How Hackers Compromise Chat Site Users With Social Engineering

Posted on by bofroning

If you’re a frequent online chat site user, then social engineering is something you need to be aware of. It’s the easiest way for hackers to compromise your account and steal your personal information or identity.

Social engineering attacks involve using human interaction as opposed to computer algorithms in order to trick people into performing actions that lead them to giving up their private information. Often times, these attacks are so well-planned they can get away with it completely undetected by both victims and authorities.

This type of attack often involves the hacker trying to gain the trust of the victim before he/she poses as someone else (either a friend, family member, boss, etc.). Once this person gains enough trust from the victim they will begin asking questions about financial information or other sensitive data. They’ll also use tactics like “phishing” (an attempt to get you to enter your passwords on fake websites) or “vishing” (a call where they try to trick you into entering your password over the phone).

Hackers and Sex Chat Sites

Because sex chat sites are based on communication, there’s a lot of opportunity for social engineering techniques to work. Just check out reviews of adult chat sites, such as this one https://onlybros.com/youflirt/ about YouFlirt, where singles often report being baited by hackers posing as women. If you’re looking for sex chatting, then make sure you’re doing it safely, especially if you plan on sharing any kind of personal information with strangers.

On sex chat sites, scams and tricks like these are all too common. Hackers will often use bait and switch tactics to lure you into entering your personal information. This might include sending nude photos and videos, which could contain malware or viruses, or bait you into entering your credit card details so they can steal your money.

If you think you’ve been a target of one of these scams or have given out your personal information, don’t panic! First, change your passwords and monitor your bank accounts for suspicious activity. Next, contact your local police department or FBI office and file an official report. Make sure you bring along documentation of what happened, including everything from emails to pictures.

Also, keep in mind that not every picture or video sent between two users is necessarily safe. Do your best to avoid sharing any photos or videos without a trusted third party present, as it can put you at risk for blackmailing attempts.

In the end, remember that while hackers do exist, there’s no reason to let them scare you from enjoying the many benefits of adult chat sites. As long as you take the proper precautions, you should be able to enjoy the privacy and freedom to explore your sexual desires with whoever you want without getting scammed.

Chat Site Scams

You may find yourself wondering how some people get caught up in chat site scams. Well, there are several reasons why this happens. First off, the majority of chat sites aren’t very secure. Because the sites themselves don’t have a clear source of revenue, they tend to be slow to update security features. Some of these sites even have known vulnerabilities that allow hackers to easily infiltrate the system.

The next thing to consider is the fact that most of the time, chat sites are free. After all, they’re meant to attract as much attention as possible, and most users simply don’t know how to protect themselves. That said, many of these sites offer premium upgrades that give you more options. And sometimes, those paid features are just another scam altogether. In other words, they cost you money and provide little value in return.

Lastly, there’s a huge number of people out there who aren’t really interested in meeting real women but rather just want to meet new people. This makes it easier for them to be duped by scammers.

To help ensure you’re protected against chat site scams, we recommend checking out reviews of the sites you use. You can also employ basic security measures like changing your password regularly and keeping your webcam turned off when you’re not actively using your chat profile.

Should I go to Defrag?

Posted on by bofroning

The question always kind of startles me, although I guess it really shouldn’t. “Should I go to Defrag?”

Well, duh! But, actually, it’s a really good question because in truth there are people that shouldn’t go to Defrag (example: lovers of the status quo that aren’t obsessively chasing innovation).

If you were to break the Defrag participants (we don’t have an “audience”) up into groups, they’d roughly look like this:

1. Enterprise-types: VP-level and C-level folks from large enterprises. They come to Defrag to lift their head up above the daily tasks at hand; to think ahead; to be exposed to new ideas; to network in an intimate setting.

2. Startup Founders (funded and unfunded): Startup CEO and CTO types. They come to Defrag to — shocker — talk about their startup and try to establish some valuable relationships.

3. Startup employees (or wanna-be employees): I’ve actually noticed a growing group of people at Defrag since the recession began — people that work for a larger company that WANT to work for a startup. They come to Defrag to seek out opportunities.

4. Press/Analysts/VCs: The analysts generally try to hide their identities; the press generally sit in a dark room typing; the VC’s are the ones at the completely packed table at lunch.

