New Facebook lure: death videos

Nobody said Facebook app advertising had to be in good taste.


In the pantheon of fabled people whose stories are used to attract Facebook users to survey/contest/quiz apps ($9.99 billed to your cell phone), the guy who “killed his roommate aftre (sic) Playing Black Ops games in New York” has just joined the various women who killed themselves after their father/boyfriend/whoever posted something about them on FB.

We counted 55 of these in a 10 minute span, so, it’s in circulation.

Lovely.

(Click on the graphics to enlarge.)

Of course you have to log in to Facebook.




And at this point you can see where this is going:





 It uses your Facebook account to spam itself out to all your friends. At this point you are a vector.



Then it presents some lurid warnings:





And, bingo: “quiz” authentication:



And the sales pitch: one quiz, two clues a week for $9.99.

 

I’m not sure that anyone falling for this COULD buy a clue.

Tom Kelchner

About One Hour Ago.....Houston St., New York

About One Hour Ago.....Houston St., New York

GFI Malware Minute weekly video feature

The GFI Malware Minute video is available for your viewing pleasure on the GFI-Sunbelt Software YouTube channel (and below).

Malware Minutes are short videos (1-2 minutes) that provide a weekly roundup of top stories from the GFI-Sunbelt Software Blog, the GFI-Sunbelt Rogue Blog and anything else we think might be of interest.

This week we have a fake Trojan removal kit that installs the ThinkPoint rogue, a fake Kodak Galleries site that served up the Bayrob Trojan and great royal wedding social engineering spoof by the group Scam Detectives intended to raise awareness about online shopping security.




Tom Kelchner

On the Street.... The Australian Student Tour, New York

On the Street.... The Australian Student Tour, New York

AUTUMN collection

Teaming With Wreckage

The only thing I know about sports is that hitting the man in black over the head with a rock is NOT very sportsmanlike. Still, even *I* can see something's off with these sports team cakes.

I mean, c'mon, who takes a lovely sunburned R.O.U.S. like this:

...and turns it into Disney's Mushu, twisted up like a pretzel?

P.S. For you non-Disney folk, this is Mushu:

This next one is much better, though:

Bwahahaha!!

Yes, I lied. Get used to disappointment.

How about a simple star?

Think it'll work?

Correct answer: "It would take a miracle."


At this point it's just morbid curiosity keeping you going, isn't it? [nodding] Yeah. I'm right there with ya.

[blinking] Hoo boy. Anyone else have a bad feeling about this?

Oh. Well, I guess it could be worse..

It's worse, it's worse!

Hey, you know those videos online where you see the freight train headed for the tanker truck full of gasoline, and part of you is cringing and thinking what a horrible tragedy is about to occur, and the other part is all, "Oh man, this is gonna be GOOD!"


Well, allow me to introduce a tanker truck full of gasoline:

Now, heeeere comes the freight traaaaaiiiin!! (Choo choo!)

KERBLOOOIEEE!!!

Thanks to today's Wreckporters Steve R., Rebecca W., Tug T., Valerie, & Stephanie, who would never get involved in a land war in Asia.

Fake Kodak Galleries serve up Bayrob Trojan

If you or your relatives wander onto a site claiming to be a genuine Kodak website, you might want to think twice before downloading any executables.

Here’s an example of a site located at kodak-webgallery(dot)com, which is currently offline:


Click to Enlarge

The message at the top reads: “New shared photos! You have received some new pictures, to view them simply click the button below”. Hitting the button launches a “Slideshow”, which is actually an executable file that the end-user is asked to download and run.

Doing so opens up a set of photographs taken of a rather large truck from different angles:


Click to Enlarge

After executing the file, the folder \WINDOWS\system32\69821772 was created containing various configuration files. Additionally, sijgzxel.exe and fvwtmkry.exe were copied to the System32 Folder itself.



The final piece of the puzzle are references to an email address, EBay, EBay motors and various other EBay domains (along with the non-Ebay Escrow.com) in the process dumps we generated while testing.

It looks like a blast from the past called Trojan.Bayrob has risen from the grave to cause problems for big moneyspenders on eBay. It seems to come around every so often – here’s an attack from 2007 and here’s one from 2008 – and now someone has decided to spam it out from a fake Kodak domain registered via a privacy service.

Bayrob is a nasty little thing, spoofing pages from eBay and other sites to fool the end-user into handing over bundles of cash. Motor buyers are a popular target, hence the reason why many of these attacks tend to involve car photo slideshows. The Trojan can have a devastating impact – here’s a victim who was fleeced out of $8,600 by scammers.

