What my plugin does is it utilizes your information from the WP dashboard on your profile. It makes better use of the fields by removing the Yahoo IM one and adding a Twitter field. Then it will pull the information from that and the URL and Bio of the post author, as well as display the Gravatar of the author by getting the authors email address. Then it adds a nice box in between the post and the comments.

I am extremely excited about this. I never thought I would ever be able to complete it, and get it working. I managed to create the functions and simulate it over at New2WP, but getting it to work in a plugin has been a bit more work. I am still working on cleaning it up and adding the finishing touches, and then I will submit it to WordPress.

You can see an example of it below, I am currently using it on this site, and I’d love to know what you think!

Koobface “the Facebook Virus”

If someone’s computer becomes infected by the Koobface worm, it starts spamming comments on friends belonging to the owner of the computer. The comments say things like, “Are you sure this is your first acting experience?”, “impressive. i’m sure it’s you on this video”, “How can anyone get so busted by a spy camera?”, “You’re the whole show! i’m admired with you.”, and “is it u there?”, making it appear as though they came from the person who the virus has infected. It is possible that some of the comments may raise some suspician due to their poor grammar, however, some may seem more appealing and inviting to people. As Alexander Gostev, Senior Virus Analyst at Kaspersky Lab says, “Unfortunately, users are very trusting of messages left by ‘friends’ on social networking sites. So the likelihood of a user clicking on a link like this is very high”. I know I personally have been curious about one of the highlights that is currently showing up on my news feed page, and I am tempted to click it, knowing that it was a link to the virus. It said that a person on my friends list had commented on it, making me interested to see what it was about. I had asked my friend if they had in fact commented on it and they said they did not.

The Spam Message

When users click on these links, it takes them to a page on another site that offers a video download from Youtube, and when you accept, it tells you that you need to install a new version of Adobe Flash Player for you to be able to continue.

The Suspicious Video Download

Once you click install you become infected, and are vulnerable to many more risks. When searching on Google users will get redirected to other malicious websites, as McAfee’s Craig Schmugar said that this new variant of Koobface installs “a proxy server is installed to %ProgramFiles%\tinyproxy\tinyproxy.exe and a service named Security Accounts Manager (SamSs)” which will load when your computer starts up. It looks for traffic on Google, Yahoo and other major search engines, so that it can hi-jack the search results. “Search terms are directed to find-www.net”, which enables more security risks like ad hi-jacking or click fraud.

The Flash Player Update Message

Showing In My Highlights Currently On My Newsfeed

Will Social Networks Ever Be Safe?

Kaspersky Lab predicted at the beginning of 2008, that attacks by cybercriminals would increase on social networks.

4. Attacks on social networks

In 2008, phishing is expected to undergo major changes and to increasingly target social networks. Subscriber account data for services such as Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other similar services, will become more frequently targeted by malicious users. This will become an important alternative method to infecting hacked sites with malware. In 2008, a number of Trojan programs will spread via the blogs and profiles of social network user accounts.

Another problem related to social networks are XSS/PHP/SQL attacks. In contrast to phishing, which employs exclusively fraudulent methods and social engineering, these attacks are based on errors and vulnerabilities in Web 2.0 services and may even affect highly computer-literate users. As always, the goal is to obtain private data and create several databases or lists in order to launch subsequent attacks using more traditional methods.

We have only begin to see the beginning of it. Virus writers will continue focusing on social networks more and more intensely. People need to be aware of this, and know how to protect themselves.

Tips On Protecting Yourself

Everyone should already have, and actively use, up-to-date antivirus software. My personal suggestions would be McAfee, Norton, but if you don’t want to or can’t afford to pay for either of those, there are free antivirus programs like AVG, Avira. Regularly update whatever program you use, and run virus scans at least once a week, if not more. Everyone should also have some kind of spyware protection as well. Spybot – Search and Destroy is one of the best free anti-spyware programs available, but it is a good idea to have other programs since you can’t find and remove all spyware with one program.

Don’t open any spam messages you see on Facebook. Be more cautious of a comment someone has left you and think whether or not that person would say something like that to you. The same thing goes for spam emails. It is the same thing now on social networks.

If you see a site that appears suspicious, or asks you to to download anything like a video or Flash Player, DO NOT download it. Get off of the site as quickly as possible. I have a good amount of experience when it comes to malware, so I have been to a lot of “bad neighborhoods” on the internet, a network of malicious websites, that have sometimes upon loading a web page, started to automatically download an .exe file that I did not even accept to or was even asked if I wanted to download it. I would not be surprised to see this in the future on social networks.

