Comments on: Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree

By: Your Twitter Account Has Been Hacked... And You Are To Blame?

Your Twitter Account Has Been Hacked... And *You* Are To Blame? — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:10:59 +0000

[...] I’m about to say isn’t going to be popular with some people – but I’ve got to say it, anyway! Andy Beard recently posted on his blog about the spate of new tools and "viral" scripts that [...]

By: Paul Hancox (.com)

Paul Hancox (.com) — Fri, 22 May 2009 03:55:00 +0000

Andy, after giving this further thought I realize there’s another danger of these scripts asking for the password…

I have no doubt the scripts themselves are legitimate, but what’s to stop a hacker or scammer from simply creating a page with WHAT APPEARS TO BE the same script, but which really just serves to provide the scammer with your Twitter password?

How is a user supposed to tell the difference between a legitimate use of a script, and one used for the purpose of scamming? The answer is: you can’t, unless you ABSOLUTELY trust the site owner.

That’s why I won’t be using any script that asks me for my Twitter or Gmail password – and I would encourage everybody to use them with extreme *caution*. After all, if a person’s account gets hacked, and they’ve given out their password to a site other than the official one (i.e. Twitter.com or Gmail.com), isn’t there the *possibility* that THAT PERSON may be responsible for their account being hacked, because they gave it to some site that claimed to be using a trusted script?

Paul Hancox

P.S: Andy, I will be launching a Twitter viral marketing tool shortly which will *not* require anybody’s password – I’d love for you to test and review it… just drop me an email if you’re up for that. Hopefully it will give you some points for comparison :)

By: Kenny

Kenny — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:42:56 +0000

Thank you for an excellent post – sharing a very ethical perspective on launches. You are really adding to the thought of what is going on in IM. Thank you!
Kenny

By: GadoWager (Gado Wager)

GadoWager (Gado Wager) — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:46:29 +0000

http://is.gd/xyBb Twitter Viral Hell

By: Terri

Terri — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:47:08 +0000

Wow what great information, thanks for posting, of course some of the warnings came to late because I have fallen prey to some of the things you mentioned, bet lot of us did.

Hope this isn’t off topic but I like entrecard but I have to practice safe dropping on blogs I know are safe because I had to pay over $200 to have dell support clean up viruses etc picked up from blogs who have the entrecard widget and viciously infect your site. Some things look and sound harmless especially to non-tech type.

By: mirc

mirc — Sun, 10 May 2009 03:40:49 +0000

This is ridiculous – I didn’t know all this stuff was going on. You’d hope that the average user would be wary of a web form that asks you to supply your username and password on an account for which the website is not the official source.

By: mihaibojin (Mihai Bojin)

mihaibojin (Mihai Bojin) — Sat, 09 May 2009 20:03:59 +0000

Viral hell – a must read post: http://tinyurl.com/d4frhj http://plurk.com/p/ssuyt

By: John

John — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:38:30 +0000

Excellent post Andy – I couldn’t agree more.

It amazes me how many people don’t even think twice about entering their login info for Gmail, Twitter or whatever into these scripts. Especially since some of them come from people who aren’t very well known, if at all.

In some ways, it’s part of the same problem that causes a lot of viruses and malware to spread so quickly. People don’t pay attention to what they’re doing, they just click where they’re told to click.

Using a computer or the internet should be like driving – you have to pass a test before you get your license :-)

By: Product Launch Affiliate Strategy

Product Launch Affiliate Strategy — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:57:44 +0000

[...] Andy Beard – Internet Business Systems Internet Marketing, Lead Acquisition, Online Business Strategy and Social Media with Original Opinion and Loads of Attitude « Twitter Viral Hell With Launch Tree [...]

By: Single Maria

Single Maria — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:43:25 +0000

I began using Twitter some times ago, but each day I get annoyed more and more. There are many disadvantages. and spams. I am tired of it. Hope people who dont recognize it yet, soon will do it. The end of Twitter is inevitable!