
And the hackers themselves agree, saying just that their Twitter.
Don’t Fire Back: How to Avoid Fingertip Rants - American Express OPEN Forum
February 24, 2012
Negative reviews on Yelp and other review sites can sting, but how you respond also affects your business and its reputation. Just ask Jason Quinn, a 25-year-old chef who opened a Santa Ana restaurant after winning the Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network.
Most of the almost 200 Yelp reviews of Quinn’s restaurant, The Playground, are positive. But when he read one-star review with a snide, he responded with a fingertip rant: “KOBE BEEF SHOULD NEVER BE WELL DONE if you disagree YOU ARE WRONG.” He signed off, “Burn in hell.”
It is not without reason that small business owners feel review sites are shooting galleries in which the profanely disgruntled—or perhaps jealous competitors in disguise—can take potshots at your life’s work.
Continue Reading Don’t Fire Back: How to Avoid Fingertip Rants on the American Express OPEN Forum
What Would Stieg Larsson Have Made of WikiLeaks? - US News & World Report
February 24, 2012
By Mark W. Davis
Julian Assange, the mastermind behind the WikiLeaks circus, awaits likely extradition by a British court to Sweden for sexual assault charges. The Assange saga—convoluted sex charges, digital exposure of the world's most powerful government, and an assured melodrama in an overheated wood-paneled courtroom in Stockholm—is almost an act of plagiarism of the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson by reality.
It is certainly hard not to see in his unfolding real-world story about sex and digital skullduggery echoes of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Larsson grabbed our imaginations by exposing marginal hackers and digital practices then at the edge of our awareness. Seven years later, it can seem as if Larsson's menagerie of flawed protagonists and appealing villains has actually sprung to life, as if cut from the molten plastic of his imagination by a 3D printer. One can't help but wonder, then, what Larsson, felled by a heart attack at 50 in 2004, would have made of Assange and WikiLeaks.
Continue Reading "What Would Stieg Larsson Have Made of WikiLeaks?" on US News & World Report
February 15, 2012
Barnes & Noble’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York featured Digital Assassination in their window!
Who Will Protect the Protectors? Part II
February 14, 2012
Credit.com reports: “VeriSign Inc., the company responsible for assuring that more than half the world’s websites are authentic, was hacked multiple times in 2010, and the thieves succeeded in stealing information.”
One Internet security guru said, “This was the last bastion of what you could trust.”
Tracking the Troll
February 9, 2012
A BBC reporter unmasks a troll—“Nimrod Severn”—who specializes in marring memorial sites to murder victims with violent, racist slurs. The takeaway here is that techniques that can be used to track down trolls can be used to track down anyone.
Who Protects the Protectors?
February 7, 2012
Tom McNichol of Bloomberg Businessweek reports two telling facts about the state of today’s Internet.
-- Cleaning up search results is a $1.6 billion business that could be a $5 billion business by 2015.
-- The companies that clean up search results can’t even keep their own profiles clean.
Google’s auto-complete feature often suggests “Reputation.com’s scam” as a top search term. Other digital reputation fixers have been targeted by an online smear campaign that appear to be orchestrated by a competitor.
Anonymous Strikes Again
February 6, 2012
Anonymous has reared its mischievous head once again. This time they invaded the world’s leading investigative bodies: The Federal Bureau of Investigations and Scotland Yard, who were on a conference call discussing…ironically…anti-hacking measures.
Anonymous intercepted an e-mail including dial-in information for the call. The international hackers got some dirt while eavesdropping.
What’s next for Anonymous? And how long before their methods are used against them and fail to stay anonymous?
Read more: Anonymous Listens in on FBI-Scotland Yard Hacking Call - ABC News
The Oscars Goes Digital
February 3, 2012
We’ve long warned about the dangers of Internet voting—a vulnerability amply demonstrated when University of Michigan students, rising to a public challenge by the District of Columbia to hack its electronic ballots, were able to make the voting system play their school song. Now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces a plan to migrate from ballots by mail to “secure” Internet voting in 2013. Will this be taken as a challenge by the world hacking community to make Oscar sing a WikiLeaks tune?
Facebook the Goliath
January 31, 2012
Its deal with the FTC complete, and its IPO underway, Facebook is now fully in the catbird seat. It played fast and loose with privacy to get big. Now that it is big, Facebook is adhering to tighter, higher standards in its comprehensive privacy agreement with the FTC, thus ensuring no one else can follow the same path to dominance.
Can any start up now even imagine competing with Facebook?
It had to happen...
January 30, 2012
They hacked our computers. They hacked our laptops. They hacked our mobile devices. Now they can hack our cars—turning the morning commute into an opportunity for espionage. There is even concern that the safety features of a car can be hacked for a literal digital assassination.
A Lesson From China?
January 27, 2012
A former NSA director, Homeland Security secretary and deputy secretary of Defense spell out in today’s WSJ what we all know—“the Chinese government has a national policy of economic espionage in cyberspace. In fact, the Chinese are the world’s most active and persistent practitioners of cyber espionage today.”
-- They advise companies to “invest more in enhancing their employees’ cyber skills; it is shocking how many cyber-security breaches result from simple human error such as coding mistakes or lost discs and laptops.
-- They suggest that Congress might require corporate America to “be more open and aggressive about identifying, acknowledging and reporting incidents of cyber theft.”
What do you think? Should companies be required to disclose breaches?
New Twitter policy: Sensible compromise, or despicable kowtow?
