Andy Beard - Internet Business Systems Discussion - Latest Comments in Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Paul Hancox (.com) — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:55:00 -0000

Andy, after giving this further thought I realize there's another danger of these scripts asking for the password...

I have no doubt the scripts themselves are legitimate, but what's to stop a hacker or scammer from simply creating a page with WHAT APPEARS TO BE the same script, but which really just serves to provide the scammer with your Twitter password?

How is a user supposed to tell the difference between a legitimate use of a script, and one used for the purpose of scamming? The answer is: you can't, unless you ABSOLUTELY trust the site owner.

That's why I won't be using any script that asks me for my Twitter or Gmail password - and I would encourage everybody to use them with extreme *caution*. After all, if a person's account gets hacked, and they've given out their password to a site other than the official one (i.e. Twitter.com or Gmail.com), isn't there the *possibility* that THAT PERSON may be responsible for their account being hacked, because they gave it to some site that claimed to be using a trusted script?

Paul Hancox

P.S: Andy, I will be launching a Twitter viral marketing tool shortly which will *not* require anybody's password - I'd love for you to test and review it... just drop me an email if you're up for that. Hopefully it will give you some points for comparison :)

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Kenny — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:42:56 -0000

Thank you for an excellent post - sharing a very ethical perspective on launches. You are really adding to the thought of what is going on in IM. Thank you!
Kenny

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

GadoWager (Gado Wager) — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:46:29 -0000

http://is.gd/xyBb Twitter Viral Hell

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Terri — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:47:08 -0000

Wow what great information, thanks for posting, of course some of the warnings came to late because I have fallen prey to some of the things you mentioned, bet lot of us did.

Hope this isn't off topic but I like entrecard but I have to practice safe dropping on blogs I know are safe because I had to pay over $200 to have dell support clean up viruses etc picked up from blogs who have the entrecard widget and viciously infect your site. Some things look and sound harmless especially to non-tech type.

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

mirc — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:40:49 -0000

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

mihaibojin (Mihai Bojin) — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:03:59 -0000

Viral hell - a must read post: http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj http://plurk.com/p/ssuyt

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

John — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:38:30 -0000

Excellent post Andy - I couldn't agree more.

It amazes me how many people don't even think twice about entering their login info for Gmail, Twitter or whatever into these scripts. Especially since some of them come from people who aren't very well known, if at all.

In some ways, it's part of the same problem that causes a lot of viruses and malware to spread so quickly. People don't pay attention to what they're doing, they just click where they're told to click.

Using a computer or the internet should be like driving - you have to pass a test before you get your license :-)

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Single Maria — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:43:25 -0000

I began using Twitter some times ago, but each day I get annoyed more and more. There are many disadvantages. and spams. I am tired of it. Hope people who dont recognize it yet, soon will do it. The end of Twitter is inevitable!

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

mfornas (mfornas) — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:56:15 -0000

Security risks in Launch Tree et al: http://is.gd/xyBb Very worth the time to read it in full.

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Luana @ N0t.info — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:58:53 -0000

I'm glad I didn't start using Twitter that way :( It doesn't seem like I'd have turned out with so good profits... Thanks for sharing this very useful article.

- Luana

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

wpchatter (Wendy Picco) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:53:15 -0000

Twitter & Tell-A-Friend Viral Hell: I don't endorse Google, Linkedin, Facebook et al scraping email acco.. http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

gardengurus (Peter Willington) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:38:11 -0000

Twitter & Tell-A-Friend Viral Hell http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Motorbike Jacket — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:34:39 -0000

I would think that with a Twitter viral, if someone wants to try it the simplest solution would be to change their password first, make use of the viral system, and then change their password back.

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

djdmc (Darrell McCormick) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:12:19 -0000

Twitter & Tell-A-Friend Viral Hell http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

UNSEENNTMKTG (Unseen Net Marke — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:43:03 -0000

Twitter & Tell-A-Friend Viral Hell: I don't endorse Google, Linkedin, Facebook et al scraping email acco.. http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

marketsnag (Debbie Machen) — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:19:20 -0000

Twitter & Tell-A-Friend Viral Hell http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Paul Hancox (.com) — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:02:49 -0000

I agree with this post. I would not give out my passwords to any third-party scripts unless I were absolutely sure they were (a) on my site, and (b) secure.

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Matthew the sports guru — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:03:06 -0000

The video links are excellent but what I'm not very sure is about the giving of password online. I think the users identity is not secure at all because it would be published on the internet. Great post. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Chuggin McCoffee — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:23:42 -0000

I missed TwitterGetter, but I know that the only effective retweeting actually comes from organic traffic and followers not some other kind of spamming motivation.

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

First Home Buying — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:49:32 -0000

This is ridiculous - I didn't know all this stuff was going on. You'd hope that the average user would be wary of a web form that asks you to supply your username and password on an account for which the website is not the official source, but apparently there are quite a few people who are okay with giving out this information to just anyone who promises to keep it safe. There is no gauge for truth on the internet; people are always going to believe what they want to believe.

-Jay

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

twtr_gator (Ade Lack) — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:40:18 -0000

RT @Ed: If you do ANY business online and use Twitter, bookmark this crucial post by @AndyBeard. Now. http://is.gd/xyBb

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Brian Baulch — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:29:57 -0000

Great information Andy very helpful to know these security issues taking place and social net workers be aware of all this information you share, also thanks for the free tool you kindly shared to us all, as well but not least Stomping The Search Engines 2 bargain deal

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

Ed (Ed Shahzade) — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:21:31 -0000

If you do ANY business online and use Twitter, bookmark this crucial post by @AndyBeard. Now. http://is.gd/xyBb

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

AndyBeard — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:04:16 -0000

Hackers often gain access to poorly managed servers - not just one hosting account, but the whole systems, often 100s of accounts.
On a well managed system, your hosting accounts are vulnerable, thus just because you have something like WordPress installed on a completely different different domain might not matter at all, they could still access scripts somewhere else.

If I was that way inclined, even if you were running the latest version of WordPress, I am sure there are still a few undiscovered vulnerabilities, or things that are not yet made public. Just hire some Russian security experts.

It doesn't matter the intention of the inviter script, or that it was designed not to store data - just 2 lines of code added is enough to grab the account details of anyone who uses it. I tinker with code, but I could do that part easily.
Users become numb to certain actions due to repetition - already we see people very careless about Twitter passwords, and the same is true for inviter scripts
Both Comcast and MPAA/RIAA have been hacked in the last year - are their server admins incompetent? Ultimately there is only so much you can do, the safest method is not to ask for personal data on your own site
Risk aversion in business is important - both from a legal and reputation management standpoint

Re: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

pkeulen (pkeulen) — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:17:05 -0000

Twitter & Tell-A-Friend Viral Hell http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj