The next wave of spam is now making its way into social networks. One example of this type of threat is the Koobface malware, distributed through social networks such as Facebook. Koobface tricked users into downloading the malware, which then spread via the network of trusted friends. (For more details please read Unsociable: Social Media Brings a New Wave of Threats)

Facebook recognized this malware was a major problem. The trick to solving it, though, was determining how to distinguish the behavior of a bot acting like a human from the behavior of a real human. The initial answer seemed clear: selectively use a “captcha.” A captcha is the squiggly letters or numbers with interspersed lines that websites use to verify the user is a real person, not a bot. It’s very difficult for a machine to read the captcha and enter the right characters. (IMHO it is difficult for a person to enter the right characters, too—so no wonder a bot can’t do it.)

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Tags: Forbes, security, social media

Last year brought a surprising, and seemingly positive, change in the number of security threats: it was the first year we saw spam volumes drop. That decrease was a significant change from the previous decade, in which spam volumes roughly doubled every year, compounding to yield a dirty Internet where about 90 percent of the email flowing over the backbone is spam. So does the drop in spam volume mean spam is suddenly less of a problem? Have spammers given up and gone home, or maybe developed a conscience and let up a little?

Unfortunately, no. Spam has just changed. It’s become more sophisticated. We are seeing a massive shift away from the spray-and-pray tactics of the past to much more targeted and complex attacks. One consistent trait of attackers: they always follow the money. Therefore, as social media sites such as Facebook have experienced explosive growth (and explosive valuations), it’s no surprise that threat writers are exploring ways to tap into these networks to deliver the next generation of attacks.

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Tags: Forbes, security

“It’s the female trend and it’s the sustainability trends that are going to create some of the most interesting investment opportunities in the years to come.  The whole thing about the female trend is not about women being better than men.  It is actually about women being different from men—bringing different values and different ways to the table.  So what do you get?  You get better decision-making and you get less herd behavior and both of those things hit your bottom line with very positive results.”   Holla Tomasdittor, co-founder of Audur Capital.

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Tags: Audur Capital, diverse, diversity, Female, Forbes, gender, Holla Tomasdittor, perspectives, Roy Alder, TED