Comments for Aaron Pearson http://www.aaronwpearson.com Making Technology Work for You Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:40:59 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 Comment on Spam Links Sent Through Google Maps by Ken http://www.aaronwpearson.com/spam-links-sent-through-google-maps/comment-page-1/#comment-653 Ken Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:40:59 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=348#comment-653 I'm an network admin/email server admin by day and have been noticing these starting about a week or two ago. I've been getting them both at home on several email accounts as well as here at work. How it is being accomplished... go to google maps, click on the send link above the map. Edit the To:, From:, and message body and send it. You do have to fill out a capcha but there are several automated capcha solvers out there that can do it completely automated. In other words, this can all be done programatically without having to even visit the site. I'm sure Google will catch this and put an end to it very soon. As far as reporting it goes, don't bother. I am certain they already know about it and are working on a fix that will stop the practice without hurting the honest users experience. It does seem strange that they removed the post that you mentioned... I wonder why? Thanks for posting this.... at least people will get some information on it. Oh, if you want to stop it yourself using an email rule in your email client, create an email rule that contains "sent this to you using Google Maps" in the subject and move any that hit this rule to your spam/junk or trash folder. Just remember that this rule will also catch any legitimate emails sent from google maps, so you may want to remove it after google fixes the problem if these are important to you. The spammers are using this method because it allows them to piggyback on to Google's reputation (Domain Key and DKIM) and this gets past most email spam filters. Hope this helps. Kind regards, Ken I’m an network admin/email server admin by day and have been noticing these starting about a week or two ago. I’ve been getting them both at home on several email accounts as well as here at work.

How it is being accomplished… go to google maps, click on the send link above the map. Edit the To:, From:, and message body and send it. You do have to fill out a capcha but there are several automated capcha solvers out there that can do it completely automated. In other words, this can all be done programatically without having to even visit the site.

I’m sure Google will catch this and put an end to it very soon. As far as reporting it goes, don’t bother. I am certain they already know about it and are working on a fix that will stop the practice without hurting the honest users experience.

It does seem strange that they removed the post that you mentioned… I wonder why?

Thanks for posting this…. at least people will get some information on it.

Oh, if you want to stop it yourself using an email rule in your email client, create an email rule that contains “sent this to you using Google Maps” in the subject and move any that hit this rule to your spam/junk or trash folder. Just remember that this rule will also catch any legitimate emails sent from google maps, so you may want to remove it after google fixes the problem if these are important to you.

The spammers are using this method because it allows them to piggyback on to Google’s reputation (Domain Key and DKIM) and this gets past most email spam filters.

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Ken

]]> Comment on Spam Links Sent Through Google Maps by admin http://www.aaronwpearson.com/spam-links-sent-through-google-maps/comment-page-1/#comment-652 admin Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:24:32 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=348#comment-652 I think they are using Blogger.com to facilitate this spam. Here is an example: http://worldcup-fifa.blogspot.com/2010/01/malloneenextourcokr-sent-this-to-you.html The content of this blog is exactly what is in the email/spam message that I received. If you click on the "share" link I believe they are taking advantage of a flaw in the POST variable submission when using the "share form". I think they are using Blogger.com to facilitate this spam. Here is an example:

http://worldcup-fifa.blogspot.com/2010/01/malloneenextourcokr-sent-this-to-you.html

The content of this blog is exactly what is in the email/spam message that I received. If you click on the “share” link I believe they are taking advantage of a flaw in the POST variable submission when using the “share form”.

]]> Comment on Spam Links Sent Through Google Maps by admin http://www.aaronwpearson.com/spam-links-sent-through-google-maps/comment-page-1/#comment-651 admin Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:00:56 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=348#comment-651 @John, I just noticed that the email refer link button is like you say - a "mailto:" link which opens up the default mail client. It didn't always used to work that way..... I'm trying to figure out right now how they are managing to do this. My use of the description "script kiddies" has more to do with my annoyance, rather than with their actual skill level. I just posted a question to the Google Maps Support Forum here: <a href="http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/maps/thread?tid=2ba1f5e2c8a69dc3&hl=en" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/maps/thread?tid=2ba1f5e2c8a69dc3&hl=en</a>. We'll see if anyone answers it @John, I just noticed that the email refer link button is like you say – a “mailto:” link which opens up the default mail client. It didn’t always used to work that way….. I’m trying to figure out right now how they are managing to do this. My use of the description “script kiddies” has more to do with my annoyance, rather than with their actual skill level. I just posted a question to the Google Maps Support Forum here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/maps/thread?tid=2ba1f5e2c8a69dc3&hl=en. We’ll see if anyone answers it

]]> Comment on Spam Links Sent Through Google Maps by John sanford http://www.aaronwpearson.com/spam-links-sent-through-google-maps/comment-page-1/#comment-650 John sanford Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:57:06 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=348#comment-650 I just got this, does anybody know how they did it? the Refer link button on the google maps page is just a mailto: link. Im guessing they found another place on the site where google email out and they managed to edit the data before it sends. It's quite clever either way and they are the only ones that have done it so I wouldn't be so quick to brand them as "script kiddies" I just got this, does anybody know how they did it? the Refer link button on the google maps page is just a mailto: link. Im guessing they found another place on the site where google email out and they managed to edit the data before it sends. It’s quite clever either way and they are the only ones that have done it so I wouldn’t be so quick to brand them as “script kiddies”

