Social Networking Be Careful

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

Have been doing some research on the HB plan to assist the US Chamber

with character assassination via social networks, malware, using people's

families to get info on them, etc. Really fascinating stuff if you haven't

been following it. HB was tooting itself as the Chamber's savior to

discredit those who speak out of some of what it has done while using less

than stellar IT tactics.

But, Annonymous, who is closely affiliated with WikiLeaks hacked HB's

system and got the info of what HBG was intending to do. A flash in the

pan, HBG's affiliates are now running from them. They have even had to cancel

out of a big IT security conference this week in SF.

In my internet research travels the past couple of days, I got somewhat of

an inside look at how Facebook played a major role in the uprising in

Egypt and other places. So how does this relate to Sickbuildings, you ask?

Well besides the fact that the US Chamber has been a major player in mass

disseminating misinfo over this issue; you also need to know to BE CAREFUL

of what you put about your situation or this issue on Facebook. This is

how it is being used in some cases:

_http://www.itworld.com/internet/136830/that-new-facebook-friend-might-just-

be-a-spy_

(http://www.itworld.com/internet/136830/that-new-facebook-friend-might-just-be-a\

-spy)

" That new Facebook friend might just be a spy

The war between security firm HB and Anonymous reveals a new tactic:

using fake social network profiles to gather information.

February 13, 2011, 12:02 PM —

Is that new friend really your friend, or just someone pretending to be

your friend so he can spy on you? No, I’m not just being more paranoid than

usual. This really does happen – especially if you’re a member of an

anonymous collective determined to do battle with the forces of corporate evil

(not to mention Tom Cruise, Soulja Boy, and your mom).

The ongoing battle between Anonymous and the security wonks who are trying

to take it down has revealed a new weapon: Creating fake profiles on

social networks to trace out the connections between you and your comrades.

[ See also: _Facebook ads use your face for free_

(http://www.itworld.com/internet/134677/facebook-ads-use-your-face-free) ]

In what proved to be a colossally dimwitted move, HB Federal executive

Barr _bragged to the Financial Times_

(http://uk.finance./news/Cyberactivists-warned-arrest-ftimes-3487898538\

..html?x=0) about his

success in infiltrating Anonymous:

Mr Barr said he had collected information on the core leaders, including

many of their real names, and that they could be arrested if law enforcement

had the same data… But he does not plan to give specifics to police, who

would face hurdles in using some of the methods he employed, including

creating false Facebook profiles.

In other words, to “catch†Anonymous, Barr had to resort to methods the

police could not – violating Facebook’s terms of service in the process.

OK. Maybe sometimes you need to bend the rules to get the bad guys

(assuming you consider Anonymous the bad guys – in this scenario it’s

increasingly unclear.) But bragging about it?

Barr might just as well have smeared peanut butter all over his body and

jumped into the elephant cage at the San Diego Zoo. "