Advertisement Hacking...

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February 22nd, 2008, 08:30 PM
ArPaNET

Advertisement Hacking...

I like many others belong to at least one social group like facebook, myspace, etc... I have been noticing lately that user accounts for facebook have been getting cracked, then using the features on the site they spread messages to that users friends with advertisements mainly for cell phones like:

Quote:

Hey thought you'd wanna know about this website giving away ringers to FB users for the next couple days..

http://%77%77%77%2E%73%6C%69%63%6B%6...73%2E%6E%65%74

Now I know that this has been going on at myspace for quite some time, but I was wondering, are these crackers being employed by the company they advertise, can the company get in trouble for this, etc...

If someone could shine some light on this subject for me that would be great thanks.
February 22nd, 2008, 08:39 PM
morganlefay

You know...on Facebook they have applications that say "you can win just give us your mobile phone number and provider"

AFAIAC.....only an idiot wwould do that...also have you not seen how many idiots have thier cell phone numbers in thier profile...open for all to see.

When you install any applications in Facebook there are ticky boxes regarding the sharing of information that you have to untick...

Most of it is user ignorance IMHO

MLF
February 23rd, 2008, 02:07 AM
ArPaNET

Quote:

on Facebook they have applications that say "you can win just give us your mobile phone number and provider"

AFAIAC.....only an idiot wwould do that

I think you misread my post... they are cracking the user accounts, then writing on their "walls" posting advertisement for cell phones... Not getting their number and sending txt msgs of advertisements to the users!
February 23rd, 2008, 02:54 AM
morganlefay

My guess is they have "anyone" able to write on thier wall enabled

MLF
February 23rd, 2008, 05:14 AM
keezel

It's even easier on Myspace where they are extremely liberal about permissions. I could post into Joe Blow's comment box if I wanted. Myspace is also very liberal about letting people modify their page, which allows for all kinds of fun code to be added when people click on things by accident or ignorance.

The same is not exactly true of Facebook, but people are still free to post whatever they want on the walls of people they are friends with. I imagine it would not be terribly difficult to write a script that would post a message to the walls of everyone listed as a friend of a particular account once it was cracked.
February 23rd, 2008, 07:31 PM
ArPaNET

keezel understands what I am talking about, now my questions are: Do these crackers get paid to do this? Can the companies the crackers are advertising for get into trouble?

I know how they crack these accounts, that part is not a mystery to me... I just wonder why advertise?
February 23rd, 2008, 08:10 PM
oofki

Do these crackers get paid to do this?
Ads = Money so I would guess yes.
Can the companies the crackers are advertising for get into trouble?
Yes the company would be liable for damages/illegal activity as well as the people who did it depending on the laws of the county that it happened out out of.
I just wonder why advertise?
Money money money
February 23rd, 2008, 08:49 PM
ArPaNET

That makes sense to me... if the company that is advertising is in a country where these activities were not illegal then that makes perfect sense...
February 23rd, 2008, 09:13 PM
The-Spec

Quote:

are these crackers being employed by the company they advertise

Why would a bunch of phishing websites hire employees?

Even if that wasn't the case... things like referral programs are notorious for screwing people over. And online payment systems themselves are terrible.
February 24th, 2008, 11:56 AM
nihil

Quote:

Why would a bunch of phishing websites hire employees?

Basically to spread their garbage across the internet?

From what ArPaNET has said, this sounds more like spamming that phishing. Similar to spamming blogs and discussion forums.

OK there are bots that do this (xrumer?) but some of them do seem to have human assistance.

EDIT:

I came across this related article:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...ce=rss_topic85
February 25th, 2008, 09:07 AM
ArPaNET

Thats a great article, it answers a lot of my questions (and gives me more to think about)

I realize that there are bots to spam, but someone has to start, maintain, and periodically stop the bots... I am guessing that is what you mean by human assistance.
February 26th, 2008, 07:57 AM
Cider

Im sure that people do get paid for this sort of thing. I left facebook a long time ago :)
February 26th, 2008, 03:49 PM
nihil

Hi ArPaNET,

Quote:

I realize that there are bots to spam, but someone has to start, maintain, and periodically stop the bots... I am guessing that is what you mean by human assistance.

Partly, but I have also noticed that there are bots that must interface with a human. The most obvious are interpreting "captchas" but there are sites that get attacked by bot + drone. Typically, they have some other form of anti-bot solution, such as identify a picture and answer a question:

Q: Is this a picture of George W. Bush or a rabbit?
A: Yes

Q: Are you a Republican or a Democrat?
A: Dunno pal, I know nothing about politics............... I always vote Republican/Democrat* (*delete as applicable ;))

:D

Apologies to anyone I might have offended......... nothing personal huh?