To coin a phrase: whoops.

We detect this one as Win32.Malware!Drop. Detection rates are very low, currently clocking in at 5/43 so be careful out there and don’t be fooled by random photograph galleries. There’s no way to tell if these fake Kodak sites are currently being pimped by automated spam programs, random chatroom links, infected PCs or strange flashing lights in the sky so always check with a known contact if they suddenly want you to check out their new car pictures.

It might cost you a bit more than a tyre change and a new air freshener…

Christopher Boyd (Thanks to Adam Thomas for additional research).

Mexican-Themed Thanksgiving Bash

Jennifer Aniston Treats Pals to Mexican-Themed Thanksgiving Bash

Jennifer Aniston
hosted a Mexican-themed Thanksgiving bash for 15 friends. She is said to have flown a group of close pals out on two private jets to her lavish estate in the Mexican resort of Cabo San Lucas, where they spent the holiday on November 25 "eating, drinking and relaxing".

While Jennifer Aniston indulged in plenty of food and drink during the break, she also made sure she worked out every day. An onlooker told People magazine, "Jennifer spent the trip enjoying herself with her friends - relaxing, drinking and eating."

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How to Make Sweet Potato Fries

We all know that sweet potato is one of the nutritious and tasty vegetables. But, it may not be as popular as regular potatoes, that are prepared and consumed in many different ways. French fries are one among the popular potato preparations. Even sweet potato fries can be prepared similarly and the thing is that it tastes great too. While, some of the restaurants serve this dish, you may also prepare it at home, without much effort. This article will provide you with information about how to make sweet potato fries from scratch.


Preparing Sweet Potato Fries

Even though it is really easy to prepare sweet potato fries, you must know the right methods for making it perfectly. Sweet potatoes can be deep fried or baked in an oven. You may also try different recipes with various seasonings. The following are some tips and guidelines about how to make sweet potato fries at home.

How to Make Sweet Potato Fries in the Oven
In order to prepare sweet potato fries, you require two to three large sweet potatoes that have to be peeled and cut into long strips (as in French fries). You may use a mandolin to cut the vegetable to the preferred size. This will also reduce your efforts. If you are using organic sweet potatoes, skin can be retained. Once done, drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle seasonings, like, salt and black pepper, over the pieces. Seasonings are purely your choice, as you may add anything from cheese to garlic powder, cinnamon powder, cayenne, paprika, etc. The next step is to spread the sweet potato pieces on a greased baking sheet and bake for around forty five minutes in the oven that is preheated to 350° F. If you want the fries to be more crispy, turn the pieces after thirty minutes of cooking and then let it cook for another ten minutes with an oven temperature of 400° F. Your baked sweet potato fries are ready.

Fried Sweet Potato Fries
Another method to prepare sweet potato fries is to deep fry this vegetable that is cut into pieces. In order to prepare these fries, you may use a deep fryer or a pan. In case of deep frying, you have to make some preparations beforehand. Cut the sweet potatoes into strips and rinse the pieces thoroughly, so as to remove the starch that can make the fries soft and chewy. Once done, spread the pieces on a soft cloth or paper towels, to remove excess moisture. This will take around thirty to forty minutes. You may also boil the sweet potatoes in water, for around ten minutes, before peeling and cutting. In such cases, you don't have to rinse them. Once the pieces are ready, fry them in batches. Preheat the oil to 325° F. Fry the pieces for around three to five minutes and remove them from the oil. Allow the pieces to cool on paper towels. Once cool, you may either refrigerate them for later use of fry them at the time of serving. This is only the first step of making fried sweet potato fries. The next step is to fry the pieces in oil that is preheated to 350° F, for around five minutes or till they get crispy. You can serve them hot with added seasonings.

Now, you know more about how to make sweet potato fries perfectly. You may also try other sweet potato fries recipes. As per another recipe, make a mixture of a tablespoon water and two tablespoons of whisked egg and coat the sweet potato pieces with this mixture. In another bowl, combine, ⅓ cup dry bread crumbs with two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and ¼ teaspoon each of cayenne pepper and pepper. Toss the sweet potato pieces (already coated with egg) into this bread crumb mixture, in small batches. Spread these pieces on a greased baking sheet and spray a small amount of olive oil over them. Now bake them in an oven preheated to 450° F, for around 30 minutes or till they get golden brown and crispy. Make sure to turn the pieces in between. Once done, remove and serve with chutney. So, try any of these methods for preparing sweet potato fries. You may also incorporate your own ideas and come up with your own best way to make sweet potato fries.