Can You Get "Frogged?" - Did Congressman Weiner?

Hacking and creating dangers for Internet users proliferate with new apps and services. Ever hear of ImageShack's yFrog? No? Well lots of people use it and it could be trouble. Read all about it.

"Did Congressman Anthony Weiner really tweet a photo of his, well, wiener? It's possible, but he also might have been "hacked" via an image service vulnerability that makes it easy for anybody to send a photo to a user's account.

The incident happened over Memorial Day weekend: Weiner's official Twitter account sent a link to a photo on ImageShack's yFrog service of a man's bulging underpants. Weiner immediately denied sending the photo, claiming that his account was hacked. As this is a common defense used by politicians and celebrities against Twitter and Facebook boo-boos, many Weiner-watchers took the hacking claim with a grain of salt.

The truth, though, is that it is possible that the Weiner-wiener incident was pulled off by pranksters who knew how to manipulate yFrog into posting a photo to Weiner's account. yFrog, like many other image services, allows users to send a photo to a specialized e-mail address made for that person's account; when the service receives the message, it gets posted automatically and then tweeted out to the world" More Here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/lewd-prank-on-congressmans-twitter-account-might-be-yfrogs-fault.ars

So be very careful as you blithely sign up for trivial, fun, and entertaining (but non essential) Internet services and sites. It's not all free, fun, and benign. There are current or future dangers in EVERY social media or other site with which you register. Ask "Do I really need this? What could it do to my career and future?)

Steffen Schmidt