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Interpol Chief's Identity Spoofed On Facebook
An anonymous reader writes "Ronald Noble, Interpol's Secretary General, has revealed that cybercriminals have opened two fake Facebook accounts using his name and used them to gather sensitive information. 'One of the impersonators was using this profile to obtain information on fugitives targeted during our recent Operation Infra Red,' Noble said. 'This Operation was bringing investigators from 29 member countries at the Interpol General Secretariat to exchange information on international fugitives and lead to more than 130 arrests in 32 countries.'"
How does spoofing his identity on Facebook help? Was someone dumb enough to send confidential information regarding a criminal investigation to one of these spoof users via Facebook? Please tell me that's not the case. But the article is short on details and I can't think of any other way such a spoof would cause any kind of leak.
Also note that the actual statement says the impersonator was trying to gather sensative data, not quite the success as implied in the summary. The whole speech is available as a pdf here.
I don't know about the rest of you but one of the original reasons I grabbed a Facebook account was to prevent just that kind of thing happening - the same reason I've registered the most obvious forms of my name in as many social networking and emailing services as possible - if I hold the accounts then I possess some control over other people's ability to misrepresent themselves as me.
The way the DNS system work now, If you buy the domain cocacolacoacola.com , It will get from you from the corporation cocacola. You don't see something strange in that?, a city can name of the streets "coca cola", and the corporation will not own the street. But I digress...
If social networks continue to be important, and one is more important than all others, maybe judges will look at this the same way,and will see in very bad light if you create a account for Michael Jackson or Walt Disney. And I mean a crime to just create a empty one. Even if your name is Walter M. Disney (he.. names are not unique!)
-Woof woof woof!
... would use Facebook to provide police level information, even to someone they know. At the least, they should be using an SSL secured e-mail service, if not the Interpol website (which, I hope, is SSL secured).
FTFA: He revealed this information when addressing the attendees at the first Interpol Information Security Conference in Hong Kong, and pointed out that this is why experience and information sharing between INTERPOL and the various law enforcement agencies around the world is a must.
Or maybe just that Assange guy doing his thing.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Y'know, one thing to come of this is that it's probably a good idea to create accounts in social media/networking sites even if you'll never use them just to "reserve" your identity and to deter impersonators a bit, kinda like reserving domain names before cybersquatters bag them. Use a separate "throwaway" email account for them.
That way, if someone creates a fake account in your name, if people see that there's more than one account which has your name, it will give them cause to suspect that one of them is fake, making them more wary against fake accounts.
http://twitter.com/object404
On that note, are you Tei from above?
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is sufficiently accurate that I don't even bother to check what it has transcribed any more, allowing me to rant at leisure while reading something else.
When it makes a mistake, I always have Asperger's sufferers to point it out for the benefit of everyone else.
I can't tell if this is standard narcissistic behavior or just basic ass-hattery. --This being an example of a person who lives so soundly inside a personal bubble reality that it doesn't even think it is necessary to go to the trouble of communicating correctly in order to believe that its thoughts are understood by the rest of the world; after all, why put in the effort since the universe and all of its contents are already a simple extension of its own ego? Babies exist for a period where there is no division between the "I" and the rest of the universe. In sociopaths, conditions exist which prevent the natural growth period of the brain into a state of natural separation where it is recognized that there is more than just the self.
This separation is required if compassion is to emerge. Those without compassion would not bother trying to communicate clearly. Who cares, after all about anybody else? The only reason to communicate clearly is in order to manipulate those peculiar "others" out there as though they were toys.
But of course, when the universe looks on at this broken behavior and points out that the ego in question is seriously mistaken in its assumptions, the reaction is abusive.
-FL
So what is the news here?
1) That someone opens a fake account in the name of someone else (I presume that happens on a regular basis anyways), or
2) That some cluless idiots (sorry for the harsh words) do exchang SENSITIVE information on Facebook? And then they suddenly wonder how this information got into wrong hands?!
Everyone knows that REAL international police chiefs only communicate via messages that will self-destruct in 5 seconds.
