The online gambling addiction

According to statistics, one in ten people has an online gambling addiction and can't get out of it anymore. In addition, the worse the gambling addiction is, the more that they have a loss for life, their circle of friends, their hobbies, and their broken family. One person out of ten becomes a slave and servant to the gambling addiction.

The victims of an online gambling addiction will not take a taxi or go to rehabilitation. On the other hand, the wife shouldn't worry if her husband comes home on foot the next day. In the other aspects, the online gambling addiction is the same. People can hold on for a week, a month, or even longer but then all the same, will wish to get into this ideal world. He will do this especially quickly, if someone reminds him about his illusionary existence every 100 steps.

my comment:althoug online gambling has its own psycological problems it also has some concequences such as tendency to cybercrime or other offences through internet in the purpose of extortion.means that when a person was addicted to online gambling he or she may motivate to commit crime or other offences through cyber space to gain money ,like hacking other's bank account number and in this way hurts other online user.

source:http://www.syl.com/gambling/theonlinegamblingaddiction.html

How to deal with online harassment?

I posted an article about Cyberbullying. Now I think it's necessary and constructive to inform online users what they should do if they found they're involved in any cyberbullying event:


According to ASP Mahfuz Abd Majid of the police's Technology Crime Investigation Unit, this could be due to the problem being settled privately by the parties involved or the victims may feel that there is no significant loss (usually in monetary terms) to warrant the hassle of lodging a report.
Less than 10 per cent of breaches in Internet security made to MyCert are lodged with the police.
If you've been flamed, spammed or harassed in an online community, the experience can be terrifying or plain annoying. Here's what you can do:
1. Do not reply to spam (junk e-mail). It will confirm your e-mail address and lead more spam into your inbox.
2. Ignore the hate mails (being 'flamed') and spam as much as you can. Sometimes, all the perpetrators want is for you to respond.
3. However, once these messages start to distress you, show it to a parent. "If you think your life could be in danger, lodge a report at the nearest police station. They will then conduct an investigation," said Mahfuz.

Source: http://www.cybersecurity.my/en/knowledge_bank/news/2004/main/detail/904/index.html

Cyber Bullying: Questions and Answers

"Cyberbullying is any harassment that occurs via the Internet. Vicious forum posts, name calling in chat rooms, posting fake profiles on web sites, and mean or cruel email messages are all ways of cyberbullying".

Below questions and answers would help you to have a better understanding about cyber bullying.

Q: What does cyber bullying involve? What methods are used?
A: There are several ways that young people bully others online. They send e-mail containing insults or threats directly to a person. They may also spread hateful comments about a person through e -mail, instant messaging or postings on websites and online diaries. Young people steal passwords and send out threatening e-mail or instant messages using an assumed identity. Technically-savvy children may build whole websites, often with password protection, to target specific students or teachers.
These methods are simple as all one needs to know is how to log into the Internet, send/receive e-mail, chat and download files.
Q: Is there any way to trace the bully?
A: Yes, any kind of bullying or illegal activity done via the Net is traceable. This is done by analysing system logs, full headers and other information or evidence that can be extracted from a machine used to carry out the bullying activities.
Q: Is cyber bullying legal? Are there any laws to tackle such cases?
A: Cyber bullying is illegal. Bullies can be convicted under the Computer Crimes Act, the Penal Code or the Juvenile Act, depending on the nature or severity of the case.
Q: Whose responsibility is it to ensure this problem does not persist?
A: It is the responsibility of parents, schools and youngsters to take proactive action to prevent or minimise such activities in the society.
Parents should be more aware of and monitor their children's activities on the Internet. They should even consider installing software in their home PCs to monitor their child's online activities. Parents should also limit the time spent by their children on the computer. Schools can integrate curriculum-based Net-bullying programmes into classrooms and educate teachers, students and parents about the seriousness of cyber bullying. Schools may consider updating the school or board's computer Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to specifically prohibit using the Internet for bullying.

Sources:

1-http://teenadvice.about.com/od/schoolviolence/a/cyberbullying1.htm

2http://www.cybersecurity.my/en/knowledge_bank/news/2004/main/detail/904/index.html

Comment: As everybody is able to act anonymously in the Internet, effective and applicable law should be enacted and imposed by legal entities to enusre this type of crime will be minimized.

what is Meta Tag?

