This and That

Apple is taking advantage of its Software Update program, in my case for iTunes, to barge its way onto computers and push Safari 3.1 Web browser for Mac OS and Windows XP/Vista.

It’s bad enough I have to take QuickTime along with iTunes, but really this is too much. The nag comes up with every reboot.

Apple, did I ask? Thanks but no thanks, the updater is now gone.

Edit: If you do the same, be sure to check frequently for Apple security updates.

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Paperghost:

Bad enough that this idiot cut and pasted the above text from another, entirely unrelated hacking sites’ mailshot - even worse that he thought it’d be a good idea to send it to me. If I had to sum up the potential for extreme mischief that such a mail could generate, I think this would be a pretty good summary:

Choose! Choose the form of your Destructor!

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Brian Gardner’s Revolution Pro.

Please excuse the construction and use the Blog tab rather than Home for the moment, lots to learn.

It will be fun, no really…

Update: Blog tab is now “Articles”

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Paperghost continues zapping phishing script kiddie sites, serious business but quite a funny saga when carried out batman style.

This time he enrolled a mom’s support with hilarious results.
How to give a wannabe hacker a very bad day

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The official, full length, high quality version from Channel 10.

It’s a clever funny video which made me laugh, although I also felt a twinge of nostalgia at the same time.

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My hosting company did something in the wee hours that caused 404 errors.

Thank you dgosling and Corrine for notifying me.

My gratitude to a friend in the community known as LWM who was able to locate and resolve the problem.

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One of my favourite bloggers is Paperghost, aka Christopher Boyd, security researcher and malware basher.

After reading his latest entry at Vitalsecurity I thought I’d share this link.

Rise Up With Fists, Strike Down With Vengeance

For the past week or so, I’ve been following a bunch of supposedly uber-cool hackers getting their kicks from phishing, social engineering and fake hacking programs. They make money from their scummery and make no attempts to hide their identities. Their ages ranged from 11 to 13 years old.

PG has such a way with words, it’s a funny read.

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It is that time of year again and several blogs are giving you great tips for shopping on-line wisely and safely.

The Security Garden: Holiday Online Shopping Safety Tips

Bits from Bill: Top Ten Online Shopping Mistakes

Nonetheless, no matter how security savvy one may be, there are still ways to be ripped off and this dear reader was my experience.

I placed an order 07-11-07 with cuisineclassique.com aka sharpknives.com, for three kitchen ceramic items.

My order arrived promptly in the most horrendous packing, two of the items smashed beyond repair.

I informed customercare at cuisineclassique.com who explained they had a new person needing more shipping and handling training. They asked me to make a claim with UPS which I did, and they would send me a replacement.

So far so good, they seemed like decent people, however the replacement never arrived. More emails and more excuses, such as:

The package is still on the shelf in the hallway waiting for UPS to pick up.

That’s enough already, please refund > more promises > no refund.

Now I am getting pretty cranky, remember I paid for this order on 07-11-07.

9/9/2007 from the company holding my refund hostage.

We have had some very severe monsoon storms here and lost our roof in one of them. Our phones have been out and our internet service has been spotty at best. Between the lightning strike and rain, we are just now recovering some of the lost information on our computers including our email server.
I apologize that we caused you so much aggravation.

They promised I would be reimbursed that week but holding true to the entire Cuisine Classique experience, I was never reimbursed.

Lesson number one.
I informed the company who handled the payment and was told they couldn’t do anything because I had filed a damages claim with UPS, instead of returning the package to Cuisine Classique.

Lesson number two.
UPS told me they couldn’t devulge if they had paid Cuisine Classique on the damage claim.

One can pretty much count on it that they did. I followed their instructions to the letter in order for a valid claim to be processed.

Was Cuisine Classique paid twice for the items I ordered, once by me and also by UPS? Regardless, I still have not been refunded.

How great is that. By the way, I told Cuisine Classique several times I would be blogging this if I did not receive a refund.

Guess they didn’t care.

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One of the biggest supermarket chains in the USA fell victim to online fraudsters.

Evidently, no one at Minnesota-based Supervalu bothered to confirm the authenticity of emails sent in late February. Purporting to come from two of the company’s suppliers, the messages instructed Supervalu to wire all future payments to new bank accounts.

Supervalu wired $10m into the fraudulent accounts. Sheesh.

The Register article.

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