Most of these E-Cards, even the legit ones, will end up collecting not only the person sending the E-Card to you but also your email address and selling these to spammers.  Some use tracking code in their images, links, java, and or flash.

Then there is the malware type, these are the ones that are sent to you.  They look legit but they are really from a virus/worm that someone you know has.  These cards are fake and will ask you to install and or run something.  Once done your machine is also now infected.  You get to join in the fun of slowing your company network, getting your company on a black list, and giving your IT Staff something more to do.

Lets face it, these are horrible things and we should all do our part to avoid falling into these traps.   So this holiday season if you wanna be in the know and do it the right way, let me recommend Send Out Cards.  These are high quality cards, they handle all the hassle of actually sending.  It cost about $1 a card.  It is actually as easy as using one of those stupid e-cards.  Except the final product tho, let me tell you, is a professional looking real card.  Give them a try, tell Beth I said hi when you do.

This is Post from: ZeroSource!

Holiday time approaches!

• Zbot Variants Spreading! (0)
• Conflicker is not Y2K Bug! (0)
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There are several ways to propagate a virus. One of them being social engineering.  This is what the Zbot variants are trying to do.  They are sending emails that seem to come from your service provider, Microsoft themselves, and or your system administrator.

How often do you really get an email from Microsoft telling you that there is an update?  For most people, this is never.  I have worked in the Information Technology field for almost 20 years and I haven’t got an email from them to tell me there is an update.   So why do you think they are doing it now?  Better yet, do you think they are keeping track of every user that has outlook some and their email address?

So are you the system administrator?  Do you actually email people from “System Admin”?  I mean really?  Security 101 tells you to change the administrator anyway.  You should not be emailing from System Admin.  So how often does your System Administrator email you?

So by tricking you to think you are going to a real website and downloading a real upgrade or settings change they are getting you to install the Zbot variant.

So what exactly does the Zbot Trojan/Virus do?   First off it is a trojan that disables windows firewall,  steals sensitive financial data (credit card numbers, online banking login details),  makes screen snapshots,  downloads additional components,  and provides a hacker with the remote access to the compromised system.

Zbot creates a file %System%\\sdra64.exe and the hidden files %System%\\lowsec\\local.ds and %System%\\lowsec\\user.ds in combination with a hidden directory %System%\\lowsec.  There were new memory pages created in the address space of the system process(es): services.exe, lsass.exe, alg.exe, iexplore.exe and svchost.exe.

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Zbot Variants Spreading!

• Happy Valentine’s Day – Enjoy your Virus! (0)
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Fail Boat!

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Can’t touch this!

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So what do they offer?

Mail Collector.   This is a way to check and or get your other mail ie hotmail, gmail, yahoo mail all in one place.

Well I wouldn’t know see, when I went to it originally I was using Chrome the newest version of Chrome even.  This is what I ran into:

See they do not support chrome.  So I opened up IE 8 and was able to sign up.  This went pretty well.  The interface looks nice. It was easy to navigate.  The main login looks almost like a iGoogle page with widgets.   There are some good widgets, one for facebook, one for twitter.  Setting these up was easy and the login was fast.  The widget for twitter is Betwittered I believe.  I tried to setup my Gmail with the mail collector and it failed, wouldn’t connect to gmail.  So then I tried to setup my yahoo email and guess what, fail again.  So my next thing to try now that I have a username and password was to sign in with Chrome since it is my main browser of choice.   Fail again, username and password hit login and just sit.  At this time I have given up and try to close out IE 8 and it just hung.  Ended up having to cntrl + alt + del kill it.

Final Thoughts

So what does this say… lots of good ideas but maybe like Google did they should stick a Beta label on it.  I will give it a try again in a few months, see if they have any bugs out of it.  I’m always interested in new things.  Have you tried it? What did you think? Any issues with it for you?

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A new Email Service – Not So Fast!

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I was told when I first moved here, you don’t go to City Stages unless you want trouble.  It is horrible, the people are rude, it stinks and there is never anyone any good.

