Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

It has been a while since I’ve written about online banking fraud against small to mid-sized businesses, but I assure you the criminals perpetrating these attacks have been busier than ever. In fact, from more than a dozen incidents I’ve been investigating lately, the attackers for whatever reason now appear to be focusing heavily on property management and real estate firms, and title companies.

On Nov. 12, I was contacted by a woman in Washington, D.C. who runs a large property management firm. The woman said her company had just been the victim of online banking fraud, but that her board of directors would not let her discuss the incident on the record. Per her request, I am omitting her name and the name of her firm.

The woman said hackers had tried to transfer more than $1.3 million out of her firm’s account, but that all three transactions had been stopped. Still, her story is worth telling because it was not a victimless crime, and it shows how attackers are adding yet another layer of complexity to their scams, all in a bid to buy them more time to make off with the loot. In addition, it illustrates how even a security compromise that has been cleaned up can come back to haunt you, and it demonstrates how one weak link in the chain of trust in commercial online banking can be used to attack other organizations.

More here.

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

It has been a while since I’ve written about online banking fraud against small to mid-sized businesses, but I assure you the criminals perpetrating these attacks have been busier than ever. In fact, from more than a dozen incidents I’ve been investigating lately, the attackers for whatever reason now appear to be focusing heavily on property management and real estate firms, and title companies.

On Nov. 12, I was contacted by a woman in Washington, D.C. who runs a large property management firm. The woman said her company had just been the victim of online banking fraud, but that her board of directors would not let her discuss the incident on the record. Per her request, I am omitting her name and the name of her firm.

The woman said hackers had tried to transfer more than $1.3 million out of her firm’s account, but that all three transactions had been stopped. Still, her story is worth telling because it was not a victimless crime, and it shows how attackers are adding yet another layer of complexity to their scams, all in a bid to buy them more time to make off with the loot. In addition, it illustrates how even a security compromise that has been cleaned up can come back to haunt you, and it demonstrates how one weak link in the chain of trust in commercial online banking can be used to attack other organizations.

More here.

After the previous review discusses specification of the LG GR500 Xenon. Now we’ll review is about the various types of cover to LG GR500 Xenon. Cover LG GR500 Xenon packed with interesting pictures. One image that caught my attention was the series of Spring Flowers. Does this cover of Spring Flowers attract you to buy?
And this is some specification of LG GR500 Xenon :
# LG GR500 Xenon comes with support Quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz).
– UMTS 850/1900 MHz, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps.
# LG GR500 Xenon comes with Touch screen TFT-LCD 65,536 colors – 240 x 400 pixels (2.8 “)
– The shortcut into the calendar, alarm clock, music, note, against time and displayed through the main page slideshow.
# LG GR500 Xenon comes with QWERTY keyboard slides out the side.

After the previous review discusses specification of the LG GR500 Xenon. Now we’ll review is about the various types of cover to LG GR500 Xenon. Cover LG GR500 Xenon packed with interesting pictures. One image that caught my attention was the series of Spring Flowers. Does this cover of Spring Flowers attract you to buy?
And this is some specification of LG GR500 Xenon :
# LG GR500 Xenon comes with support Quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz).
– UMTS 850/1900 MHz, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps.
# LG GR500 Xenon comes with Touch screen TFT-LCD 65,536 colors – 240 x 400 pixels (2.8 “)
– The shortcut into the calendar, alarm clock, music, note, against time and displayed through the main page slideshow.
# LG GR500 Xenon comes with QWERTY keyboard slides out the side.

Gone are the days when people would point at Microsoft as the big bully. Now they also point to Intel and Apple, and this story concerns Apple. It’s well-known that Apple orders tons of flash RAM whenever they are planning a new device launch, and that influence on the market means that Apple can manipulate it.

