Link roundup for 1/28/08

By Ben Gross
in

Interview with Nitesh Dhanjani and Billy Rios, Spies in the Phishing Underground: the interview is well worth reading if you are interested in the current state of the phishing industry. Dhanjani and Rios say that most phishers are unsophisticated as they are using pre-made toolkits that often send an additional copy of collected identities to its creator, essentially phishers phishing phishers.

Google Takes Aim At Domain Tasting Profiteers: Domain tasting is the practice of registering a domain name, parking the domain with ads, and then having the purchase price refunded during the five day grace period. If there are enough ad impressions the domain will be kept, otherwise it will be released and likely picked up by another domain taster. Domain name kiting is the process of registering, then deleting and reregistering the domain during the grace period to effectively extend the grace period. Google now says it will stop showing ads on domains that appear to be kited which will limit both domain kiting and domain tasting.

How Email Brings You Closer to the Guy in the Next Cubicle: Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist, discusses recent published research on social networks derived from email messages showing that the most productive people have the most internal company connections.

Published January 28, 2008