Latest news with #Bens
Daily Record
22-05-2025
- Daily Record
Scots share their 'favourite Scottish towns' and what makes them special
People in Scotland have revealed their top places to live in the country. Scottish people have shared their "favourite Scottish towns". Settlements across the country were praised by locals for their scenery, their food and drink venues, and more. Everywhere in Scotland has its fans and defenders. From the smallest villages to the most bustling cities, every place in the country has something to offer and its locals are more than happy to promote them. One Scot has taken to social media to ask others what their top spot in the country is. Posting on Reddit, they questioned: "What's your favourite Scottish town and why?" Since being shared on Wednesday, May 21, the post has received more than 220 comments. Many Scots were keen to share their ideas for the best towns and villages in the country. One of the top comments reads: "For absolute charm, you can't go wrong with Culross or the East Neuk of Fife." Culross is a historic village and former royal burgh situated in the southwest of Fife. It is considered to be Scotland's most complete example of a 17th and 18th-century burgh. The village is known for the popular Red Lion Inn that serves up a range of real ales and a classic pub-style menu. It also features a pool table and a large TV that shows sports. Another Reddit user replied: "I love Culross, I miss the food at the Red Lion pub." Meanwhile, one Scot suggested: "Aberfeldy was a pretty wee place." A second replied: "It is, that is an awesome village." Aberfeldy is a small market town situated in Highland Perthshire that features popular attractions such as Dewar's Aberfeldy Distillery and the Aberfeldy Watermill bookshop and café. It is also home to the picturesque Birks of Aberfeldy woodland walk, which was named after the Robert Burns poem of the same name. Elsewhere, another Reddit user stated that Peebles was their favourite destination in Scotland. They praised the Scottish Borders town for its "good size" and for being within commutable distance of Edinburgh. In response, someone else shared: "Lived in Peebles for two years. "Ace little town. Community was great, and access to mountain biking was good too. Just a bit too far south." Another echoed: "F****** love Peebles. Glad to see it made the list. Got married at Neidpath Castle. And fell in love with the town." Over in the Cairngorms National Park, Aviemore was another town that was named as a favourite. Aviemore is popular for its close proximity to the peaceful lochs, lush forest, dramatic mountains, and even ski runs. The Reddit user posted: "Aviemore. My husband took me there for the first time about 10 years ago and I fell in love with the place. "We've hiked the Bens (Macdui and Braeriach), we've kayaked in Loch Morlich, we've tackled the Chalamain Gap, and we've read our wedding vows to each other, out in the hills. So many great memories of that place." Also within the Cairngorms National Park, another Scot chose Tomintoul as their top settlement in Scotland. Known for being the highest village in the Highlands, located at 354 metres above sea level, Tomintoul is a top destination for outdoor pursuits such as biking and horse riding. One Scot shared: "Tomintoul, lovely wee village, with a shop, a wonderful summer games, and a view." A second agreed: "I was there once and assumed it would be like a ghost town. My friends and I wandered around on our first day and stumbled upon a big biker gathering!" A third posted: "It can vary greatly by season for sure, but I saw a load of bikers go through today. Bonnie start to summer so I'm not surprised they were out enjoying the weather."