January 26, 2012
Twitter has now agreed to take down tweets that break the law in one country, while making sure these tweets can be seen in other parts of the world. Tell us: Is this a reasonable compromise that will preserve the maximum amount of speech? Or something worse?
We Give Them a Week...
January 25, 2012
...before Google backs down in the face of withering Congressional criticism and media backlash and allows consumers to opt-out of its plan to follow the activities of users across YouTube, Gmail and search.
When this happens, this won’t represent a major defeat for Google. The American public gets steamed about not being given choices. Once given a privacy choice, only a minority will bother to exercise it.
Besides, when we get depressed about privacy, Google/YouTube can always entertain us.
Further Reading: Google Widens it Tracks - The Wall Street Journal
Hackers for Hire...Welcome to the Future
January 24, 2012
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal piece on hackers for hire is just the tip of the iceberg. Non-technical people have for a few years now been able to buy malware off the shelf in online "hardware stores," assembling digital assassination teams against a given target. Hacking, like everything else digital, is only going to become more democratized—more accessible to us all. So it's a good news, bad news scenario. Black hats may go out of business, but only because everyone can become a black hat.
The Washington Times Reviews
January 23, 2012
David All, chief creative officer of the David All Group, an online communications and branding firm that offers reputation management and other services, reviewed Digital Assassination: Protecting your Reputation, Brand and Business Against Online Attacks for The Washington Times. All writes:
"The Internet is a boundless universe of information and connections that fuels the economy, enhances world culture and fosters democracy. But it also is home to digital assassins who lurk undetected and lob verbal, visual and technological grenades to ruin reputations - and enlist others via social media to achieve their evil ends more quickly.
That’s the ugly reality of online life as painted by Richard Torrenzano and Mark Davis in their new book, 'Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks.' It’s a largely accurate portrayal - one that brands, businesspeople and public officials must take seriously if they want to thrive in today’s digital age.”
Gingrich Again the Victim of Digital Assassination
January 20, 2012
Evil Clone attack hits GOP primary, Gingrich campaign. This is a double-slam, on Newt and on CNN.
First a Google Bomb and now an Evil Clone. What's next for Newt!?
With an Effective Gov't Do We Need a Law?
January 20, 2012
It took only an hour to bring down the websites of the Department of Justice, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Motion Picture Association of America after FBI agents raided Megaupload.
Was the raid on Megaupload timed to deliver the fed’s message of post-SOPA resolve?
But if feds can act so effectively now, is a new law needed?
What do you think?
Learn more: NZ police raid file-sharing site founder's mansion - AP
Anonymous Overkill?
January 19, 2012
Revenge spree over SOPA the Stop Online Piracy Act) comes after it has become clear to just about everyone that the bill has virtually no chance of passage. On the other hand, shutting down the Department of Justice website might backfire on Anonymous. The FBI has some first-rate digital gumshoes.
Facebook Goes to Washington
January 18, 2012
Your Public-Private Political Sentiment: Facebook is now allowing Politico to mine our private status messages and comments to build a database of political sentiment. Of course, they promise (Scout’s honor) not to match our private political comments to our personal identities. But, as we say in our book folks, what can be done . . . will be done.
By somebody.
Remember how data was used to sway a state ballot initiative in California?
Wikipedia Goes Dark
January 17, 2012
Wikipedia goes black tonight to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act. Jimmy Wales Tweets, "Student warning! Do your homework early.” Is this just grandstanding, or do you think SOPA is really that big a threat to Internet freedom?
Read more about the blackout on ABC News
Dark Take on Digital ID
January 17, 2012
Every day, if you are an average user, 736 pieces of your personal information will be collected and turned into a commodity in a global market. As more is learned about you, your global Internet is then reduced to a personalized Internet more narrow scope.
Watch Vimeo's Michael Rigley stunning look at this disturbing phenomenon
January 10, 2012
Pete Snyder, CEO of Disruptor Capitol, has an interesting take on the efficacy of social media in the GOP presidential primary today versus the tremendous social media success reaped by candidate Obama in 2008.
Money quote:
“Social Media Alone Doesn't Save. Social media works only if it's supported by the proper infrastructure. (That's why Obama was so successful. It wasn't social for social's sake but to drive an action.) Gingrich was infatuated with "running a different kind of campaign" and said that "we may not do any TV advertising. Only social media." Fact is, that's not particularly innovative. He maintained a Facebook page and a Twitter feed, but there was no infrastructure to capture information by his campaign and no call to action. All of the leading candidates used social and mobile. But in 2012, those approaches – "revolutionary" just a cycle ago – were so 2008. Though social media is vital for campaigns, it's no longer a differentiator.”
I Think ICANN, I Think ICANN...
January 9, 2012
A digital land rush is underway as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) prepares to open the way to create new realms of Web addresses and domains on Thursday. Will this force companies and high-profile individuals to preempt digital assassins by buying up addresses they don’t need?
Top Three Digital Assassination Trends for 2012 Based on Top Ten Digital Assassinations, 2011
January 4, 2012
The authors of the new book Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks, St. Martin’s Press --- Richard Torrenzano and Mark Davis --- are spotlighting three major Digital Assassination trends for 2012.
Digital Assassination begins as a willful act by someone who wishes to do harm through the Internet. It unfolds as a deliberate campaign to spread harmful lies the assassin has concocted or as attempt to take a fact grossly out of context or embellish it, making an ordinary shortcoming seem ghastly.
The trends are based on lessons from the top ten digital attacks of 2011, also announced today.
