Daily Archives: March 13, 2015

David Freer

The Jakarta Post

Publication Date : 13-03-2015

Indonesias Central Statistics Agency records over 80 million internet users within the country, which is the sixth largest amount of users globally. Unfortunately, the high internet penetration is also accompanied by low awareness of looming security threats.

According to Indonesias communications and information ministry, there have been 36.6 million cyber-attacks in Indonesia in the past three years. Most of the recorded attacks are attempts at data theft.

Not only are corporations and government institutions affected, but every other Indonesian is also susceptible to this type of attack on a daily basis.

You may have encountered an SMS malware circulating with the following message: Congratulations you won a prize! Please call us to claim your prize! accompanied by an illegitimate phone number getting people to transfer money, or an email that prompts internet users to install an app which actually leads them to download malware. These types of threats may happen to the best of us, and they share one common theme exploiting the human subconscious.

Many people may be familiar with renowned psychologist Robert Cialdinis Six Principles of Influence. In its most basic form, Cialdini offers a step-by-step psychological guide to getting people to say yes. Very effective in the workplace or that crucial sales meeting, but these principles arent necessarily confined to the noble quest of better business. In fact, cybercriminals are now swotting the latest social psychology tactics in order to get their hands on your data.

The prevalence of social engineering in many publicly disclosed cyber-attacks demonstrates either an inherent weakness in the acumen of victims to identify malicious communications, or that cyber criminals are using more complex methods to bypass the human firewall.

Link:
Human firewall in countering cyber attacks

Warning signs you are about to miss a cut: Your caddy is much more interested in waving to a good sort in the crowd than he is in helping you plan the master stroke that will get you soaring up the leaderboard

By Larry Canning

THE effects of missing the cut have been in the headlines of late and I feel I can speak with some credibility on Post Cut Depression or PCD. I thought Id share my experiences on the subject and try and help some of my less experienced Aussie colleagues.

This nasty affliction can turn a perfectly normal golfer into an untidy, alcohol fuelled self-absorbed man in the space of only a few hours if left untreated.

Common effects of PCD are the sudden urge to ask anyone in the street Do you know who I am? Sometimes this can just be the result of forgetting yourself after 19 beers but usually it comes from the loss of self-confidence which comes when at least 60 blokes just smacked your arse.

Another symptom is multiple hallucinations. I remember missing the cut in the Australia Open one year and as I walked out of the locker room, I swore I saw three French People Smugglers come at me with the intent of piling me into a golf cart and selling me into sexual slavery.

I even rang my mum, then handed the phone to one of my assailants. Mum told him she had a very specific set of skills and she would find them . then remove their genitals. Turned out it was only a small bump on my head I received with a sand-wedge after I told my caddy he wasnt going to be paid that week either.

I again finished just one short of a weekend jersey in the Thailand Open in the 1980s and fell fowl of an evil pick pocket. This mongrel waited until I was at my most vulnerable then pounced. I was standing at the trough in a Bangkok restaurant taking a well-earned leak when this evil human took advantage of my susceptibility and ripped off my travellers cheques from my back pocket! Well what could I do? By the time I had turned off the hose and wound it back, he was halfway to Singapore!

I was that upset and confused, I thought I had gone to the Cop Station and reported the crime to a Police Officer. Turned out I had mistakenly gone to a strip club and given my statement to a pole dancer.

For the uninitiated the onset of PCD usually begins around the 10th or 11th tee on Friday. The first thing you feel is the need to take far less time checking your yardages and a lot more time checking how much cash you have left in your wallet.

Read more from the original source:
Post Cut Depression scourge of golfers everywhere