Wow where they wrong, lets see we are going this year to see  38 Special, Doobie Brothers, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and Lynyrd Skynyrd!  Yea that is a pretty good line up if you ask me.

FREE BYRD!

I will be there all three days, starting Friday at lunch.   I always purchase my tickets through UCP (United Cerebral Palsy) Bham Casual day.  While purchasing casual day T-Shirts are over for 2009.  You should still donate to the great organization that is UCP Bham!  Talk to your boss and participate in next years Casual Day.

So my schedule will change, check back to see who/where we are going.  Are you going? Who are you going to see?

I was going to use the Logo for City Stages in this post but I do not have permission to do so….

This is Post from: ZeroSource!

City Stages 2009

• BarCampBirmingham v3.0 Wrap Up! (6)
• BarCamp Birmingham May 2nd (1)
• Update to Zerosource, Bhampulse! (0)
• Why I did attend the Hoover Alabama Tea Party (0)

• Birmingham-Southern College – Greensboro Scholarship
• President’s Outstanding Academic Achievement
• National Honor Society
• Honor Graduate – Achieved a grade point average over 4.0
• Certificate of Excellence in Honors Anatomy
• Photography Student of the Year

She will be attending Birmingham-Southern this fall studying Biology.  She has pretty much know what she has wanted to do since she was very young.

People approach me like I should be sad, sad that she’s growing up.  It is not sad, it is a great thing.  My wife and I have accomplished the goals we set out to, and that is to raise a Strong Woman, A Free Spirit, a Philosopher in her own right, and a person with a keen eye.  Someone that I know will touch the world in some magnificant way.

Oh I’m so proud of her not taking the easy road, of long nights studing to get to where she wants to be.  I’m so proud of the way she deals with everyday issues and takes the time to think of worldly ones.

I will leave you with a poem, by Richard Wilbur that reminds me of the days of her studying alone in her room, late into the night.

The Writer
by Richard Wilbur

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses,
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking,
And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor
Of strokes, and again is silent.

I remember the dazed starling
Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;
How we stole in, lifted a sash

And retreated, not to affright it;
And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,
We watched the sleek, wild, dark

And iridescent creature
Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
To the hard floor, or the desk-top,

And wait then, humped and bloody,
For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits
Rose when, suddenly sure,

It lifted off from a chair-back,
Beating a smooth course for the right window
And clearing the sill of the world.

It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.

This is Post from: ZeroSource!