Diet and Exercise Was So 2011 for New Year's Resolutions: Worry About Your Online Rep in 2012
December 28, 2011
-- Four Easy Ways to Protect Online Reputation in the New Year --
We've all made the New Year's resolutions -- usually more than once -- to eat healthier, exercise more and take better care of ourselves.
But have you made the resolution to take care of yourself...online?
In the digital age everyone needs to take control of their online reputation. And don't think avoiding social media is the answer. Being absent often makes it worse -- you can then be defined by just a few negative posts.
Here are four things you can do to stay savvy in the New Year. And trust us it's easier than putting down the cheeseburger and picking up the dumbbells!
1. See What's Out There: Find out what is being said about you or your business. Google yourself!
2. Stay in the Know: Instantly know when your name is mentioned online. Set up Google alerts for your name, product or brand.
3. Change What You Can: Didn't know your Facebook photos were visible to anyone who searches your name? Thought all your Tweets were private? Review your privacy controls on all your social media profiles, so you are in control of who sees what.
4. Bury the Bad: It's impossible to remove unflattering information other's post about you...but don't give up hope. Post positive or neutral content about yourself anywhere you can to drive those pesky posts to bottom of your search results.
Stratfor, the Reputational Fallout
December 27, 2011
The media is focused on the potential financial fallout of the compromise of credit card and financial records by the penetration of Stratfor. Whenever security is compromised, however, there is sure to be enormous reputational fallout as well. Already, Anonymous is promising to divulge personal information about victims who speak up on behalf of the company.
With its website shut down, Stratfor’s Facebook page announced:
“It's come to our attention that our members who are speaking out in support of us on Facebook may be being targeted for doing so and are at risk of having sensitive information repeatedly published on other websites. So, in order to protect yourselves, we recommend taking security precautions when speaking out on Facebook or abstaining from it altogether.”
Meanwhile, Anonymous promises more attacks are in the works.
Woman, Child Held Captive Use Facebook to Get Help
December 25, 2011
A woman and child in Sandy were held captive for days before the woman was able to go onto Facebook to ask for help, according to police documents.
Sandy police on Saturday arrested Troy Critchfield, 33, on suspicion of kidnapping, sodomy, child abuse and animal cruelty. According to documents filed with the Salt Lake County jail, when Sandy police arrived at the home, the woman said Critchfield had held her and her son for four or five days, that Critchfield had beaten, choked and sodomized her and had "thrown" her 17-month-old son. Critchfield also hadn’t fed the dog in five days, the woman said.
Critchfield had taken the woman’s cell phone, but about 4:30 p.m. Saturday she was able to sneak into a closet and post a request for help on Facebook, documents say. The note also said she and her son would be dead by morning.
Court documents show Critchfield and the woman have a son together. Critchfield was convicted in 2010 of a felony-level assault against the woman. In February of this year a judge ordered him to serve 120 days in jail and three years probation.
He is being held in the Salt Lake County jail without bail.
December 22, 2011
Anonymous is now avenging the shut down of Occupy sites by going after individual police officers by exposing their personal information.
Candidates: Claim Your Digital Real Estate!
December 22, 2011
A pro-Democratic SuperPac has Google bombed Newt. Click on NewtGingrich.com, and you will be sent to a Tiffany’s ad, Freddie Mac home page or travel agencies specializing in Greek Cruises. Incredibly, Texas Governor Rick Perry has also overlooked locking up his dotcom URL.
One would have thought—given the prominence of another Google bomb that has linked another presidential candidate, Rick Santorum, to a scatological reference since 2003—that locking up one’s digital real estate in all reasonable permutations to prevent Digital Assassination would, by now, be Campaign 101.
"Here's hoping that both Air Force and FEDEX leadership pick up Torrenzano's and Davis' book."
December 22, 2011
Blogger Matt Scherer urged leaders at FEDEX and the Air Education Training Center to pick up a copy of Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks to help combat their respective viral crisis.
Organizations should change their viral response time - Matt Scherer, MySanAntonio.com
Time for Paper Ballots
December 20, 2011
The Anonymous threat to shut down the Iowa caucus should be taken seriously. Electronic balloting can be easily manipulated by code injection techniques. When the District of Columbia, as a test, invited hackers to try to crack its online voting system, a professor and his class at the University of Michigan altered the system to make it play “the Victors,” the school’s fight song.
Even if the process is safeguarded, in a close election just the suspicion of hacking will always haunt the results. The best solution is to go back to paper ballots, take several days to count them, and condition ourselves to expect the results to be announced 48 hours later. Our need for the instant gratification of seeing who won and who lost might be the undoing of our democracy.
One Count Digital Assassination. M.O. Twitter. Victim: Jon Bon Jovi.
December 19, 2011
After dailynewbloginternational posted a pathetically bogus news release claiming the Jon Bon Jovi died of a heart attack the Twittersphere kicked the rumor of his death into over drive.
The story was tweeted and retweeted until it took on a life of its own.
But don’t worry fans, the New Jersey icon is still ‘livin’ on a prayer’ and the photo he posted on his Facebook site yesterday evening proves it.
He holds up a sign in the photo saying “Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey.” He has a good sense of humor!
He may be laughing, but this is frightening. Someone you’ve never met -- and have never heard of -- can easily and quickly digital assassinate you regardless of who you are.