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I tried a 'mum friend app'. It was like Tinder crossed with Mumsnet
While childbirth is famously onerous, one of the lesser-known traumas of becoming a new mother is trying to make 'mum friends'. Comparable with searching for a love interest, but with the added stress of trying not to seem flirty, horny, or creepy; it is one of the more awkward paths a person can endeavour to navigate. There often isn't enough time in baby groups to get to know people, and the politics of trying to single anyone out in NCT groups can be complicated and confusing. With this in mind, the tech world has taken it upon itself to lend a helping hand to marooned mothers by developing 'mum friend' apps. While aimed mainly at those newly entering motherhood, many claim to be a tool for women up until menopause - and so, as a woman with more children than friends, I thought I'd test my emotional endurance and give one of the apps a whirl. I tried Peanut, simply because I had been targeted with about 800 Instagram ads for it. At first glance, it was a nightmare. I was made to describe myself via harrowing classifications such as 'fashion killa', 'glam guru', and 'city chick'. I chose 'hot mess' because that felt like the least offensive option, and 'astrology wizz' because I believe in ghosts and think it's important to be upfront about that. Once past the torture of labelling myself via #girlboss categories, I then descended into the next circle of Hell where I had to swipe left or right on the kindly faces of other mothers. Almost immediately I felt myself being dragged back into the fetid swamp of my Tinder days, with flashbacks popping into my head like an unwanted firework display. Previously repressed images of Bens, Jims, and Barnabys resurfaced in their fly-fishing gear with a gormless look in their eyes, ready to pounce on unsuspecting women with details of their fitness regimen. I was immediately repulsed by the swiping feature until, of course, I started to find it completely addictive. Once you're hooked, they try to squeeze the pennies out of you by charging to see who has swiped right or 'waved' at you. As I do not have any spare limbs available to hawk for 'mum friend' app purchases, I chose the free option to just swipe endlessly until there's been a mutual wave and you match with someone. Alternatively, you are also able to message someone directly without any kind of friendship foreplay like a brazen lunatic. While I understood the purpose of swiping, when I did eventually match with someone I panicked and almost threw my phone out of the window. Sensing that a one-on-one conversation wasn't within my level of comfortability, I moved on to the group chat area of the app. I'd been placed in some forums according to my children's ages, and I added myself to a local group. Here, I found myself scrolling through useful questions about nearby pools, birthday party locations, and school recommendations. My personal favourite, however, was a woman asking if anyone could recommend a fortune teller, a question that only received one response that instructed her to step away from the mediums and go back to Jesus instead. An answer, of sorts, although I don't remember Jesus being particularly good with tarot cards. I ended up sending out one query to the mothering masses about my daughter's horrific new habit of invading my bedroom at four am. I received a slew of responses - mostly very helpful, although one involved jazz so take that as you will. It felt like here, in this little community beyond the swipes, it might be possible to stomach the app. But, ultimately, the experience mainly felt like a strange combination of Tinder and Mumsnet - a weird and unexpected coupling akin to Liz Hurley and Billy Ray Cyrus. While I'd like to have a few more mum friends, I don't think that, for me, it's worth the spiritual anguish of platonically dating married women. For now, it seems that I'll just have to stick to scaring other mothers in person.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fake LinkedIn profiles, Webex, and Fiverr: Inside the North Korean IT worker scheme roiling the Fortune 500
A key component to a scheme developed by North Koreans in getting remote-work tech jobs is working with Americans on mainland soil to serve as a facilitator or proxy—in exchange for hefty fees. A cybersecurity expert posed as an American willing to go along with the IT worker plot to learn the ins and outs of the blueprint U.S. authorities estimate has generated hundreds of millions for North Korea, and impacted hundreds of Fortune 500 companies. The message Aidan Raney sent to a Fiverr profile he learned was being manned 24/7 by North Korean engineers looking to recruit American accomplices was simple and straightforward. 'How do I get involved?' Raney asked. The five-word text worked, said Raney, and days later the Farnsworth Intelligence founder was on a series of calls with his new North Korean handlers. Raney spoke to three or four different people, all of whom claimed to be named 'Ben,' and seemed not to realize that Raney knew he was dealing with multiple individuals and not just a single person. It was during the second call that Raney asked rapid-fire questions to learn the finer points of serving as a proxy for North Korean software developers posing as Americans to get remote-work tech jobs. How would the North Korean engineers handle his workload for him? The plan was to use remote-access tools on Webex to evade detection, Raney told Fortune. From there, Raney learned he would be required to send 70% of any salary he earned in a potential job to the Bens using crypto, PayPal, or Payoneer, while they would handle creating a doctored LinkedIn profile for him as well as job applications. The Bens told Raney they would do most of the groundwork, but they needed him to show up to video meetings, morning standups, and scrums. They even took his headshot and turned it into a black-and-white photo so it would look different from any of his pictures floating around online, he said. The persona they cultivated using Raney's identity was someone well-steeped in geographic information system development, and wrote on his fake bio that he had successfully developed ambulance software to track the location of emergency vehicles. 