My Daughter

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So lets says a big hello to:
@ 50 Cent
@ Adam Goldstein (DJ AM)
@ Adam Savage
@ Aisha Tyler
@ Al Gore
@ Alex Albrecht
@ Alison Sudol
@ Alyson Hannigan
@ Alyssa Milano
@ Amber Benson
@ Andy Dick
@ Andy Murray
@ Andy Samberg
@ Anita Cochran
@ Arnold Schwarzenegger
@ Ashlee Simpson Wentz
@ Ashton Kutcher
@ B Real
@ Barack Obama
@ Barbara Walters
@ Ben Kweller
@ Bishop Alan Wilson
@ Bjork
@ Bob Guiney
@ Bob Vila
@ Borat Sagdiyev
@ Brea Grant
@ Brent Spiner
@ Brett Gurewitz
@ Britney Spears
@ Brooke Burke
@ Brooke Hogan
@ Carson Daly
@ Cesar Millan
@ Chris Carrabba
@ Chris Cornell
@ Courtney Love
@ Crispin Glover
@ Dane Cook
@ Danny Masterson
@ Danny Wood
@ Dave Matthews
@ Dave Navarro
@ David Blue
@ David Henrie
@ David Hewlett
@ David Lawrence
@ David Lynch
@ Deborah (Debbie) Gibson
@ Demi Lovato
@ Demi Moore
@ Diablo Cody
@ Don Draper
@ Donnie Wahlberg
@ Doug Benson
@ Dr. Drew Pinsky
@ Eddie Izzard
@ Eli Manning
@ Elisabeth Hasselbeck
@ Ellen Degeneres
@ Emma Watson
@ Erykah Badu
@ Evan Williams
@ Ewan McGregor
@ Felicia Day
@ Fran Drescher
@ Fred Durst
@ Gail O’Grady
@ Gayle King
@ Gene Simmons
@ Gerard Way
@ Giuliana Rancic
@ Greg Grunberg
@ Gregg Opie Hughes
@ Harvey Levin
@ Heidi Montag
@ Hugh Jackman
@ Hulk Hogan
@ Ice-T
@ Imogen Heap
@ Ingrid Michaelson
@ James Gunn
@ James Kyson Lee
@ Jamey Jasta
@ Jamie Kennedy
@ Jamie Murray
@ Jane Fonda
@ Janina Gavankar
@ Jason Mraz
@ Jemaine Clement
@ Jerry Rice
@ Jesse Jane
@ Jessica Simpson
@ Jhonen Vasquez
@ Jimmy Fallon
@ JJ Abrams
@ Joe Biden
@ Joe Rogan
@ Joel Madden
@ Joey McIntyre
@ John Cabrera
@ John Cleese
@ John Edwards
@ John Hodgman
@ John Mayer
@ John McCain
@ Jon Favreau
@ Jona Bechtolt (Yacht)
@ Jonathan Coulton
@ Jonathan Knight
@ Jonathan Ross
@ Jordan Knight
@ Joy Behar
@ Judah Friedlander
@ Justine Bateman
@ Karl Rove
@ Kate Hewlett
@ Kathy Griffin
@ Kathy Ireland
@ Katy Perry
@ Kay Hanley
@ Keiko Agena
@ Kelly Clarkson
@ Kerry Rhodes
@ Kevin Pollak
@ Kevin Rose
@ Kevin Smith
@ Kim Kardashian
@ Lady Gaga
@ Lance Armstrong
@ Larry David
@ Larry King
@ Lauren Conrad
@ Leo Laporte
@ LeVar Burton
@ Lily Allen
@ Lisa Loeb
@ Ludacris
@ Luke Wilson
@ Mariah Carey
@ Mark Hoppus
@ Martha Stewart
@ Matthew Perry
@ Maxime Verhagen
@ MC Hammer
@ Michael Ian Black
@ Michael Phelps
@ Michael Urie
@ Mike Mizanin
@ Mikey Way
@ Miley Cyrus
@ Mischa Barton
@ Moby
@ Nastia Liukin
@ Natalie Gulbis
@ Neil Diamond
@ Neil Gaiman
@ Nelly Furtado
@ Nick Cannon
@ Nicole Richie
@ Olivia Munn
@ Oprah Winfrey
@ Patrick Wilson
@ Paul Brandt
@ Paul Wall
@ Paulo Coelho
@ Penn Jillette – The Real Deal – Thanks Ike
@ Perez Hilton
@ Pete Wentz
@ Pete Yorn
@ Phillip Schofield
@ QTip
@ Questo of the Roots
@ Rachel Bilson
@ Rainn Wilson
@ Regina Spektor
@ Richard Branson
@ Rivers Cuomo
@ Rob Corddry
@ Rob Thomas
@ Robby Gordon
@ Robert Llewellyn
@ Robin Williams
@ Russell Brand
@ Ryan Adams
@ Ryan Newman
@ Ryan Seacrest
@ Samantha Ronson
@ Sara Bareilles
@ Sarah Palin
@ Sarah Silverman
@ Sean P. Diddy Combs
@ Sebastian Bach
@ Selena Gomez
@ Seth MacFarlane
@ Seth Rogen
@ Shaquille O’Neal
@ Shaun White
@ Sherri Shepherd
@ Slash
@ Snoop Dogg
@ Solange Knowles
@ Soleil Moon Frye
@ Sophia Bush
@ Spencer Pratt
@ Stephen Colbert
@ Stephen Fry
@ Steve Jobs
@ Steve Nash
@ Steve Wozniak
@ Summer Glau
@ Taylor Swift
@ Terra Naomi
@ Tila Tequila
@ Tom Felton
@ Tom Waits
@ Tony Hawk
@ Tony Robbins
@ Travis Barker
@ Trent Reznor
@ Vanessa Hudgens
@ Walt Mossberg
@ Weird Al Yankovic
@ Wil Wheaton
@ William Shatner
@ XZIBIT
@ Yoko Ono

If you happen to know if any of these are really the person, let us know.