At least, that’s what semiconductor manufacturers are claiming, stating that Apple is manipulating flash memory prices through its “questionable” purchasing strategies. However, because it uses so much flash RAM in its iPod and iPhone devices, there’s not much they can do about it, say vendors like Hynix and Samsung. A senior industry official told The Korea Times:

“Apple should certainly be blamed for deteriorating the supply and demand cycle in the global NAND flash market.

“Apple has asked Korean semiconductor makers to produce a certain amount of chips for its digital products, only to actually purchase a smaller volume eventually. The company doesn’t make immediate purchases, but waits until chip prices to fall to the level the company has internally targeted.”

Now, it’s all interesting, but at least it’s not bullying on the level of Intel, where kickbacks and “rebates,” or the threat of a held-back rebate, forced vendors to buy Intel instead of AMD. It’s also hard to understand the “bite-the-hand” that feeds you approach to this complaint, as while Apple doesn’t singlehandedly own the flash RAM market, it owns a huge piece of it, and that’s capitalism at its best.

In reality, this sounds more like a bunch of OEMs unhappy with Apple’s control over a huge portion of the flash RAM market. Of course, Apple is the big bully in the flash RAM world, but that’s just the way it is. Perhaps they need to team up with Microsoft and see if they can get the Zune more market share. Nah.

Gone are the days when people would point at Microsoft as the big bully. Now they also point to Intel and Apple, and this story concerns Apple. It’s well-known that Apple orders tons of flash RAM whenever they are planning a new device launch, and that influence on the market means that Apple can manipulate it.

At least, that’s what semiconductor manufacturers are claiming, stating that Apple is manipulating flash memory prices through its “questionable” purchasing strategies. However, because it uses so much flash RAM in its iPod and iPhone devices, there’s not much they can do about it, say vendors like Hynix and Samsung. A senior industry official told The Korea Times:

“Apple should certainly be blamed for deteriorating the supply and demand cycle in the global NAND flash market.

“Apple has asked Korean semiconductor makers to produce a certain amount of chips for its digital products, only to actually purchase a smaller volume eventually. The company doesn’t make immediate purchases, but waits until chip prices to fall to the level the company has internally targeted.”

Now, it’s all interesting, but at least it’s not bullying on the level of Intel, where kickbacks and “rebates,” or the threat of a held-back rebate, forced vendors to buy Intel instead of AMD. It’s also hard to understand the “bite-the-hand” that feeds you approach to this complaint, as while Apple doesn’t singlehandedly own the flash RAM market, it owns a huge piece of it, and that’s capitalism at its best.

In reality, this sounds more like a bunch of OEMs unhappy with Apple’s control over a huge portion of the flash RAM market. Of course, Apple is the big bully in the flash RAM world, but that’s just the way it is. Perhaps they need to team up with Microsoft and see if they can get the Zune more market share. Nah.

They may not have figured out how to monetize it, but they certainly have made its name iconic. The Global Language Monitor, which tracks language trends, has released its annual global survey of the English language. This includes not just the most popular words, but the most popular phrases as well. This year, the word Twitter is the Top Word of 2009.

Last year, the most popular word was “change,” obviously pointed at the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. This year, seeming following in the footsteps of the Oxford American Dictionary (which named “unfriend” its word of the year), the Global Language Monitor has gone techie with Twitter.

Pointing to the ubiquity of Twitter during breaking events worldwide, Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor said:

“In a year dominated by world-shaking political events, a pandemic, the after effects of a financial tsunami and the death of a revered pop icon, the word Twitter stands above all the other words. Twitter represents a new form of social interaction, where all communication is reduced to 140 characters. Being limited to strict formats did wonders for the sonnet and haiku. One wonders where this highly impractical word-limit will lead as the future unfolds.”

The global word analysis was completed in late November using the GLM’s Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI). The PQI tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, in relation to frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and “velocity.”

Here are the results, including words, phrases and names, along with GLM commentary.

