Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /fraud/

Apple warns appayola-using app-makers

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:37:00 GMT

App Store competition can be tough, but Apple has warned the consequences of trying to game the system are tougher.

Apple is reminding app-makers that using appayola services - paying to artificially inflate an app's chart ranking - will lead to them being stripped of their ability to release apps in the App Store.

In a post on Apple's Developer website, the company said: "Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts.

"Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership."

The reminder appears to have come in response to a recent conversation on the forum for the mobile games site Touch Arcade. In the forum posting, an independent developer claimed to have been contacted by an ad network charging $5,000 (£3,200) for a guaranteed spot in the App Store's Top 25 placement listing for free apps.

The developer also alleged that the company claimed to use a bot farm to automatically download apps and drive up their rankings, as well as implicating eight free apps currently in the Top 25 listing as using the unnamed bot farm's services.

Making the Top 25 is a coveted position in the App Store, and the potential revenue rewards for download popularity are certainly alluring. However, analysts are quick to point out that long-term business models cannot be built on the artificial use of bot farms.

For example, a really bad game in the App Store may just make it into the Top 25 by using appayola firms, but once "real human" users start playing, the rankings can sink very quickly.

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Anonymous puts government sites on the bonfire

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:25:00 GMT

Hacktivist collective Anonymous struck again this weekend, carrying out attacks on both El Salvador and Israeli government sites.

El Salvador's president's website went offline after being swamped with over 30 million visits on Saturday, and the legislative assembly, police and ministry of justice also came under attack.

Presidential spokesman David Rivas pinned the attack on Anonymous and believed it to be part of vigilante Operation Justice El Salvador - sparked by the group's stance on the country's human rights record.

Economy minister, Hector Dada Hirezi added that the group "tried to attack our website to publicise the private information of internal and external users."

On Sunday the Israeli government's website also faced the wrath of Anonymous, as the group threatened action via YouTube video if humanitarian boats attempting to reach Gaza continued to be blocked.

"Your actions are illegal, against democracy, human rights, international, and maritime laws. Justifying war, murder, illegal interception, and pirate-like activities under an illegal cover of defense will not go unnoticed by us or the people of the world," the video said.

Afterwards several of the Israeli government sites went down, citing 'server error' as the problem.

Elsewhere however, the hacking group found they had bitten off more than they could chew when it came to Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas. 'Operation Cartel' was abandoned after an Anonymous member was kidnapped and only released when the hackers threatened to expose corrupt supporters of the gang.

Guy Fawkes weekend perhaps wasn't all the vigilantes had hoped for in the end, as plans to 'destroy' Facebook and an alleged attack on Fox News failed to materialise.

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TripAdvisor in hot water over 'red flag' feature

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:48:00 GMT

TripAdvisor's new "red flag" feature seems to have landed the online travel review site in hot water, as the firm is now facing legal action from disgruntled hoteliers.

According to Brand Republic, Deborah Sinclair of the Riverside Hotel and Restaurant and Evesham has initiated defamation proceedings against the travel review site, after her hotel's TripAdvisor page was red-flagged.

Ms Sinclair's TripAdvisor page now features a warning sign and red text explaining that TripAdvisor has "reasonable cause" to believe that the hotel and its affiliates "may have interfered with traveller reviews".

Ms Sinclair claims that TripAdvisor's decision to red flag her hotel's page has undermined her credibility and will likely badly damage her business.

As a result, Ms Sinclair has petitioned the courts, requesting that TripAdvisor be made to fully disclose how and why it came to red flag the hotel's page.

The court case is set to be closely watched by hoteliers, travel companies, online review sites and online reputation management agencies, as well as by brands and marketers, as friend reviews and consumer reviews have grown to further influence consumer's purchase-making decisions.

TripAdvisor is currently under investigation from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), following a complaint from an online reputation management firm that the site hosted a high level of defamatory comments.

Regardless of the outcome of ASA's investigation, TripAdvisor has already modified its brand messaging to minimise references to "trust". In September of this year, the firm replaced it's well known strapline "reviews you can trust" with "reviews from our community."

It is expected that the court-case and ASA's review will spark further investigation into how user-generated content and user-engagement is indexed and valued.

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Apple forced to develop fixes for IOS vulnerabilities

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Apple announced today that it is currently developing a fix for vulnerabilities that could affect its iPhone, iPad and some iPod touch models. The German government has warned that these openings could be exploited to steal confidential data from users.

A spotlight was shone on these vulnerabilities with the release this week of JailbreakMe 3.0, a framework that lets unauthorised applications be used in devices such as the iPhone.

The installation of apps that have not been approved by Apple are currently prohibited.

However hackers have exploited vulnerabilities in the iOS operating system that allow the phones to be "jailbroken." This as a result allows applications, obtained through alternative app markets like Cydia, that have not been vetted by Apple to be used on popular Apple devices.