Read more: Jon Bon Jovi Victim of Online Death Hoax - ABC News
The Best of TED 2011
December 15, 2011
If I search for something online, and you search for the same thing, we may get very different results. Eli Pariser on TED explains why “there is no standard Google anymore” in a brilliant TED talk, Beware the Filter Bubbles.
Freeze the Fraud
December 14, 2011
Identity theft can thrust a victim onto unfamiliar terrain full of unheard of credit companies, with potential new hazards. This piece by David Lazarus explains how one woman used a “credit freeze” to stop the damage.
Making Sense of Alphabet Soup
December 13, 2011
Good primer from Jennifer Rubin on the differences between SOPA and PIPA, and the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (the Open Act), two very different approaches to dealing with copyright infringement on the Internet.
The first two would grant a government agency the unlimited authority to shut down websites without judicial oversight. The second, sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), OPEN, addresses legitimate concerns about SOPA/PIPA to “focus more specifically on the real problem without knocking down robust, protected speech in an indiscriminate fashion.”
So Easy to Do
December 12, 2011
Making a mistake in common with Rep. Anthony Weiner, Charlie Sheen accidentally sent a tweet to Justin Bieber with Sheen’s phone number, hitting “Update” instead of “Direct Message.”
Imagine. A social media incident in which Sheen comes out better than a congressman!
Better Safe than Sorry!
December 11, 2011
Regardless of what you think of Newt Gingrich, we feel compelled to come to his defense over a New York Times piece ridiculing his warnings about the effects of an electromagnetic pulse over the United States. We’ve spoken with recent, high-level former national security officials who say that an EMP blast would take out the very large transformers that regulate our grid. It would take months to make new ones. And they would have to be shipped across the ocean from Germany.
Meanwhile, the Middle Ages would be making a return engagement across North America.
True, this is a somewhat improbable event. Given what is at stake, however, doesn’t it make sense to eliminate this threat by stockpiling a few extra transformers in Faraday cages?
The Dangers of a Thumb War
December 9, 2011
In Digital Assassination, we quote a cyber expert who says that every effort at “air-gapping”—the practice of keeping computers clean by isolating them from the Internet—is doomed to fail because every computer comes complete with a parasite called a human. And humans have an irrepressible desire to network.
Now The Washington Post reports that a virus made its way into some of the most sensitive classified systems because an unknown U.S. soldier, probably in Afghanistan, stuck an infected thumb drive into a laptop.
Takeaways: Air-gapping is at best a stopgap measure. And beware of thumb drives. Never, ever just pick one up and use it. Bad guys have been known to dump them next to car doors in parking lots so you will look down and imagine that you might have dropped it.
Yes Men Wannabes Say 'No' to Obama
December 7, 2011
Stealing a page from the Yes Men’s play book -- who describe themselves as ‘A genderless, loose-knit association of some 300 impostors worldwide’ -- an impostor issued a news release late last night claiming the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is withdrawing their support for President Obama.
The real SEIU seems to have cleared up the digital attack within 90 minutes before the news release did any serious damage. It seems like SEIU heard about our concept of a “digital day” -- where irreversible damage can take hold in just a few hours if left unaddressed.
Read the whole story and news release at TalkingPointsMemo.com: Fake Press Release Claims SEIU Withdrew Endorsement Of Obama
Another Facebook 'Fowl'
December 7, 2011
It seems even the creator of Facebook isn’t safe from prying eyes or being fried. A security loophole in Facebook’s coding allowed users to view a few of Mark Zuckerberg’s photos. Luckily for Zuck, the worst of it was a photo of him holding a dead chicken ready to be cooked.
Perhaps the King of social media has set the perfect example for the rest of us -- don’t put anything online you wouldn’t show your grandmother!
Read more in the New York Post’s story: Zuckerberg's private pictures leaked after security breached on Facebook
New York's Finest on Facebook
December 6, 2011
NYPD recently created a Facebook unit to catch perps who brag about their exploits. You would think, then, that police understand the rules of social media transparency. And yet when NPYD testify against defendants in court, they are sure to be asked about ugly — some say racially tinged comments — made on a police Facebook page.
Read the New York Times piece On Facebook, N.Y.C. Police Officers Maligned West Indian Paradegoers
First Facebook Now Your Phone
December 2, 2011
Think your personal information is safe on your smartphones? Think again...
An Android app developer posted a disturbing YouTube video on Wednesday proving that every keystroke made on your smartphone is recorded. The software company behind this flagrant invasion of privacy -- Carrier IQ -- claims they record this information to inform cell providers when you are having a problem. But why can’t you turn this feature off?
From NewsCorp, to Facebook, to celebrity hackers, this is just another in the long line of privacy assaults that have taken place in the past few months. Take a look at our other posts on the topic and stay savvy! More Facebook Follies?, Facebook-FTC Deal: Clean Up Before the IPO!, Scarlett Johansson Hacker: How He Did It
Read ABC News article on Carrier IQ’s troubles.
December 2, 2011
Eye-opening quote in today’s Washington Post from surveillance technology entrepreneur Jerry Lucas: “The IRS loves to find people filing zero income on their tax returns with photos of Ferraris on their Facebook pages.”
Has Facebook Peaked?
November 30, 2011
Buried in another insightful Wall Street Journal piece on Facebook's privacy travails, The Journal today reports:
Still, some Facebook users doubt the settlement will change Facebook's behavior. "How can it possibly result in a change?" said Steven Greer, a New York who runs an online health-care information service. "The very fundamental business model of Facebook is to collect information about you and use it to sell ads."
