All Posts Tagged With: "spam"
What every student should read
It’s completely free. And it shows up in your email every day.
If I had to choose between a stack of Microbiology readings and a novel that I started during Christmas vacation, I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t find myself reading about terrestrial and aquatic microbial habitats. So I don’t let myself make the choice. Between January and April, any books outside of my five textbooks (and lab manuals) are banned.
Two weeks into the new semester, I still haven’t touched any non school-related books. Instead, I’ve started reading my spam before killing it off. It doesn’t exactly compare to reading a good book, but it sure is a lot more lucrative. In the past few days I’ve already won hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash prizes.
My spam is even warning me about problems with my computer. And offering helpful solutions.
“Your computer are virus detected. Download antivirus for protect your computer free!”
It’s disappointing when I turn on my laptop and I don’t have any new spam. Just a bunch of emails that I don’t bother to read anymore. Sorry Academica’s Top Ten, but you’ve never offered me any health advice. Like, “Eat pill once a day and BREAK THROUGH WALL!!!”
I’m even getting investment offers and financial advice from complete strangers.
“Hello good sir. My name is Arthur Fowling and I am searching for an investment partner in my lucrative new business venture…”
By the way Arthur, the only people who say “Good sir” are characters from “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Sherlocke Holmes.” It’s about 200 years out of date.
“Greetings from the Gmail team. We are in the process of deleting inactive accounts due to bandwidth limitations. If you do not want your account to be discontinued, please fill in the form below.”
1) Username
2) Password
3) PIN number
4) Credit card information
5) A photo of yourself, so we can include your picture in our annually published book, “People who actually sent us their credit card information and PIN number.”
Concordia unblocks Facebook
After installing a new firewall, university caves to pressure from students and faculty
Starting today, students and faculty at Concordia University will be allowed to access Facebook on the school’s wired network.
The school abruptly banned the popular social networking website in September 2008 to the outrage of many students. According to Concordia’s information technology department, security gaps in the university network were making it possible for hackers to use Facebook to access students’ personal information. That information was then being used to launch attacks on the university network.
At the time, Chris Mota, director of media relations at Concordia, told the CBC that the school was increasingly becoming a target of spamming and phishing schemes, and that the attacks were becoming increasingly sophisticated. For example, he said dozens of people had received fraudulent e-mails, purportedly from the IT department, that requested user names and passwords as part of an effort to upgrade the school’s web accounts. About 70 people responded to that e-mail.
In a press release issued May 1, the university said the decision to reactivate Facebook on the wired network was taken in support of the school’s mission. “Facebook has become an important tool for numerous Concordians, specifically in terms of collaboration with academia, researchers and colleagues. Based on feedback from staff and faculty, this website is beneficial to some university members in a variety of ways, from the advertising of campus events to student/faculty recruiting.”
In their decision to allow Facebook access, university administration cited recent improvements to security checks and procedures at the school, including the installation of a new network firewall.
