How to Spot a Fake Facebook Account

Ever get a friend request from someone you don’t know and have never met before? More often than not, these accounts are created by criminals looking to harvest your personal information, or scam you in some other fashion.

It typically starts when you receive a friend request from someone you don’t know. And you have no mutual friends in common:

1-fake-facebook-account

A dead giveaway is looking at their Recently Added Friends. In this case, this person has accumulated a lot of new friends in a very short period of time. Notice they are all guys. Guys are more willing to accept a friend request from someone they don’t know, especially if it’s attached to a pretty face.

Also note that there are no mutual friends in common:

2-fake-facebook-account

Another tell tale sign is that all the pictures associated with the account have been added quite recently, in this case, in the last hour. This indicates this is a new account, not one that has been a legitimate account for a long time:

3-fake-facebook-account

NOTE: Pictures have been masked to protect the innocent. In this case, some unknowing girl has had her pictures harvested by the scammer for the purpose of running this endeavor.

If they don’t respond to an inquiry Continue reading

Enterprises start to migrate critical legacy workloads to the cloud

LAS VEGAS -- Now that major enterprises have gotten their feet wet with smaller cloud projects, they're beginning to focus on migrating large, critical legacy workloads.That's the take from Stephen Orban, head of enterprise strategy at Amazon Web Services (AWS).In an interview with Computerworld at the annual AWS re:Invent conference here this week, Orban said the next wave of cloud computing could be focused strategically on legacy migration.And while it's always tougher - and riskier -- to move big, mission-critical workloads and services, at least IT departments have gotten experience working with the cloud so they're not going in cold.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Some tech firms welcome Trump’s H-1B reforms

IT services firms that hire U.S. workers and don't offshore work are looking forward to President-elect Donald Trump's crackdown on H-1B visa use.This includes firms such as Rural Sourcing Inc. (RSI), an Atlanta-based domestic software development company. RSI employs about 350 people and doesn't hire workers on temporary visas. It has four development centers in Augusta, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; Jonesboro, Ark.; and in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a new center opened this year.These are places "not widely known as big IT markets," said Monty Hamilton, the firm's CEO. That helps to keep costs down and makes it easier to compete with offshore firms. The locations appeal to developers who don't want to relocate to coastal tech centers, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT Resume Makeover: Presenting an executive image

If you're going for a role that is technically a step up from your current position -- for example, in executive leadership -- you need to get strategic to make your resume stand out. That was the case for resume makeover candidate William Torres (whose name has been changed for this article). He wanted to demonstrate his suitability for senior executive leadership roles, but wasn't sure what to include and what to leave out. When Stephen Van Vreede, IT and technical resume writer at ITtechExec and NoodlePlace, saw Torres' resume he knew he wanted to rework a number of things to better reflect his qualifications as a technology leader.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Why ecommerce hasn’t taken off on social media

Shopping is still not common on social media, and social sites are unlikely to become major destinations for buying any time soon. Social media has clear potential for facilitating purchases, but the major platforms haven't invested seriously in shopping, and users don't seem particularly interested in spending on social networks, according to analysts.Social media intersects with commerce to varying degrees on certain sites and at various stages of the purchase process, but users today simply don't finalize purchases on social sites, according to Jessica Liu, a senior analyst with Forrester Research. The firm mapped the customer life cycle into six stages, and the buy stage is the least active on social, she says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Scholars, infosec experts call for action on Russian hacking

In the wake of reports about Russian involvement in fake news and hacks against political targets leading up to the recent presidential election, scholars and security experts are calling for federal action.As of Sunday, 158 scholars have signed an open letter calling for a congressional investigation."Our country needs a thorough, public Congressional investigation into the role that foreign powers played in the months leading up to November," the letter said.Democrats in Congress have also called for an investigation, and were recently joined by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Scholars, infosec experts call for action on Russian hacking

In the wake of reports about Russian involvement in fake news and hacks against political targets leading up to the recent presidential election, scholars and security experts are calling for federal action.As of Sunday, 158 scholars have signed an open letter calling for a congressional investigation."Our country needs a thorough, public Congressional investigation into the role that foreign powers played in the months leading up to November," the letter said.Democrats in Congress have also called for an investigation, and were recently joined by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Dell Wyse 5060: The thin client for knowledge workers