Mr. Greer said he deleted his Facebook page a few weeks ago when the company asked him for his cellphone number to verify his account, because he doesn't trust it with his data.
Our guess is that Facebook, as it approaches its IPO, is one or two scandals away from a mass exodus.
Read more of The Wall Street Journal's Facebook 'Unfair' on Privacy
Brownback Blowback
November 29, 2011
Gov. Sam Brownback, thanks to the overly aggressive tactics of his office against an 18-year-old constituent and her rude but legal tweet, is the latest politician to learn the power of the Streisand Effect.
How do you think he should have handled this situation?
Co-Authors Torrenzano and Davis Speak to Symantec's Internet Safety Advocate on Protecting Your Children Online - Part Three
November 23, 2011
INTERVIEW WITH MARIAN MERRITT - Part Three
Marian Merrit writes a blog as Norton's Internet Safety Advocate about issues impacting the online security and safety of kids and families. She speaks here with Digital Assassination’s co-authors, Mark Davis and Richard Torrenzano.
For more information on these and other issues please visit Ask Marian.
To read part one of this interview posted on Monday, November 7 click HERE
To read part two of this interview posted on Monday, November 14 click HERE
Felons on Facebook
November 21, 2011
Huff-Po Tech reports: “Across the U.S. and beyond, inmates are using social networks and the growing numbers of smartphones smuggled into prisons and jails to harass their victims or accusers and intimidate witnesses.”
Prison Facebook Use Leads To Further Victimization
More Facebook Follies?
November 18, 2011
USA Today Tech has a clear layout of how Facebook works . . . and follows you like a friendly dog or a stalker, depending on your point of view.
Take a look at this article "Facebook tracking is under scrutiny" and the great interactive that accompanies it.
Co-Authors Torrenzano and Davis Speak to Symantec's Internet Safety Advocate on Protecting Your Children Online - Part Two
November 14, 2011
INTERVIEW WITH MARIAN MERRITT - Part Two
Marian Merrit writes a blog as Norton's Internet Safety Advocate about issues impacting the online security and safety of kids and families. She speaks here with Digital Assassination’s co-authors, Mark Davis and Richard Torrenzano.
For more information on these and other issues please visit Ask Marian.
To read part one of this interview posted on Monday, November 7 click HERE
Twitter and WikiLeaks
November 12, 2011
The New York Times reports that a federal judge is requiring Twitter
to turn over information about three people being investigated by the Justice Department in the WikiLeaks case, including a member of the Icelandic Parliament.
“The judge said that because Twitter users ‘voluntarily’ turned over the Internet protocol addresses when they signed up for an account, they relinquished an expectation of privacy.”
Facebook-FTC Deal: Clean Up Before the IPO!
November 11, 2011
As Facebook prepares for an IPO, it agrees to 20 years of privacy audits by the Federal Trade Commission. The privacy audits and deal prohibit Facebook from making public privately shared information, unless Facebook gets express permission. Google had reached a similar deal with the FTC in March.
Our perspective: The FTC is the best agency for tech companies to deal with. It is more cooperative than the FCC, and not nearly as heavy handed.
World's Oldest and Largest Library Association: "...readers will find witty writing and expert advice"
November 9, 2011
The American Library Association's Booklist reviews Digital Assassination:
This book shows how anyone can be a target of online identity attacks, and readers will find witty writing and expert advice on how to guard against and respond to such attacks. Loaded with interesting anecdotes on how the Internet, media, and other technologies are used by unscrupulous people to disparage an individual’s or company’s reputation, the book demonstrates how these attacks have become more prevalent and widespread, thanks to the Internet age. From the character assassination that ensued from a feud between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, to the leaking of private information on current celebrities, the book identifies “seven swords” of digital assassination that are common and timeless strategies for character attacks. Just as easily as a “Silent Slasher” slandered John Seigenthaler in a Wikipedia hoax, others engage in “Clandestine Combat” and “Jihad by Proxy.” Torrenzano and Davis share key defensive strategies applicable to businesses and individuals. These “seven shields” show how to build defenses against online attacks and how to maintain a positive image or brand on popular technology platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
— Cindy Kryszak
Booklist, November 15, 2011 Issue
Co-Authors Torrenzano and Davis Speak to Symantec's Internet Safety Advocate on Protecting Your Children Online - Part One
November 8, 2011
INTERVIEW WITH MARIAN MERRITT - Part One
Marian Merrit writes a blog as Norton's Internet Safety Advocate about issues impacting the online security and safety of kids and families. She speaks here with Digital Assassination’s co-authors, Mark Davis and Richard Torrenzano.
For more information on these and other issues please visit Ask Marian.
November 5, 2011
Take a look at this interesting infographic from Mashable on protecting your online reputation.
Protecting Your Online Reputation: 4 Things You Need to Know [INFOGRAPHIC]
CBS Affiliate KFSM 5NEWS, Fayetteville, Arkansas Covers Presentation on New Book Digital Assassination at Northwest Regional Council; Business Leaders Discuss Importance of Issue to Them
November 4, 2011
Facebook and 12-Year-Olds
November 3, 2011
A new survey from Microsoft Research and academia found that 55 percent of parents of 12-year-olds report that their kids have Facebook accounts, even though Facebook’s Terms of Service require one to be 13 to sign up. 76 percent of these parents assisted their child in creating the account.
Hackers in Space!
