Spoofing services make mobile voicemail hacking easy

Hacking into mobile voice mail is surprisingly easy on three of the four largest cell-phone carriers in the US, thanks to web-based services that make your call appear to come from the cell phone you're trying to hack. 

Easy access to voice mail is a common convenience on many phones. Opening a mobile displays an icon if someone has left a voice message. Click on the icon, and the phone automatically dials the voice mail box - some without even requiring a password. It's insecure, but a lot of users don't think about it. AT&T Wireless, for example, buries instructions for adding a password deep in its web site. Sprint and T-Mobile also don't require passwords; only Verizon does. 

How does it work? The phone is programmed to dial the voice mail number, and the mail system looks at the caller ID of the incoming call to see whose voice mail box to access. It's simple and easy, but it's wide open to anyone who can spoof caller ID (or to someone who finds your phone).

At the end of last year, Congress passed a law making spoofing illegal - but only if used "with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain value." It's had little effect in slowing caller ID or telemarketing fraud. 

The Internet offers many web-based spoofing services, easy to locate by searching for "caller ID spoof". Users enter the number they are calling from, the number they are calling, and the number being spoofed, then place calls through the Internet or a toll-free number operated by the service. One web service boasts spoofing makes calling "truly private, fun, and inexpensive!"  That sounds like just the thing for fraudsters, stalkers, or, ahem, tabloid journalists.

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Want A Google+ Invitation? How To Sign Up For Google's Social Network

Google is betting that its new social network,Google+, will fix what it calls the "awkward" state of online sharing--but Google isn't sharing invitations to its latest project with everyone.

Users have been clamoring for invitations to Google+, which Google launched as a limited "field trial," noting "you may find some rough edges." Access to the project is currently by invitation only, and a limited number of users were given 15 invitations apiece to bring others on board.

If you're eager to begin trying out Google+ and can't find someone with a spare invitation, you can sign up to request a Google+ account here. Google has created an entry form that asks people to submit their first name and email address so they can stay posted as the service is rolled out more fully. "We’re still ironing out a few kinks in Google+, so it’s not quite ready for everyone to climb aboard," Google wrote. "But, if you want, we’ll let you know the minute the doors are open for real. Cool? Cool."

Google has also created a Twitter account, GooglePlus, that has been tweeting out information about the new service.

This is hardly the first time that Google has created a buzz by limiting a new service to a select group of initial users. Like Google+, Google Wave was at first available only by invitation, as was Gmail.

Check out 9 things you need to know about Google+ here, then take a visual tour of the new social network here.

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Google Plus Do we need another social networking site

Did you hear the latest? Google, the great one of the search domain, has launched Google+. Plus what, did you ask? Just ‘+’ as in A+ or B+. 

This is Google’s first full fledged attempt at taking on Facebook. I guess Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn’t quite like the fact that Mark Zuckerberg has overtaken them on the billionaires list, and are now getting back. 

I am kidding, of course, this thing must have been in the works for years, but talk about timing. It was just a few days ago that Zuckerberg overtook the Google guys on the rich list. 

Not to be outdone, Zuckerberg has fired back today, with the promise that the company is going to "launch something awesome" soon. 

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