Monstar L
Fake Noble: hey, i lost my phone lol, i'm soooooo dumb. do you happen to have the numbers for international fugatives 1 - 130? k thx x0x0
Bustin' some international jewel thieves, yo.
That crazy Lupin, what will he do next?
Worked up? No. Just observing you, pointing out patterns and asking questions.
You might ask yourself why you find that so upsetting.
And it wasn't a mis-placed apostrophe. It was garbled weirdness of a high order and the particular brand of justification you used, among several other things and general observation over time. Basically, the bubble version of your reality is vastly different from the real one which everybody else can see.
Mirror, mirror. . .
You're not even picking your own words, reflecting back at me the same phraseology and style of communication I was using, (though the bitterness is your own special addition). This is also typical of the sociopathic individual. They have no personality of their own, and so they reflect those around them out of basic instinct, typically because the unknowing observer is then able to see his or herself in the sociopath, making detection less likely.
Again, just observing some known facts about sociopaths. I'm not judging you. As I said before, you might just be a regular asshat.
-FL
This is more a complaint with phishing in general, but why on earth are people so gullible? Is it so hard to do a quick search on the web? Send an e-mail to the corporate address of whoever claims to be contacting you? Pick up a phone and talk to customer services? Shoot, even asking a friend for advice would be better than nothing.
In this case, we're talking about the Chief of Interpol. Someone impersonated him to try to get information on a case. A case that they discussed. At a summit. IN PERSON. Whoever might have the information would probably have a direct line of contact to him, or an indirect line through a superior. I certainly hope no one fell for this because it is so ridiculously easy to figure out proper procedure, at least in my opinion.
general observation over time
Oh, you're just one of those creepy stalkers who encounters someone on the Internet with more than one opinion he doesn't like and splatters with the crudest strokes an e-psychological diagnosis to summarily dismiss opposing ideas.
Even as the broken Turing readied himself to bite the apple, you'd still be telling him that you subjected him to treatment for illness, for his own good. What was his homosexuality, friend, if not a heinous misuse of idiom?
Interpol has released a late-breaking photo of the suspects.
The inspector charged with apprehending them has declined to comment.
Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
I hope he catches that damn Lupin!
Oh, you're just one of those creepy stalkers who encounters someone on the Internet with more than one opinion he doesn't like and splatters with the crudest strokes an e-psychological diagnosis to summarily dismiss opposing ideas.
Stalker? Ha ha! Don't flatter yourself. I simply pay attention to all the many thousands of things I read and tend to have a good memory. Trust me. You are not important. I know, it's probably asking the impossible for you to recognize that. Comparing yourself to Turing. . ? Oh dear! (And for the record, I have no problem with gays. I DO have problems with sociopaths and assholes, though.)
But if you want to clean up your act, you might try saying fewer thoughtless things and take the time to ensure your grammar doesn't make you sound like a retard.
Just a thought.
-FL
Someone merely with a good memory remembers your address.
A stalker hangs outside your house then pounces you with, "I've been watching you!" as if your front porch were simply on his route home.
You are a stalker and a hypocrite, a stereotypical sort who preaches selflessness while providing his name twice in his missives, a proto-troll who begins with a hyper-politically correct invective asserting that good grammar is a sign of compassion and rounds off his rhetorical Happy Meal by suggesting that the other house is a "retard".
Thank you, my homeboy, and good day.
A stalker hangs outside your house then pounces you with, "I've been watching you!" as if your front porch were simply on his route home.
Yeah, that's actually kind of paranoid. Maybe get some sunshine and fresh air?
You are a stalker and a hypocrite, a stereotypical sort who preaches selflessness while providing his name twice in his missives, a proto-troll who begins with a hyper-politically correct invective asserting that good grammar is a sign of compassion and rounds off his rhetorical Happy Meal by suggesting that the other house is a "retard".
Calling "Asperger's" is any different? And I'm the hypocrite? At least I was being fair.
But you know what? You win. I don't have the energy to spare. So please, believe whatever you will.
Thank you, my homeboy, and good day.
Righto. Bye.
-FL