The Top Words of 2009

1. Twitter — The ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters
2. Obama — The word stem transforms into scores of new words like ObamaCare
3. H1N1 — The formal (and politically correct) name for Swine Flu
4. Stimulus — The $800 billion aid package meant to help mend the US economy
5. Vampire — Vampires are very much en vogue, now the symbol of unrequited love
6. 2.0 — The 2.0 suffix is attached to the next generation of everything
7. Deficit — Lessons from history are dire warnings here
8. Hadron — Ephemeral particles subject to collision in the Large Hadron Collider
9. Healthcare — The direction of which is the subject of intense debate in the US
10. Transparency — Elusive goal for which many 21st c. governments are striving
11. Outrage — In response to large bonuses handed out to ‘bailed-out’ companies
12. Bonus — The incentive pay packages that came to symbolize greed and excess
13. Unemployed — And underemployed amount to close to 20% of US workforce
14. Foreclosure — Forced eviction for not keeping up with the mortgage payments
15. Cartel — In Mexico, at the center of the battle over drug trafficking

The Top Phrases of 2009

King of Pop –Elvis was ‘The King;’ MJ had to settle for ‘King of Pop’
Obama-mania — One of the scores of words from the Obama-word stem
Climate Change — Considered politically neutral compared to global warming
Swine Flu — Popular name for the illness caused by the H1N1 virus
Too Large to Fail — Institutions that are deemed necessary for financial stability
Cloud Computing — Using the Internet for a variety of computer services
Public Option — The ability to buy health insurance from a government entity
Jai Ho! — A Hindi shout of joy or accomplishment
Mayan Calendar — Consists of various ‘cycles,’ one of which ends on 12/21/2012
God Particle — The hadron, believed to hold the secrets of the Big Bang

The Top Names of 2009

Barack Obama — It was Obama’s year, though MJ nearly eclipsed in the end
Michael Jackson — Eclipses Obama on internet though lags in traditional media
Mobama — Mrs. Obama, sometimes as a fashion Icon
Large Hadron Collider — The Trillion dollar ‘aton smasher’ buried outside Geneva
Neda Agha Sultan — Iranian woman killed in the post-election demonstrations
Nancy Pelosi –The Democratic Speaker of the US House
M. Ahmadinejad — The president of Iran, once again
Hamid Karzai — The winner of Afghanistan’s disputed election
Rahm Emmanuel — Bringing ‘Chicago-style politics’ to the Administration
Sonia Sotomayor — The first Hispanic woman on the US Supreme Court

They may not have figured out how to monetize it, but they certainly have made its name iconic. The Global Language Monitor, which tracks language trends, has released its annual global survey of the English language. This includes not just the most popular words, but the most popular phrases as well. This year, the word Twitter is the Top Word of 2009.

Last year, the most popular word was “change,” obviously pointed at the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. This year, seeming following in the footsteps of the Oxford American Dictionary (which named “unfriend” its word of the year), the Global Language Monitor has gone techie with Twitter.

Pointing to the ubiquity of Twitter during breaking events worldwide, Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor said:

“In a year dominated by world-shaking political events, a pandemic, the after effects of a financial tsunami and the death of a revered pop icon, the word Twitter stands above all the other words. Twitter represents a new form of social interaction, where all communication is reduced to 140 characters. Being limited to strict formats did wonders for the sonnet and haiku. One wonders where this highly impractical word-limit will lead as the future unfolds.”

The global word analysis was completed in late November using the GLM’s Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI). The PQI tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, in relation to frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and “velocity.”

Here are the results, including words, phrases and names, along with GLM commentary.

