Orkut

If you write a scrap with a URL in it, Orkut requires you to complete the image verification (CAPTCHA), however if you post any URL within the Google network you are not required to do so, this flaw can be used to post url's bypassing the image verification.

http://upload.video.google.com/searchhistory/url?url=//YOUR_URL_HERE
EXAMPLE: http://upload.video.google.com/searchhistory/url?url=//www.megaleecher.net

The flaw is being successfully exploited by spammers and Orkut virus makers for mass scrapping users with live links bypassing the whole SPAM protection mechanism of image verification.

'Orkut' user profile information will now appear in Google search results when someone searches for your name, the result will contain summary of your profile, including key details like your name, photo and location and will be called 'OneBox', according to Orkut help center:

A OneBox appears only when someone who is logged in to orkut performs a search on Google.com for their friends or friends of friends. Keep in mind that this project is still in its experimental stage, so for now, only a small percentage of orkut users will see the OneBox in their search results.

However, If you are concerned about your privacy, this feature can be disabled from your Orkut settings page as shown below.

Orkut is getting targeted by a new Brazilian scrap virus, the virus infects users clicking on the above scrap message claiming to show some kind of video with the machine translated english version of the message below:

I saw this video I remembered of vc. Look what cool soh nao goes land grabber with me ta? rrrsssss. after me talk the one to she found.

The above claimed video is a .exe file which infects users computer and sends the same scrap to all your friends on Orkut, the virus installs "orkutkut.exe" and "imglog.exe" on the infected computer, the virus can easily be disabled by following the steps below:

1. Kill both the process from the task manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC).
2. Remove startup entries using msconfig.exe
3. Delete the two above mentioned files from system32 folder.

To secure yourself from such threats never click on unknown links in your scrapbook.

Orkut the myspace of south-asia and Brazil introduced a new feature allowing users to find and add their Gmail contacts already on Orkut with a single click, in the official blog post on Orkut blog software engineer Jude Britto writes:

One of the nice things about Gmail is that it adds the names of the people you have been in touch with over the years as contacts in your address book. Wouldn't it be nice if you could automatically find those contacts on orkut? We've started rolling out a new feature to do just that. If you use a gmail address to log into orkut, finding your friends is now just a click away. The find friends button on the homepage, friends page or friends list page gets you started on importing contacts. Your gmail address is already filled in, and since you've already logged into orkut, we don't have to ask for your Gmail password once again. We'll show you the contacts who are already on orkut, and let you choose which ones to add as friends. For contacts who aren't on orkut yet, we make it easy to choose the ones you want to invite to orkut. You can even add a personal message to send with the invite. Soon, we'll be adding support to import your contacts from other email accounts.

Most work places and educational institutions block access to social-networking websites by means of firewalls and content filters but there exist very easy tricks to bypass these filters and access restricted sites at work, school and colleges, you can easily unblock websites like Orkut, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and Friendster to name a few.

There exist many proxy sites to access blocked websites here are few good fast ones for you: