Dierckx & Associates

Risk Management, Legal & Financial Investigations, Forensic Services, Christchurch New Zealand

Employees in Virtual Worlds

		Friday, 30 November 07 - 04:22 AM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

Previously I wrote about recent case law that was of importance in relation to  companies to having their employees  share their  social networking contacts.  In this news bulletin from HR Magazine the issue of participation in virtual worlds for business purposes is considered.

"HR Challenges in Virtual Worlds"
HR Magazine (11/07) Vol. 52, No. 11, P. 85 ; Krell, Eric

Virtual communities, like Second Life, provide a myriad of human resources opportunities, including the ability to seek out potential hires. Even once employees are hired, virtual worlds allow employees, business partners, and clients to communicate without the costly restrictions of business travel. Experts also agree that virtual worlds can help firms meet corporate governance, compliance, and business continuity goals. For example, if a real-world office is forced to close, some business processes can remain active through the virtual office.

For all its advantages, HR managers should be aware of the risks that virtual world participation can pose, such as inappropriate behavior and intellectual property theft.

To minimize these risks, companies should institute consistent guidelines to help their employees navigate virtual worlds. First, managers should make sure their employees are aware they may be exposed to inappropriate user behavior in public virtual worlds and provide those workers with basic training regarding the ins and outs of virtual social interactions.

Next, employees must be warned that anything they say or do in a virtual world can be recorded, which means workers must follow company standards regarding intellectual property and other company assets. Employee-behavior policies in the virtual world can and should be shaped by existing employee-conduct standards.

In-world hires should also be given a sense of legitimacy to encourage proper behavior. HR managers must take the time to confirm the identity of greeters, designers, and other virtual contractors. Finally, companies should engage legal council to help them find the best course of action when dealing with virtual world HR issues.

"HR Challenges in Virtual Worlds"
HR Magazine (11/07) Vol. 52, No. 11, P. 85 ; Krell, Eric Virtual communities, like Second Life, provide a myriad of human resources opportunities, including the ability to seek out potential hires. Even once employees are hired, virtual worlds allow employees, business partners, and clients to communicate without the costly restrictions of business travel. Experts also agree that virtual worlds can help firms meet corporate governance, compliance, and business continuity goals. For example, if a real-world office is forced to close, some business processes can remain active through the virtual office. For all its advantages, HR managers should be aware of the risks that virtual world participation can pose, such as inappropriate behavior and intellectual property theft. To minimize these risks, companies should institute consistent guidelines to help their employees navigate virtual worlds. First, managers should make sure their employees are aware they may be exposed to inappropriate user behavior in public virtual worlds and provide those workers with basic training regarding the ins and outs of virtual social interactions. Next, employees must be warned that anything they say or do in a virtual world can be recorded, which means workers must follow company standards regarding intellectual property and other company assets. Employee-behavior policies in the virtual world can and should be shaped by existing employee-conduct standards. In-world hires should also be given a sense of legitimacy to encourage proper behavior. HR managers must take the time to confirm the identity of greeters, designers, and other virtual contractors. Finally, companies should engage legal council to help them find the best course of action when dealing with virtual world HR issues.

"HR Challenges in Virtual Worlds"
HR Magazine (11/07) Vol. 52, No. 11, P. 85 ; Krell, Eric Virtual communities, like Second Life, provide a myriad of human resources opportunities, including the ability to seek out potential hires. Even once employees are hired, virtual worlds allow employees, business partners, and clients to communicate without the costly restrictions of business travel. Experts also agree that virtual worlds can help firms meet corporate governance, compliance, and business continuity goals. For example, if a real-world office is forced to close, some business processes can remain active through the virtual office. For all its advantages, HR managers should be aware of the risks that virtual world participation can pose, such as inappropriate behavior and intellectual property theft. To minimize these risks, companies should institute consistent guidelines to help their employees navigate virtual worlds. First, managers should make sure their employees are aware they may be exposed to inappropriate user behavior in public virtual worlds and provide those workers with basic training regarding the ins and outs of virtual social interactions. Next, employees must be warned that anything they say or do in a virtual world can be recorded, which means workers must follow company standards regarding intellectual property and other company assets. Employee-behavior policies in the virtual world can and should be shaped by existing employee-conduct standards. In-world hires should also be given a sense of legitimacy to encourage proper behavior. HR managers must take the time to confirm the identity of greeters, designers, and other virtual contractors. Finally, companies should engage legal council to help them find the best course of action when dealing with virtual world HR issues.