November 2, 2011
Defense News reports that: “Cyber hackers ‘achieved all steps required to command’ a NASA satellite, which put the satellite at risk of being destroyed or damaged, according to a draft report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Siri Goes Wild
November 1, 2011
In Digital Assassination, we wrote that when we converse with our computers, we run the risk of not realizing that they are just repeating all the junk on the Internet.
Now Slacktory puts our notion to the test.
The 'Guardian' Reports...
October 31, 2011
“...Britain's largest police force is operating covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network, transmitting a signal that allows authorities to shut off phones remotely, intercept communications and gather data about thousands of users in a targeted area.”
UN's South-South News Interviews Torrenzano on Digital Assassination
October 30, 2011
Co-Author Richard Torrenzano discusses his latest book "Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks" on the United Nations South-South News program
Click Image to Play Full Interview
Brian Pittman of CommPro.biz Interviews Torrenzano and Davis on Digital Assassination
October 28, 2011
Digital Assassination: New Book Reveals Seven Ways You Can Be Harmed at the Speed of a Twitter Post
Brian Pittman’s spotlight on: Richard Torrenzano, Mark Davis, Co-Authors, “Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks“
“If you’re a CEO or celebrity, entrepreneur, politician, journalist or even parent—there is a risk today of digital assassination,” says Richard Torrenzano, who helms NYC’s The Torrenzano Group and has managed some of the most visible global corporate crises of our lifetime.
“We’ve seen online attacks ruin the lives of teenagers and end in suicides, and we’ve seen them hurt businesses and brands—like what happened to Sony PlayStation, or even to banks or celebrities that have been hacked,” he says. “Regardless of who you are, if you have a name, and you have a brand to protect, this is one of the most important issues facing you today.”
“According to the black and white hats we interviewed about this, the danger will only increase 50-100 fold in the next two to five year—thanks in large part to the open architecture of the Internet,” adds co-author of the new St. Martin’s Press title and former White House speechwriter Mark Davis, who is also the senior director of DC-based White House Writers Group.
Read the full interview HERE
Paranoia Strikes Deep
October 27, 2011
Happened this very day: A U.S. executive on a business trip to PRC sends emails to his colleagues from his Blackberry, with attached documents on important client business. The contents, though private, are not especially sensitive. The executive, however, once held important positions in national security, with continuing work in defense-related sectors—a source of delay in obtaining a visa for a perfectly normal business trip. For this reason, he did not take a laptop with him to China. After a few days, the emails he sent to his colleagues from China were deleted out of their servers on the East Coast.
Photoshop Fantasies
October 25, 2011
We all know that many of the images we see on the Internet are manipulated. This image, appearing almost immediately after the acquittal of Casey Anthony, demonstrates how hard it is to discount what we see—no matter the truth.
Digital Assassination Released
October 25, 2011
New Book: 'Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks' Released Today
NEW YORK
"In the future, which is now, everyone will have 15 minutes of shame."
This is one of many arresting statements from Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks released today by St. Martin's Press.
Co-authors Richard Torrenzano and Mark Davis, leading advisors to Fortune 500 companies and public figures, predict what the end of privacy will mean for civilization—and provide a course of action to turn the tables on your would-be assassins.
Click here for the full news release
The Deep Web
October 24, 2011
It’s also called the Invisible Web or Dark Web—the parts of the Internet that are not indexed by standard search engines. Like an iceberg, this submersed, unseen part of the Web is many times more massive than what can be seen.
For those adept at doing background checks, the Deep Web can accessed. One of the most common Deep Web activities is to PRC someone—a public record check for arrest, traffic and divorce records, bankruptcies, liens, and the like.
A story in The Village Voice reports that a blog of an ex-Scientologist asserts that the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who ridiculed that organization on their show, were PRCed. This SOP for digital opposition research.
Author, Speaker and CEO of Serve to Lead:"A must-read for anyone navigating today's social media seas"
October 21, 2011
James Strock, Author, Speaker on Transformational Leadership, and CEO of Serve to Lead comments:
...Richard Torrenzano and Mark Davis are highly respected communications professionals. They have explored the further reaches of the Internet and returned with a Baedeker for our time: Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks...
...Digital Assassination identifies a series of “swords” which you may encounter in your social media journey. The authors demonstrate that history can provide a lot of instruction, at least for perspective. They also recognize that there are unique aspects of the Digital Age. They offer a credo: In a digital world, age needs to approach technology with greater skill. Youth needs to approach technology with greater wisdom.
Torrenzano and Davis have put together a Baedeker with a difference. Armed with their guide, you can emerge unbowed–and, hopefully, unscathed– from the risk of digital assassination. Even more importantly, you will be better equipped to craft your own identify, in ways both apparent and profound.
Digital Assassination is a must-read for anyone navigating today’s social media seas.
To read the full review click HERENew York Journal of Books: "Knowledgeable exploration for anyone who wants to know how to survive in the digital universe."
October 20, 2011
The New York Jounal of Books, a leading book review panel consisting of bestselling and award-winning authors, journalists, experienced publishing executives and tenured academics comments:
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Because where or not you use the Internet, you do have a digital reputation to protect, and you had better pay attention to it. Those who do use the Internet have a bigger stake in the game, but even if you've never been "online," never signed on to an electronic mail account, selected a site with a web browser, or even owned a computer, you still have a digital reputation...
...At the close of Digital Assassination, Mr. Torrenzano and Mr. Davis explain how the best defense is a good offense in "The Seven Shields of Digital Assassination." They address each of the "seven swords" from the previous chapters. From being "Internet Savvy" to completing an honest "self-inventory," to "looking at yourself from the point of view of a digital assassin" and creating a "new and improved" image on the web, the authors tell us how to survive and if necessary, to recover. Also included is a game plan that can be personalized as a strategic and tactical approach.
