dispatches from the new world of work

Been Hacked? There's Hope.

[Our guest blogger is John O'Leary. It seems Erik called him upon receiving spam from John's email address. The conversation led to this idea. The post is a re-blog from John's website.]

One nice thing about being repeatedly hacked in your email and social networking accounts is hearing back from old friends and business colleagues you haven't been in touch with for years! I'm sure you can relate. In my case I can't say that everyone on my spammed contact list has been entirely pleased to hear from me—or who they thought was me—but amazingly many of them have taken the bait. It appears that hundreds of folks are now wondering how I've been able to start so many multi-million-dollar home businesses this year AND successfully sell cheap meds on the side (while maintaining a consulting practice). Well, I've decided to exploit this opportunity and share my trade secrets in a new book I'm working on: How *YOU* Can Make Millions From Getting Hacked & Spammed in Your Spare Time. (The first step is: Don't give up that AOL account.) Subtitle: Business Lessons From Viagra.

John O'Leary posted this on 04/21/10.

Comments

John - your Nigerian uncle (you remember, the one who was in charge of Government procurement) apparently has $32m he needs to transfer to a US bank account and is offering a 10% facilitator's fee. Give him a call quick before someone else earns it...!

Posted by Mark JF at April 21, 2010 1:22 PM

Mark, he contacted YOU too?? Wow, what are the odds of that? Yeah, I handled that weeks ago and I'm sure the money's on the way. He hasn't responded to my last few emails, but that's probably just an aol problem.

Posted by John O'Leary at April 21, 2010 2:27 PM

John- They say a picture's worth a thousand words - and since I know that you "Rock!" thought you might want to check out the Worcester Art Muse this weekend.
Cheers, Barb Sinclair

Artist Talk: Bob Gruen
Sunday, April 25, 2-3pm
Rock & roll photographer Bob Gruen has captured the public and private moments of music's elite, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elton John and Kiss. In this talk, Gruen will draw upon his experiences working with these musical legends to offer his insights on the exhibition Selections from Who Shot Rock & Roll. Cost is free with admission.

Posted by Barbara Sinclair at April 21, 2010 2:27 PM

Nice to hear from you, Barb, after all these years. (Does this mean you've been spammed by me too?)

Everybody's telling me to drop AOL but that would mean the terrorists have won.

Yes, Gruen's pix of John Lennon are especially brilliant. http://www.bobgruen.com/files/johnlennon.html

Posted by John O'Leary at April 21, 2010 8:45 PM

Most of the time it is pretty obvious since my email conversations aren't normally about trading ideas for getting cheaper med's. But I have to say some of the subject heading's have caught my eye. My solution is to use a different email address for my more public searches and requests online. That probably reduces the chance I'll get spammed.

Posted by Vic at April 23, 2010 1:27 PM

I should probably do the same, Vic. But I might miss getting those extra fifty emails a day.

In the end I think it's important for all of us to remember that hackers and spammers are people too.

Posted by John O'Leary at April 23, 2010 2:01 PM

But John--a lot of the hackers and spammers these days are not people, they are mere robotic constructs...

Posted by Northeast Jim at April 23, 2010 2:16 PM

NE Jim: all the more reason for compassion. They're not responsible for their actions.

Posted by John O'Leary at April 23, 2010 4:14 PM

Thank you for your contrarian thinking, John O'L. And surely your computer is part of the world's largest botnet. The feeling must be wonderful that you are contributing to the effort to communicate with every computer-owner in the entire world!

Posted by Mike L. at April 23, 2010 7:05 PM

Wow, I never thought of it like that, Mike. It makes me feel kinda goose-bumpy that I can touch the lives of so many. Even while I sleep.

Posted by John O'Leary at April 23, 2010 9:56 PM