This is Post from: ZeroSource!

Celebrities, for real? Or is it hired Twit?

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We have channels that are dedicated to 24/7 news.  Journalist are no more, they are celebrities now.  Willing to do anything to put themselves in front of the camera.  The more extreme the more chance of them being the one in front of the camera.

I remember growing up, we would hear the “Breaking News” on the TV.  The whole family would run toward the TV to see what was going on.  Now everything is breaking news.

As defined by Wikipedia

A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren’t biased.

Key word in there biased.

To favor one thing over another due to personal opinion.

So what has happened to journalist? Are there any more journalist in the world?  Do any of them still exist?  I would hope so, but the more I watch the “news” the less I believe it.

So where do you get your news?  Do you still believe in and trust the local news?  What about the News Channels?

This is Post from: ZeroSource!

Where did all the journalist go?

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One of the best parts was not from the scheduled sessions. It was the sessions in the halls that I found the most interesting.   How several very opinionated individuals can get together and discuss everything from the type of music someone listens to, to local Birmingham Politics.

It was good seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and hanging with current one.  It was also great meeting our nerd brethern from Nashville, Hey Mitch.  I took another listen to a radio station I ditched,  Live 100.5 thanks Ken.

I’m looking forward to the next BarCamp and think we could easy handle two a year in Birmingham.   Up next, WordCamp!

Photo by and © by Matt Sheets http://mattsheets.com/

This is Post from: ZeroSource!

BarCampBirmingham v3.0 Wrap Up!

• City Stages 2009 (0)
• BarCamp Birmingham May 2nd (1)
• Update to Zerosource, Bhampulse! (0)
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So what is an RFC?  Well it is a Request for Comments.  It is the standards that defines the Internet and how it operates.  It also refers to the way RFC documents are discussed and approved by the Internet community.

RFC821 describes the way e-mail servers talk to each other.  So lets go over a standard email discussion between two servers.  We will call them mail.serverA.net and mail.serverB.com.  A is going to connect to B and send an email to UserB from UserA.  This starts when mail.serverA.net connects to mail.serverB.com on port 25.  ServerA has ip 1.1.1.1 and ServerB 2.2.2.2

ServerB: 220 mail.serverB.com

ServerA:  helo mail.serverA.net

ServerB: 250 mail.serverB.com Hello mail.serverA.net [1.1.1.1], pleased to meet you

ServerA: MAIL FROM: UserA@serverA.net

ServerB: 250 2.1.0 UserA@serverA.net... Sender ok

ServerA: RCPT TO: UserB@serverB.com

ServerB:  250 2.1.0 UserB@serverB.com... Recipient ok

ServerA:  DATA

etc…

So exactly how did we start following the standards?  Rules!

First we require that the server you connect to ours from has a correct DNS entry.  DNS is the Domain Name Service, it is the service that turns mail.serverA.net to 1.1.1.1.  So if our mail server gets an email from mail.serverA.net we do a DNS/Nslookup on the mail server and see that it returns 1.1.1.1 but wait then we check to see that 1.1.1.1 returns to mail.serverA.net as a standard all mail servers that send email should have their dns forward and reverse.

Second we require the server to identify itself per standard.  Helo FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name).  This is part of the RFC821.  So serverA would say
helo mail.serverA.net

Third per RFC we require the mail from: and rcpt to: to follow RFC period.
mail from: <user@host>

Last not following the RFC or anything else, but we are stopping users from emailing themselves.  Something that spammers have taken up doing.  Not emailing themselves, although that would be funny.  They have started sending email as the user, so the to and from are the same.  I know we can block email if it is not from an internal ip etc….  That does not work as our users are located on many different networks, at many different locations.