An alert was issued on Wednesday about the vulnerabilities by the BSI - Germany's Federal Office for Information Security. The warning said that the iOS could be exploited if a user opened a specially crafted PDF document. The issue involves how the iOS parses fronts within the mobile version of the Safari browser.

A second loophole bypasses the ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization), a security feature which mixes up the procedure for loading programs into memory and therefore makes it more difficult for an attacker.

BSI believes it would be possible for a hacker to use these flaws to steal passwords, banking data and e-mails. The attacker would also have access to built-in cameras, and would be able to obtain the GPS coordinates of a user and intercept their telephone calls.

"Apple takes security very seriously, we're aware of this reported issue and developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update," said Alan Hely, Apple's senior director for corporate communications in London, in a company statement.

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Cheeky Chirpers: Twitter's Top Tweets spams adult content to 1m followers

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:25:00 GMT

Ever since global spam volumes mysteriously dipped over Christmas, and Google vowed to clean-up search by introducing spam-hostile algo changes, spam has become a top concern for search engines and social networks.

And now, even though the microbloggers crowed about tackling spam just last year, a spam attack on Twitter's Top Tweets account has again brought spam-talk to the fore.

According to the Financial Times' tech blog, Twitter-targeting spammers seem to be staging a comeback after the microbloggers reduced spam content tweet levels from 11 per cent in 2009 to just 1 per cent in 2010.

Some high-profile Twitter users - notably Twitter investor Fred Wilson - have complained that spammers have targeted them by spamming those who follow or retweet content from their accounts.

Most embarrassingly, spammers have been able to somehow access Twitter's Top Tweets - a service which algorithmically selects and retweets some of Twitter's most interesting content - and have spammed adult content to over 1 million followers.

Following the Top Tweets spam attack, around 15,000 clicked through to adult sites, which included roulette-type chat URLs.

However, the microbloggers need not hide their blushes behind blue wings for long, as a flutter of recent Twitter activity is sure to quickly re-focus attention elsewhere.

Most notably, Jack Dorsey has returned to Twitter as an executive chairman responsible for "leading product."

Web Pro News also reports Japan has just this week replaced the US as the leader of retweets on Twitter.

Analyzing a week's worth of Tweetmeme data, Web Pro News' Bill Hartzner found most tweets being tracked by the retweet counter are now in Japanese, though English-speaking tweets still top re-tweet levels in comedy, entertainment, gaming, lifestyle and technology related topics.

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Caught red-handed: Google penalises Forbes for selling links

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:25:00 GMT

Hot off the heels of a Google-led search sting which saw Mountain View accuse Bing of copying its search results, Web Pro News reports that Google has caught and penalised Forbes.com for selling links in direct violation of the search seraph's quality guidelines.

Forbes' Digital Marketing Manager Denis Pinsky is said to have received a Google notification warning explaining that the eagle-eyed search seraph had uncovered unnatural links that seem to "manipulate PageRank."

However, TechCrunch journos have noted that Pinsky, tongue firmly in cheek, seemed to play dumb over Google's link-spamming accusation while its questionable site-links were being deleted, posting: "Can someone help figure out what Links are in violation?"

Further on in the forum discussion where Pinsky queried the violations, he said: "I have one idea of what could've happened and investigating now [sic].

"Hopefully will be able to resolve soon, will keep posted [sic]."

Pinsky's comments are unlikely to have amused Google, who seems to be taking its promise to clean-up search by better filtering spam and cracking down on low-quality content very seriously.

TechCrunch identified eWeek and CIO Magazine as sites who may want to pre-emptively clean up their link spamming practices as Google seems set to continue with its clean-up clamp-down.

Google's latest search sting comes as The New York Times reported that retailer J.C. Penney's use of black hat SEO tactics to slyly boost its page rankings and e-commerce revenues maddened Mountain View, leading the search seraph to sink the retailer's listings, undoubtedly decreasing valuable traffic levels and page-views.

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Spam-to-search ratio: Google promises to 'do better'

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:37:00 GMT

Even though global spam volumes mysteriously dipped in the final weeks of 2010, Google has admitted it could and should "do better" to curb content farms and actively filter spam from search results.

In an official Google blog post responding to "a spate of [negative] stories about Google's search quality", the search seraph pledged to do more to lower spam levels and outwit content farms in a bid to clean up search and keep web users sweet.

Mountain View man Matt Cutts blogged that while Google's "pure webspam" levels have been knocked nearly in half over the past five years, the search seraph had recently come under fire as there had been a "slight uptick of spam in recent months."

Given that global spam volumes took a tumble over Christmas as a Russian crime outfit operating a network of malware-infected computers temporarily ceased spamming operations, many have been critical that the web's biggest search engine would see an increase.

"We hear the feedback from the web loud and clear: people are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content.

"We take pride in Google search and strive to make each and every search perfect. The fact is that we're not perfect ... However; we can and should do better," Cutts wrote.