...Digital Assassination is a comprehensive, knowledgeable exploration for anyone who wants, or needs, to know more about how best to survive in the digital universe.
Candidate URL
October 19, 2011
The last presidential election saw a raft of phony campaign sites put up for Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Rudy Guiliani that appeared legit at first glance, but repelled visitors with over-the-top language. This year, not waiting to be stung, presidential hopefuls are buying up every conceivable URL of their name—good, bad and ugly. Or are their opponents buying them?
Lesson Learned: Invest a little in digital real estate.
Take a look at this Washington Post article on the subject.
Scarlett Johansson Hacker: How He Did It
October 17, 2011
How did Christopher Chaney, a 35-year-old unemployed hacker in Jacksonsville, Florida, manage to worm into the devices of more than 50 entertainment figures—including Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis and Christina Aguilera?
This wasn’t a hard hack. Chaney simply deduced passwords by looking for clues in the names of friends, kids, pets and other personal information gleaned from celebrity magazines, websites and Twitter and Facebook posts, and then relied on password recovery features of Yahoo!, Gmail and Apple. He then set up an automatic forward of the celebrity’s emails to himself—a program that would continue to work even if the celebs should get security conscious and upgrade their passwords. Pretty nifty, huh!
Lesson Learned: Passwords should also be passcodes—with numbers, letters and ASCII code. And don’t use the names of your dog, cat or pet iguana.
Digital Nudes
October 12, 2011
The Federal Bureau of Investigations has made arrests in the celebrity phone-hacking scandal that exposed—literally—star after star.
Lesson Learned: Whether you are a celebrity or not, digital nude photos are like pollen, they just want to float everywhere.
COO of the Public Broadcasting System: "Digital Assassination is incredibly timely"
October 11, 2011
Michael Jones, Chief Operating Office, Public Broadcasting System (PBS) comments:
Digital Assassination is incredibly timely. It unveils Internet attacks by invisible destructive villains, while offering actionable solutions to defend personal reputations and corporate brands.
Digital Assassination: How to defend yourself against online smear
October 10, 2011
Digital Assassination co-author, Mark Davis speaks with "First Post" columnist Uttara Choudhury about the upcoming book and threat of digital attacks.
You claim that “In the future, which is now, everyone will have 15 minutes of shame.” Can you expand on your statement?
Richard Torrenzano, my co-author and I believe we are already in a full-blown digital crisis in which anyone can be subjected to a reputational attack that is global, instant and forever.
Some examples: A political candidate has a campaign website put up that looks real, only it is seeded with strange and inflammatory statements that the candidate would never make. The owner of a hotel is unfairly accused on a review site of hosting prostitutes. A teen-age girl commits suicide after being taunted by a middle-aged woman digitally posing as a teen-age boy. A woman who has appeared on popular television shows is portrayed in a lascivious way on an online dating site, complete with her home address and phone number.
The ‘shame,’ of course, really belongs to the digital assassins who perpetrate these attacks. At the rate things are going, this will likely happen to everyone at one time or another. Hence, our 15 minutes.
Click here for the full article:Digital Assassination: How to defend yourself against online smear
Googling Job Applicants
October 5, 2011
More evidence, if it was needed, of the importance of a clean profile: Andrew Sullivan is reporting a new survey that shows that 69 percent of employers have rejected an applicant based on they’ve found out about them on Google. Almost half start Googling just after receiving the application.
The most common rejection was not drinking or drugs, but stretching one’s qualifications.
The Cookies Jar
September 30, 2011
Facebook is now facing a likely federal investigation following the revelation that its cookies can track users Web surfing after they logged out of the world’s most popular social networking site. The worst outcome of such an investigation would be onerous legislation that would stifle innovation.
The call for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate, however, is a positive sign for people who care about privacy and innovation. While the FCC is notorious for seeking to employ powers it does not statutorily possess, the FTC has a long record of judicious use of its power. Regulation of some sort is inevitable in the privacy arena. Best it be a one-stop shop at the FTC.
Big Brother Facebook?
September 28, 2011
Facebook is almost certainly telling the truth when it says it made an inadvertent mistake when it placed cookies on our machines that can track where we go on the Web by our unique identifier.
Facebook is also probably telling the truth when it says that has not stored or used this information.
The fact remains, as we say in our book, what can be done, will be done. The current privacy paradigm is simply not sustainable.
Digital Assassination at its Most Disturbing
September 27, 2011
It is not enough to teach your children to avoid explicit “sexting.” Make sure that they are not storing any images of themselves that, in the eyes of a pedophile, would be worthy of posting and sharing.
There are now legions of girls, many in what they considered innocuous poses at the beach or the swimming pool, who have had their purloined images posted on a “Jailbait” section of a popular message board.
Gawker dug into one well-documented story, now three years old, about a 14-year-old Miami girl whose image was hacked, and displayed on porn sites favored by pedophiles. A Google search for her name now has 356,000 results.
"I spent the whole summer trying to take down all the pictures, but it was virtually impossible to track down who hacked me," she told an online site.
Money quote from Gawker:
"They're not even getting my pictures from Photobucket anymore," she told The Status. "They're getting them through my Facebooks. I can't even have my real name. I've had like six Facebooks now."ˆ
All the more reason why children need to know how to use their Facebook privacy settings.