Go to website here

Yaari, a scam: a big apology to all my contacts.

		Sunday, 25 November 07 - 03:13 AM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

Social Networks: Facebook Alleged to Join the Ranks of Social Networking Sites Attracting Sexual Predators

		Thursday, 04 October 07 - 03:04 AM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

It was of course a matter of time. Facebook, the increasingly popular social networking site has now been subpoenaed because the results of a 50 state investigative effort has indicated that the site is used by sexual predators.

According to Reuters on 2 October New Jersey State Attorney General Anne Milgram said on Tuesday her office has subpoenaed Facebook to discover whether convicted sex offenders in the state have profiles on the popular social networking site.

Milgram issued the subpoena on Monday to Facebook along with letters to 11 other social networking sites asking them to compare member accounts against a list of sex offenders.

Read the whole Story here

The week before New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said  his office is investigating Facebook, accusing the social networking site of not keeping young users safe from sexual predators and not responding to user complaints.

In a letter accompanying a subpoena for documents, Cuomo said a preliminary review revealed defects in Facebook's safety controls and in its response to complaints. He said these shortcomings contrast with assurances made by the company.

Read the whole story here

Facebook has seen rapid growth once the initially a students network opened up for "grown ups" as well. While many grown ups are attracted to Facebook as a  way of  building social and business relationships,  once again it did not take long before those with less noble intentions found their way to this networking site.

Recently I reported on how social networking sites have been used for the purpose of identity theft. (See here). Bebo has been found to have been used by teenagers offering sexual favors in return for drugs.MySpace and other social networking sites have been identified as being prone to on line grooming and sexual predators. One in three children were identified as being a victim of cyber bullying.

"Facebook has led the industry in giving people tools to control the information they share and with whom they choose to share it," Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker said in reply to an AFP inquiry. (Source Yahoo)

But here's the deal, it's mist likely not what you offer in terms of privacy protection tools it's all about anticipating how those teens will use them. Time and time again it is noted that the best tools can protect your children if they are not being enforced.

Now of course we can all sit back and wait until things are made right by these service providers but I think it is helpful if in the meantime we as parents assist our children in educating them on the risks of being involved in cyberlife.

See here for some additional tips to get you going.And oh yes: if you are one of these teenagers with an active internet life, read them and pretend it was a friend telling you about it.

• Take 25 (Minutes to Enhance your Child's Safety)
• On Line Networking and Child Safety
• Online Social Networking Security
• Be careful what you share online

Those with an avid preference for Linkedin will now be laughing. Personally, I wonder how long it will take before the first sexual harassment will be published since the introduction of a profile picture there.

 

Social Networks: Bebo as drug dealing network?

		Thursday, 27 September 07 - 09:56 PM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

In recent articles I mentioned the risk of online grooming and how certain social networking sites are being abused for that.

See also: 

• Take 25 (Minutes to Enhance your Child's Safety)
• Cyber Bullying
• On Line Networking and Child Safety
  
  

To the list of abusive practices we can now add drug dealing according to this news item.

Friday, 28 September 2007

 Website used by teens to get drugs

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4218173a10.html?source=RSStopstories_20070928

Nelson teenagers are using the social networking Internet site Bebo to find drug dealers and offer sexual favours in exchange for alcohol and drugs, police say.

The Nelson CIB and Youth Aid say the popular site is cropping up again and again in cases involving sex, drugs and bullying.

Nelson Youth Aid officer Constable Kathy Pomfrett said that while most teenagers used Bebo safely and like a chatroom, a growing number were using it to trade in sexual favours.

Bebo is a website where users can build their own home page, upload photographs and communicate with other members. The information can be easily viewed by the public if privacy conditions are not applied.

Miss Pomfrett said teenage girls in Nelson were putting nude photos of themselves on the site and offering a range of sexual favours in return for alcohol and drugs ranging from cannabis to methamphetamine.

In doing so, they were putting too much personal information in a shared public space and placing themselves at risk, she said.

Miss Pomfrett would not comment on how many cases Nelson Youth Aid had encountered, but said the "increasing amount" had made police very concerned.

She said it was common for teenagers to use the site to discuss where they could get drugs from in Nelson, and where parties would be held.

