Monthly Archives: October 2012

The Twitter Zone

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Just as we discussed previously in Tech4Boomer’s Post, “Digital Olympics”, nowadays
it’s as though there is a Technology Olympics going on.  What I mean is that the  “rate of change” is astounding.  As a matter of fact, you should receive a  Gold Medal if you can keep up with what’s happening with Social Media.  Just when you think that you have achieved a happy, and somewhat dynamic  equilibrium,  grasping the changes  occurring within the social media phenomenon, e.g., Apps, Foursquare, Google Earth, chatting with friends, and followers (are they bots?) etc., you come to find out that actually it has changed again, and you have just entered another dimension:

“The Twitter Zone”.

I had a fortunate reading experience with an article written by Andy O’Donnell at About.com Guide. The article, which is about Twitter, not only introduced me to terminology I had never encountered, it also brought to my attention the importance of periodically checking who is following you on Twitter.

These are some of the topics that O’Donnell  covers in the article:

  1. How to use Status People’s Fake Follower check to see what percentage of your followers are fake, real, or inactive.
  2. How to report followers for SPAM and what happens when you do.
  3. Malicious Twitter bots, which are used to spread links to malware, and how they are often disguised as shortened links.
  4. The importance of checking whether some of your followers are legitimate. Sometimes you can just check if they have any followers.
  5. How to protect your Tweets by putting restrictions in place. Of course in this case you will also have to ‘approve’ each ‘follow’ request. In addition, your tweets will only be seen to those you have approved.
  6. How to Block other Twitter followers.

Use these links to check out the guidelines and get  some of the details of various things you should know about and take action on:

Glossary:
Twitter Bots – In addition to spammers, hackers and internet criminals may send out malicious Twitter bots5 to follow you. Malicious bots are used to spread links to malware which are often disguised as shortened links6 so that the malicious link itself is obscured from view by the shortened link. http://netsecurity.about.com/od/informationresources/a/How-To-Prevent-Strangers-From-Following-You-On-Twitter.htm?p=1

SPAM and SPIM bots
These bots bombard your inbox with SPAM and interrupt your chats by sending you unsolicited instant messages (SPIM). http://netsecurity.about.com/od/advancedsecurity/a/Malicious-Bots.htm

PUBLIC & PROTECTED TWEETS https://support.twitter.com/articles/14016-about-public-and-protected-tweets#

Are all bots bad?  So, now we know how to recognize them. But there is another issue. Is it bad to follow a bot? It might be, if it’s a bot that tricks you into buying things you didn’t want in the first place, or if you think you are really dealing with a person. But maybe not always. via How to recognize Twitter bots: 7 signals to look out for.

Help

Read the entire Andy O’Donnell article using this link:
http://netsecurity.about.com/od/informationresources/a/How-To-Prevent-Strangers-From-Following-You-On-Twitter.htm?p=1

What Are Strong Passwords?

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 As we consider time, and time again  how to protect our on-line privacy, one of the more important aspects of using the Internet’s, Email, Banking, Shopping, Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook websites is our Passwords. These are the keys to accessing our ‘private’ information. But, what is  a strong password? How do we cope with the fundamental need to create complex ‘passkeys’ ? How do we avoid  having ‘unauthorized’ sources acquire this information?  I searched the Internet. Below is a summary of  what some experts think:

  1.  create complicated passwords.
  2.  passwords should be longer than six characters.
  3.  passwords should be changed frequently.

Additional Suggestions –

  • Updates: The longer you keep the same password, the easier it is for someone to get access to your private data.
  •  Change your passwords every six months (recommended by  The Information Technology Department at Utah State University)
  • Complexity: According to Microsoft.com, passwords should be at least eight characters in length, preferably 14 characters or longer. The more complex the password, the less likely it is to be stolen. Read more about this by checking this link – via How Often Should You Change Your Password? | eHow.com.

For those of you who find it difficult to create complicated passwords, there are websites that you can use to help you with this task.  Use the links below which may help you get this done is an easier fashion.

♦ iphone –

How should you keep track of your passwords?

A more secure way to keep track of your secret code is to download one of the many password managers available online. Two of the most popular are RoboForm and LastPass. These are plug-ins that collect your passwords as you make your way around the Web, encrypt them and store them either on your computer or on the company’s servers, or sometimes both.

If you come up with a complicated password that you are likely to forget immediately, no problem. The password manager will remember it and automatically fill it in when a pass code is requested the next time you’re on the site. Many of the password managers even generate obscure passwords for you.

Security experts said a password manager is a good way to secure your codes from most hackers, but there are downsides you need to consider. There is still the risk that sophisticated hackers can come after your password manager and get all the stored pass codes in one swoop. via Three easy ways to keep track of your passwords – latimes.com.

♦ Most of us are keeping our passwords on post-its, little slips of paper, and in our head, and often we even forget what the last password we created was because we are moving so quickly trying to get the task done.

♦ If you are the pen and paper type, you can keep a notebook handy and write down all the websites you visit as well as the user names and passwords. Do not forget to update the notebook when you visit a new site. via How to Keep Track of Passwords | eHow.com.

I hope this is helpful 🙂