Cyber Beat Daily: CIO at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services resigns + The Day’s Top Tech Picks

The day’s top picks in social media and technology for 11/6: CIO at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services resigns; Walmart website glitch accidentally slashes prices; social engineering experiment penetrates govt agency; Twitter’s top retweets: there’s a lot of noise on Twitter; when Hollywood gets tech wrong, it’s funny; Senator wants Instagram to prohibit gun sales; twisted social media bullying stunt spurs mass absence from school; celebrities among victims lured by elaborate ‘dying daughter’ hoax; Google crawler tricked into performing SQL injection attacks; Office Depot’s DMCA Notice To Reddit; judge calls in feds on Prenda; World of Warcraft loses subscribers; ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ passes $1 billion in sales to retailers.

Read below for these stories and more.

 

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Featured Story.
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CIO at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services resigns

Sebelius’ chief tech officer leaving, first major departure since website troubles

More:
Top tech officer at health insurance agency resigns

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Social Media/Tech Trends, Happenings and Faux Pas.
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Whoopsies.
Walmart Website Glitch Sells $600 Electronics for Less Than $10

A research lesson in social engineering.
How a Hooters photo helped hackers penetrate a government agency

What the Most Retweeted Tweets of All Time Say About Twitter

IRC, IP addresses, hacking, there’s a little bit of everything…
13 Hilariously Wrong Explanations Of How Tech Works From Hollywood

While Instagram is not a commerce site, Sen. Ed Markey writes, “Instagram’s application offers an array of ever-expanding search terms that enable users to explore a vast universe of firearms available for purchase, such as #gunsforsale, #gunstore, #guns_of_instagram, #AR15, and #AK47. Once the user has identified the desired firearm, sales can be easily negotiated and completed offline.”
Senator pressures Instagram to prohibit gun sales

 

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Hoaxes, Harassment and Hacking.
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What a twisted bullying stunt. From the article: Police say the underage teen set up a fake account under a real student’s name and posted pictures threatening a shooting at Tates Creek. Police say the gun pictures came from the Internet and, they add, the real victim is the student whose name was attached to all the photos and threats. “This was a hoax, a fake account that this person used to perpetuate the rumors,” said Sharelle Roberts with Lexington Police Department. “That student had no intention of doing anything. The rumors perpetuated against the young child were a way to bully him.”
Police: Shooting Threats At Lexington (KY) School A Hoax

Also related…
Tates Creek High School (in Kentucky) ‘hoax’ case shows power, peril of social media, expert says

This is a creepy story, and a great investigative report from Nightline.
Celebrities among victims lured by elaborate ‘dying daughter’ hoax

‘Let the search engine do the dirty work with carefully crafted links.’
Google crawler tricked into performing SQL injection attacks using decade-old technique

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Law and Order.
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Office Depot, meet Streisand Effect.
Office Depot Sends World’s Worst DMCA Notice To Reddit

The story that keeps on giving.
Porn trolls slammed again: Minnesota judge calls in the feds on Prenda

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Gamer-land.
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Stats…
World of Warcraft Loses 100,000 Subscribers, Now at 7.6 Million

More stats…
‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ video game passes $1 billion in sales to retailers

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