The Top Words of 2009

1. Twitter — The ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters
2. Obama — The word stem transforms into scores of new words like ObamaCare
3. H1N1 — The formal (and politically correct) name for Swine Flu
4. Stimulus — The $800 billion aid package meant to help mend the US economy
5. Vampire — Vampires are very much en vogue, now the symbol of unrequited love
6. 2.0 — The 2.0 suffix is attached to the next generation of everything
7. Deficit — Lessons from history are dire warnings here
8. Hadron — Ephemeral particles subject to collision in the Large Hadron Collider
9. Healthcare — The direction of which is the subject of intense debate in the US
10. Transparency — Elusive goal for which many 21st c. governments are striving
11. Outrage — In response to large bonuses handed out to ‘bailed-out’ companies
12. Bonus — The incentive pay packages that came to symbolize greed and excess
13. Unemployed — And underemployed amount to close to 20% of US workforce
14. Foreclosure — Forced eviction for not keeping up with the mortgage payments
15. Cartel — In Mexico, at the center of the battle over drug trafficking

The Top Phrases of 2009

King of Pop –Elvis was ‘The King;’ MJ had to settle for ‘King of Pop’
Obama-mania — One of the scores of words from the Obama-word stem
Climate Change — Considered politically neutral compared to global warming
Swine Flu — Popular name for the illness caused by the H1N1 virus
Too Large to Fail — Institutions that are deemed necessary for financial stability
Cloud Computing — Using the Internet for a variety of computer services
Public Option — The ability to buy health insurance from a government entity
Jai Ho! — A Hindi shout of joy or accomplishment
Mayan Calendar — Consists of various ‘cycles,’ one of which ends on 12/21/2012
God Particle — The hadron, believed to hold the secrets of the Big Bang

The Top Names of 2009

Barack Obama — It was Obama’s year, though MJ nearly eclipsed in the end
Michael Jackson — Eclipses Obama on internet though lags in traditional media
Mobama — Mrs. Obama, sometimes as a fashion Icon
Large Hadron Collider — The Trillion dollar ‘aton smasher’ buried outside Geneva
Neda Agha Sultan — Iranian woman killed in the post-election demonstrations
Nancy Pelosi –The Democratic Speaker of the US House
M. Ahmadinejad — The president of Iran, once again
Hamid Karzai — The winner of Afghanistan’s disputed election
Rahm Emmanuel — Bringing ‘Chicago-style politics’ to the Administration
Sonia Sotomayor — The first Hispanic woman on the US Supreme Court

Jack Merklein from Xerox Global Services did a really great presentation at LearnTrends 2009 entitled – Common tools for Diverse Communities at Xerox Global Services.  You can find the LearnTrends 2009 Recording including Jack’s presentation.  A few follow-up thoughts.

Jack is responsible for the development, care and tools for learning communities and knowledge sharing initiatives.  In practice this means a lot of different things and across many different learning communities.  A few of the different communities he discussed:

• New Hire
• Sustainability
• CxO

While the title centered on tools for communities and knowledge sharing and he provided a list of tools …

Existing Tools:

• Outlook email distribution lists
• Live Meeting with Brain Shark
• DocuShare
• Calendars
• Wiki
• Instant messaging
• Links to training catalog

Emerging Tools:

• Podcasts
• YouTube
• LinkedIn (Intra-community)
• Training videos on YouTube
• A Second Life Island available

Most of the discussion didn’t focus on tools.  Instead, it focused on Jack’s no nonsense ability to make communities an effect part of learning.  And particularly, I got to spend time with Jack on how he sells learning communities in the organization.

Jack does an amazing job of finding out what people in the community really care about and need.  For one community, they meet every two weeks and a lot of times the topic comes a week before and he pulls in subject matter experts to present.  He ensures that the facilitation then focuses on the key issue that the people in the room cares about.  I’ve seen exactly this kind of thing work really well before.  But I’ve not seen it done as systematically as how Jack has designed it.

Jack was a quote machine during the session, here are some of the phrases he used:

• "Publication warden"
• "Billable always wins"
• “CoP Warden”
• “not everyone will or wants a group hug”
• "young and stupid"
• “Training is a resignation”
• "Capture it damn it – put on community site" (responsibility of all members of a community to make knowledge explicit)
• “Amenable to bribing everyone”

Part of the beauty of Jack and his style is that the language he uses is plain, business oriented.  Everything sounds obvious when he says it.  In a way, he didn’t feel like he was ever “selling learning communities”.  That was my language.  Instead, he asked people if they wanted help with a particular problem.  If he could bring together experts and expertise and facilitate a conversation on X and then help capture that – is that something you’d want.  Absolutely!  In fact, we all want that all the time! 

