Social Pain Points

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Monk 1: I have been reading on this site called “Scriptingthewhy,” they seem on the level.
Monk 2: How!? We don’t have internet in the temple.
Monk 1: Oh yes we do, I’ve seen your browser history.
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Since the dawn of time, the one thing humans enjoy doing is communicating with one another. Just try to think of a day when you didn’t have a social interaction with someone. You can’t, but if you can then you may be something more to worry about than a serial killer.

Serial killers may do not-so-great things to people but at least they socialize. Anyhow moving along, we’re social creatures, it’s how we’re built, how we live together in not-so-perfect harmony, and it’s how we exploit each other. How?

Well, if you’re using these two apps on your phone or computer, you should watch out for some sneaky stuff going on while you’re logged in. In this we’re going to be looking at what kind of attack this is, who is using it, its effects upon release, and what are some ways to communicate with your fellowman securely.

Trish: I feel like I fell in love with a scammer.
Dave: Hm, that’s funny because you catfished me Cougarlove6tothe9 at yahoo.
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The Attack

If you are familiar with the following two applications, Slacker and Discord, then you might want to monitor for some activity in the days to come and if you don’t use these applications then still monitor anyway as this is one of the security best practices.

The Slacker application is a software tool that allows users to communicate and collaborate with each other in real-time. It can be used for various purposes, such as project management, team chat, file sharing, video conferencing, and more.

The Slacker application aims to improve productivity, efficiency, and creativity among its users. Slacker can also be a land of confusion because another trait of most humans working jobs they’re not too thrilled about is disorganization. Discord application is another popular platform for online communication and collaboration.

Discord allows users to create and join servers, channels, and voice chats, where they can share text, images, audio, and video. Discord also supports bots, which can provide various functions and features to enhance the user experience.

Discord is widely used by gamers, streamers, educators, and communities of various interests and topics. However, while these applications offer good, cybercriminals use them to distribute malicious links that appear to be legitimate or to embed Discord functionality into their malware to control or steal data from infected devices.

Cougarlove6tothe9 just joined your Slacker and Discord? Who the heck is this?
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Who Can It Be Now

Are you wondering who has been using this kind of attack? Well, when it comes to attacks like this, most of the time no one individual or group has been appointed for using phishing attacks.

The reason for this is that the perpetrators of phishing attacks are often unknown and untraceable, as they use various techniques to hide their identity and location.

Phishing attacks are not attributed to any specific person or group, as they can be carried out by anyone with malicious intent and some technical skills. Therefore, there is no definitive answer to the question of who is behind phishing attacks, as they can originate from anywhere and anyone.

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Sarah: Z-Daddy is saying that anyone of us could be the hacker.
Beth: Just blame it on Tom, he’s the one in front of the computer. They’re going to let him go in a week anyway.
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That Sinking Feeling

So how would something like this work? For those who never had those interesting emails saying you won some type of giveaway, or your prince or princess is waiting for you, we’ll explain.

In a phishing campaign, the email or message is sent with the intent to trick the victim into interacting with the malicious link. Once the link is clicked and depending on the payload code, a number of things can happen.

This ranges from creating a backdoor to stealing information from the machine, the attacker coming, and going as pleased without the victim knowing, and/or impersonating you completely.

These attacks can target individuals, organizations, or even governments. Discord has become a handy mechanism for cybercriminals. With growing frequency, they’re being used to serve up malware to victims in the form of a link that looks trustworthy.

In other cases, hackers have integrated Discord into their malware to remotely control their code running on infected machines, and even to steal data from victims. This leads to a real “How could you!?” moment.

Nope, not falling for this again. Cougarlove6tothe9 I’m changing all my passwords, and you are blocked from contacting me.
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The Prevention

There is nothing wrong with the applications themselves however, when interacting with individuals online it is better to be on guard as phishing attacks can take many forms, such as fake emails, websites, phone calls, or text messages that appear to come from legitimate sources.

To prevent phishing attacks, users should be careful and vigilant when interacting with any online communication that asks for sensitive information. Some tips to prevent phishing attacks are, do not click on links or open attachments from unknown or suspicious senders.

Verify the identity and authenticity of the sender before responding to any request for information. Use strong and unique passwords for different accounts and change them regularly.

Enable two-factor authentication whenever possible to add an extra layer of security. Install and update antivirus software and firewall on your devices. Report any suspicious or fraudulent activity to the appropriate authorities or organizations. But for a better and more solid outcome, just do not engage the email or message.

So, this is why you guys Scriptingthewhy so much? Ok, we’ll add it to our standup meetings.
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Made it this far and found this to be entertaining? Then a big thanks to you and please show your support by cracking a like, sharing this with whomever, scripting a comment, or plug-in to follow.

Would like to give sincere thanks to current followers and subscribers, your support and actions mean a lot and has a play in the creation of each script.

Do you feel like there is something I may have missed on phishing? Script a comment below.

