Reality of the Warning Messages Regarding Bottle BOMBs Containing Drano (Drain-o)

Beware! It’s a Cyber World - - Summary:

A message is circulating which claims that plastic bottle containing Drano, tin foil and specific amount of water can be found anywhere in unsuspecting people’s houses where any stranger can access without the knowledge of residents like court-yards, lawns, mail-boxes and driveways. According to message this is not a mere plastic bottle but it is a real ‘BOMB’ which can explode once picked up by anyone causing serious injuries.

Let’s have a look to the screen shot of the message below; but remember the message contents might be different with the same intent:

Beware! It’s a Cyber World - - Explantion:

The warning in the message is based on few real incidents in United States after which police have to issue the warning to the residents of York Township. This is happening in the USA and in the other parts of the world, but the chemistry is very simple and, no doubt, will spread. Friends, please be very, very careful. Such bottle BOMBS are also known as MacGyver bombs, acid bombs, works bombs and soda bombs.

Few youngsters are putting Drano or Drain-o (sodium hydroxide), a common household item, and a little water in soda bottles and capping it up - leaving it on lawns. When you go to pick up the trash and the bottle is shaken just a little while you pick it up - in about 30 seconds or less it builds up a gas and explodes with enough force to remove some of your extremities. The liquid that comes out is boiling hot as well.

Don't pick up any plastic bottles that may be lying in your yards or in the gutter, etc. Pay attention to this. A plastic bottle tightly capped with a little Drano in it along with a little amount of water is really dangerous because when anyone shakes it or moves it then just BOOM!! No fingers left and other serious effects to your face, eyes, etc.

See it in action in the video clip below:

quadruple drano bomb - Watch more Funny Videos

Youngsters are doing this for just fun.

This is evil in its purest form. Violence for the sake of violence. Destruction for its own sake. No goal. No point. No purpose. No way to negotiate. A step beyond political terrorism.

Identity Theft: The Latest Groing Cyber Threat - - Doubled in Last 4 Years

Latest Cyber Threat: Identity Theft Doubled in 4 Year to 10%

A recent survey revealing online identity fraud has doubled in 4 years to 10%, demonstrates the need for people to fast track their education on the ways they can be swindled, and what the effects can be should they become victims of identity theft, a national credit repairer says.

Director of MyCRA Credit Repairs, Graham Doessel says there is a host of information for internet users about how to stay safe online, but many people don’t learn about identity theft until they or someone they know becomes a victim.

“Often it is not understood how easy it is for criminals to steal peoples’ personal information or bank details online, and then use that information to take out credit in the victim’s name,” Mr Doessel says.

The survey, conducted by Galaxy Research and released by VeriSign Authentification Services showed how 10% of the 2510 Australians surveyed have lost money to online fraud in the past year, with those losses reported to total $1.286 billion.

This figure appears to have doubled from Australian Bureau of Statistics data which surveyed over 16,000 Australians for its Personal Fraud Survey in 2007.

The data showed 5% of Australians or 800,000 people had been the victim of personal fraud. These figures were across the board, including but not exclusive to internet use.

Mr Doessel attributes the increase in identity fraud to a growth in general use of the internet, with more people socialising, banking and conducting shopping and business online than ever.

“With the increase in internet use is the potential for criminals to mastermind a profit from that use. What is not known from the recent figures is how many of those identity fraud victims have had the crime impact their credit rating. Certainly more of our credit repair clients than ever are claiming to be victims of fraud,” he says.

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Scoop World

Smartphones Will Be The Target of Scammers in 2011

Scammers and hackers are always trying to get your personal information to pad their pockets and make your life difficult.

Smartphones are the new edge of scam artist targets. With the increasing number of smartphone owners who store highly sensitive information on these smartphones, scammers are trying to get into your smartphone via applications. The computer experts suggest being careful from the wicked spyware masked in a game or an app. If someone downloads one of these apps, the scammers can steal data such as passwords and financial details using the access to the device through malware.

So it is suggested, before downloading, to check the application, developer and reviewer comments.

‘SMS-o-Death': Carefully Crafted Text Messages Sent Via SMA Can Cause Shutdown of Popular Models By Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson

Security researchers have shown that carefully crafted text messages sent to cell phones via short message service (SMS) can cause them to shutdown without the knowledge of the owner. Popular models by Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson are said to be affected by what the researchers call ‘SMS-o-Death'.

Researchers from the Berlin Institute of Technology used the simple trick of imitating the data messages network providers send to phones. Usually the messages are used for tasks such as configuring the device for a particular provider, but they can easily be subverted.

Perhaps surprisingly, the attack targets regular "feature phones" rather than smartphones. Feature phones are so-called because they typically perform one or two other tasks, such as MP3 playback or web browsing, in addition to making calls.

Feature phones are significantly less expensive than smartphones, so--although smartphones get most press attention--out in the real world they find most use amongst the world's population. Therefore, the scale of the hack could be huge.

The researchers made their discoveries by creating their own testbed cell phone tower in a lab shielded from outside signals. They monitored communications from the phone and by doing so were able to create messages that attacked every single model of phone they studied.

To attack an individual's phone, one would need to know the make and model. However, a large-scale random denial of service attack would be easy to carry out: with a little research to find the most popular phone models on the market today, an attacker could send a series of messages targeting each phone to specific or random numbers via the various Internet gateways that allow bulk text message sending. Anybody receiving the dodgy message would have their phone silently switch off, without their knowledge. If the hack didn't work on a user's particular model of phone, it would simply be ignored as gibberish.

Of course, the researchers are keeping secret their exact methods but now the cat is out of the bag it won't be long until hackers come up with their own versions.

There's little that can be done to thwart attacks. Phone firmware could be reprogrammed to block such messages, but the majority of non-smartphone owners simply don't update their phones. Many aren't even aware it's possible, and those who are often avoid doing so for fear updating to buggy software, something that sadly is all too common. Often inexpensive phones come without a USB cable, making updating impossible unless one is purchased.

Service providers could filter out the messages from their network but, although filtering software is often already in place to capture spam, it doesn't presently have the ability to catch data messages, such as those used in the attack.

The good news is that the relative simplicity of feature phones means that the hack is limited to annoying tricks, such as turning-off the phone. It'll be almost impossible for attackers to inject their own code into phones in order to steal data, for example, something which is possible with higher-level smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and, potentially, devices running Google Android.

It's been an uneasy time recently in the world of mobile phone security. Last year it was shown how GSM phone communications can be hacked with just $1500 of hardware, allowing attackers to listen into communications.