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User-generated content (UGC) can be a highly beneficial addition to company websites if it is properly used, a web design company has advised.

Speaking at the Internet World Conference in London, the managing director of Fortune Cookie Justin Cooke said UGC is a ‘great’ way of building a business as it allows the users to ‘do the convincing’ for the company.

Writer Frank Bell identified the key points that make UGC so popular in an article published in Entrepreneur.com.

He said that increased bandwidth, better tools for posting content, better internet penetration and connectivity and the rise of social networking were all contributing factors.

Mr Cooke said: ‘We are seeing more and more of our clients adopting more of a managed user-generated contents and strategy.’

However, he advised that a ‘huge’ amount of content may start failing and that it needed to be controlled by businesses in the same way they would monitor their websites.

Cyber-criminals can access free kits to aid them in launching phishing attacks, an online security resource has discovered.

The kits, discovered by PandaLabs, could allow the thieves to send out mass fraudulent emails mimicking bank web pages, online pay platforms and email accounts in order to trick people into handing over financial and personal data.

From the kit a criminal can access two files. One file allows the creation of spoof emails made to look like they have come from official sources and the other allows criminals to create mock-ups of genuine web pages.

The phishing attack takes place when the criminal spams internet users with the email, with a link to the fake web page. Users who follow the link will be asked to enter their personal data. Lists of email addresses can also be purchased from the internet.

Technical director of PandaLabs Luis Corrons said that the amazing thing was that the kits were free.

“Due to the simplicity of the tools, the number of phishing attacks increases, causing companies and consumers large losses,” said Mr Corrons.

Last week spam celebrated its 30th anniversary.

The number of people participating in online social networking is booming, a report has found.

There are currently 9.6 million people in the UK who belong to a social networking site and that number is forecast to nearly treble in the next five years, the report by Datamonitor revealed.

Although driven by the younger age groups, many older generations have now begun to be drawn in.

A report by Hitwise/Experian Integrated Marketing found that the role of social networks would be bigger than ever in 2008. It said that no business or government could afford to ignore the role these sites played in people’s lives.

Datamonitor’s consumer markets analyst and author of the report Matthew Taylor said: ‘Consumers are creating and joining existing social communities which, if harnessed correctly, can be an important marketing tool.’

The UK has the highest social networking membership in Europe and has been quick to embrace the technology. According to the report many start-up networks are only available in the English language.

Spam celebrated its 30th anniversary on Saturday (May 3rd).

The first reported mass email was sent to 350 people on May 3rd 1978 by Gary Thuerk to advertise a new system his company was pioneering. Even then, users greeted the email with criticism and distrust.

Today, it is estimated that 120 billion junk emails are sent every day, often resulting in internet users’ inboxes quickly filling up.

Spam was originally referred to as flooding, until an administrator of an internet chat system bestowed it with its new nickname. The term spam is thought to refer to the Monty Python sketch where a waiter reveals there is little on the menu but the processed and canned meat.

The European Union’s internal marketing commission estimated in 2001 that spam cost internet users €10 billion (approximately £7.87 billion) a year globally.

However, spam is not just annoying but could also install malware or result in financial data being stolen, Gary Cluley, a senior technology consultant, at Sophos told the BBC.

‘Spam is a burden on all of us’ he said.

A risk assessment company has advised people to take simple steps in protecting themselves against identity fraud.

Even locking away documents, shredding unneeded paperwork and making sure bins are properly emptied can all help in the fight against online fraud, Experian has said.

A report by Apacs in March found that cases of online credit fraud were up 25 per cent on the previous year’s figures, making up over half of all credit fraud cases.

Last year, 68 per cent of consumers said they were concerned that financial data could be stolen when they made online purchases, according to a report by Mintel Comperemedia.

Experian’s fraud and regulatory compliance director Helen Lord said: ‘Identity fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes of the 21st century, but there are steps people can take to prevent it from happening.’