Tim Bradshaw, blogging for The Financial Times noted Google's blog post and spam-stifling promises could be timed to sway EU officials investigating whether the search seraph, amongst other things, avoids taking action on spammy content served by sites displaying Google ads.

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Spam-a-lot? Botnet activity declines - for now

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:13:00 GMT

Spam levels have reportedly dipped since Christmas as a Russian crime outfit, thought to be responsible for half of global spam distribution, has mysteriously halted activity - for now, at least.

Symantec, a technology company that regularly publishes statistics on the state of web security, has reported that global spam volumes near-halved as Rustock botnet, a network of malware infected computers, ceased operations - for reasons unknown.

The web security experts' blog named Rustock botnet "by far the most dominant spam botnet of 2010."

Matt Sergeant, an anti-spam expert at Symantec, told the New York Times that the cyber criminal network "appears to have completely gone off the map and is yet to resume."

"Further contributing to the massive reduction in spam levels is the apparent mollification of two other major botnets, Lethic and Xarvester," read a post from Paul Wood on the Symantec blog.

However, the security firm warned that the rogue Russians haven't disbanded, as evidence suggests the crimbo-sleeping criminals continued to engage in click fraud activities over the festive season, defrauding advertisers using pay-per-click adverts to drive web traffic.

While the dip in spam levels remains mysteriously unaccounted for, tech correspondents and security experts alike have reasoned that the group may be lying low as it has little to distribute following a police clamp-down on spam ring SpamIt.com. Meanwhile, two spammers have been arrested in Southern Russia - perhaps giving cyber criminals an incentive to stay out of the spotlight.

Andre M DiMino of The Shadowserver Foundation, a malicious-activity tracking group, has said that it's likely that the spammers will soon return to business-as-usual, as Rustock botnet's spam sending infrastructure still seems to be in place.

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Social networkers warned to protect against ID fraud

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 06:24:00 GMT

A new study published by the National Fraud Authority (NFA) to mark the beginning of Identity Fraud Prevention Week has found identify fraud affects 1.8 billion Brits every year, costing victims an estimated £2.7 billion, tech news site The Register reports.

Amid findings that fraudsters use stolen identity details to secure credit and to purchase goods, often leaving victims more than £1000 out-of-pocket, the NFA warned computer users, and particularly those using social networking sites, to better protect themselves from identity fraud.

Partnering with Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting centre, the NFA also released a check list guiding computer users to apply privacy settings and to regularly update anti-virus software - while also advising social networkers to take extra care.

"Make sure you use all the privacy settings available on social networking sites," the checklist recommended, "but don't put too much personal information up there."

The move comes amid growing concern from government officials about the "growing threat" of computer hackers, while privacy watchdogs claim that social networking sites, such as Facebook, aren't doing enough to protect the their users.

Jeffrey Chester, director of the Centre for Digital Democracy recently stated: "Facebook is still operating as a largely stealth data collection platform, allowing advertisers to target users through non-transparent means" - even though the Big Blue F has announced users will soon be able to get personal with better data protection.

Speaking earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg said, "It's a core belief that people own and have control of all the information they upload," as he detailed plans to release new tools allowing users to better monitor and control data access by third parties.

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Antivirus vendor AVG blocks Linkshare affiliate clicks

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:25:00 GMT

Widely used antivirus vendor AVG has started to block clicks on the large Linkshare affiliate network. This means that users are unable to access the webpages the links point to, merchants do not get the traffic and affiliates are not paid.

False positives from the antivirus scanner AVG are not unheard of. In July 2009 the AVG software mistook the hugely popular iTunes program for the Small.bog virus and stopped the software from running on tens of thousands of PCs.

AVG's automatic Search-Shield currently produces the following warning when a user tries to visit a website via the Linkshare link:

"Danger: AVG Search-Shield has detected active threats on this page and has blocked access for your protection.

The page you are trying to access has been identified as a known exploit, phishing, or social engineering web site and therefore has been blocked for your safety. Without protection, such as that in the AVG Security Toolbar and AVG, your computer is at risk of being compromised, corrupted or having your identity stolen. Please follow one of the suggestions below to continue."

Affiliate networks do occasionally fall foul of antivirus software when unethical affiliates use adware or scumware to intercept regular internet traffic (such as Google searches or Twitter clicks) and insert the affiliate tracking. Users who have downloaded the software, which is often given away free or masquerades as updates for other programs, are often unaware of the fact that they are being routed through an affiliate program.

There is no suggestion that Linkshare has any more significant adware issues than any other network. All successful affiliate networks in the United States and the United Kingdom actively police their traffic quality to ensure that adware is not being used. It may simply be a one off incident from Linkshare or another false positive from AVG.

Writing on Linkshare's UK blog, MD Liane Dietrich said;

"As you may have heard, an update over the weekend to some anti-virus software from a company called AVG is interfering with some LinkShare links between affiliates and advertisers. We assume this was unintentional. We discussed this with executives at AVG this morning, and expect this matter will be resolved soon."

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