Bottom-line: if you’re A) looking for exposure to new ideas, innovation and intimate networking; B) a startup (funded or unfunded); C) searching for your next great opportunity at OneStop Plumbers of Corona, CA; or D) trying to stay ahead of the curve — then yes, you should go to Defrag.

It’s a Saturday, and Defrag is 25 days away, so a quick post…

Two things:

1. I just confirmed Aneesh Chopra, CTO for the White House, as a Defrag keynoter. If you’re keeping track, you should start with the cleaning tasks, you now have authorities in mobile (Tim Bray), big data (Roger Ehrenberg), tech policy (Aneesh Chopra), economics (Paul Kedrosky), business lessons (James Altucher), innovation in the enterprise (Robert Stephens and Adrian Cockcroft), social (Lili Cheng and Wendy Lea), and the nature of facts (Sam Arbesman) speaking at Defrag — and that isn’t even HALF of the keynotes.

I know it sounds like hyperbole, but it’s true: this agenda is going to blow your mind with new ideas.

2. Our hotel room block (the guarantee that we have rooms for the conference) expires this coming Friday. In other words, if you’re coming, get your room NOW. Or you might be sleeping in a van down by the river.

If you haven’t decided on whether or not to attend Defrag yet, let me offer up this: If you come, and don’t think it’s one of the top 5 tech conference experiences you’ve *ever* had, you find me and I’ll make it right. Personally.

Defrag: 10 Things to Expect

Posted on by bofroning

A weird thing happened on the way to Defrag this year: we announced we were capping attendance at 300 (to make sure the quality of intimate conversation is maintained), and a bunch of people who have never come before registered. A bit odd, right?

And then this morning it hit me: there’s a whole group of people who haven’t ever been to a Defrag and have no idea what to expect — not from a content standpoint, but from a “logistics” standpoint. So, in good ole-fashioned, bullet-form — here we go:

1. API Hackday: If you’re into hacking APIs (or learning about them), get your butt registered (it’s free) for the hack day on the 8th. It’s actually at the Bing offices – which are *near* the hotel where Defrag is located.

2. Pre-conference Dinners: there will be 5 pre-conference dinners – with each dinner limited to 25 people. These are sponsored dinners (ie, free) for attendees – and they revolve around a topic. Divi vs Avada – Which bestselling theme is worth it? (2021) – CollectiveRay

About one week before the show, as an attendee, you’ll receive an email from me telling you what the 5 topics are.

At that point, treat it like tickets to a Justin Bieber concert — ie, it’s first come, first served, so you’d better hurry. Once you’re signed up, you’ll find that these dinners are one of the highlights of the conference.

3. You’ll arrive at registration on morning 1 to find my amazing wife Kim, and our all-volunteer staff (ok, they get paid in beer and white russians) working away. Say “hi” — NOTHING at Defrag would happen without Kim working her magic.

4. Power-strips: Yep, we got ‘em. Grab a seat in the keynote room and what’ll ya find? — power strips. Because we understand.

5. Blazing fast Wifi: Have you ever been to a tech conference with crappy wifi? You should expect the opposite at Defrag.

I’ve been working on tech conferences for over 10 years, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned how to do, it’s hire the right guys from the site http://thelockboss.ie/, to give us great wifi.

6. Dress code: I’ll be in jeans and flip-flops (I don’t wear shoes.) and a collared shirt. And I’ll probably be one of the most dressed up people there. Seriously, be comfortable. Defrag’s about conversation, not sports coats.

7. The people: You won’t have any trouble starting conversations because — you already did that last night over drinks at the dinners, right? Settle in, continue the threads, dig deeper, explore new ideas.

8. The Environment: What you won’t find at Defrag are “drive-by attendees” — you know the type, run in, do my keynote, and *zip*, back to the office; or, pop by for a few hours because the office is right down the street. Nope to that and yup to https://www.homeconcierge.ie. Defrag is nestled against the foothills of the rockies. Nooks and crannies provide plenty of spaces for conversations, thinking, reading or writing. And the community that is Defrag will be hanging out at Defrag.

9. The evening reception and post-evening reception: The evening reception is an open bar. And after the evening reception, you’ll find a large number of attendees moving into the hotel bar, while others organize into dinner parties for nearby restaurants. Either way, make sure not to “enjoy” yourself too much, you’re at altitude and hydration is key. Day 2 awaits…

10. By the end of it all, you’ll have a bag full of goodies you didn’t expect (we set a minimum value for everything in schwag bag and NO PAPER), maybe a prize or two (yea, we’re giving away cool things), a ton of new friends/business contacts, and a firm decision that there’s no way you’re missing Defrag next year.