]]> Comment on Spam Links Sent Through Google Maps by Pam http://www.aaronwpearson.com/spam-links-sent-through-google-maps/comment-page-1/#comment-649 Pam Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:31:29 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=348#comment-649 I and others who are subscribers of intenders mailings are receiving offensive material from noreply@googlemaps. They come with various subject lines, the email addresses listed are generally about 5 to 10 different. I received the first one send to my personal email and then received a messaged from one of the intender members who subscribes to our email subscription saying it came to her address that she uses only for intender mail...so we are very concerned about how and where the spammers are getting the addresses. I have saved three of the messages I and others who are subscribers of intenders mailings are receiving offensive material from noreply@googlemaps.
They come with various subject lines, the email addresses listed are generally about 5 to 10 different. I received the first one send to my personal email and then received a messaged from one of the intender members who subscribes to our email subscription saying it came to her address that she uses only for intender mail…so we are very concerned about how and where the spammers are getting the addresses. I have saved three of the messages

]]> Comment on Hardcore Cellphone and Laptop Protection by Business Marketing http://www.aaronwpearson.com/hardcore-cellphone-and-laptop-protection/comment-page-1/#comment-642 Business Marketing Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:03:40 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=119#comment-642 This seems like a cool product! I just checked thier website and they offer it for my Blackberry and I am going to swing by Best Buy and see if they have it in stock. Now if they had a product that would waterproof my blackberry, that would be awesome. This seems like a cool product! I just checked thier website and they offer it for my Blackberry and I am going to swing by Best Buy and see if they have it in stock. Now if they had a product that would waterproof my blackberry, that would be awesome.

]]> Comment on Kitchen Minder Review by San Antonio Marketing http://www.aaronwpearson.com/kitchen-minder-review/comment-page-1/#comment-641 San Antonio Marketing Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:55:03 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=195#comment-641 Using the sales data from the previous week seems very flawed to me. To me it would seem wiser to figure out the percentage of an item sold per person over a statistically valid period of time. For instance, 58% of all sales include fries, 23% are double cheeseburgers, 8% Fried Chicken Sandwich, etc.. You would also want to calculate the average number of people per order. Then you could have an automated system that would either track the amount of people entering the store with some type of video recognition software and the staff would start to make certain items based on that data. You could also use cameras or metal detectors to determine how many cars are in the drive through. If a new store is being constructed, depending on the layout, metal detectors could be built into the drive ways that would determine how many cars are entering the property (and exiting) and then commands could be sent to the cooks 1 good minute prior to them ordering in the drive thru or walking into the store. Just a thought... Using the sales data from the previous week seems very flawed to me. To me it would seem wiser to figure out the percentage of an item sold per person over a statistically valid period of time. For instance, 58% of all sales include fries, 23% are double cheeseburgers, 8% Fried Chicken Sandwich, etc.. You would also want to calculate the average number of people per order. Then you could have an automated system that would either track the amount of people entering the store with some type of video recognition software and the staff would start to make certain items based on that data. You could also use cameras or metal detectors to determine how many cars are in the drive through. If a new store is being constructed, depending on the layout, metal detectors could be built into the drive ways that would determine how many cars are entering the property (and exiting) and then commands could be sent to the cooks 1 good minute prior to them ordering in the drive thru or walking into the store. Just a thought…

]]> Comment on Google Finance iPhone App by Google Finance iPhone App | Aaron Pearson Google Price http://www.aaronwpearson.com/google-finance-iphone-app/comment-page-1/#comment-448 Google Finance iPhone App | Aaron Pearson Google Price Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:50:52 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=336#comment-448 [...] from: Google Finance iPhone App | Aaron Pearson By admin | category: finance google | tags: default, iphone, keep-track, profit-or-loss, [...] [...] from: Google Finance iPhone App | Aaron Pearson By admin | category: finance google | tags: default, iphone, keep-track, profit-or-loss, [...]

]]> Comment on Image Resizing in Internet Explorer 7 and IE6 by admin http://www.aaronwpearson.com/image-resizing-in-internet-explorer-7/comment-page-1/#comment-412 admin Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:02:50 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=128#comment-412 I added to the original post above. Apparently this CSS command only works on JPG images. I added to the original post above. Apparently this CSS command only works on JPG images.

]]> Comment on Image Resizing in Internet Explorer 7 and IE6 by Alex Glover http://www.aaronwpearson.com/image-resizing-in-internet-explorer-7/comment-page-1/#comment-411 Alex Glover Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:39:19 +0000 http://www.aaronwpearson.com/?p=128#comment-411 Strangely, this css is not working for my site in IE7. I tried it in my regular stylesheet and in my IE stylesheet. Strangely, this css is not working for my site in IE7. I tried it in my regular stylesheet and in my IE stylesheet.

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