Sunday, 11 February 2024

The Putin interview with Tucker Carson

Putin: Who blew up the Nordstream? You personally might have an alibi but the CIA has no such alibi. 

************* 

You know in the war of propaganda it is very difficult to defeat the United States because the United States controls all the world's media and many European media. 

********** 

Tucker: Do you think Zelinsky has the freedom to negotiate an end to this conflict? 

Putin: Why not? He came to power on the expectations of the Ukrainian people that he would lead Ukraine to peace. 


More private book stores list Probe8

 Alibris.com listing - USA 



Tertulia.com listning (USA) 


Saxo.com: 


Saxo.com is Denmark's largest online bookstore!


Bookscape.com in India: 


Fishpond in New Zealand: 



 

Today, I found out that Denmark's largest online retailer for books has listed Probe8!! This is truly a phenomenal achievement! 

I also found that we have been listed in New Zealand as well. 

There are more online bookstores listing the book in the US and India! 

This is amazing! What is even more amazing is that this is all happening on its own. That more and more private book sellers are listing the book is very very nice to see. :) 


Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Big Tech and Child Exploitation Online

Question: Do you think your users really understand what they are giving to you - all of their personal information, and how you process it, and how you monetise it? Do you think people really understand? 

Mark: I think people understand the basic terms. <Clearly, he means, no, they don't, and my fortune depends on it.> 




Tuesday, 6 February 2024

What fake service websites look like

 

In this screenshot, you will notice that the two Os of Whirlpool are actually zeros. This means that a web crawling program that looks for mentions of the brand is likely to miss this one. 


This is very likely a fake service website. 



Monday, 5 February 2024

How GoDaddy made my life hell aka List of spammers you don't want to give business to

Some months ago, the Godaddy customer database of people who have bought domain names was sold. 

A direct consequence of that was that every day, I started getting 8-10 calls asking me if I wanted help in getting a website made. 

When I asked them how they got my number, they all mentioned that they got it from GoDaddy. 

I made the BIGGEST mistake of my life buying something from GoDaddy. 

These companies do not even do the basic due diligence of finding out if a number is DND before spamming a person at all hours, in the hospital, on weekends. My life has been made hell over the last many months because of GoDaddy. 

The callers knew my name, and knew that i have bought a domain name from GoDaddy. They all told me that they got the contact information from GoDaddy. - This means that this was not a leak. GoDaddy sold this database and the buyers had the confidence to call and tell me that you have bought a domain from GoDaddy, can we help you make a website. 

Thank you, GoDaddy, for sparing the hackers some work and leaking your own customer database to spammers. 

#GoDaddyIsPureHell #ExperienceSharing 

This is the list of companies that have spammed me by violating DND. 

Infocrate Technologies - He was also blatant enough to say please add me to the database of spammers. 

Magicware services noida sector 66 

Pagetraffic.com 

Gowave Idea Software Development Company; Khushboo; West Bengal Durgapur; 

Auysh Softar Ranchi 

Vistory IT Solutions Noida; CEO- Varun Kumar



Sunday, 4 February 2024

Two Thoughts on Security

 2 thoughts on security.


1. When a platform provides a service, it is a safe assumption to make that the platform is secure and will be kept secure. 2FA is essentially the platform shifting the responsibility of security from itself to the customer. It is also putting the customer's personal devices at risk, because now the compromise requires the use of the personal email / phone no. It is unethical and impractical because, as we know, customer accounts and devices are compromised a lot quicker than enterprise IT infra. Platforms need to be accountable to customers and provide a mandatory RCA for every account breach.


2. Today, an appliance broke down in our house. Since it was still covered by warranty, I took the precaution of finding the company care center and calling them. The person said that I would get my request no. after the call disconnects, and the service center will call me within two hours.

The subsequent conversation went like this:

Me: How will the person calling authenticate themselves?

She: They will call you within two hours ma'm.

Me: Yes. But how will I know that the person calling me is from Whirlpool? Will they give me the request ID?

She: Can I please place your call on hold?


That was when I realised that while service centers are a MAJOR source of financial frauds today, companies have not even thought of a way to protect themselves.


When a customer is defrauded thanks to fake customer care numbers, it is the brand that suffers. But when one reaches a genuine customer care number and then finds that obvious security flaws have not been plugged, one is quite nonplussed.


Book Review: The Spy who went into the Cold by Girish Aivalli

This is the kind of book in which everything makes sense right at the end. All the threads come together and they make sense. Except, perhaps, one. 

The pace is adequate - neither too rushed nor too languid. 

It's a very easy book to read. At my age, the print size matters as much as the plot. 

But jokes apart, the book is easy to read because there is enough happening to keep the interest of the reader. 

The genre is spy thriller. There are enough coded references in the text to keep us guessing and engaged. 

I would recommend the book for young adults and above. So much better than fantasy - that appears to have become the default genre for young adults.