Detective Constable Aaron Kennaway said the Nelson CIB was well aware that teenagers used the site to swap stories about where they could buy drugs.

He said he was investigating a sexual violation case in Nelson where there was a possibility that the alleged offender had obtained contact details for the young teenage complainant from her Bebo home page.

Mr Kennaway said parents should keep home computers in an open, shared space, check the details their children put on the Bebo site, and remove home addresses or phone numbers.

Youth Aid officer Senior Constable Greg Allen said most Nelson teenagers would have a Bebo home page, but they usually lost interest in the site by the time they were 19 or 20.

He said cyber-bullying through Bebo was a growing concern. "There is some pretty nasty character assassinating going on."

Threats and challenges were placed on the site, and police had been to at least one incident where a group of teens had gathered looking for a fight after contacting each other through Bebo, he said.

Miss Pomfrett said she had contacted Nelson schools to discuss the possibility of Bebo being banned from school computers.

However, many students would have enough computer knowledge to get on to the site if they really wanted to.

Cyber-safety education provider Netsafe said it received weekly calls from people with similar concerns to those voiced in Nelson.

Spokeswoman Rachel Harrison said anyone who signed up to Bebo agreed to terms and conditions stating they were aged over 13, would not publish objectionable material, and would abide by other conditions.

She said producing obscene material was illegal in New Zealand, and teenagers needed to be aware that they could be breaking the law through what they uploaded.

She said websites were accesible from any gaming console, at Internet cafes and via cellphones, so banning them at home or in schools was not the answer to parents' fears.

The Nelson Mail is awaiting a response from Bebo, but the terms and conditions on its website state that it must not be used for illegal activity.

The site said it could remove inappropriate material, but had no obligation to do so or to monitor use of the service.

In July, Bebo launched the website www.bebosafety.com. It features a range of educational resources, videos and animations aimed to help promote "safe and responsible social networking".

International Internet analyst comScore said that 582,000 different Internet users aged 15 and over from New Zealand logged on to Bebo in March.

Online Social Networking security

		Monday, 06 August 07 - 10:21 PM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

With the explosion of online social networking sites like myspace, facebook, and the many others nit mentioned here,  security issues were bound to be identified. Hackers find them a new "juicy target" according to recent media coverage.I guess the same rule applies here: in an urge to be part of the developments availability and accessibility are priority number one whilst security is something of a later concern.

Again the need for updating your own software was identified at the Defcon and Blackhat conferences this year.

Associated Press
Hackers: Social Networking Sites Flawed
By JORDAN ROBERTSON 08.06.07, 7:45 AM ET

LAS VEGAS - Social networking Web sites such as MySpace.com are increasingly juicy targets for computer hackers, who are demonstrating a pair of vulnerabilities they claim expose sensitive personal information and could be exploited by online criminals. The flaws are being demonstrated this week at the Black Hat and Defcon hacker conferences, which draw thousands of people to Las Vegas each year for five days of training and demonstrations of the latest exploits.

Black Hat, the more genteel of the two events with heavy industry sponsorship and big admission fees, ended Thursday with some 4,000 attendees. Defcon, larger and more roguish, started smoothly Friday, without any of the registration problems that irked fire officials last year and caused lengthy delays. Organizers said more than 6,800 people attended the first day, with more expected Saturday.

There was a moment of drama in the afternoon when organizers received a tip that an undercover NBC producer was covertly filming some of the sessions. The woman was identified during one of the presentations, and she hustled away from the convention site without comment.

An NBC spokeswoman said the network doesn't comment on its newsgathering practices. Defcon organizers said NBC had been offered press credentials but declined.
Infiltrating password-protected social networking sites has been an increasingly fruitful area of study for hobbyists and professional computer security researchers.

One hacker, Rick Deacon, a 21-year-old network administrator from Beachwood, Ohio, says he's discovered a so-called "zero-day" flaw - or a problem that hasn't been patched yet - in MySpace that allows intruders to commandeer personal Web pages and possibly inject malicious code.

Deacon is scheduled to present his findings Sunday. So far, it only affects older versions of the Firefox Web browser and does not affect Internet Explorer, he said.

The attack uses a so-called "cross-site scripting" vulnerability, a common type of flaw found in Web applications that involves injecting code onto someone else's Web page.

The vulnerability could not be independently verified, but experts said these types of attacks are a particular problem for social networking sites, where it's difficult to police the content of the millions of posts each day.