'They handle essentially all the work,' Raney told Fortune. 'What they were trying to do was use my real identity to bypass background checks and things like that and they wanted it to be extremely close to my real-life identity.' The vast North Korean IT worker scam has been in effect since about 2018 and has generated hundreds of millions in revenues annually for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). In response to severe economic sanctions, DPRK leaders developed organized crime rings to gather intelligence to use in crypto heists and malware operations in addition to deploying thousands of trained software developers to China and Russia to get legitimate jobs at hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, according to the Department of Justice. The IT workers are ordered to remit the bulk of their salaries back to North Korea. The UN reported lower-paid workers involved in the scheme are allowed to keep 10% of their salaries, while higher-paid employees keep 30%. The UN estimated the workers generate about $250 million to $600 million from their salaries per year. The money is used to fund North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, according to the Department of Justice, FBI, and State Department. In the past two years, the DOJ has indicted dozens of people involved in the scheme, but cybersecurity experts say the indictments haven't deterred the lucrative IT scam. In fact, the scheme has grown more sophisticated over time, and North Koreans continue to send out numerous applications to open job postings using AI to perfect the bios and coach American proxies through interview questions. Bojan Simic, founder of verification-identity firm Hypr, said the social engineering aspect has evolved, and North Korean engineers—and other crime rings that have mimicked the scam—are using public information plus AI to augment past tactics that have worked for them. For instance, IT workers will look at a company's employee profiles on LinkedIn to learn their start dates, and then call a service desk using AI to mask their voice to reset their password. Once they get to the next security question, they'll hang up and call back once they know the answer to the next question—like the last four digits of a Social Security number. 'Two and a half years ago, this was a very manual process for a human being to do,' said Simic. 'Now, it's a fully automated process and the person will sound like somebody who speaks like you do.' And it isn't just American accents North Koreans are deepfaking. A security officer at a Japanese bank told Simic he hardly ever worried about hackers calling IT service desks and tricking employees into providing information because most hackers don't speak Japanese—they speak Russian or Chinese, recalled Simic. 'Now, all of a sudden, the hackers can speak fluent Japanese and they can use AI to do it,' he said. It's completely upended the risk landscape for how companies are responding to these threats, said Simic. Still, there are methods to strengthen hiring practices to root out job seekers using false identities. 'Adding even a little bit of friction to the process of verifying the identities' of people applying for jobs will often prompt the North Korean engineers to chase easier targets, Simic explained. Matching an IP location to a phone location and requiring cameras to be turned on with adequate lighting can go a long way, he said. In Raney's case, the Bens landed him a job interview and they used remote access to open the Notepad application on his screen so they could write responses to the recruiter's questions during the discussion. The scheme worked: A private U.S. government contractor made Raney a verbal offer for a full-time remote-work job that paid $80,000 a year, he said. Raney immediately had to turn around and tell the company he couldn't accept the offer and that he was involved in an incident-response investigation for a client. He eventually let things die out with the North Korean Bens, but before he did, he spent some time trying to get them to open up. He asked about their families, or the weather. He texted the Bens and asked whether they spent time with relatives during the holidays. They responded saying there was nothing better than spending time with loved ones, adding a wink emoji, which struck Raney as different from the way they typically responded. Based on the messages, and seeing people hovering over their shoulders and pacing behind them during video calls, Raney concluded their conversations were heavily monitored and the North Korean engineers were surveilled constantly. Raney's account was later publicized on an International Spy Museum podcast. Before the episode aired, he sent the North Korean Bens a note that said, 'I'm sorry. Please escape if you can.' The message was never opened. In response to a request for comment, LinkedIn directed Fortune to its update on fighting fake accounts. A Fiverr spokesperson said the company's trust and safety team monitors sellers to ensure compliance and continuously updates its policies to reflect the evolving political and social landscapes. In a statement, Payoneer told Fortune the firm uses robust compliance and monitoring programs to combat the challenge of DPRK operatives posing as IT consultants. This story was originally featured on