Dell just released a thin client system that is clearly designed to address the needs of those having heavy computational, graphics and security requirements working in a virtual access/VDI computing environment. The Wyse 5060 comes equipped with an AMD 2.4GHz quad core processor that supports up to 8GB RAM and 64GB flash. The company claims this offering provides "up to 30 percent greater performance over the previous generation."Features of the Wyse 5060 Dell made the following statements about the Wyse 5060: Broad operating system support: The Wyse 5060 is available with a choice in OS, giving customers the ability to configure the thin client based on their specific requirements. At launch, the 5060 can be purchased with Dell’s own Wyse ThinOS software or with Windows Embedded Standard (WES) 7p. In early 2017, an upgrade to Windows 10 IoT will be available for WES customers, and the 5060 will also then be available with Wyse ThinLinux. Innovative security: Dell provides more than one security layer with the Wyse 5060 thin client. The device includes an embedded Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chipset with the ability to recognize if a system’s integrity has been compromised while safely storing encryption keys, Continue reading

20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1996

Looking back at 1996Image by Reuters/Ethan MillerAs we wind down 2016, we thought it would be fascinating to take a look at what some of the hot topics were 20 years ago. What we found are monkeys in space; a heaping helping of interesting computer news from the old Comdex trade show; Bill Gates in full form and Al Gore with the ENIAC. Take a look back at what was hot in 1996.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1996

Pulling cableImage by Reuters/Gregg NewtonVice President Al Gore gives the OK sign as he and President Bill Clinton participate in an Internet demonstration at Ygnacio Valley High School with students Luke Rockwell (L) and Julie Allen. The president and vice president earlier helped wire the school so the connection with the Net was possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AWS re:Invent 2016 Keynote with Werner Vogels

This is a liveblog of the Thursday keynote at AWS re:Invent 2016. Today’s keynote is led by Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon Web Services. Unlike yesterday, today I opted not to attend the keynote in the main hall, viewing the keynote instead from an “overflow” area. Turns out the “overflow” area has drinks, tables, and power! That’s a far better option that being crammed in the main hall, though in the past I’ve found it more difficult to liveblog when not viewing the keynote directly. We’ll see if that continues to hold true.

After an entertaining “remix” of Werner quotes in the pre-keynote music mix, Vogels takes the stage at 9:30. The remote viewing is, unfortunately, off-sync; the video doesn’t match up to the audio. Vogels starts his keynote by looking back at the last 10 years, and seeing the sorts of transformations have occurred. He rails against the vendors, and how AWS vowed to be “the Earth’s most customer-centric IT company.” Vogels says customers should be in charge, not vendors, and that includes AWS.

How does AWS be a customer-centric IT company?

  1. Listen closely to customers and act.
  2. Give customers choice.
  3. Work backwards from the customer.
  4. Help customers Continue reading

QKD – How Quantum Cryptography Key Distribution Works

How Does Internet Work - We know what is networking

QKD – Quantum key distribution is the magic part of quantum cryptography. Every other part of this new cryptography mechanism remains the same as in standard cryptography techniques currently used. By using quantum particles which behave under rules of quantum mechanics, keys can be generated and distributed to receiver side in completely safe way. Quantum mechanics principle, which describes the base rule protecting the exchange of keys, is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that it is impossible to measure both speed and current position of quantum particles at the same time. It furthermore states that the state of observed particle will change if and

QKD – How Quantum Cryptography Key Distribution Works

iPhone 8 said to feature a curved OLED display

Now that the iPhone 7 has been out for nearly three months now, the always-busy Apple rumor mill is refocusing its attention on what may very well be Apple's most anticipated product launch in years -- the iPhone 8.Speaking to the gravitas that surrounds Apple's next-gen iPhone, it's widely believed that Apple next year will forgo the iPhone 7s name and will instead call its 2017 smartphone the iPhone 8. Not only does the upcoming iPhone mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, it will also usher in some long-overdue changes to the iPhone's industrial design.According to a number of reports, Apple's upper-tier iPhone model will feature a curved OLED panel along with an edge to edge display. In effect, the entire device will effectively consist of one giant piece of glass. As a result, many of the device's sensors are said to be embedded underneath or into the display itself.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Retailers bombarded Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2016 shoppers with emails at record rates

Some say email is or will soon be dead, but try telling that to retailers promoting Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2016 sales in recent weeks.Amazon, Walmart and the rest absolutely inundated shoppers who wittingly or not had shared their email addresses with retailers. MORE: 50-plus eye-popping Black Friday 2016 tech dealsEmail marketing analysis firm eDataSource reports that more than 35,000 Black Friday-themed email campaigns were mailed during the period from 10 days before Black Friday (Nov. 25) to Cyber Monday (Nov. 28), representing a 50% increase from a year ago. The Cyber Monday messaging deluge followed suit, with about 24,000 campaigns mailed over the same period and a 36% increase from 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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