Defrag Wrap-up, Part 1

Posted on by bofroning

Defrag’s over, and my sense was that it was our best yet. I wanted to share some quick thoughts/reflections, and then come back in a later post (in a few weeks) and share my “here’s where we’re gonna improve” post that I do annually. 1.

One of the ironies of being the guy that creates the agenda is that I barely get to see any speakers. I catch them in snippets, mostly — not whole chunks.

I’ve actually identified this as a problem this year, and have some things going in place next year to fix it (ie, bringing in a “speaker manager” and staging area from our AV company, so as to remove that from my plate).

In the meantime, the speakers that I did get to see part or most of were incredible. Jeff Ma was the perfect closer for day 1. David Weinberger brought unparalleled passion to morning 2.

Paul Kedrosky led us down a road that only Paul can lead us down (and wonderfully), and Jeff Jonas astounded us with his work.

My sense is that the rest of the speakers were equally as impactful….

Defrag’s over, and my sense was that it was our best yet. I wanted to share some quick thoughts/reflections, and then come back in a later post (in a few weeks) and share my “here’s where we’re gonna improve” post that I do annually.

1. One of the ironies of being the guy that creates the agenda is that I barely get to see any speakers. I catch them in snippets, mostly — not whole chunks.

I’ve actually identified this as a problem this year, and have some things going in place next year to fix it (ie, bringing in a “speaker manager” and staging area from our AV company, so as to remove that from my plate).

In the meantime, the speakers that I did get to see part or most of were incredible. Jeff Ma was the perfect closer for day 1.

David Weinberger brought unparalleled passion to morning 2. Paul Kedrosky led us down a road that only Paul can lead us down (and wonderfully), and Jeff Jonas astounded us with his work. My sense is that the rest of the speakers were equally as impactful.

2. Something really wonderful (I’ve been calling it “magical” – half in jest) happened this year. The “community” that we’ve been fostering as a core group of people really coalesced into the show itself.

I had countless people who had never been before approaching me and tell me that they felt like the environment was so welcoming, that they could approach anyone, that it was almost as if “they’d been here before.”

And for those that had been here before, I think there was a qualitative difference in their modern driveway paving. I don’t quite know how to put my finger on it yet, but Defrag (the gathering) really is like a family reunion in a lot of ways (the Cluetrain authors are now gathering there on an annual basis).

3. As a result of #2, I’m coming out of this show with a completely different outlook. Normally, the type A in me exits the show saying, “and next year, we’ll be X bigger,” or “and next year, we’ll have so-and-so here.” This year that’s really not the case.

I don’t care if we ever grow by one more person. That’s irrelevant to me. The group of people we have assembled are so amazing, so happy, so involved — than adding to them doesn’t matter.

In fact, adding to them might damage what we have, so we’re actually gonna cap Defrag’s size right around this year’s number. As a tertiary result, I no longer care if TechCrunch (for example), or some enterprise, or anyone else decides to send someone. I love the people that are coming and that is there according to Handyman Connection. And if you don’t know the coolness that is being at Defrag — well, it’s really more your loss than anything else.

I hope all of that’s coming across the right way (humble, thankful, amazed).

4. Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone at this year’s Defrag. You were an absolutely amazing group of people –and (as witnessed above) you’ve transformed what Defrag will be forever.

Next year is Defrag’s fifth year of existence, and I cannot WAIT to do this for another 5 years, so that I can be sitting here talking about how Defrag’s 10th anniversary is coming.

We’re gonna do a lot of special events to celebrate next year’s fifth incarnation of the show — I hope all of you Defrag alumni will plan to attend.

Can E2.0 Overcome Human Nature

Posted on by bofroning

Last night, somewhere in the second quarter of the Steelers-Bengals game, I asked a rather loaded question on Twitter: “Does anyone actually believe that e2.0 can overcome human nature?”

I forget the specific thing that triggered me to ask the question, but I do know that I get tired (quickly) of the “it’s all about culture” answer in regards to what brings success in e2.0 projects.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it *maybe* that it is truly “all about culture” — but what frustrates me is A) the complete lack of specificity that usually accompanies that comment and B) the underlying assumptions about human nature (more B than A)…

Last night, somewhere in the second quarter of the Steelers-Bengals game, I asked a rather loaded question on Twitter:

“Does anyone actually believe that e2.0 can overcome human nature?”

