Darby Sieben - » Uncategorized

Hard Rock Cafe and Silverlight

Darby Sieben — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:59:58 +0000

Currently at the Mix 08 event in Las Vegas. In this morning’s keynote they were showing off some demos using Microsoft’s Silverlight platform. I am going to write another blog post on High Design vs. Low Design and why the primary business models online tend to have low-design, while many of the demos of new technologies really have high-design.

This morning there were a couple of presentations such as the HR application that is used by Cirque du Soleil, a very impressive application to manage the talent site of their business as well as a preview of NBC’s site for the Olympics. Another example that I found is a good mix between high-design and a strong business model is the memorabilia site of the Hard Rock Cafe which balances the business side with new technology.

No related posts.

Canadian Trademark Registry – Good Reference Site for Canadian Entrepreneurs

Darby Sieben — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:14:59 +0000

I wanted to take this opportunity to provide a link to the Canadian Trademark Registry and strongly suggest to any small business to reference this site if you are planning to launch a new business, product, idea, etc. and ensure that there is no Trademark already registered. This site is managed by the government of Canada and can save a lot of potential headaches for any entrepreneur to ensure they don’t land themselves in trouble. One more thing I like about this site – you don’t have to pay a company $20-$50 or more to find out whether some is trademarked – you can do it for free.

Anyway, here are a few screenshots of the service:

First I started by conducting a search for one of my favorite topics of late – Facebook – to see what trademarks are registered.

I was presented with a list of matches.

I selected to see the information for the Facebook Homepage Rectangle Design

SCAM ALERT – CRS – Central Registration Service

Darby Sieben — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 03:13:03 +0000

Wow, over the past week, I have received a number of phone calls and emails from clients of mine who have received an invoice from a company called Central Registration Service. The invoice amount is $966US, contains the URL along with the billing address and usually under additional facts contains the phone number.

In bold is the following statement – We have to receive a payment within 21 days, otherwise your domain registration will be deleted.

The item listed on the invoice is for “standard registration via hosting service for” and then displays the URL in a box along. As mentioned, the invoice amount is $966US with a 5% cash discount of $917.30US.

They are asking you to sign and fax to 1-212-627-8877 (a number located in the New York City). The address they list on their invoice is 1133 Broadway, Suite 706, New York, NY 10010. They take credit card via their website (www.central-registration-service.com/payment – which does not work) and their banking account information is through Loyal Bank Limited – Acc. no: 104003940306 Swift: LOYAVCVX.

DO NOT PAY THIS INVOICE – THROW IT AWAY

The #1 question I get – is how does a company like this get my information:

Simple – when you register your domain name that information is publically available. Some domain registrars offer a privacy service, however, the majority of domain name registration information is easily accessible – this is how they get the information.

Here is their WHOIS information – as you can see, the domain name itself was only registered in October of this year:

Domain Name: CENTRAL-REGISTRATION-SERVICE.COM
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.enom.com
Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
Name Server: DNS5.NAME-SERVICES.COM
Name Server: DNS4.NAME-SERVICES.COM
Name Server: DNS3.NAME-SERVICES.COM
Name Server: DNS2.NAME-SERVICES.COM
Name Server: DNS1.NAME-SERVICES.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
EPP Status: clientDeleteProhibited
EPP Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 12-Dec-2006
Creation Date: 11-Oct-2006
Expiration Date: 11-Oct-2007

I did however, find this information on CENTRAL-REGISTRATION-SERVICE.ORG, which appears to be the same individual:

Domain ID:D130595594-LROR
Domain Name:CENTRAL-REGISTRATION-SERVICE.ORG
Created On:12-Oct-2006 07:49:04 UTC
Last Updated On:12-Dec-2006 03:48:29 UTC
Expiration Date:12-Oct-2007 07:49:04 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R39-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:851FC847AFA02601
Registrant Name:CRS Corp
Registrant Organization:Central Registration Service
Registrant Street1:1133 Broadway,Suite706
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:New York
Registrant State/Province:NY
Registrant Postal Code:10010
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.2126278877
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:Sebastian_Koenig52@hotmail.com
Admin ID:851FC847AFA02601
Admin Name:CRS Corp
Admin Organization:Central Registration Service
Admin Street1:1133 Broadway,Suite706
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:New York
Admin State/Province:NY
Admin Postal Code:10010
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.2126278877
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:Sebastian_Koenig52@hotmail.com
Tech ID:851FC847AFA02601
Tech Name:CRS Corp
Tech Organization:Central Registration Service
Tech Street1:1133 Broadway,Suite706
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:New York
Tech State/Province:NY
Tech Postal Code:10010
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.2126278877 < ---- Same Number on the Invoice ---->
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:Sebastian_Koenig52@hotmail.com

Here is another post of this:

A company named CRS is sending out invoices in the amount of $966.00 for domain registration renewal. They invoice you for your domain name, and try to bilk you out of nearly $1000 with an official looking invoice, and payment instructions which include everything from a bank transfer to paypal payments. BEWARE!

Protect Your Business from “phishing”

Darby Sieben — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:41:16 +0000

This past Sunday I was watching the CBC program Marketplace and they did a special on the criminal practice of “phishing”. For those of you who are unaware of what this practice is, it is Internet fraudsters who send our emails that look like reputable companies in which they are asking you to provide information about your credit cards, banking, etc. Once they get this information from you, they immediately use it to steal money or your identity.

For example, I have received a number of these emails in the past from what appeared to be the Royal Bank of Canada. The email indicated that I needed to update some of my account information. If you click on the link inside the email, it looks very much like www.royalbank.com, however, if I would have provided my information, Internet fraudsters could have started to steal my money or my identity. This is not reserved just for the banks, emails can come from what appears to be eBay, paypal, credit card companies and any organization that deals with information that can lead a criminal to your money.

As business owners, we have a responsibility to our employees to give them tools to help guard against such criminal activity. Therefore, I have outlined 3 very simple ways that you can use to prevent ever falling victim to a “phishing” scam.

Step #1 – Type in the URL of the Company Directly

The way that “phishing” criminals take advantage of their prey is through the hyperlink embedded in the email. They embed a link inside their email that says “click here” or “update info”, etc. The bulk majority of Internet users will see this as a time-saving, hence they click. However, eliminating your desire to click, will probably ensure that you never run the risk of getting taken by a criminal online.

If you get an email from the Royal Bank, go your browser window and type in http://www.royalbank.com.

If you get an email from eBay asking for information, go to your browser window and type in http://www.ebay.com or http://www.ebay.ca

If you get an email from a company that you know you don’t do any business with, just delete it.

Step #2 – Check the URL in the Browser

There are times that even I am fooled by these “phishing” emails, some are very well done. In case you click on a link within an email (and forgo step #1) there is another way to detect whether you should be giving your information.

Look at the internet address in your browser. (circled in red). Typically if you click on a “phishing” email, this will read something like http://64.125.256.239/rbc or something like that. It will not read http://www.royalbank.com as in my example.

Step #3 – Check the Security Certificate

The final check, to completly ensure that you are giving your information to the correct people is to check the security certificate of the site. First, if you are logging onto any site that has sensitive information, make sure that you are on a secured connection. You can tell whether you are on a secured connected by looking in the bottom right hand corner of your browser.

If the image below, notice that I am visiting http://www.royalbank.com and the little icon in the bottom right hand corner is a world.

Now, see the difference, when I go to the login page to access my banking information.

First, in the address bar you see https: (instead of http) and in the bottom corner your see a yellow lock box.

If you double click on that yellow lock box it brings up the security information for the site. You can read who issued the certificate and to whom it was issued to, as well as host of other security information. See below.

Conclusion

The Internet is no different than protecting your small business, your home, your car, your family, etc. You protect yourself through education and prevention. I suggest that you learn the above 3 simple checks and use them every time that you are going to give sensitive information over the Internet.

What these “phishing” fraudsters are after is the uneducated … a little education of your staff can protect your business and the welfare of your employees so that you don’t fall victim to these criminals.

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