Tell as many people as you can about the risks that are out there. The more people that protect themselves, the more you’re protected. If your friends don’t get infected then you have less of a chance to receive a spam comment from them, that you may unknowingly click on and inturn become infected as well.

Become a fan of Facebook’s security page and keep a close eye on any updates they have about the latest threats. There is a lot of information posted on there that people should be aware of.

Images from: McAfee Avert Labs

Go to Article: 85+ Best Twitterers Designers Should Follow

Since, I am not able to remember ALL of the things I saw tweeted, I cannot post every single one I saw.  I did, however, remember a lot of the sites I saw them on, so I went back to the sites and found some I couldn’t retrieve from Tweetdeck’s history.  These links are with out a doubt some of the most worthwhile posts, and you will definately enjoy checking them out.

I also included the Twitter user @name that I originally saw each one posted on, or tweeted from, so incase anyone wants to follow anyone from these sites and isn’t already, they can do it right from here. I recommend following each of these people though, because they post good quality posts that are well worth reading, and passing along to others via Twitter.

Okay enough of me. Here are 15 of my favorite tweet’s from the past week in no particular order.

@dzineblog – 30 Best Photoshop Web Layout Design Tutorials to Design Decent Websites

@dzineblog – 27 Best Photoshop Gadget Design Tutorials to Design Realistic Gadgets

@minervity – 72 of The Most Killingest Modified Computers Ever

@minervity – 21 Total Mayhem Photoshop Tutorials

@tutorial9 – Create a Clean and Colorful Web Layout in Photoshop

@fudgegraphics – 20+ Amazing Typography Designs

@outlawdesignblog – What if Websites Were People…

@francescomugnai – How to Create a Realistic Game Boy

@mashable – TWEET IDEAS: 13 Things to Do on Twitter Besides Tweet

@copyblogger – The 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging

@copyblogger – The Single Most Important Thing
Your Headline Must Do

@mashable – 100 Great Resources for Design Inspiration

@line25blog – 25 Detailed Tutorials for Coding Up Your Web Designs

@line25blog – How to Convert a Photoshop Mockup to XHTML/CSS

@smashingmag – 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills

There is my awesome list of favorite tweet’s this week. I hope you found some of these as useful, interesting and as cool as I have. Like I said before, too, if there is a tweet you saw this week, that you think should be on this list, or if I screwed up a link somewhere since I had some brainless moments while writing this up, post me a comment.

I think I might try to do this post every week, if I can remember… lol. Keep those awesome tweet’s and Re-tweet’s coming.

1. Be Vulnerable

To be naked is to be human. When you start sharing your hopes, dreams and fears, you connect with people on a visceral level. Remember, people buy from who you are before they buy what you sell.

2. Tick People Off

There’s a saying that when you try to please everybody you will please nobody. Be opinionated and the people who adore your persuasion will become your fervent followers. Polarization creates sales.

3. Tweet Nonsense

This sounds crazy, but hear me out. People hit up Twitter to chill and catch up with news. People don’t go on Twitter to do business, at least not deliberately. Hit their funny bone and they’ll respond by noticing you.

4. Become Yoda

People are addicted to positive thinking quotes on Twitter. The more motivation quotes you Tweet out, the more you get tweeted. The end result: People think you’re a deep thought leader worth following.

5. Start Dealin’ Cool

Again this bears repeating, people don’t go on Twitter to be sold to. Instead, they go to find breaking news and time-wasting Youtube videos. Here’s the key: Give them what they want (the cool), and they’ll give you what you want (the green). So go on Digg and tweet those links away.

6. Be a Master Asker

Don’t be afraid to ask for a specific action on your Twitter feed, for example a retweet. If you don’t ask for retweets, people will not give you one. If you don’t ask for props, they may not give you one. Ask and you shall receive.

7. Ooze Sex Appeal.

Be as suave with people as you would in real life. Offer compliments, be amicable, crack a joke or two. You’ll be surprised how well this translates in the online space.

And this will help you get as much Twitter traffic as possible.

BONUS TIP:

8. Raise the Banner. Stand for a cause and your followers will start standing in solidarity with you.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your instant free access to my Twitter marketing and psychology videos by going to http://DarkSideOfTwitter.com

Plus, you also get a motherlode of other limited-edition social media tutorials and videos.

From Kenneth Yu – The Puppet Master and Social Influence Marketer.

Written by Kenneth Yu

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenneth_Yu
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