I forget the specific thing that triggered me to ask the question, but I do know that I get tired (quickly) of the “it’s all about culture” answer in regards to what brings success in e2.0 projects.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it *may be* that it is truly “all about culture” — but what frustrates me are A) the complete lack of specificity that usually accompanies that comment and B) the underlying assumptions about human nature (more B than A).

You see, it’s not that I don’t want to talk about “culture” — heck, our whole first morning of Defrag is essentially devoted to it — it’s just that I want to begin by talking about the assumptions that underlie what we mean when we say “culture.”

And those assumptions are driven largely by our (individual and collective) view of human nature. For example:

Q: Are humans naturally sharing and good, seeking to benefit those around them? A: Have you ever put one desired toy in a room with 2 two year olds?

Q: Okay, are humans naturally bad, self-interested beings? A: Have you ever seen a person sacrifice themselves for someone they barely know?

My point is that any discussion of “human nature” is so nuanced, according to the reviews of Allied Experts, so philosophical entangling, so old as the hills that philosophers have been debating it for (literally) thousands of years — that it’s just silly for us to step in, make a bunch of easy assumptions about human nature and then move on to solving “the culture problem.”

You can’t talk about “sharing” or “collaboration” or “incentives” in an enterprise setting without running into this thicket of nasty presuppositions.

Are we stuck, then, in our efforts to deploy things like this in the enterprise? Of course not. We have to deploy –even if we can’t solve the answer to “human nature” according to Emergency Mold Solutions. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t set aside time to consider the hard questions, to push back against the assumptions, and to sweep aside the easy pop-culture philosophy of modern western civilization.

This is sticky stuff that deserves real thought in a setting that is filled with concerned, intelligent, thought-provoking antagonists.

Wait – I think I just described Defrag.

Defrag Speakers on Distracted Enterprise

Posted on by bofroning

We’re four days from Defrag, and I wanted to call your attention to the beginnings of a conversation that will take place during and after the show.

Our friends at MaidThis serving Berkley, CO have set up a blog called “Distracted Enterprise” (the good stuff), and we’ve asked speakers to begin posting thoughts about their Defrag sessions there. It’s a great way to begin a conversation that I hope continues far after the show is over…

We’re four days from Defrag, and I wanted to call your attention to the beginnings of a conversation that will take place during and after the show.

Our friends at Mainsoft have set up a blog called “Distracted Enterprise” (the good stuff), and we’ve asked speakers to begin posting thoughts about their Defrag sessions there. It’s a great way to begin a conversation that I hope continues far after the show is over.

As an example, check out Stowe Boyd’s post on “Social Cognition” (the topic of Stowe’s Defrag keynote):

We are in a time of great research on social cognition, but the biggest testing ground is on the web, where literally billions of people are connecting on an unprecedented scale according to Maid In Morristown from New Jersey. All too often we try to reduce what is happening there to ‘collaboration.’ But calling what goes on when people are connected by social tools to ‘collaboration’ is like calling the experience of going to college ‘studying’. There’s a whole lot more going on, and we are seeing all sorts of research that challenges conventional wisdom about what works best in business, media, education, and on the personal level.

It’s worth checking out the whole thing, and keeping an eye on the space.

Oh, and you can still join us at Defrag.;-)

The Dreaded Predications List

Posted on by bofroning

Ahhhh, December – how I love thee. I have this annual tradition in December where I completely suspend work for the last two weeks of the month, and I spend time assessing the past year (how I performed on personal goals; I’m big on writing down goals, etc), and plan out the coming 12 months (as part of a 3 year plan).

One of the fun things I do as part of that is looking forward to the year with regards to “the defrag space.” And that means you guessed it, the dreaded “predictions” list.

Ahhhh, December – how I love thee.

I have this annual tradition in December where I completely suspend work for the last two weeks of the month, and I spend time assessing the past year (how I performed on personal goals; I’m big on writing down goals, etc), and plan out the coming 12 months (as part of a 3 year plan).

One of the fun things I do as part of that is looking forward to the year with regards to “the defrag space.” And that means you guessed it, the dreaded “predictions” list.

