Dear Zach Braff fans. Your beloved Dr. J.D. Dorian is not dead, despite what you may have heard on Twitter. Beginning this afternoon, a fast-growing stream of tweets began reporting the death of the former Scrubs star with a link pointing to a fake CNN story claiming he had committed suicide. As of yet, there has been no word from the Braff camp to officially denounce the Twitter hoax, but you can be assured it is coming.
Twitter has been praised repeatedly for the way in which the website captures the pulse of society on a minute to minute basis. Unfortunately, it appears that, as the website continues to gain users, it is becoming more and more susceptible to an endless array of hoaxes and scams.
Just a few months ago, in the wake of the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett, a massive stream of Tweets declared actor Jeff Goldblum dead. The actor later poked fun at the situation on the Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report. While Goldblum took the situation in stride, there is a fine line between a friendly prank and a dangerous hoax. In some cases, scammers latch onto popular Twitter stories with phishing schemes causing considerable damage to less than savvy Internet users.
While Twitter works out the kinks in quickly defusing these stories, it is important that all Twitter users look at the things they see in their feed from a logical and objective point of view. Don’t retweet a story blindly, that is how a hoax spreads. Most importantly, don’t click on any suspicious link you find on Twitter or elsewhere. Taking practical steps to protect your identity online is a critical way to manage your online reputation.
In the wake of last week’s massive international phishing attack, which compromised over 30,000 e-mail accounts, many people around the world have been asking themselves, “What can I do to prevent something like this from happening to me?”
Recently, in an interview with Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik shared some advice on how to avoid the increasingly complex traps of Internet scammers. Check out his six tips below.
1. The bigger the email service, the bigger the target on its back. If you use Gmail or another giant, you are more likely to be targeted, just as Windows computers attract more virus attacks than Macs. So consider a less mainstream and safer service such as Fastmail or Tuffmail.
2. Use non-obvious passwords. Avoid “password” for instance.
3. Change your passwords regularly. Use at least two among all your accounts, instead of a generic one.
4. Resist the temptation to click on links from sources that you trust less than 100%. Look at the email address and URL in detail.
5. Download Google Toolbar, which has a feature that warns users when they are visiting sites that have been reported as phishing.
6. Enlist anti-virus software that comes with anti-phishing detection that can detect some phishing sites before and after you click on the link. One example is McAfee Site Advisor (www.siteadvisor.com/howitworks/index.html).
For more tips on how to protect your identity online, check back to the Reputation.com Blog often or follow Reputation.com on Twitter.
Two months ago, New York model Liskula Cohen made headlines when she won a lawsuit against Google, compelling the company to reveal the identity of the anonymous blogger that had called her a “lying, whoring skank.” The decision prompted considerable discussion throughout the blogosphere, with many people asking if it meant the end of anonymity online (it doesn’t) or whether the blogger – Rosemary Port – had her first amendment rights violated (she didn’t). In fact, just about the only question that wasn’t asked was what would happen to Liskula Cohen?
According to the New Zealand Times Herald, Ms. Cohen has decided to use her newfound fame to become a spokesperson for cyberbullying.
From the article:
The insight Cohen has been granted through her experience and actions has placed her now at the forefront of the cyber-bullying issue.
She says she had no doubts she should take up the cause after she received a message of support from the mother of Meghan Meier, a 13-year-old girl who killed herself in 2006 after being cyberbullied by a friend’s mother posing as an online boyfriend.
“We do have the freedom of speech but we don’t have the freedom to defame,” reasons Cohen. “If the internet is just supposed to be the Wild West, a do-what-you-want, say-what-you-want place and no longer a reliable source of information – which is what I think it was intended for – then I want no part of it.
“It’s been very frustrating for me. Now, I find myself limiting my internet use to just going to reputable sites,” she continues. “I used to surf all over the place and make the assumption that what I read was truthful. Now it’s a case of, well, who knows?”
Indeed she has. Now, more than ever, issues of Internet privacy and Online Reputation Management have come to the forefront of modern society.
As the web continues to evolve, it is important that there are people out there working to educate the public on these issues. Here at the Reputation.com Blog, we’d like to wish kudos to Ms. Cohen for her worthwhile efforts in this area. If you’d like to learn more about cyberbullying, check out Reputation.com’s How-To Guide to “Stop Cyberbullying.”
Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a 20-year-old young man. You’re barely beginning your life when you find out you’ve been falsely accused of a crime. Not just any crime, but rape. In one instant, your life is turned upside down. The media demonizes you before your trial has begun and you’re viewed as a pariah in the public’s eye. After spending countless days agonizing over your impending trial, you are suddenly set free. The alleged victim has fully recanted her story. Despite your newfound freedom and the fact that your name has been fully cleared of wrong doing, the allegations continue to affect your life, especially on the Internet where your name continues to pop up in news stories about the crime and the trial. What would you do to reclaim your good name? Who would you turn to for help?
Now, imagine that you’re a 16-year-old girl. You, like many girls your age, decide to send your boyfriend a few pictures of you posing naked from your phone. You realize after the fact that it was a mistake. Sometime later, after you and your boyfriend have split up, you find out that those pictures aren’t as private as you thought. In fact, they’re on MySpace and they’ve been seen by a number of your friends. You’re embarrassed, ashamed, and upset. How did those pictures get on the Internet? How can you get them offline?
If you think these stories couldn’t play out in your home, think again. On Dr. Phil today, Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik listened to the stories of two young people, Kevin and Chelsea, whose lives had come to a halt because of the above scenarios. They, and their parents, were afraid that they might never live their reputations down, potentially hurting them in applying for jobs, applying to college or graduate school, and more.
Is it fair to be judged in only one dimension? No. Doesn’t everyone deserve a chance to shape their own destiny, free of any prejudice? Yes. Here at Reputation.com, we believe you should be able to control your reputation online, which is why Michael Fertik didn’t just go on Dr. Phil today to listen, but to help. Beginning today, Kevin and Chelsea will have the expertise, dedication, and experience of Reputation.com to help them repair their images online.
If you’d like to make sure your children don’t have to go through the same horror stories as Kevin and Chelsea, talk to your kids about the importance of making good decisions, both online and offline. Reputation.com can help too. With our unique MyChild services, you can protect your child from cyberbullying, posting damaging material about themselves or your family online, and more. Taking a proactive stance in protecting your child on the Internet is taking an investment in their future. Make sure you’ve got experts on your side.
Hot on the heels of news that more than 30,000 e-mail accounts may have been compromised by a widespread international phishing scheme, the Federal Bureau of Investigations announced yesterday that they had caught and indicted 53 individuals suspected of committing cybercrimes.
The suspects came from throughout the United States, including Las Vegas, Nevada; and Charlotte, North Carolina; and multiple cities in Southern California; The FBI also caught 47 unindicted suspects in Egypt.
Too often, we only hear about the victims of cybercrime. It is refreshing to see a story celebrating the men and women of law enforcement who dedicate their lives to protecting us online. Kudos to the FBI, and keep up the good work!
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