Deacon said the flaw he discovered requires that a user click on a link that leads to a Web page where the computer's "cookie" information is stolen. Deacon said he discovered the problem several months ago along with several other researchers and alerted MySpace, but the company didn't fix the problem.

"Facebook and MySpace both patch things that they find, but it's like a sandbox," Deacon said. "There's so much. And there are probably hundreds more cross-site scripting vulnerabilities there. There's no way they can find them all."

A MySpace spokeswoman declined to comment specifically about Deacon's presentation. The company said in a statement that "it's our responsibility to have the most responsive, solely dedicated 24-7 safety and security team, and we do."

In a separate demonstration, Robert Graham, chief executive of Atlanta-based Errata Security, showed a program for snooping on the computers on public wireless networks to steal the "cookie" information and hijack e-mail accounts and personal Web pages on social networks.

In his Black Hat presentation, he took over the e-mail account of an audience member using Google Inc. (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people )'s Gmail service. Graham said his program demonstrates the vulnerability of public wireless connections.

"Everyone has gotten into their minds that passwords over WiFi are toxic, so let's fix that, and they have," Graham said. "What I'm saying is that everything else is just as toxic."
Graham's demonstration would not have worked if the audience member had been using the encrypted version of Gmail.

Google declined to comment specifically on the presentation but said the company is expanding its capacity to enable automatic encryption for all Gmail users.

Be Careful What You Share Online

		Wednesday, 25 July 07 - 06:14 AM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

On other occasions I have warned about the risks of identity theft and sharing  personal information on line. This article from BBC news is for those that don't believe me.

People who use internet networking sites are being warned that they could be at risk of identity theft.

Credit information group Equifax said members of sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook may be putting too many details about themselves online.

It said fraudsters could use these details to steal someone's identity and apply for credit and benefits.

About 80,000 people in the UK were victims of identity theft last year, at a cost to the economy of £1.5bn.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6910826.stm

Published: 2007/07/22 14:06:00 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Online Networking and Child Safety

		Friday, 20 July 07 - 05:45 AM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

Over 80% of the Kiwis have Internet access and over 45% of the people using the internet are active or less active in some way on social networking sites like Facebook,  Myspace,  and the many others that are around.

Recently the issue of child safety was raised again in relation to one of these sites: Stickam, which offers amongst others the option of unfiltered live video chat. At the same time, regardless of the age policy of 14 years and older it was identified that age was not verified. On top of that it was claimed that whilst the user policies forbid obscene, profane and indecent behavior, there were adequate resources available to adequately monitor or enforce such policies.

Recent media exposure of child abusive practices such as pornography and grooming again exposed how easy things can go wrong.

Social Networking sites have become places where the young hang out to meet new people and to chat with friends, to share content such as pictures and videos. As such there is nothing wrong with that. Our daily lives more and more have a virtual reality to them, that is just part of the technological and social developments. There are good reasons to promote online networking activities and participation in interest groups and networking sites online. John Stephen Veitch of Adapt to Experience, a Christchurch consultant and acquaintance, offers some valuable insights on the benefits of active participation in the online world as well as helpful advise on how to get started.

But there is another side to this as well especially where it concerns the safety  of your child.  In a recent Crime Scene documentary (TV1), researchers posing as 14 year old teenage girls started to hang out on (social networking) sites to find that within the shortest period of time they were receiving sexually explicit texts and images as well as invitations to meet.

In my personal opinion, it is important that we as society but especially as parents, we make our children aware that there is a darker side to the internet and that abuse, especially of younger people (children/teenagers) is a realistic possibility. 

Teenagers, having the hormones raging through their bodies, usually have better computer skills than judgment capabilities.Although there are indications that younger people get more savvy and alert, one victim is still too much.

Child Abuse Online

The rise in online networking has made life considerably easier for those with less noble intentions, also for child abusers.

Online sexual offending in broad terms can be categorised in three groups:

• Grooming: engaging in sexually explicit chat with a view to meet for sexual purposes
• Sexual exploitation short of real life meeting  (cybersex chat with underaged people)
• Child Pornography:  Sending explicit material to children,  luring or forcing children into providing sexually explicit material  of themselves or others,  the distribution of such material.
  

Higher Victimisation Risk Groups
Overseas studies of arrested offenders have found that many of them had relationships with children. These predators know exactly what too look for just like fraudsters know how to spot an easy mark.