A-Team of Top Tier

Quick note: if you’re viewing this via email, come to the site for better viewing. Enjoy!

young man wear eyeglasses on wall at home
I’m a team player, I just don’t like working on teams.
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Yeah it’s that time again, time to find out why being that hotshot lone ranger could do you more harm than good. You’ve been tasked with working on the creation of an application, and it has to reach the market as quickly as possible.

However, since it’s just you and you’re only one person, being able to launch is going to take a tall order chunk of time. You find this situation would be better suited if you were to have a team…I know what you’re thinking and no I wasn’t trying to make an A-Team reference, the words just landed in such a way.

Anyway, you’re pondering if you should gather a team to work on the creation of this wonderful, ground-breaking application. How would you feel if I told you that like finding anything you need on the internet, there’s an app for that?

Well not an actual app per se to build the team, but then again there’s an app for Indeed that kind of works like what we’re talking about- you know what, never mind, just know in order to build this team you’re going to need Indeed.

older man wearing a blue shirt
You mean there was a time before me? No grandpa, not that far.
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Developers Before Ops

So in the land before trying new ideas was a thing, when applications and such were in development there would be a team of developers and a team of operations.

The developers would go through several steps in creating an application, these steps were to plan, code, build, and test. On the other side, operations’ primary function was to test what the developers had made and provide feedback on what worked and what didn’t.

Operations steps were to deploy, operate, and monitor. An issue with working in this fashion was, when the developers were done and handed off to operations, many if not all of them took on other projects and by the time operations returned with their feedback for the developers to work on…they were, well for lack of better words, gone. Sounds bad? It was.

What was the solution to this problem? Well it’s the team we were talking about earlier. You didn’t read that part? Shame on you, go back up and read your line.

The name of the team is called DevOps, this is just a combination of the two… real creative I know. DevOps aims to shorten the development life cycle and provide rapid delivery with high software quality.

DevOps is complementary to Agile software development, actually, several aspects of DevOps came from the Agile way of working. I can see you with your hand raised. Z-daddy, what is Agile? Worry not child of mine, Z-daddy has you covered.

Agile is an iterative approach to project management and development that deliver value to their customers faster. There’s more to it than that but explaining would take over this script.

Just know the combination of developers and operations working in tandem speeds up the process and there are fewer headaches to deal with.

young man reading a burning newspaper
Our project went up in flames…the irony.
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Fathering DevOps

Who in their right mind would think to adopt this crazy outside-of-the-box format way of working?

Many large-name companies like; Amazon, Target, Nordstrom, Netflix, and Walmart have made the switch to DevOps and have seen a decent return in doing so. The DevOps model relies on effective tooling to help teams rapidly and reliably deploy and innovate.

So like with Netflix, when they adopted the DevOps model, they created a tool called “Simian Army” which created bugs in their systems on purpose to motivate developers to create kind of a “be prepared for anything” type of situation, so you could Netflix and become or find out you’re a baby’s daddy without having to worry about your service ever going out…which is kind of chill.

uncertain black man in hoodie
You said I’m who daddy now?
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Keys and Goals

What’s that? “This is madness,” you say. “Other things that make DevOps so important are that it emphasizes team empowerment, cross-team communication and collaboration, and technology automation.

All of this is supposed to nullify what happened back in the old days of development, I only say “supposed” because not sure if you have ever worked for a large company or not but if you have, you will know that communication is, for lack of better terms non-existent.

Again, I know that every company is different or at least they try to be but, in my experience, dear sweet Satan it’s been bad. Anyway, DevOps at its core, the ultimate goal is to enable the organization to deliver continuous value to its customers.

At the end of the day, the aim is for the customer to be happy with the product and use it worry-free.

photo of woman in red top wearing eyeglasses
Daddy said get out, but what if that was my goal all along?
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Degrees of Daddy Issues

So, have you been feeling peer pressure of returning to school to get a degree? Your daddy has been telling you to “either get a degree in something or get out”?

Well…I have good news and bad news. The good news first is, like always, Z-daddy got you and would never kick you out…unless you broke in then you would have to leave.

The bad news, however, is that you may have to leave if you don’t want to spend time in college because you don’t have to in order to get into DevOps… or many other fields. I don’t know why we’re still harping on the four or how many ever years in college troupe.

Education is, for the most part, free nowadays, going to a college is like going to a restaurant, depending on which one you attend you’re really just going because of the name. Sorry for the monologue, back to the script.

DevOps attracts people with technical and non-technical backgrounds, meaning you can be an intern who fetches coffee, refills, and beats on printers, and still, find your way to DevOps.

Alternate resources are doing some online courses or a coding Bootcamp. Gaining extensive knowledge of the Software Development Life Cycle or SDCL, automation tools, and processes to resolve complex operational problems would see you well.

Made it this far and found this to be entertaining? Then a big thanks to you and please show your support by cracking a like, scripting a comment, or plug-in to follow.

Would like to give sincere thanks to current followers and subscribers, your support and actions mean a lot and has a play in the creation of each script.

Do you have an interest in joining a DevOps team?

Script a comment below about what company you would dev for.