- A meta tag is a tag (that is, a coding statement) in the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) that describes some aspect of the contents of a Web page. The information that you provide in a meta tag is used by search engines to index a page so that someone searching for the kind of information the page contains will be able to find it. The meta tag is placed near the top of the HTML in a Web page as part of the heading.
There are several kinds of meta tags, but the most important for search engine indexing are the keywords meta tag and the description meta tag. The keywords meta tag lists the words or phrases that best describe the contents of the page. The description meta tag includes a brief one- or two-sentence description of the page. Both the keywords and the description are used by search engines in adding a page to their index. Some search engines also use the description to show the searcher a summary of the page's contents.

source:http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci542231,00.html

IMPACT: against cyber terrorism: VIDEO

Refer to my last post in regard to Cyber-Terrorism, this is an interesting video which helps you discover more about IMPACT project and cyber-terrorism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeQTRnO9Imk

IMPACT: against cyber terrorism!

One of the issues which has become of a serious concerns for most of the governments in digital world is Cyber-terrorism issue. IMPACT is one action in regard to this issue.

IMPACT, or the ‘International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism’, is an international, multilateral, public-private sector collaborative partnership dedicated to searching for and implementing the most effective methods for combating cyber-terrorism.
IMPACT will focus on three main areas of activity -- that is training, security certification, and research and development. IMPACT will also provide a global emergency response center to help governments which face an imminent cyber threat or those already in an emergency situation.

Source:http://www.impact-alliance.org/about_us.html

Is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act already passé?

Live, televised sporting events are popular with consumers and valuable to those owning the copyrights for the broadcasts. The Olympics is somehow more satisfying, if you can see the competition live, even if it means watching freestyle skiing at 3 o’clock in the morning. But, with great popularity comes the threat of piracy. A growing problem for content owners is the illegal streaming of their live events over the Internet in real-time. While the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) provides a mechanism for removing infringing material after it has been posted to a website, the DMCA does not contemplate notification prior to, or contemporaneous with, the transmission of infringing material. Content owners and legitimate website operators are attempting to develop solutions that make it easier for copyright owners to protect their intellectual property rights in live broadcasts.
One of the more promising solutions is video fingerprinting. Video fingerprinting takes advantage of the fact that every digital video exhibits a unique, characteristic pattern. Using various algorithms, there is software that can identify, extract and compress those patterns and create a unique identifier for any video. These unique fingerprints, usually bits of data much smaller than the actual video file, can then be uploaded into databases and compared against video that is being streamed on the Internet. A video stream that matches the fingerprint could be identified and shut down almost immediately or even filtered out by website operators, before it can be broadcast on the Internet.

source:http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=03438c73-689f-4f92-a3e8-eef0150bfa65

CyberSecurity Malaysia Cautions People of Phishing Bank Websites

Today one of my blog viewers had posted an interesting link pertaining to "phishing" in Malaysia. This is the content for all the viewers:

CyberSecurity Malaysia have cautioned people to be watchful of fake or phishing websites used to carry out 'phishing attack' by disguising as reliable entities like familiar banking websites.

In this particular scam, cybercriminal mainly attempts to convince users to visit falsified banking websites. Usually, Internet users are persuaded by using e-mails that are so well written that users click onto a link which would redirect them to a phishing or fake website.

Worryingly, in Q1 2010, Cyber999 Help Centre of CyberSecurity Malaysia registered 143 cases wherein phishing websites targeted Internet banking websites in the country.

The agency asserted that the online users must know that as far as Internet Banking is concerned, banks never carry out online maintenance for their customers. It also noted that it is the customers and not the bank that fall prey to phishing scams.

For example, an e-banking scam victim from Malaysia recently told recently cited his unfortunate story. His money was deceptively transferred to some place in Romania. The victim also said that though online banking is convenient, it is very likely for unwary users, as in his case, to for fall for phishing scams. This is because the perpetrators behind such scams are quite brilliant, tech-savvy people. Websites designed by them exactly imitates the original websites.

The abovementioned example is not the only case and several other similar cases have been reported to CyberSecurity Malaysia.As stated by the agency, while it might not be possible for it to put a complete halt on the occurrence of such incidences, the Internet users can at least defend themselves if they gain know-how of cyber best practices, and take safety measures while browsing the Internet.

In case anyone receives a link to phishing sites or a phishing e-mail, he/she can immediately send it to Cyber999 Help Centre for further investigations.

Source:SPAMfighter News - 30-04-2010,
http://www.spamfighter.com/News-14294-CyberSecurity-Malaysia-Cautions-People-of-Phishing-Bank-Websites.htm