So how has this done?  Well we have had people calling that can’t email to someone.  We explain why and tell them how to fix it.  Users have called “I don’t think mail is working, I haven’t got any spam!”.  Oh yea and the hoss mail server has gone from 80 to 90% processor usage to less then 15% at peak.  We have also blocked 300,000 on one server in 24 hours.

Finally if you are a mail administrator, please quit just going with it!  Please quit going, well its broke but it still works no one is complaining.  Fix Your Server!

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Is it so bad to be E-mail Nazi!

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So what is BarCamp?

BarCamp is a user generated conference created around an open, participatory workshop-event, with content provided by participants. Those participating choose the session topics for the day and then present to each other.

How much does it cost?

OMG FREE!

Want to know more?

Let Mr. Wade Kwon tell ya -

I will see you there! Even after at PostCamp… oh there’s more.

Yup afterward the wrap up party TBA at Shift Workspace!

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BarCamp Birmingham May 2nd

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A response to a friend. Why I Didn’t Attend a Tea Party!

I completely 100% agree with you, except the getting involved part.

We The Federal Government!

I do believe we can go back to a true United States of America, and live by the constitutional rights given to each and every citizen.  The country has and can live up to ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.

While I was there, I did not hear anyone chanting Republican, Republican or Democrat, Democrat.  I heard the chants of USA.   I saw many people explaining their problems with the government.  Guess what, they where not all about Taxation.  I too thought they would be.  Several groups where there taking up signatures for their causes.  I also heard several people explain ways they thought it should or could be fixed.  After all, it has been said

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Yes nothing that is happening now is new, but some people see and or take it longer then others.  Its like the pain threshold, I prefer to call this one the bullsh*t threshold.  Only when that threshold is reached do people start wanting to do something about it.

In this last election we where faced with two democrats,  I do not believe we have a two party system anymore.  We now are under a one party system.  The media is controlled by such a party that is why we hear nothing of the Fair Tax, something I believe in.  It is also the reason fair and equal time was not given to Dr. Paul during the last election.  The only time he was actually on a network any network even the Republican network Fox was when they where trying to make fun of him.  Even the “Great American” Sean Hannity wouldn’t give him the time of day.

I used to call myself a Republican, but I didn’t feel let down on this last election.  I’m not even mad about the election itself.  I feel I would have lost either way.  I am also glad for the current economic problems.  I believe in the worst of times, America is at its greatest.  I think America has become a bunch of puds!  I have said and told people watch the unemployment rate rise and you will start to see real customer services.

So while I agree with you, I do NOT believe sitting at home is the answer.  Not doing anything, will never get anything done.  It will take real change, nothing that can come from the elephant or the donkey war.  That change has to start somewhere, the seed has to be planted with someone.  If nothing more then someone reading the fair tax information, and thinking about it.  Then it was worth it.

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Why I did attend the Hoover Alabama Tea Party

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Estimated up to 12 Million Infected Machines World Wide! (Trend Micro)

Well it wasn’t blown out of proportion.  The conflicker worm has already infected well over a million computers world wide.   Some have it upwards 10 million computers.   I don’t think it was blown out of proportion, if anything I believe it has opened a few eyes.  Have you made sure your updated on all your software?

PATCH PATCH PATCH

If you run a windows operating system, you MUST keep your machine updated at all times.  This is not a suggestion, this is not an idea, this is a fact. If you do not, you will be infected if not by the conflicker worm, by something.  Can you believe there are companies that are still running windows NT and Windows 95!

A Microsoft executive calls the ease with which two British e-crime specialists managed to hack into a Windows XP computer as both “enlightening and frightening.”

Conflicker… is this the new Storm Worm?

So now we just sit back and wait to see what it is going to do?  Some say it has began hijacking PC’s asking the user to pay $50 to get a fix.  Using popups to fool the user into thinking it is a valid anti virus program.  Others have said it has started to send spam, I can’t confirm either.  Only time will tell…

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Conflicker is not Y2K Bug!

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