In a later session, we discussed the fact that one of the big barriers in many organizations is that they don’t “have a Jack.”  Selling learning communities or social learning or anything other than formal learning / training is hard because we find ourselves using the language of learning or learning community. 

As an example of needing a Jack, the question – How do you avoid the issue … “I’m too busy” … Jack’s answer is basically, if the value is high enough, you are focused on problems they are faced with right now, they will come.  His example is a community that meets on Friday afternoons.  Yikes.  I’d never plan something then.  But he gets amazing participation because the topics focus on hard hitting topics where people need help right now.  Senior leaders participate because they see the value.  And participation is rewarded through recognition … and sometimes bribed.

Now let’s all be a Jack!

---

eLearning Technology
Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

Jack Merklein from Xerox Global Services did a really great presentation at LearnTrends 2009 entitled – Common tools for Diverse Communities at Xerox Global Services.  You can find the LearnTrends 2009 Recording including Jack’s presentation.  A few follow-up thoughts.

Jack is responsible for the development, care and tools for learning communities and knowledge sharing initiatives.  In practice this means a lot of different things and across many different learning communities.  A few of the different communities he discussed:

• New Hire
• Sustainability
• CxO

While the title centered on tools for communities and knowledge sharing and he provided a list of tools …

Existing Tools:

• Outlook email distribution lists
• Live Meeting with Brain Shark
• DocuShare
• Calendars
• Wiki
• Instant messaging
• Links to training catalog

Emerging Tools:

• Podcasts
• YouTube
• LinkedIn (Intra-community)
• Training videos on YouTube
• A Second Life Island available

Most of the discussion didn’t focus on tools.  Instead, it focused on Jack’s no nonsense ability to make communities an effect part of learning.  And particularly, I got to spend time with Jack on how he sells learning communities in the organization.

Jack does an amazing job of finding out what people in the community really care about and need.  For one community, they meet every two weeks and a lot of times the topic comes a week before and he pulls in subject matter experts to present.  He ensures that the facilitation then focuses on the key issue that the people in the room cares about.  I’ve seen exactly this kind of thing work really well before.  But I’ve not seen it done as systematically as how Jack has designed it.

Jack was a quote machine during the session, here are some of the phrases he used:

• "Publication warden"
• "Billable always wins"
• “CoP Warden”
• “not everyone will or wants a group hug”
• "young and stupid"
• “Training is a resignation”
• "Capture it damn it – put on community site" (responsibility of all members of a community to make knowledge explicit)
• “Amenable to bribing everyone”

Part of the beauty of Jack and his style is that the language he uses is plain, business oriented.  Everything sounds obvious when he says it.  In a way, he didn’t feel like he was ever “selling learning communities”.  That was my language.  Instead, he asked people if they wanted help with a particular problem.  If he could bring together experts and expertise and facilitate a conversation on X and then help capture that – is that something you’d want.  Absolutely!  In fact, we all want that all the time! 

In a later session, we discussed the fact that one of the big barriers in many organizations is that they don’t “have a Jack.”  Selling learning communities or social learning or anything other than formal learning / training is hard because we find ourselves using the language of learning or learning community. 

As an example of needing a Jack, the question – How do you avoid the issue … “I’m too busy” … Jack’s answer is basically, if the value is high enough, you are focused on problems they are faced with right now, they will come.  His example is a community that meets on Friday afternoons.  Yikes.  I’d never plan something then.  But he gets amazing participation because the topics focus on hard hitting topics where people need help right now.  Senior leaders participate because they see the value.  And participation is rewarded through recognition … and sometimes bribed.

Now let’s all be a Jack!

---

eLearning Technology
Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.