She advised holding onto bills and receipts to check with bank statements and asking neighbors to look after each other’s post when one of them is away to discourage theft.

Manchester Free Software: ‘Free Software in Ethics and Practice’ - speaker: Richard Stallman

Thursday 1st May, 2008 - Talk starts at 6:45pm (ends approx. 8:30pm) with refreshments from 6:15pm.

Venue: Room D1, Renold Building, University of Manchester, Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3BB

There is no need to book a place - just turn up on the night.

Abstract

Richard Stallman will speak about the Free Software Movement, which campaigns for freedom so that computer users can cooperate to control their own computing activities. The Free Software Movement developed the GNU operating system, often erroneously referred to as Linux, specifically to establish these freedoms.
About the speaker

Richard Stallman launched the development of the GNU operating system (see www.gnu.org) in 1984. GNU is free software: everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make changes either large or small. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU operating system with Linux added, is used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several honorary doctorates.

Search engine providers need to be more transparent about how they utilise users’ data, a government initiative has said.

Get Safe Online, a joint initiative between the government and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, has said internet users should make a decision as to whether to remain with providers who use private information for things such as targeted advertising.

A report released this month by the European Union stated that search engines should not hold on to personal data for a period of more than six months. Google and Yahoo! currently carry a policy of rendering all users’ data anonymous after 18 months.

Managing director of Get Safe Online Tony Neate said: “It’s not always exactly transparent why they [search engine providers] need it [user data] so I’d like to see a bit more clarity in relation to the information that they hold and why.”

A June 2007 report by Privacy International said that Google demonstrated an “aggressive use of invasive or potentially invasive technologies”.

SMEs have been advised to increase their sales by selling through a website.

StartupCo, a support group for businesses, says this form of selling is a cost-effective and non-time consuming way of boosting sales.

A web presence can offer a low investment growth opportunity to businesses, with potentially high returns on those investments, the group said.

Managing director John De Groot said: ‘The absolute key is the ability to generate enough traffic to the website to get the best sales end result.’

He added that SMEs should not allow security fears to deter them from embracing e-commerce but advised them to reduce any risk by using reputable providers of online shopping carts, merchant accounts and payment encryption systems.

According to a report by IMRG Capgemini, online sales in February were up 46 per cent on last year’s figures, peaking at a record high of £3.23 billion ($4.2 billion).

Last week, the Internet Advertising Bureau said that advertising through video websites was a ‘powerful branding and messaging tool’ for SMEs.

An independent advisory body for SMEs has said that running a business from home can provide significant cost savings.

The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA) has said that developments in the internet have released some of the financial strain business owners face in getting their companies off the ground.

Statistics by Flexibility found that the number of employees working from home had risen by 11 per cent in 2005.

NFEA chief executive George Derbyshire said: ‘The NFEA network of enterprise agencies is now seeing a larger number of new business start-ups operating their businesses without the use of a traditional office.’

He added: ‘Of course, many of today’s business operations can be run with a mobile or by email.’

Mr Derbyshire said that as the businesses grow they may have to move to larger premises but that for the early stages it was an economically sensible decision for SMEs to make.

However, he added that it was still important to run a professional operation.

A European advisory body has recommended that internet search engines should delete users’ personal data.

The European Commission’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party report has told how search engines are unclear on their data protection policies and advised that all collected personal data should be deleted after six months, the BBC has reported.

The recommendation would mean that collected data could only be used for the purpose of searching.

If the commission accepts the request it could lead to conflict with popular American search engine companies.

Google and Yahoo! carry a policy of rendering all users’ data anonymous after a period of 18 months. MSN’s policy comes into action at 13 months.

In a statement Peter Fleischer of Google’s global privacy counsel said: ‘Google takes privacy incredibly seriously; protecting our users’ privacy is at the heart of all our products.’

Another obligation set out in the report was the obtainment of personal consent from users to allow their data to be uses in non-search services. It also asked search engines to give users clear information on the data they intended to collect.