Politicians pass laws, but that doesn’t mean they understand them.
September 26, 2011
Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is justifiably upset by a Google bomb that links searches for his name to something too disgusting to repeat here. In demanding that Google take it down, however, Santorum does not seem to understand that all the responsibility—and liability—rests with the webmaster, not the search engine—in a law that passed when he was a member of the Senate. (Anybody out there know how Senator Santorum voted on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act?)
Santorum, however, does strike at a point.
“I suspect if something was up there like that about Joe Biden, they’d get rid of it,” he said. In fact, something was ‘up there’ about First Lady Michelle Obama, a truly offensive image. Google did act against one site carrying that image, citing malware concerns, and placed an ad explaining its stance. Technology companies will need to remain utterly consistent in how they apply these rules—and clear to the public how they operate. Politicians need to understand the need to play by the rules they themselves have passed.
September 23, 2011
"If these consumers can bring down a regime in Egypt in 17 days, they probably can bring down a company like ours in nanoseconds."
Wise words from Unilever CEO Paul Polman at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting this week.
Watch the CGI 2011 Sustainable Consumption: Redefining Business As Usual
Are You a Real Person?
September 21, 2011
In our book, we chronicle the trouble that can occur when an attractive and somewhat familiar looking wanna-be friend on Facebook may, in fact, not be a real person—or at least the person they say they are. Jonathan Mann captures our angst in music and animation.
Leading Author, Business Executive and Consultant: “Everyone...needs to...protect themselves when they go online.”
September 21, 2011
--Don Tapscott, bestselling author, most recently Grown Up Digital and Macrowikinomics comments:
The Net is a reflection of everything good and bad in society, and as such has a dark side. Everyone and every organization needs to manage their reputation and protect themselves when they go online. That's the critical message of Digital Assassination.
The Digital Rumor Mill
September 20, 2011
A New York Times article this morning describes in graphic detail how social media sites are replacing the small town coffee shop as the venue for gossip—but with an anonymous freedom to be vicious. One mother of two was falsely described as “a methed-out” “freak” and worse.
In Digital Assassination, we report on a related phenomena—how politically active elites in rural counties are setting up what look like public-spirited Web sites that purport to sponsor discussions on local issues, when in fact they exist to slip verbal knives in the ribs of political rivals.
Facebook and Firings
September 19, 2011
We’ve seen many examples of people fired for dissing their employers on Facebook and other sites. A counter trend is brewing, however, in which some critical social media speech is protected.
An employee of a non-profit in Buffalo, New York, posted Facebook page comments that a co-worker had made about other employees not being supportive. Four other co-workers commented on working conditions, some with profanity. All were fired . . .
And then reinstated with back pay by the National Labor Relations Board, which held that discussions about the terms and conditions of their employment were protected.
Michelle Singletary of The Washington Post reports that the NLRB is seeing more of these kinds of cases. It is sure to muddy these already muddy waters.
Top U.S. Policy Advisor:
August 26, 2011
--General Michael Hayden, most recent Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and longtime head of the super-secret, ultra-high technology National Security Agency comments:
Torrenzano and Davis blend a compelling narrative, killer anecdotes and page-turning prose into a sober and worrying account of what happens when the darker side of human nature harnesses the connectedness and anonymity of today's web. Their Digital Assassination should be in the hands of anyone who has a good name -- or a good business -- to protect.
Former NYSE Chairman & CEO: "It is a must read for every CEO and top executive..."
August 24, 2011
--Dick Grasso, former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, New York Stock Exchange, comments:Digital Assassination provides a compass --as well as a road map-- for navigating the potholes, pitfalls and landmines of our new digital world. It is a must read for every CEO and top executive.
Publishers Weekly: "The extent of their research and suggestions for blunting attacks...make for a compelling read."
August 20, 2011
Publishers Weekly, an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at the publishing industry, reviews the upcoming book Digital Assassianation:
There are no shortage of ways that a malicious person can—with no great expense or trouble to himself—use the Internet to assassinate character, say strategic communications expert Torrenzano and consultant Davis...The book’s great strengths are its exhaustive research and its discussion of how principles of human behavior, not technology, are the driving factors behind this dark side of the Internet...The extent of their research and suggestions for blunting attacks...make for a compelling read.
Technology Futurist and Author of Groundswell: "...Pay heed to the keen and timely advice here."
August 16, 2011
--Charlene Li, author of the best-seller and visionary book “Groundswell” and “Open Leadership,” comments:Do you have a good reputation? Then be sure to protect it by reading Digital Assassination where the authors lay out seven ways you and your company can be irreparably harmed at the speed of a Twitter post. Knowledge is power, so pay heed to the keen and timely advice here.
Leading Author, Founder of Ricochet.com and Host of the Online Show Upcoming Knowledge: "Indispensable -- and completely engrossing"
August 10, 2011
--Peter Robinson, leading American author, Founder of Ricochet.com, former Presidential speech writer and host of the online Uncommon Knowledge comments:
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but in the digital age names will ruin your reputation, cost you jobs and contracts, and destroy your career. Digital Assassination tells you just how to defend yourself. Indispensable -- and completely engrossing.
Publishers Weekly choses Digital Assassination as Book to Watch - Fall 2011
June 24, 2011
Publishers Weekly named Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks by Richard Torrenzano and Mark Davis was named as one of the top ten books in business to watch in the fall of 2011.The book will be published by St. Martin's Press in October.
Publishers Weekly is the main trade press in the publishing and bookselling industry.