A frequent user of the Ubid online auction site contacted El Gato last week to tell him about an e-mail scam to trick Ubid members into coughing up passwords. Apparently, someone had been sending fake e-mail to members under the subject line “Ubid—security, please follow instructions.” The e-mail contained a link to a bogus Web site that appeared to be Ubid pages. Once lured there, visitors were asked to enter their log-in and password.
A spokeswoman for the auction site told the Furball, “Although only a few people were affected, we took immediate action by e-mailing all our active customers to warn them of the hoax and asked them to contact us immediately if they did, in fact, enter their log-in and password.”
The notice the auction site sent to customers of the hoax assured them that their accounts would be instantly disabled if they had been duped into giving out personal information on the scam site. The letter also assured customers that Ubid would never contact them for sensitive information through an unsecured e-mail transmission.
“So, exactly who set up this elaborate scheme with access to customer addresses and faux Web pages?” wondered His Hirsuteness.
“We contacted the ISP that hosted the Web site and had it shut down immediately and are looking into this matter even further,” the spokeswoman told the Kitty.
Speaking of security, the Furry One enjoyed kicking back at the Black Hat security event in Las Vegas last week. Amusingly, the windows that seemed to attract the most scrutiny at the show were not Microsofts but rather the ones that allowed a perfect view of the “topless” swimming pool at Caesars Palace, where the event was held. During breaks between show sessions, the predominantly male crowd crammed the viewing area of the “top optional” pool.
Spencer wondered if the geeky lads werent also searching for the scroll bar as they pressed their noses against the windows.
The security-minded crowd sported some amusing T-shirts during the event. The Kittys favorites included “Got DeCSS?” “Feds [heart symbol] LOpht” and “Owned by a foreign host.”
Spencer was giddy over the fact that IBM decided to purchase Monday, PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting arm, for $3.5 billion. Big Blue is expected to drop the much-maligned Monday name. “Forget Big Blue Monday,” laughed the Lynx. “It could always be called Blues Clues.”
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