“OMG!! Guys, you have to see this: This mother went to jail for taking this pic of her son! —> [URL]” one of the spam messages reads. Clicking on the link takes users to a rogue Facebook profile with a name similar to the message.

This profile has a page called ‘SEE HERE!’ which instructs users to “Like” it in order to see the intriguing picture. Furthermore, to entice people even more it promises that “Your jaw will drop to the floor!”

Liking the page will get users no closer to seeing a image and will instead ask them to spread more spam, this time by posting the original message on their wall for all their family and friends to see. Users who are gullible enough to accept this, will finally get a link to allegedly see the elusive picture.

Unfortunately, following it doesn’t have the expected result and prompts users to take one of four surveys as a “security check.” Taking a survey is definitely not a good idea as there are high chances of ending up being billed for some sort of premium service and compromised personal information.

The second scam is almost identical in concept as the first, but uses a different lure. In this case the spam message reads “OMG!! McDonalds might soon shut down because of this, you have to see this! –> [URL]” and no, it’s no better than the first. If you are a victim of any of them make sure to delete the rogue messages from your profile and remove the fake pages from your Like list.

“I really feel like despairing that the general public will ever learn to avoid dodgy links like this. Far too many people are prepared to endorse and share links on Facebook without properly thinking about what they are doing. In this case they’re doing it before they have any clue about what lies behind the page,” Graham Cluley, senior security at antivirus vendor Sophos, commented.

Online gaming credentials are valuable items for cyber criminals, who sell them in bulk on the black market. World of Warcraft accounts in particular are in high-demand. According to research from Symantec released earlier this year, WoW credentials can rack up from $35 to $28,000, depending on how well the associated characters are developed.

“A World of Warcraft account could be a gold pot for phishers, depending on the player’s achievement. In-game items are in demand and could be sold for real cash value, making WoW accounts a favorite phishing target,” the F-Secure researchers, who intercepted the latest phishing campaign, explain.

The fake emails have their “From” field spoofed to appear as if they originate from a generic address on the blizzard.com domain. The messages masquerade as automatic notifications regarding suspicious account changes, however, the poor spelling is strongly indicative of their rogue nature.

“[...] blizzard to investigate the recent theft of a large number of players missing account, we may be on your World of Warcraft account. Your password has been modified recently to restore the password We recommend that you log on to restore the password verification: http://[censored]-surveyus.com,” part of the ambiguous phishing message reads.

A more close investigation of the headers reveals that the emails are sent through a @hotmail.com address, which was probably hacked. The researchers point out that a real Battle.net account changes verification process requires more than simply supplying the password. A valid ID such as driver’s license, birth certificate, state ID, passport and in the case of minors, parental consent, is necessary.

• Keep the operating system updated. Make sure your system is set to update automatically, so that critical services are patched when security flaws are found. Hackers and malware in general take advantage of flaws in system software to infiltrate and install onto the system. Keeping the system up to date is the first step in computer security.
• Keep all security software updated. Make sure your anti-virus and antispyware solutions are the latest versions and that they are set to download signatures on a regular basis. Malware authors constantly change tactics and use different techniques to avoid being detected. As malware change the solutions also have to change in order to detect them. Keeping your security software updated can increase your chance of detecting a vulnerability.
• Use a safe web browser and keep it updated. Because of its popularity, Internet Explorer is the most targeted browser for malware authors. The flaws in the browser that allow access to the computer are well known and traded amongst hackers world wide. Switching to another web browser will greatly reduce your chance of getting infected with spyware or a virus.
• Use caution visiting unpopular sites. Not so well known sites are sometimes embedded with malware designed to infiltrate your system. Don’t click on everything at a site that is new to you. Read everything carefully and if anything looks suspicious then leave. The internet is large and there are plenty of places to get the information you seek. It is always a good idea to stick with sites you are familiar with.
• Use caution clicking on links sent to you. Just because someone emailed you a link doesn’t mean you have to click on it. Make sure you know the person who sent the link and that there is a description of the link in the email. Email is one of the most common forms of spreading a virus.
• Use caution clicking on links in discussion forums. Forums and chat rooms are a wonderful place to make new friends, but these social outlets are magnets for people wanting to do harm. Forums can attract thousands of people a day and hundreds of people can be attacked all at once by just one simple malicious post. Make sure you are familiar with the handle of the person posting a link.
• Download software from the original vendor. It is quite common for malware authors to bundle their wares with legitimate software and offer it for download on their site. To be safe you can do a search for the company that made the software and download it from that site. It is not only safer but a lot of times you get the latest version of the software.
• Check links before logging on to do banking related activities. A common technique thieves use to get your credentials is to claim your password needs changed at an online banking service. Look carefully at the link and you will see that it is not the same as the link you usually use to login. These links sometimes start with numbers, or maybe they will just change one letter thinking you will not notice. To be safe, only use the link that your banking service gave you to do any banking or changing of passwords.

The BlackArmor NAS 400, essentially, is a 4-bay network-attached storage device meant for home and small office networks. Granted, there are already a slew of such solutions on the market. Nevertheless, Seagate intends to play on the desire for control and customizability that customers possess. This is why it doesn’t offer the hard drives needed to equip it with.

The product measures 207 (H) x 160 (W) x 269 (L) mm and supports, as already mentioned, up to four hard disks. Said HDDs can be configured in a number of ways, not only RAID 0, 1, 5 or 10, but also in JBOD. Empty, it has a weight of 4kg. It should probably be noted that the bays themselves are hot swappable, which means that any of the four storage units will be changeable without the others being affected, in case of failure. Furthermore, Seagate threw in hardware-based encryption, for secure remote access. This is also equipped with four USB 2.0 connectors, a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports and supports centralization of data files, as well as full system recovery.

The Threadless Collection is composed of the aforementioned Design Studio laptops but offers a number of skins, 11 to be precise, at least for now. The Threadless community is composed of around 1 million members, which means that new patterns might be added over time. At present, the list includes Grandma’s Hot Air Balloon by student artist Brent Schoepf, Daisy by Bryan Ische and Stone Jungle by André da Silva Cruz. Hardware-wise, the Dell Threadless Collection doesn’t differ from the regular Design Studio machines. Basically, the PC maker sought a way of allowing its customers to truly personalize their purchase according to their own personality.

Dell has already set up a special microsite, dedicated exclusively to this collection of products. There, all of the color options, special art and patterns can be seen first-hand. Said site can be accessed by visiting this page.