On Sunday evening, I received the most nerve-wracking instant message of my life, even though I knew right from the start that it was a fake. I decided to write this article in case you get hit by this online scam too. Being computer-based creatures, I figured some of the GAS readership were high risk targets.
When it happened, I was sitting where I always sit – in front of the computer, chatting via IM, and researching some possible blog stories. It was then that a new IM window popped up with the following message :
I am hitman. I been paid lot of money to kill you by good friend of yours. They waiting f0r your funerael announcement. What I want too know is how much youre life is worth?
Now I would be lying if I said that by this point my heart wasn’t threatening to explode and my hands weren’t shaking. But I knew that this was what the FBI was warning everyone not to fall for so I decided to call this joker’s bluff. I was first tempted to correct his grammar (I AM a writer after all) but I decided to get right to it.
Hannaford Brothers Supermarkets, a large New England grocery store chain, reported that they suffered a data breach. The store’s network was penetrated and hackers were listening in during credit card authorizations. Already, there are 1,800 confirmed cases of fraud associated with the breach. At risk are 4.2 Million additional credit card accounts.
A security breach at an East Coast supermarket chain exposed 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers and led to 1,800 cases of fraud, the Hannaford Bros. grocery chain announced Monday. Credit and debit card numbers were stolen during the card authorization process and about 4.2 million unique account numbers were exposed.
The breach affected all of its 165 stores in the Northeast, 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida and a smaller number of independent groceries that sell Hannaford products.
Hannaford became aware of the breach Feb. 27. Investigators later discovered that the data breach began on Dec. 7; it wasn’t contained until March 10, said Carol Eleazer, Hannaford’s vice president of marketing in Scarborough.
“We have taken aggressive steps to augment our network security capabilities,” Hannaford president and CEO Ronald C. Hodge said in a statement released Monday.
The company urged its customers to monitor their credit and debit cards for unusual transactions and report any problems to authorities.
I happen to speak fluent security-breach double speak. When Hannaford says that the breach began on December 7th, they mean they only have logs dating back that far. When the CEO says they are taking aggressive steps to augment their network security, he really means that they are going to get a firewall, an IDS, and start segmenting their database from the rest of the network like they are supposed to do.
And when the Vice President of Marketing gets quoted in the press talking about the security breach, it means that there is no CIO (Chief Information Officer) at the company. It means their network was designed haphazardly with only a minimal thought to security. What, they couldn’t get a quote from the President of Marketing? How does the dairy stocker in store 413 feel about the breach? He probably knows as much about network security as the Marketing VP.
All of this means that as the days go on, you will see more and more headlines talking about this breach being much worse than originally thought. The number of fraud cases will climb precipitously… and no one will be fired from Hannaford.
If you shop there and have used a credit card, get a copy of your credit report ASAP.
By law, you get one free credit report per year. You can contact them below.
If unauthorized changes in your credit reports are detected, you may be a victim of identity theft. A great resource to help guide you in recovery from identity theft is at the FTC here.
My comedy and geek sides have been meshing a bit more lately. About a month ago, I popped into Second Life again, after trying it a couple of times a year or so ago and giving up on it. At the time I first signed up, the interface was very primitive, and truth be told, I was never able to quite “see the point” of the game. However, as my comedy career has unfolded over the past year, I’ve been thinking more and more of trying to find a venue online where I can showcase some of my work. YouTube and MySpace are fine for videos, but there aren’t a whole lot of places where you can easily do a “live show” online as well as easily generate an audience for it.
Built by Boston Dynamics, the BigDog robot is a four legged robotic mule which can carry up to 340 pounds on its back over almost any terrain. As you’ll see in the following video, this DARPA-funded device can withstand a good kick on the side and walk over ice while keeping its balance. Before hitting the play button, you might want to lower your speaker’s volume a bit; the robot’s engine could be qualified as… noisy, if not to say downright annoying.
According to some doctors with big weird eyebrows and some kind of doctorate, excessive internet usage might soon be classified as an actual mental disease.
Never mind the fact that people, such as myself, earn money by going online. Or that corporations, banks, and schools rely heavily on the internet for virtually every aspect of their business. Withdrawal is listed as one of the characteristics of an addiction and it just so happens that you might start freaking out if you’re waiting for an email from a potential employer, and urgently need to get to a computer.
John MacDonald, an addiction therapist in Toronto says that a person is classified as an “internet addict” when being away from their computer is “emotionally upsetting”. I don’t know about you but if I couldn’t go online to check urgent email, check my bank account, and stay in touch with friends, I’d be very pissed.
I am just going to go ahead and say that frankly, this is incredibly stupid. Forget the irony of the fact that these doctors will most likely post their findings online, and forget that most of our sensitive affairs are handled via the interwebz. I will say this though: content of questionable appropriateness is quite addictive.
Peripherals are a gamer’s best friend. They’re the tools of his trade. You might even say that they are like a Jedi’s light saber, or King Arthur’s Excalibur. Maybe even a pizza delivery guy’s car.
Without these tools, we wouldn’t be able to control the machines which we invest thousands of dollars in. If you’ve got a few grand under your desk, spending a little more on some badass peripherals is perfectly justifiable.
Today, I’m going to take a look at the best gaming keyboard and mouse currently on the market; the G15 keyboard, and G9 mouse. Logitech was kind enough to send me these two slick products so that I can put them through their paces, and show you guys what I really loved.
The NET-2000 shooting net rod is a device that uses compressed air to fire a 52 square foot net at fleeing crooks from up to 49 feet away. If you’re a Spiderman fan and have always wished to become a super hero, this is the chance you’ve been waiting for to impersonate our web-launching friend.
The NET-2000 is available at Chinagrabber for only $419, but before buying one, check with your local police department to see if carrying this kind of device around is legal!
According to Apple’s newest iPhone ad, the iPhone “makes remote blogging easier and faster”. Do you agree?
Edit: Long time reader Ed answered our question via a post on his blog. I invite you all to check it out and leave a comment if you agree with him or not.