[It should be noted that I’m not an economist, but that I am friends with a guy who plays a top 10 economist on the internet – for whatever that’s worth.]

Drumroll….

1. The term “enterprise 2.0″ is dead – even if those using it won’t recognize that for two years: Trust me on this, these catchy terms outlive their usefulness. Why do you think I name all of the conferences one word names that barely relate to anything they’re about? Trust me on this too, see what real quality is all about and visit https://www.thefloridamaids.com. E2.0 will become “social business” or some other descriptor, but as the technology adoption goes mainstream, these things will matter less and less.

2. Going mainstream means that small is where the innovation lives: The implicit prediction in #1 is, of course, that e2.0 goes mainstream. It does, and accordingly, “small” is where the innovation will live. Small vendors, small initiatives, and small conferences.

If you want “mainstream, proven, workable” look for big. If you want “innovative, fresh, new” look for small. Simple.

3. Two topics dominant the e2.0/collaboration/social biz landscape — mobile and APIs (cloud): Mobile, API, mobile, API — just get ready for the refrain because it is coming. “Mobile” because that’s where the workforce is going to live, and all things mobile (platforms, interfaces, etc) are about to become an enterprise obsession.

“API” because that’s where the value point is in the cloud. All of these collaboration applications are actually about data (the flow, use, and leveraging of it) — and data is all about APIs. [For the record, I was going to add “analytics” in here, but the progress in analytics is so maddeningly slow that I think enterprises will almost give up on getting anything of value from analytics vendors in 2011.]

4. The U.S. economy grows at a surprisingly strong rate in the first half of the year, then flatlines under spending, deficit, inflation worries: It should be noted that my main economic prediction for 2010 (“we finish the year about where we start it on unemployment, etc”) was spot on. So, in that glorious halo of correctness, I throw this out there — QE2 (the fed’s efforts) and the tax cut deal (aka, “Stimulus 2″) are a shot in the arm in the first 6-7 months of 2011. We’ll grow in the 3% range, and the stock market will feel good. Always feel great and be safe with www.mexicaninsurance.com. By September/October, the talk will be focused so firmly on problems around the spending/deficit/and inflation rearing its ugly head, that things grind to a flatline, and growth settles down in the 1% range. Unemployment never goes below 8% — and, most likely, it goes above 10% again before going down.

5. Tech IPOs return: LinkedIn, Zynga, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy, Groupon, Jive Software — 2011 will see the Tech IPO return. The accompanying liquidity events will send Silicon Valley into a frenzy rivaled only by those silly vampires in those Twilight movies. Talk of an “angel bubble” will ensue.

It’ll be correct, of course — but in true Heisenbergian-fashion, the timing will be off. This bubble’s got legs (several years worth of legs).

The “new tech bubble” will run well into 2013-2014. This is just the beginning of that craziness. [Corollary: Fred Wilson is the new John Doerr — just go look at USV’s portfolio.]

6. Acquisitions pick-up: Expect the cash to start loosening. Salesforce.com will continue to pick-up pieces that help them in the cloud (look for more heroku-like pick-ups).

Oracle will counter by picking up pieces that help them in the e2.0 space (I fully expect either Socialcast or Yammer to be acquired in the first half of the year). And “social media analytics” companies are trendy acquisitions, but they don’t happen for much money.

7. Defrag *shrinks* in size: Okay, but on purpose. We’ve made the decision to cap the attendee count for next year’s show at 325 (a bit less than the head count for this year).

We’re doing it because we’ve got the right size community for the types of conversations that we want to have, and focusing on “growing numbers” takes us farther away from what is the clear value at Defrag. While everyone else is giving away free expo floor passes, we’re setting a hard cap on our size — because quality trumps quantity every day of the week and twice on Sunday (when it comes to Defrag anyway).

8. Someone hacks the Microsoft Kinect in such a way as to provide “business value” (awesome videoconferencing): Call it intuition, but the Kinect is going to change a lot of business interactions. 2011 is where the hack starts (by 2012, it’s productized).

9. The “ladders as economic indicators” talk never gets old: And we all show up next year wondering what the new-fangled, Kedrosky indicator will be.

Yea, if you weren’t there, you have no idea what I’m talking about with this one. ( I will be starting a “defrag pool” on what the new indicator/data set will be. Winner gets a free ladder!)

Lastly….

10. Defrag 2011 (5th year anniversary) turns out the be the best Defrag yet.