Children with a higher risk of being a victim of such abuse are most often found to be:

• from dysfunctional and/or impoverished backgrounds
• socially alienated
• depressed or suffering from other mental or emotional issues
• maladjusted

Besides that, youngsters are found to not always be aware of the risks. A study that was published in the February 2007 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine reported on the assessment of 9 types of behavior that are generally associated with higher risks such as giving out personal details, talking with strangers. sexual behavior and peer to peer downloading of files.

It was found that 75% of the youth interviewed admitted to engage in at least one category of the assessed behavior. 20+ percent admitted to being involved in four or more risk enhancing behaviors, which would mean an eleven times higher change of becoming a victim.

The Water Bed Effect
With MySpace having set of on a new course by appointing a Chief Security Officer, hiring a police liaison officer, setting off public service announcements together with the NCMEC, the deletion of already well past  a quarter of a million profiles that do not comply with the user policies (too young, too explicit) some are looking for other alternatives and that is where sites with less strict policies or less strictly enforced policies come in like Stickam (www.stickam.com) or LiveLeak or Daily Motion.

The Downside of Enhanced Security Features
Where these social networking sites make life a lot easier for predators, we see at the same time that life gets harder and harder for those that are involved in investigating these types of crimes.

We see a vast growth in tools that make it possible to hide or spoof identities and IP addresses, decentralised P2P networks, encryption,  and so on. Virtually every day new tools appear on the market that it harder and harder to obtain investygatuive results.

Some safety tips
Here are tips to enhance your safety and more importantly that of your child:

• Most importantly be open and make sure your child can talk with you, make sure it knows it is being loved
• Be clear in the agreements with your child in what is and what is not allowed and what to do in case of an incident
• Explain the risks of online sexual solicitation and the risk of talking to strangers
• Discuss the risks of meeting face to face and be very cautious about it
• Do some checks first before you give your ok
• Make sure meetings if any are in public places
• Make sure that you know where your children are
• Teach your children to be very careful with sending and posting personal information
• Install firewall, filtering software, anti spy ware, anti virus software and monitor what is going on on the internet
• Be open about that and discuss your worries
• Encrypt wireless networks at home
• Discourage downloading games and other media that could contain undesired content
• Supervise contacts and friends the same way as in real life
• Monitor on line activity of your children regularly
• Set security settings high of your software (windows, browser and email) high
• Understand and approve used screen names and ensure they don't guve away too much private details
• Make sure that children post only what they and you are comfortable with when others see it
• Discuss the need of posting a photo in profiles
• Discuss that flirting with strangers can be risky and even dangerous
• Trust your gut feeling if you are suspicious or uncomfortable
• Report suspected behavior

Resources:
www.dia.govt.nz
www.ecpat.org.nz
www.netsafe.co.nz
www.safenz.org

Social Networking And Ownership of Profiles

		Friday, 20 July 07 - 05:41 AM (GMT) By John ML Dierckx in Online Social Networking & Business

Many employees nowadays  use social and business networking sites to expand their range of contacts, leads and relationships. LinekdIn. Ecademy, Viadeo, Xing, to name just a few of the by now hundreds of sites.

More than once these employees use the bosses time for that and actually use this for the purpose of their work.

Over time a network and a profile is built and than it is time to move on to a new job. What happens with that profile and the contacts associated with this profile?
Recently I stumbled upon this article at The Register with the alluring title:

Your Boss Could Own you Face Book Profile
Published Monday 16th July 2007 09:08 GMT

Employers could have grounds to demand ownership of employees' social networking profiles, such as those generated on Facebook, MySpace or Bebo, according to a leading intellectual property lawyer.

The news comes in the wake of a court ruling which forced a journalist to hand over the contents of his contacts list to his former employer after he left that company.

Employers could insist on gaining ownership of some social networking content, though only in limited circumstances, according to IP law expert Catrin Turner of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM.

"If a social networking site is used to hold any information which relates to your employment, if that information is prepared in the course of your employment you are dealing with company property," said Turner.

The profile, or the elements of it that are work related, would belong to the employer despite the fact that it was created and is hosted in a virtual environment primarily designed for personal interaction.

Read the full article here.

Something to think about for networkers amongst my readers that are employed. When you want to keep your network for yourself, make sure you keep it personal and in your personal time.

... More items are available in our News Archive